Welcome To The Harem

The Crystal Seeker by exfilia
Summary: What happens when the Consortium has need of Agent Scully's services? Scully/Fowley.

NEW FIC: The Crystal Seeker

From: "exfilia " exfilia@my-Deja.com

Sorry it's late. I plead a calculus midterm. I
just hope I can squeeze out one more of these
before November 13!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CLASSIFICATION: XF slash, adventure
PAIRING: Scully/Fowley
SUMMARY: what happens when the Consortium has
need of Agent Scully's services?
RATING: I say NC-17, but I'm picky
DISTRIBUTION: You want this turkey? You
got it.
DISCLAIMER: All X-files characters belong to
Ten-Thirteen and are used with no intent
to profit and most assuredly without
permission.

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

The Crystal Seeker
by Exfilia

October 9, 1999
outside Mechesumma, Michegan

"I think it's back that way," she said.

"Nope," her partner replied. "The map said right
down here."

"Then whoever made that map didn't come in this
way."

"Ain't that the... get down!" A helicopter
cruised overhead, a floodlight from its underbelly
illuminating the area. He pulled her against his
shoulder and tugged the brim of his MUFON cap
down over his face. The aircraft swung in a lazy
circle, hovered for a minute, then disappeared.

"Uh-huh," she said. "I told you this wasn't any
cache of stolen museum pieces. This is the real
thing, Bill. They've found evidence of a
prehistoric civilization back here. They have
ancient technology."

"Or alien. Don't laugh, Gerry. You were abducted,
too. I saw you there."

"Okay, if you want it that way, maybe alien. But
I was never... anywhere. It didn't happen."

They felt there way through the dark.

"What didn't happen was Atlantis," he said. "It's
just a story. No one's ever found any evidence to
back it up, and people have been looking at least
since Plato."

"Of course they haven't found anything. It was
supposed to have been destroyed!"

"In the conflagration they made of themselves by
abusing this technology you think the highway crew
dug up?"

"The power of crystals," she said. "And my
contact at the University says everything they've
brought up so far has used crystals one way or
another."

"So do computers. Did they come from Atlantis,
too? Come on, Gerry. There have been more UFO
sightings in this area in the past year than in
the rest of the US combined. They've lost
something, and they're looking for it."

"Or they've FOUND something, something native to
earth."

"You don't give up, do you?"

"Bill? What's that?" In the starlight all that
was visible was a white splotch against the dark
undergrowth. Bill bent close to it.

"Bandage, I think." He frowned, and pushed the
shrubbery aside. "Wow!"

"What?"

"There's a hole down here, and... just a minute."
Bill's body disappeared under the bush. There was
a momentary silence, and then another "Wow!"

"Billy?"

"Gerry, you've got to come down here! You've got
to see this...." And then there was silence again.

"Billy? Bill?" No answer. It would be just like
the damn fool to conk himself on the head in the
most inaccessible place in North America. Just
because he claimed he'd been abducted by aliens,
Bill expected to get away with all manner of
stupidity. He'd be in real trouble if he didn't
have Gerry to get him out. Cursing faintly, she
wriggled down the hole.

It wasn't a cave. The floor and walls were of
metal, and the roof was, too, except for a hatch
of sorts where they'd come through. Could Bill be
right? Could this be a spaceship? Gerry tiptoed
down the corridor. It came to an end in a small
room containing what could have been a biobed from
Star Trek, only with a plastic dome over it. The
room was empty, although there was signs of
electrical damage, and something smelled really
ripe. She crept past the bed and into the next
corridor. There was light of a sort up ahead.
Bill was an idiot. This was the biggest
archeological find in the history of the world,
and he was traipsing through it as if it were
K-Mart. His MUFON buddies would laugh him out of
their chapter. They'd put him on billboards as a
bad example. They'd...

They'd never get the chance. Bill was lying in
the center of what might have been a control room,
face down in a very large pool of blood. A chunk
was missing from the back of his neck. Gerry
started to scream, started to throw up, started to
turn and run. It was then that she felt a heavy
hand descend on her shoulder.

