The X-Files D.S. 145 Written by Joanna Eckman Do not copy or take this story. If you want permission to distribute ask the author at JKPebbles@aol.com. Comments and suggestions welcome! "Through the mother, a Daughter is born." Introduction: The "Underground" It was at a dance club in downtown London called The Underground, where D.S. 145 walks in to check out the crowd. She recognized familiar faces as she made her way across the busy dance floor, determined to get to the other side of the room. But she pauses for a second as one of her favorite songs pounded its way to the excited array of outrageous club kids. No time to dance, she thought. She had a destination and she was not going to be late. D.S. Finally came upon a door that read EMPLOYEES ONLY. This was a smoke screen to hide the real underground crew that lived their lives in sweet discretion. After passing three wooden doors, D.S. found the famous steel door. It had a mail slot that was locked from the inside. She pulled back her long auburn hair and adjusted her skin-tight tube top that was unintentionally stretched while moving across the dance floor. After making herself presentable, D.S. knocked on the door twice, then paused. She then knocked once more and a male voice from the other side asked, "What is your lucky number?" Well this was easy for she had a name that was catalogued by many scientists. She responded in a firm, articulate, English voice that was accentuated with desperation, "1 4 5." D.S. then heard the sounds of the door unlocking, openly slowly. A young man stood before her with arms open wide. She happily embraced her best friend and said, "James, I am so glad to see you again!" James, or Jamie as he liked to be called, abruptly closed the door and locked it. "D, come in. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I received your e-mail. Where the hell have you been girl? One could tell he was very American. With eyes so dreadful, she sadly spoke, "THEY found me Jamie." 1 "Like as the waves make us towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end." Monday, April 6 8:45 a.m. Washington D.C. Watergate Hotel Looking over a dead body was not how Special Agent Dana Scully wanted to start her morning. The cause of death was obvious. It was suicide. A state government official was found in his hotel room hanging from a shower rod in the bathroom. On the nightstand next to his bed were a bottle of amphetamines, scandalous pictures of him in bed with a prostitute, and a bottle of champagne. As she finished her examination, she filed a report and had the body sent to the morgue for further examination. Fox Mulder was questioning the maid that found the man dead in his room earlier that morning. After he finished, he casually approached Scully and said, "I thought this man would learn his lesson by now." "What do you mean?" She asked. "Well, this isn’t the first time he was caught in a scandalous affair. Apparently he was charged with sexual harassment three months ago. It turned out to be a hoax though." "Why is that Mulder?" "The woman, who worked at the State’s Department tried to blackmail him for money after he broke off the affair." "And why did he break off the affair?" "Why do you think Scully? His wife found out." He said smiling. Scully said, "We can safely say that this case is solved." "Let’s get out of here, Scully. I’m getting hungry." In the café, Mulder and Scully sat at their usual. He was reading the Sunday paper that someone has left the day before, and Scully was drinking coffee. She was deep in thought, excited about her vacation that was long overdue. In her mind, she was planning out her days, spending time with her mother, visit her brother Bill and his family, maybe go see a movie or two. She hadn’t been to a movie theatre in years. She just wanted to live in a world of normalcy for a while, instead of spending her time chasing after bad guys and monstrous aliens. It was overwhelming at times. Mulder loved it though. The X-Files had been a crusade for him ever since his sister was abducted many years ago. He never lost focus and he wasn’t about to lose it now that he was closer to the TRUTH than ever. Scully found it hard to live in his reality. After all, she was the skeptic. But she could not deny that she has seen some of the craziest things while working with Mulder and because of this, she was open to all sides of the situation. Mulder finished reading the paper and laid it down beside him. Scully asked if she could have the funnies. "Scully, I didn’t know you had a sense of humor," was his reply. She just gave him a penetrating look that was all but amusing and said, "There are many things you don’t know about me Mulder and I intend to keep it that way." She smiled. "I do love a woman of mystery Scully." The waitress finally took their order. After finishing their breakfast, Mulder said, "While you are on vacation, I am going to take a little trip to London." "What’s in London?" Scully asked, surprised. "A boarding school for orphaned