Praying to Die- Part 4
I was suddenly nervous. Out of habit I backed up. He saw me and said, " Oh good, you're here, DC morgue has just sent over a video feed that you may be able to explain."
The shock threw me off balance. I had to sit down on the couch. Good, you're here? God Mulder, what happened to you when you were abducted? I wanted to look at his neck, but I already knew there were no bumps.
Mulder showed Skinner the picture in his hands. "This is a video grab from the DC morgue. It's Billy Miles."
Skinner and Doggett muttered something about how it couldn't be possible.
Mulder replied, "Yeah. It can't be, but it is. Walking out of the morgue, looking like a new man."
The conversation that followed was almost too predictable, Agent Doggett not believing, Skinner, with his holier than thou attitude, yelling at me, Agent Doggett still not believing. I couldn't believe this was the guy in charge of the X Files. It was far too late in the game to have the luxury of being that naive. The only real surprise was Mulder's lack of hostility.
There was a knock at the door. It was one of those things, the same one that was guarding the gate last night. It asked for Agent Doggett. I wasn't disappointed to see him go.
The room went awkwardly silent. Mulder sat down next to me on the couch, making it more awkward. Again, out of habit, I leaned away from him, but he just looked at me, puzzling. I wasn't sure about what.
"You know a lot about all this don't you?" He asked.
I looked down. "Not really. I'm not exactly what you would call in the loop."
He nodded, "That may be the case, but you still know a lot, more than most." He paused and added, "More than me."
I hoped this wasn't going where I thought it was. I felt him staring at me again. I looked back at him, not sure what to say.
"I need your help, " It was his turn to look down. "I want you to tell me everything you know, all of it. I've wasted enough of my time searching for answers. I need to stop searching for the truth and start doing something about it instead, but I can't do that until I have a lot of the blanks filled in. I believe you can fill in those blanks."
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
The men who originated the deal with the aliens made Mulder out to be the chosen one, our last hope in saving humanity from colonization. They spoke about him as if he were mythical. For a long time I bought into that. But I also knew that Mulder had a weakness. He was too clean, and although that helped with the hero myth, it was a severe disadvantage in actually getting anything done. I had none of that kind of weakness. I would do whatever was necessary to get things done. I use to hope that one day, Mulder and I would team up. That I'd give him everything I learned, and he'd used it to fulfill his destiny as savior.
I used to believe in that, in him. I didn't anymore. In the end, these men who made Mulder out to be our savior, didn't even know enough to save themselves from being burned alive, and almost everything I learned during my time with them was worthless. Mulder wasn't our savior. They placed that role on him for their own selfish reasons, so they could sleep better at night. He was just a man who was used and manipulated like the rest of us.
I still didn't know what to say to him, but before I could think of anything, Skinner got up from his desk.
"Have you gone crazy Mulder? Were talking about Alex Krycek."
Mulder stood up. I was glad he wasn't sitting by me anymore.
"I know who he is, but we're talking about Scully and her baby. I need all the information I can get if I'm to have any hope at all at protecting her, and I don't mean just from this situation. I'm talking about the ones that can come after as well."
Skinner glared at me, and looked at Mulder "I am well aware we are talking about Scully and her baby, which is exactly why trusting this man is the last thing you should do. This man is slime. It wasn't too long ago that he wanted her baby dead. If he had his way, Scully would have lost her child and you'd probably be just like Billy Miles right now."
That wasn't true. I would've never let Mulder become one of those things. I was going to test the vaccine on him to see if it worked. If it hadn't, I would have killed him. Scully and Skinner saved him before I got the chance. It actually worked out for the best, since the vaccine turned out to be useless. It was a different virus.
Mulder opened his mouth as if to say more, but stopped. I could see his shoulders slump in defeat. He turned and stared at me for a moment, perhaps deciding if he should say something else. If that was it, he decided against it. He turned away and walked out the side door.
Skinner gave me a triumphant look, like he had won. Won what, I wasn't sure. I didn't want Mulder to ask me that either. I looked at the clock. It was after five, and I didn't have much time left.
"So, do we have a deal?" I asked.
He went behind his desk, and started flipping through a file. Without looking at me he said, "Maybe."
Maybe? I wasn't about to risk this for a maybe. I was willing to risk death but death wasn't the worst-case scenario here. Shit, I thought. I should have never mailed that key. I couldn't believe I was that stupid. I had wasted enough time there. I got up. I heard Skinner telling me to sit down. I ignored him. Any hope I had of making this work was evaporating. I looked at the door Mulder went out of. I wondered if Mulder would do it if I asked. I doubted it, and I didn't have time to find him and explain it. I walked out the front doors, and headed to the elevator. I could still hear Skinner hollering.
I got to the elevator, and turned around. I saw Skinner running towards the elevator, telling me to hold the door. Billy Miles was right behind him. I looked at him. He knew what I was thinking. I was thinking that I just asked for his help, and he decided to fuck me. Well fuck you, Walter. You want to survive, then run for it. I pushed the close button, watched the fear in his eyes, and felt a little better.
He made it. I figured he would. He glared at me when he got inside. Like I cared. What did he expect from slime? I heard a couple of thumps. Then, out of nowhere, this hand came smashing through the elevator, hitting Skinner in the head. I wondered when the hell they got the ability to do that. I didn't do anything for a minute. I just listened. I thought it was gone. I hoped it was gone. I looked down at Skinner, he was hurt, but he'd be fine. I didn't have time to stick around to help, didn't really want to either. I got out of the building, and headed back for my meeting.