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

October 12, 1999
Wilhoumet County Coroner's Office
Mechesumma, Michegan

"Anyway, we knew we'd better call in the Feds.
The last thing we want is somebody claiming we're
allowing a serial killer to take all the UFO
loonies he wants." Captain Michaelson pulled the
bag away from the body and looked up at the tall
man across the table from him. "Pretty, huh?"

"How many so far?"

"Seven, plus two presumed. Missing anthropology
students from the University, but they were
supposed to be major flakes."

"You know, the FBI kind of frowns on denigrating
the victims. Could you turn him over, please?"

Michaelson would have refused anyone else, but what
could he say? He grasped the body by its shoulders
and rolled it toward him. The young agent ran some
sort of sensor over the would at the back of the
neck.

"Is that thing FBI issue?"

"Not exac... ah, shit!"

"You find something?"

"Something missing. Has anyone else been near
these bodies? I'm going to need to see them all."

"No one's touched them. We were saving them...
don't you have a partner who's a pathologist?"

"Agent Scully is in Washington on another case.
Could I see the other bodies?"

"Sure. Sure, no problem." He had in fact been
looking forward to single-handedly wrestling
six stiffs around for an FBI agent in the
middle of the night. "If you don't mind my
asking, Agent Mulder, how did you come to lose
that arm?"

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

October 13, 1999
Washington, DC

Skinner pointed at Krycek, but he spoke to the
other man.

"Do you know how many years in prison I could get
for allowing him in here?"

"Prison is the least of your worries, Mr. Skinner,"
the old man said, and blew a smoke ring.

"You don't really have any fantasies...."

A knock cut off Skinner's discourse, and Agents
Scully and Fowley slid into the room. Scully
stopped when she saw the men, and her lips drew
together in a tight line. Fowley's hand touched
her back, guided her into the room. Into God
knows what.

"You asked to see us, sir?"

"Yes, Agent Scully, I have a case for you." He
held out the file. When Scully ignored it,
Fowley took it.

"A case from what source, sir?"

"Under the circumstances, a very reliable one
indeed."

The old man ground out the Morley and spoke with
deliberate calm.

"Nine MUFON members have been killed and
mutilated. There are wounds on the back of each
neck, and in some cases the face and mouth have
also...."

Scully spoke to Skinner.

"Sir, you can't expect me to...."

"I expect you to do your job, Agent Scully."

The old man held up his hand.

"If Agent Mulder were still active, we would
simply leak the suspicion of alien involvement and
stand back. We can't do that anymore. We have
to ask you to do the autopsies, Dana."

"Wait a minute." Fowley looked up from the
folder. "It says here that Fox Mulder filed
this report."

"When?" Scully asked.

"Yesterday."

Krycek squirmed in his chair.

"You didn't expect me to sign my own name, did
you? It's not like he's using it right now, or
anything."

Scully stared.

"You are pathetic," she whispered. "You are all
pathetic," she said as she stood up, "and I
refuse to have anything to do with this... this
official prevarication. If you feel the need for
disciplinary action, sir, I'll be in my office
when you want me to sign the papers."

Fowley closed her eyes as the door swung shut.

"Go after her," the old man said.

"What do you expect me to do?"

"You'd better do something!" He held out his
hand for the file, but Fowley snapped it shut
and followed Scully.

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

"Hey, hold the door!"

Scully stuck her hand out without thinking, then
moved back as her partner stepped inside.

"Diana, I can't talk about this." She pointed
at the folder Fowley carried. "And we are NOT
taking that case!"

"All right, WE won't."

"What, you're going to do nine autopsies?"

"If that's what it takes, I'm going to stand
over whoever does cut them."

"Why do you work for them?"

"I don't. I work for us, for all of us."

"You're fooling yourself." The door opened, and
they walked toward the office.

"Maybe, but I'd rather fool myself into trying
than sit on my ass and cry."

Scully stopped.

"Is that what you think of me?"

"Dana...."

"You think I... damn you!"

"I didn't mean...."

"I can't do this, Diana! I can't be here with
you and that case, not today, not on his
goddamned birthday, for heaven's sake!" She
spun away and stalked down the hall, high heels
cracking against the tile.

"Dana, I was talking about ME!"

Scully faced her from inside the elevator.