children suspected of child abuse." "Why would you go all the way to another country to investigate a child abuse case? Don’t they have agents over there that can handle it?" "Yeah Scully, but there may be more to it than just abuse." She was baffled. Mulder continued, "I received a tip from an anonymous caller. She told me" "SHE." "Yes Scully, SHE told me that there were scientists conducting experiments on these children." "But why can’t the British agents investigate it? What does this have to do with you?" "Scully, remember the case of the Springfield Orphanage? Scientists were cloning children using extraterrestrial DNA." "Mulder, it was never proven that it was extraterrestrial." "That’s because the project was destroyed. But we had the facts." Scully said, No Mulder, you had the facts. I never got the chance to see them because they were stolen from your office. Is there a connection between the Orphanage and the Boarding School?" "I believe so Scully. I believe this is an X-File." 2 "Alas, ‘tis true I have gone here and there and made myself a motley to the view, gored mine own thoughts, sold cheap what is most dear, made old offenses of affections new." Tuesday, April 7 11:00 a.m. London The Underground D.S. walked out of The Underground the next morning. She was headed towards her downtown flat to gather her belongings. She had to be careful because THEY were closing in on her and it was time to move fast. A few minutes after she left, Jamie walked out of the club, looking for her. He spotted her walking hastily into an ally. He ran after her. As he approached the ally, he suddenly had the feeling that he was being followed so he turned around and saw her. He shouted, "D.S.!" She looked into his brown eyes until he could no longer see. Everything went black. Minutes later, Jamie woke up to see D.S. looking over him. "Jamie, are you alright? What happened?" He sat up trying to gather his thoughts and said, "I don’t..I don’t know." D.S. then said, "I scurried down the ally because I thought someone was following me and when I turned around, I saw you on the ground." Jamie got up from the ground, still shaky by what just happened. Then he said, "I came after you to tell you that I should be the one to go to your apartment to get your things. I know your roommate. I saw you run down the ally. I ran after you but then I had a sudden feeling that someone was with me and when I turned around, there you were and the next thing I know, I am lying on the ground." D.S. gazed her frightful eyes on his and said, "Jamie, that wasn’t me." "What do you mean that wasn’t you?" "How can I be in two places at once?" Jamie looked at her and said, "Well, if it wasn’t you, then who was it?" "It must have been 146." She said. "You mean, your clone?" And with expressionless eyes, she said, "Yes." Jamie and D.S. 145 went back to The Underground to contemplate for a while. What else were they going to do when there was an evil clone of D.S. running around the streets of London with a mission to kill? She decided to stay put while Jamie rounded up his friends, Lester and Benjamin. They went to D.S.’s flat to find it in complete ruin. "What the hell happened here?" Ben asked. The trio looked around for a moment to see if the coast was clear and then proceeded to collect D’s personal possessions out of her room. That is when they heard the muffled screams coming from the closet. A heavy clothing cabinet blocked the door. They pushed it out of the way to let D’s roommate, Jessica out. "Thank you Jamie." "Jessica, what happened here?" Jamie asked. She told them of how a woman, looking exactly like D.S. came in and threw her into her closet while she wrecked the apartment, looking for something. "What was she looking for?" Lester asked. "I have no idea. But whatever it was, she couldn’t find it. Instead, she yanked me out of the closet and demanded to know when D was coming back. That is when I knew it had to be her clone. I told her that I haven’t seen her in weeks." Ben continued the story, "Then she threw you back into the closet and blocked the door." “Right." Jamie then searched D.S.’s room for the item in question. A few minutes went by and Jamie walked out of the bedroom with the object, holding it up to his friends. "Is that what she was looking for?" Jessica asked. Jamie stared at it and said, "I think so." Jessica then said, "Let’s get out of here." The four of them raced back to the club before rush hour. D.S. greeted them at the door with a look of surprise on her face. "Jessica!" Jessica ran over to hug D.S. "D, I thought I would never see you again." "I’m sorry I didn’t call when I got to New York. I was constantly on the run." Jamie then spoke out, "We’re all here now and that’s what matters." D.S. turned her attention to Jamie and asked him if he collected the item that was crucial to her survival. He took out a shiny, tubular, metal object. There was nothing to it really and the other three couldn’t figure out why it was crucial to D.S.’s survival. But Jamie