"We'll talk about you tomorrow," she said as the
doors closed. Fowley bit back a curse, turned
in a circle like a chained dog and slammed the
file against the office door, against the name
that was still its only designation: Fox Mulder.

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

Scully drove aimlessly through the Washington
traffic, tears burning her face. Only when the
needle on the gas gauge bobbed toward the red
'E' did she look around and realize where she
was.

Four blocks from Mulder's apartment, she was
coming up on his favorite Thai restaurant.

Hell, he had been her partner, and it was his
birthday. She had a right to want his things
around her, to feel close to him. To the real
him, not the raving husk his mother had placed
in a discreet hospital in rural Vermont.

She still had her key. She bought dinner for two,
and headed toward Mulder's building.

It was mustier from the weeks of inoccupancy,
but then it had been pretty musty to start with.
Scully had only known Mulder to wash his socks
once, and that had been when she'd gone to the
laundry with him. Otherwise he just bought new.
The apartment hadn't changed. It had been kept
intact for the official FBI investigation, and
Scully suspected there had been other agencies
here as well. The place had more secrets than
a soap opera.

Secrets like the source of the noise coming from
Mulder's bedroom. Scully set the food on the
floor, drew her weapon and tiptoed to the door.

She needn't have bothered. Diana Fowley was
sobbing in the middle of Mulder's bed, her
hands tangled in a pair of boxers printed with
green smiley faces.

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

"Scully? What are you doing here?"

"Just... visiting." She tucked her pistol back
in its holster and came to the bed. "Are you
all right?"

"Of course. I'm just... just..."

"Bleeding." Scully climbed up on the bed and
pulled Diana's swollen hand from the fabric.

"It's stopped. I hit the door. It's better
now."

"It should be on ice. Hang on."

"He couldn't keep ice when he lived here, much
less now."

"Cold water, then." She wrapped a cool wet cloth
from the bathroom around the throbbing hand and
laid it on a folded towel in Diana's lap. "Is
that better?"

"Yes. Yes, it is. Thank you."

"Are you hungry? I've got Thai."

"From that place he liked...?"

"Yeah. Yeah, from there. There's plenty. I
guess it was habit. I ordered for two." Scully
blinked, fighting tears.

"Cry if you want. It's not like I'm going to
tell anyone."

"I'm not... oh, hell! Diana!"

"Go on. Get it all out."

"I'm sorry. I... what did you ever see in him,
anyway? I mean, I was assigned, but you...."

"He told me I was pretty. Nobody ever told me
that before."

"I find that hard to believe."

"I was taller than any boy in my class, my face is
crooked, I have eyes like a raccoon...."

"You're beautiful."

"Scully...."

Somehow Scully's hands were brushing Diana's
face, cradling it, smoothing away the tears.

"You're beautiful," she said again. "From the
first moment I saw you, I wondered how I could
compete with these," and she nodded toward Diana's
breasts, "and those," and she slid a hand down
the outside of her thigh.

"I have knock-knees," Diana protested.

"You're beautiful."

"So are you, and you're young."

"Diana...."

"That first day when the two of you walked into
the briefing room, I knew he'd never want me
again. Not with you...."

"You left him." Fowley looked away. Scully
caught her chin and pulled it back. "Hey, we've
come to far to stop now. You left him. Why did
you go?"

"You have porcelain skin and perfect features and
all that beautiful red hair...."

"I'll ask my hairdresser for the number for you.
Why did you leave Mulder? Was there someone else?"

"You know."

"No, I don't."

"They told me they'd kill him if I didn't do what
they wanted."

It took a moment for the words to sink in, and
Scully pulled away.

"The Consortium? They threatened Mulder?"

"He was going to be perfectly safe, so long as I
did what they wanted. And now look!"

"But for so long... all those years... oh, my
God! We could never figure out why they
protected us, and all the time...."

"They didn't tell me about you. Not for... not
for a while. And I didn't know exactly what was
going on until a couple of years ago."

"You know now. Why do you still work for them?

"Somebody has got to do it. Aliens are trying to
take over our planet. At some point it stopped
being about Fox and started being about Earth,
about staying... alive...." she dabbed at her
face with Mulder's underwear, making no perceptible
impression on the flood of tears. Scully shook her
head.