knew. "D, what is it?" Lester asked. D.S. held it up and said, "It’s a simple weapon capable of destroying an alien." Ben joined into the conversation, "Is that cool or what?" "No Ben. It’s not cool. It’s very dangerous." Jessica asked, "How does it work?" "Let me demonstrate. Jamie, stand next to me." She held it in her hand and in a split second, a sharp, pointed tip protruded out. Now, it looked like a fancy ice pick. "You take this and you have to stab the alien in the back of the neck at the base like this." And she showed them where to stick it without hurting Jamie. Jamie, Lester and Ben believed D’s stories of alien experiments and cloning and even the tubular object with deadly capabilities simply because they have been dealing with the forces behind top secret government conspiracies and UFO’s. Their heroes are the famous Lone Gunmen and they consider themselves to be the British version of the zany trio of UFO chasers. And D.S. 145 was the key to unlock a rather large conspiracy of epic proportions. They just had to wait for D to make her move to uncover it. Jessica, on the other hand, had trouble believing that such things existed. But D.S. knew she could trust her because she had been through so much with her for the past year. Jessica just laughed it off. 3 "Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind, and that which governs me to go about doth part his function and is partly blind." Tuesday, April 7 Washington D.C. Mulder was flying on a British Airline from Washington D.C., stopping in New York for a two-hour delay, and then on to Heathrow Airport in London. In his mind, he was certain that there was a connection between the two places. Once in New York, he stopped into one of the many restaurants at JFK and sat down. He was going through a menu when a strange woman sat down next to him. Baffled, he looked around to see that there were plenty of empty chairs in the restaurant that she could have chosen. He stared at her for a moment, waiting for her to speak. "You are Special Agent Fox Mulder? Are you not?"" "I am, who are you?" He asked. The woman, who had a profound English accent, looked around the room to make sure she wasn’t being followed and then she turned to face him and said, “My name is Gareth Sexton. I am the one who called you about the boarding school." Mulder was confused. Then he said, "Ms. Sexton, why are you following me?" "Agent Mulder," she said. "I wanted to make sure that you were coming to England." She paused. "I came to New York a few days ago because my daughter was in danger. She needed me provide her with a new identity so she could fly back to London safely. Once I arrived, I came to the hotel only to find a letter that she had written, telling me that she could no longer waste any time and that she was on her way back to London at that very moment." Mulder, who was bewildered, asked, "What does that have to do with me?" "Agent Mulder, in her letter, she specifically asked me to contact you." "She what?" 4 "Trust no one." Tuesday, April 7 New York JFK Airport Mulder and Gareth continued their conversation on the plane. "Ms. Sexton, how does your daughter know me?" Gareth sheepishly looked at him and confided, "I have to apologize first." Mulder raised his eyebrows. "The young lady is not my daughter." "She’s not?" "No, I only say that to protect her. The truth is that she ran away from the Knightsbridge Boarding School for Girls almost two years ago when she was fifteen. She found me in a supermarket in Chelsea. I stopped in to grab a few things when she approached me in such a dreadful way. She was crying and when I asked what the matter was, she told me that she was in terrible danger. I then beckoned her to walk me to my car so we could talk about it. Once we were outside, she said that she ran away from the boarding school because THEY were hurting her. I asked who. And what she said next, astounded me." "What did she tell you Ms. Sexton?" "She told me that the Boarding School was a cover-up. The girls that lived their were not orphans but the products of mad science. They were created in labs and used in horrific experiments." Mulder then stopped her and said, "I don’t understand. Why did she go to you?" "You see Agent Mulder; I use to work at the Boarding School. I was the bookkeeper, in charge of all the finances. I had no idea of what was going on there and I was definitely ambivalent about it. It was a hard pill to swallow because everything seemed normal. The children lived there, went to school every day and played outside during recess." "Did you recognize the girl when she approached you at the supermarket?" "No. I rarely saw any children unless they were delivering something to my office." "Delivering what Ms. Sexton?" "Things like hourly payroll charts and receipts from teachers that purchased anything for the school; things like that." "Ms. Sexton, did she tell you the types of experiments that went on in that boarding School?" "Yes Agent Mulder, but I do not want to discuss them here. It’s not safe." "When can we discuss it?" Mulder asked. He was aggravated but he understood patience. 