"Diana, those people...."

"There isn't anyone else! Is there? In all the
years you've danced around the pe... periphery of
this thing, have you ever encountered... any
effective force against them, besides the Con...
sortium?"

"Diana, don't cry. Stop it! We have enough to
cry about without wasting tears on those people!"

"I should have told them to go to hell. I should
have had what time I had, with him...."

Scully's arms enfolded her, pressed her smaller
body tight against Diana. Scully's lips brushed
against her hair, then her forehead, and then,
finally, her mouth. Scully's hands tangled in
Diana's hair, pulling her down, down into deep
sweet warmth like the thickest honey, like wine
the color of blood, like golden light flooding a
room that had been in darkness for far too long.
Her hands found Scully's waist, pulled her closer,
and then crept down to grasp the soft sweet flesh
of her backside.

"We can't do this," she said, her hands sliding
under Scully's skirt and finding the body-warmed
silk panties. "This is going to be all over the
FBI by morning, Scully...."

Scully's fingers opened Diana's blouse and
released her brassiere. Warm hands lifted,
enfolded, caressed her tender nipples. Diana
leaned into them with abandon.

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

Scully woke concious of a sweet warmth against
her bare back, of breath on her neck, of... of
breasts pressing against her.

Diana. Oh, God, she'd done it now.

And something else, some scrabbling motion from
the other room. Flashing on Tooms/Flukeman/
Fijimermaid, Scully groped for her gun, rousing
Fowley as she did, and found the weapon just as
Mulder's burglar alarm went off.

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

"Uh-huh." The detective handling the matter was
five three and a half and two hundred fifty
pounds, and he was enjoying watching Skinner
spin. "Your two agents were here doing what,
now?"

"Investigating the mysterious breakdown of a
third agent now undergoing treatment. There
was the possibility of some environmental
contaminant...."

"Uh-huh. And they were investigating this
contaminant?"

"I would assume so."

"Nekkid?"

"I would guess that there was some sort of glitch
in their investigation." Behind the little
detective Krycek and the old man came out of
Mulder's bedroom. Oh, no. Krycek was holding
a videotape. Skinner did not want to know what
was on it. He did not want to be here. He
supposed he should be grateful that Scully and
Fowley had reached an accord of any sort. He
just wished he could get the image out of his
mind: two glorious female bodies pressed
together in the dark, and his hands...

"Mr. Skinner?"

"Sorry. I was...."

"Going over the investigation?"

"Right. Do you need anything else from me? You
have my number."

"No, sir, I think I've got more than enough
already. You have a good evening."

Scully and Fowley were sitting at opposite ends of
Mulder's black leather couch. Skinner sat down on
the coffee table.

"You two want to tell me about it?"

"I came by to feed the fish," Scully said.

Skinner took Fowley's bandaged hand in his.

"Piranhas?" he asked, and regretted the comment
immediately. Scully was almost in tears. Diana's
free hand touched Scully's cheek, and Scully
jerked away as if she'd been burned.

"Agent Scully? Are you all right?"

Scully didn't answer Skinner, but she finally
looked at Fowley.

"What did they give you?" she asked. "What did
they offer you this time, to get what they needed
on tape?"

"I didn't know," Diana said, dabbing at her own
tears. "I swear I didn't. Dana?"

"Leave me alone, okay? Just leave me alone."

There was a rap at the door. A dark child of
about ten stood in the hall wiping her teary
face.

"Excuse me," she said. "Is Agent Mulder here?"

Skinner went to the door.

"Agent Mulder isn't feeling well. He's gone to
a private hospital for treatment."

"Oh. I only was supposed to call him if my
grandma wouldn't open her door. She lives
downstairs."

"Here you go, detective," Skinner said. "This
one should be more along your lines."

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

Autopsy bay
Quantico, Virginia
14 October 1999

"Victim is Sadie Tuffield, an African-American
female aged 56, found dead in her apartment after
her granddaughter reported no response at her
door. Cause of death is spinal trauma incidental
to a wound at the back of the neck." Scully
clicked off her recorder. "What is that thing?"
she asked Krycek.