5 "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Wednesday, April 8 10:35 p.m. Margaret Scully’s home Scully stayed with her mother for a few days before making her way to visit her brother Bill and his family. The night before she left, she was lying on her bed, thumbing through old scrapbooks and photo albums that were delicately locked away in her hope chest. She laughed out loud as she gazed longingly at childhood photos of her and her sister Melissa playing dress-up in their old attic. Her laughs turned into tears for she missed her sister very much. It had been three years since her tragic death and she could not get it out of her mind that it was totally her fault. Now she felt alone with a pang of emptiness that pierced her heart like a dagger. She put away her youthful treasures and climbed under the covers of her familiar bed. Her mother walked in to bid her goodnight as if Scully were a five-year-old, afraid to close her eyes. "Mom, I love you," was her sweet remark. Her mother bent over her and kissed her tenderly. "Dana, oh sweetheart, I love you too." She soon fell fast asleep feeling immense loneliness. A dream took her prisoner as Scully tossed and turned. She was walking through a dark ally, cold and wet from a slight mist that was blanketing the sleeping city. Although she did not know where she was, she felt surprisingly calm. A young woman was walking in front of her. She was crying and Scully kept trying to get her attention but could not. She would shout, "Hey! Are you alright?" But there was no answer; just the sorrowful cries of a desperate young woman. Finally the woman turned around but Scully could not see her face clearly. "Why are you crying?" The girl walked into the light and then... Scully suddenly woke up. Scully spent the following morning in silence, obviously troubled by her dreams. She deemed herself strange, not because of her recurring dreams, but because she was bothered by a message that was not clear to her. Oh well, she thought and finished packing her clothes into her overnight bag. She then kissed her mother goodbye. On her way to her car, Scully turned and said out loud, "Do you want Bill to call you later?" Her mother yelled, "Yes!" "Okay mom." Driving off, Scully began to unwind. She inserted a CD into the player and sang along to the lyrics of one of her favorite songs. But thoughts began to seep into her mind making her a bit uncomfortable. She stopped her car at a gas station and sat for a moment before realizing that the crying woman in her dreams was herself. 6 "Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows." Thursday, April 9 Streets of Chelsea D.S. and Jamie walked together along the fancy streets of Chelsea. They began a conversation that frightened her. "Jamie, I have to say that I never expected to walk these streets again." Yeah, and look, you’re here walking next to me. You are alive D so you must be doing something right. You’ve got people looking for you left and right, from New York to London. And you have managed to elude them from your presence. You are a survivalist." "That’s just it Jamie. I don’t want to be a survivalist. I don’t want to be on the run having to look over my shoulder every second. I’m tired and I don’t know how much longer I can last." "D, what are you planning to do?" "I really haven’t gone through the whole scenario because I am waiting for Gareth to return with someone that may be able to help." She kept it at that. Help was on the way as Mulder and Gareth made their way through Heathrow Airport. It was packed with people going to and coming from various parts of the world. But Mulder paid no heed to any of it. He wanted answers. Gareth escorted him to her vehicle where she drove him to her home in Chelsea. The drive was absolutely gorgeous, the scenery, breathtaking. But Mulder didn't care. It was omnipotent, this whole trip. He wasn't sure where this was going to lead, but he was maddened with determination to find out what this so-called boarding was doing to the girls that dwelled there. Gareth pulled into her driveway. When she stopped the car, she turned to Mulder and said, "I will tell you something that you may find disturbing Agent Mulder." "Ms. Sexton, I..." "Please call me Gareth," she said with a touch of playfulness. "Alright, Gareth, it can't possibly be that disturbing for I have dealt with the most obscene and strangely obscure cases that you could not even fathom. So why don't we go inside and you can tell me what is going on." Gareth was taken back by his rudeness even though it didn't enter his mind that he was being rude. "Agent Mulder, see if you can fathom this. I will tell some of what I know, but I have to tell you here because I fear that my house is being wired." Mulder then listened as she explained, "These scientists work in the basement of the Chelsea Boarding School for Girls. All I have been told is that these children were