He held it behind her neck, and it whirred madly.

"It likes you, Scully," he said.

"What does it do?"

He held it out to her, showed her the array of
readings.

"It probes those things in your necks," he said.
"I wish I knew what it all meant."

"Mrs. Tuffield has an implant?"

"Had, by our records. It's not there now. See?"
He placed the device over the corpse's neck. It
went blank.

"It would be reasonable to assume that something
attacked these people specifically to extract
their implants."

"But how did it know about you? It killed a bunch
of people in Michegan, and then came all the way
to Washington for its next meal?"

"Don't be stupid, Krycek."

"I can't help it. It comes naturally. No,
seriously, what do you think?"

"Where did you get that device? What technology
does it use?"

"You mean...."

"I mean who or whatever this is can detect the
implants. It also detected your device."

"It was following me?"

"You led it to me, Krycek. Was that what you were
supposed to do? Was it supposed to eliminate me
the way you eliminated Mulder?"

"Scully, we don't even know what this thing is!"

"No, but we know what it does." She restarted
the recorder. "Three of the subject's teeth
have been forcibly extracted, probably
postmortem. Multiple facial wounds exposing the
sinus cavities, to wit: one four millimeter...."

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

They all met at Skinner's office after lunch.
Scully sat in the chair at one end of the sofa,
and Diana perched on the arm of the old man's, at
the other end. Krycek had the couch to himself.
Skinner stayed behind the sheltering desk and
summarized.

"So we think some person or persons with the ability
to detect alien technology followed Agent Scully
around all day until it got a chance to take her
unawares, and when the burglar alarm frustrated the
attack, took the old woman instead? Do we have any
idea who these people are?"

Krycek sat up.

"There were rumors going around in Mechesumma. A
highway crew was excavating a tunnel, and they
found something really weird."

The old man raised an eyebrow.

"Did this weirdness have anything to do with the
case?"

"It's supposed to be weird machines."

"Whose?"

"I didn't see them, but it's supposed to be a
totally unknown technology. One of the students
with an unconventional bent had speculated that it
might be from Atlantis."

Scully snorted.

"Now that is the strangest thing I've heard come
out of this office yet. There is no tectonic
evidence that anything of remotely continental size
ever sank beneath the surface of any ocean on
earth!"

"She didn't say it sank," Alex said. "She said
they 'misused the power of crystals' and destroyed
themselves. And all the stuff at the university
is supposed to be based on crystals."

Fowley scratched under the bandage on her hand.
"What does it want with all these crystals, anyway?"

"It's building something," Scully said.

"To do what?"

"Nothing real. It's probably just some mentally
disturbed person on the fringes of the discovery
who believes that he or she is Atlantean. The
woman Alex is talking about would be my best guess."

"Where is this person now?" Skinner asked.

"Body bag eight," Krycek replied. "They should be
at Quantico by now."

"So much for that idea."

"We know what it wants," Scully said.

"Agreed." The old man twirled an unlit cigarette
through his fingers. "It wants you, and it knows
where to find you."

"It wants me, or any of several hundred former
abductees. Is that not the case?"

"It knows where to find you."

"And if it's put off, there could be another
tragedy like Mrs. Tuffield. Sir, I am tired of
people dying in my place."

Skinner leaned back in his chair.

"You have a better option, Agent Scully?"

"Better bait." There was silence in the room.
Scully smiled at the old man across from her.
"Sir, Agent Mulder once described to me a store
of implants that he found somewhere in the
Washington area. Do you know where it is?"

"Didn't he tell you?"

"You do know."

"Dana, those things are vital to our continuing
effort...."

"They are vital to the apprehension of this suspect.
It's the one thing we know he'll go for. Can you
get them?"

He licked his lips.

"I'll have to get authorization...."

"Where is this place?" Skinner asked.

"The Pentagon."

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

This wasn't going to work. Krycek couldn't find a
comfortable way to carry the bag of implants in one
arm. He couldn't find a casual way to walk. What
kind of an idiot carries a batch of highly sensitive
devices down a deserted Washington street on foot,
for heaven's sake? No one would ever believe it.