created for the purpose of experimentation. They were being subjected to an array of injections that accelerates growth and intelligence. And to top it all off, some of these girls were being cloned for purposes unknown. The young girl who escaped, never told me what those purposes were or whether or not she was being cloned herself." "Why not?" Mulder asked. Gareth said softly, "Because she wanted to protect me." She paused and then she said, "I will now take you into my home. Just don't question me about this case while we're inside." Before they got out of the car, Mulder looked at the instruments on the dashboard and under the seats to make sure the car wasn't bugged. Mulder was impressed with the antiquity of Gareth's home. Every piece of furniture in her sitting room and dining room were brought into the world hundreds of years ago. She led him upstairs to the young girl's bedroom. It looked like a normal room a teenager would have with posters on the wall of her favorite bands, OASIS, The Beatles, Rob Zombie, and Garbage which hung glamorously around the room. "She seems to have a variety of tastes in music." "Yes Agent Mulder. She is very eccentric." Dolls stood neatly on their stands in the corner by her bay window and stuffed animals placed safe and soundly on her bed, waiting for their owner to come back home. Mulder walked around the room and opened the closet door. He noticed the diverse arrangements of clothes, pressed significantly and hanging, still waiting to be worn. "She's a very neat and organized person, isn't she?" "Yes she is Agent Mulder." Gareth allowed him to continue his search of her bedroom. Mulder looked further into the closet and found a manila folder. He opened it and found medical records dated back a year and a half ago. "May I take this Gareth?" "Yes," She said as they walked out of the room. Mulder walked outside and sat on the stoop of the front porch going over the files. This young lady whose name was not on the file was being treated for a virus caused by an unknown substance invading her body. It had also read that she had experienced an unnatural growth spurt that was five times accelerated than any average person would experience. He paused for a few minutes before reading more of the records, which contained what they found and how they treated her illness. He wished Scully were there to give her opinions and expertise pertaining to this case. Gareth brought out a tray with a teapot and two cups. She poured Mulder a hot cup of tea and question him about what was in the folder. "Gareth, can you tell where I can find Dr. Grayson's office?" "Dr. Harold Grayson? He was the doctor who took care of D." This was the first time Mulder heard her name. "Her name is D?" "Her name is D.S. 145" Mulder was blank but fascinated by the peculiar name. "Where does the name D.S. 145 come from?" "She told me that after she was created, the scientists catalogued her with a number. But she couldn't tell me where the D.S. came from." "Wouldn't or couldn't, Gareth?" "She could not tell me where the D.S. came from, at least not at the time." "When can I speak to her?" Mulder asked. Gareth remarked, "You speak with her when she allows you to speak with her Agent Mulder." The frustration of patience began to blow Mulder away. 7 "Days like this, I don't know what to do with myself, all day and all night. I wander the halls, along the walls and under my breath, I say to myself, I need fuel to take flight." Thursday, April 9...Noon Norfolk Naval Base (NOB), Norfolk, VA. Scully used her FBI status to go through gate three of the Norfolk Naval Base. She drove slowly through the streets that were under construction. She soon approached the fleet of ships that were lined in a row with the air craft carriers at the very end of the docks. She parked by Dock 11, where the carrier USS Truman floated peacefully. Scully flashed her badge and went through the gate and onto the giant carrier. It was commisioned almost three years earlier and finally made her way out of the Newport News Shipyards and into her new home at NOB. She walked up the plank where her brother Bill Jr. greeted her. "Dana, I was wondering when you were going to show up." There was no embrace, no real physical contact while on board the carrier to show respect to his superiors and to set an example to those below his title. It was one of the many rules of the United States Navy. Dana looked up at her brother and jokingly said, "I never thought my brother would make a career out of the Navy. Especially coming from a strict militarY family like we did." Bill replied, "Dana, you were always the perfect example of a Military Brat." "Ouch Billy, that was mean. But at least I got my way." They laughed it off. It was a typical evening at the Scully residence. Bill Jr., his wife and child lived in a nice home a few miles away from the Ocean in Virginia Beach. The atmosphere was much livelier than in Norfolk. Dana was playing with her nephew while Tara Scully was preparing dinner. Bill Jr. was cleaning out the garage in search of something that he knew Dana would get a kick out of. the phone rang. Tara grabbed it. "Hello." Dana was still playing with the little one when Tara came in from the kitchen and handed her the phone. "It's an Agent Fox Mulder." Scully, whose lips gradually curled up into a smile, took the phone. "Mulder, where are you?" "I'm in Chelsea with Gareth." "Whose Gareth?" She asked curiously. "Gareth Sexton is the anonymous caller. Anyway Scully, I am going to send over a file I need you to look at." "What sort of file?" "Medical records of a young patient that used to live at the Chelsea Boarding School. I need you to translate some of the medical mumbo-jumbo and get back to me on what you found." Scully sighed, "Alright." "Thank you Scully. You are a lifesaver. Are you enjoying your vacation?" "Yes, so far. I needed to get away from the FBI for a while." Mulder then asked, "How long are you going to stay with your brother?" Scully dryly asked, "What Mulder, so you miss me already?" "I always do when you're not around me Scully. You are the left side to my right sided brain, you keep me in check when I step out of reality." "Oh I think you do just fine without me Mulder." She paused for a moment. "Mulder, what else is going on over there?" "Well, I learned that I was summoned here on purpose." "What? How so?" "The young lady in question knows me from somewhere, although I am not sure I know her." "The young lady with the medical file?" "Yes, or that is what Gareth has told me." Scully huffed, "Mulder, how do you know that you can trust Ms. Sexton?" She asked carelessly. "Scully, do I hint a little jealousy?" "No Mulder, I am just concerned. What proof has she shown you?" "The medical records. I couldn't understand the whole file, but I did notice a list of doctors on one of the pages. Remember Dr. Ernest Calderon?" Scully froze with fear, then became overwhelmed with sadness. She did remember him, very well. "My God Mulder! He is the one who conducted experiments on Emily Sim." "Scully, I know this is hard. But I have a feeling that Prangen Industries have offices here in London." Prangen Industries was the pharmaceutical company who conducted clinical trials with experimental drugs of unknownorigins. "Mulder, this is a rather large assumption. Are you sure that only one Dr. Ernest Calderon exists? It could be a mere coincidence." "I don't think so Scully. Prangen Industries was listed under his name for treating this patient for anemia with some sort of vitamin injections." Scully was reliving the tragedy of losing Emily who she found out through a DNA test, was herdaughter. But lost her right after discovering part of the truth behind her abduction almost four years earlier. "I don't want to be apart of this Mulder. I will look at the records, but that's all. I can't..." Mulder interrupted, "Scully, I understand completely. Are you sure you want to look at the records?" "I can do that Mulder." "I can have someone else do it?" "Mulder, I said I can do it." Her voice was elevating a bit. "Thank you Scully." "Listen Mulder, I have to go. Is there a number where I can reach you?" Mulder gave her Gareth's phone number, which seemed like a jab below the belt because deep down inside, she wanted to be there, to be by his side. But the case he was investigating hit so close to her heart and she couldn't participate for fear of finding out something horrible about herself and what was done to her years ago. It was too much. "I will talk to you later, after I get the files." She hung up the phone with sincerity. She looked at her nephew who was looking up at her, smiling. She returned the smile and picked him off the floor as Bill Jr. came through the front door. Dana handed the boy over to her brother and said, "I think I will help Tara in the kitchen." After dinner, Dana bid everyone goodnight. "I'm sorry that I wasn't sociable tonight. I'm real tired and I need to go to bed now so I can recover for a great day tomorrow." Bill Jr. said, "I'll let you slide this time, but next time you won't be so lucky." Dana laughed. She hugged her brother and retreated to her room. After falling asleep, she began to dream, something she didn't want to remember the following morning. Visions of Emily gracefully appeared. She was on a playground, hanging from the jungle gym. Scully was watching her. She was laughing, clapping her hands as Emily was doing tricks for her on the steel bars. Then all of a sudden, she stopped and pointed her finger past Scully and said, "She's the one." Scully turned around and saw a figure of a young woman standing in the distance, her long auburn hair blowing with the wind. Scully was intrigued. Emily then said, "She came before me." Scully took her eyes off the young woman to look at Emily who suddenly diappeared."Emily!" Scully shouted. Little Emily Sim was gone. Scully turned around and saw the woman walking toward her with her hand out. The young lady said, "Listen to your heart." This made Scully cry. The dream ended.