But he was watching. Alex could feel his eyes.
They were fixed on the back of Alex's neck, just
where the flesh had been ripped from the victims.

Alex was going to get a no-implant tattoo as soon
as this was over.

"Okay, we've got you." Skinner's gruff voice was
actually a reassurance. Someone would get to watch
the perp rip Alex's head off.

"Yeah," he whispered. "What do I do if I get to
the end of the street alive?"

Fowley's voice: "Turn around, look lost and check
addresses carefully as you walk slowly back this
way."

"Slowly, my ass. How come you don't get to be the
bait?"

"It knows you. It knows you have contact with the
devices. It might find this reasonable."

"Why? I don't." He stopped and looked up at a
shop window. "Anybody got any money? They've got
duvets two for fifteen dollars here."

Skinner again: "Move along."

"Somebody want to check that alley? I swear that
guy's watching me."

Fowley: "Okay, I'm on him."

"Gonna leave the Princess alone?"

"Fuck you, Krycek."

"Hiya, Scully. They actually let you work the
radio?"

The old man: "Children! Watch Diana, Alex."

"Hey, I've got enough problems watching myself."
Fowley turned down the alley and approached the
bundle of rags in the doorway. The bundle didn't
move. She spoke. Nada. She touched the pointed
toe of one high heeled shoe to its leg.

It reached out and grabbed her.

Fowley whacked it with the enormous Smith and Wesson
she carried. It fell over, disgorging two empty
liquor bottles.

"Just a drunk," she said, stepping back into the
street.

"Yeah, okay, go on back to precious."

"Fuck you, Alex."

"Hey, that's Scully's line. Ain't that right,
Scully?"

Silence.

"Scully?"

Skinner's voice: "Agent Scully, please respond."

More silence. Fowley was moving down the sidewalk
on her side, back toward the car. Alex turned to
parallel her on his side, and saw them. Scully,
blank-eyed and docile, being escorted along the
sidewalk by an oddly dressed bald guy with a three
day's growth of beard. Skinner was beyond them,
coming their way. The bald guy saw them, stopped,
stopped Scully with a gesture. He held up...
something. Something sharp, with three tines, like
a gardening fork. Something that could have made
the wounds on all those bodies. He'd made Skinner
and Krycek both, now. Slowly he moved toward the
alley, with Scully following like a friendly puppy.
He was going to get away with her. God, the old
man would have fits!

And then someone snatched the satchel from his hand.
Diana. She held it over her head and walked toward
the two. Baldy saw it. He must know what it was.
He was licking his lips. Fowley pointed at Scully,
jerked her thumb up the walk. Skinner had found a
sheltered place in a doorway, waiting for a chance
to shoot. Baldy stepped back into the alley, Scully
alongside him. Diana stopped in front of them. She
pointed at Scully and crooked a finger. It was like
a movie with no subtitles, except that Alex didn't
like the ending.

"He's not going for it."

Skinner: "Shut up, Krycek. Stay out of my line of
fire."

Baldy pointed at the satchel. Diana set it on the
sidewalk and backed off a step. Baldy snatched it
and shoved Scully into her arms. And just as
Skinner raised his pistol, there was a very bright
light.

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

Skinner never saw the man disappear. One moment
he was there, and the next, he was gone, and so
were the crystals. Fowley was sitting on the
sidewalk, cradling Scully in her lap, while Krycek
stood over them with his gun in his hand. Skinner
compared his watch to the bank clock down the
street.

Yep. Nine minutes gone. He strode down the walk
and knelt beside the women.

"Agent Scully."

"I'm okay," she said, her speech slurred. "I
think I'm okay."

"What happened?"

"I dunno. I just couldn't say no to anything. I
wondered how he got Mrs. Tuffield to open her door
to a stranger. Now I know."

"Where are the crystals we all signed away our
lives for?"

"They got them," Krycek said. "The Boss is going
to hit the roof."

"Let him," Skinner snapped. He had long ago lost
all patience with the Morley man. He held out his
hands to the women on the ground. "Come on, you
two," he said.

"Is it over?" Scully asked.

"Yeah," Diana replied. "Whose turn is it to
write the report?"
---
exfilia@my-dejanews.com

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