Title: HOME AGAIN
Author: Donna McIntosh
Email:
Fandom: X-Files
Pairing: Skinner/Krycek & Mulder/Scully
Genre: Slash
Rating: NC – 17 FRAO
Disclaimer: These characters belong to Chris Carter but they have a lot more fun with me! I make no money off of them.
Summary: Skinner takes on his first assignment for the Resistance and everything goes wrong. Krycek goes to Mulder for help.
Beta: Thanks so much Ursula for all your help. I really appreciate it.
HOME AGAIN
"Think of all living beings as a pyramid. Humans – mankind is the lowest level. Then you have your altered humans, then your Elders. Above the Elders you have the hybrids and at the very top, what we consider aliens -- a life form so advanced that their knowledge spans millennia; their powers endless, un-imaginable."
"Their goal?" Skinner asked.
"Universal peace; and they have achieved it on several worlds. You will visit some on our many journeys."
"So even you, an Elder, have someone to answer to?"
"I wouldn't exactly use the term 'answer to' but we do have those we report to and take direction from."
"The hybrids?"
"Yes. They are a mixed breed of the higher evolved species. Their knowledge and experience is in-valuable in our work."
"If they are so powerful, why don't they just come in and transform each world themselves?"
"Oh my goodness, no! Mankind in all its many forms, are creatures of free will. They must be handled with great care, schooled in the ways of a peaceful existence."
"It's not an easy task they've taken on."
"They will accomplish their goal when the time is right."
"In our life time?" Skinner asked.
"That is impossible to know. We, each of us, must simply do what we can to further the process."
Skinner shook his head in agreement and stood as the Elder stood, signaling the end of their session.
"Thank you for your time, Elder Eli."
"You are most welcome, Walter. I always enjoy counseling the young ones."
Walter made his way from the Elder's chambers down the ramp where Alex was waiting for him.
"What are you grinning about?" Alex asked.
"It's been a long time since I've been considered a 'young one'."
"Well, you are. We all are compared to the Elders."
"I'm starving. You ready for lunch?" Walter asked.
"Yes! I was just thinking about some chicken quesadillas. What do you feel like?" Alex asked as they walked down ramp to the eating area in the courtyard.
"That sounds great." Walter agreed as they entered the small café, seated themselves and tapped in their choices on the automated menus imbedded in the table top.
"I talked with Jeremiah while you were in with Elder Eli. He's got something going and he's thinking of using us."
"Really? What is it? I'll take anything they offer." Skinner came to full alert; anxious for his first assignment.
"He didn't say. He asked if I thought you were ready and I assured him that you are."
"I am! Did he give you any idea what's going on; what the mission might be?" Walter fidgeted with his water glass.
"No; he didn't say. He was deep in thought and we only spoke for a moment. He was headed for a meeting with Elder Daniel."
"I wonder what it is." Walter waited anxiously. "How long do you think before we'll know something?"
"No telling. I'm sure we'll have time to finish our meal. Eat!" Alex grinned as he ate and encouraged Walter to do the same.
They had finished and were just leaving the café when they heard their names over the PA system with instructions to join Jeremiah Smith in his office. They grinned at each other and took off for the nearest up ramp.
"Please sit down. I have something I need to discuss with you." Jeremiah said as they hurried into his office. The three of them sat down and he began. "Something has come up that is most urgent. I hadn't planned on using you this soon, Walter; but Alex assures me that you are ready."
"I am! Whatever it is, I accept." Walter said sitting on the edge of his chair.
"You'd better hear the details first. If you'd rather not go; I'm sure we can find someone else to go with Alex."
"I want to go!" Walter insisted.
"What is the mission?" Alex asked, not quite as eager as Walter. Though he was sure Walter had completed the training all right, he wasn't exactly eager to take him into a dangerous situation.
"It's a rescue mission. A very important person has been taken. We are the only chance he has of escaping with his life. The situation has become dire."
"In what way?" Alex asked.
"We have someone on the inside. He has managed to get a message to us that the subject is scheduled to be – studied, in other words; dissected."
Walter winced; Alex asked, "How much time do we have?"
"Unknown. But very little."
"Where is he being held?"
"Third quadrant, the miner's colony. You'll have to take the shuttle."
"Are they below?" The sweat stood out on Alex's forehead. He hated the mines; his claustrophobia caused him fits last time he had to go down into one.
"No. It's in a large warehouse complex; building 3B. That's as much information as I have. By the time you get ready to go, I should have more for you. Are you sure you want to try something this difficult on your first assignment, Walter?"
"Yes. I accept."
"Very well. The shuttle is being prepared as we speak. Any further information will be transmitted to you en route." Jeremiah stood.
Walter and Alex hurried to their rooms and donned their specialized gear. "I can't believe I'm finally going on a real mission. I've been training for nearly a year now. I was beginning to think they were just training me to keep me out of their hair."
"They wouldn't do that." Alex assured him as they hurried to the shuttle bay.
Jeremiah met them there. "I did manage to find one more bit of information. The man you're going after is someone you both know. Fox Mulder."
"On my God!" Walter gasped.
"Just remember, Walter, follow Alex's orders. He is in control of this mission.
"I understand." Walter shook his head.
They boarded the shuttle craft and were surprised when Jeremiah joined them.
"You're going along?" Alex asked.
"I am. In case the process has already started he will need a healer immediately."
"Good." Alex said and looked at Walter who had gone silent since hearing it was Mulder they were going after.
The trip took an agonizing four hours before they were in the docking area of the busy Third quadrant. Vehicles of all shapes and sizes were coming and going and as stunned as Walter was, he carefully took in all the activity. He had heard of talk about a moon base but assumed it to be just a small operation. What he saw looked to him like a small domed city.
"Good luck," Jeremiah said as they climbed down from their docked position between two freighters and eased their way into the shadows of the buildings that were half hidden in the semi-darkness.
Alex pointed to the top of one building and its number was plain to be seen. They were in front of building 1A. They made their way silently through the alley way between buildings until they arrived at the back of 3B.
"This is it." Alex whispered.
"Maybe we'll luck out and this 'study' won't have started yet." Walter whispered back.
"We can only hope." Alex answered as they made their way around to a window.
Alex tried in vain to see through the dirt but had to clean a small spot before he could see anything.
"This looks like a storage area. Probably best to go in here instead of a door. They all seem to have lights over them."
"Agreed." Walter said and pulled a small glass cutter out of his little tool kit on his belt. He made the circular cut and tapped the glass as it came loose and was drawn outward with the tiny suction cups on the device. Alex stuck his hand inside and released the lock.
The window opened easily and they slipped inside. They crouched behind some crates for several minutes and just listened. They could hear movement in the next room and in a moment the door to the room they were in opened and the lights came on. They didn't move; they hardly even breathed.
Walter was shocked by what he saw. He could only have been called a 'gray'. He had heard talk of them for years, seen reports about them but never quite believed they existed. Yet here they were; two of them, featureless except for the large dark oval eyes and tiny holes where a nose would be on a human. They were extremely thin; all arms and legs with a small body approximately four feet tall. No clothes were worn, no hair any where on their body or head; and he heard no conversation between them.
The grays made their way over to a small cart filled with half a dozen barrels and one of them had a small device that looked like a magician's magic wand and moved it over the cart. The cart began moving and they moved with it until they were out of the room; turning the lights off and closing the door behind them.
"Holy shit!" Walter muttered.
"They are fragile looking but they are strong and mean as the devil. You don't want to tangle with them if you don't have to." Alex whispered back.
The movement from the other room stopped and they could hear the cart being moved out the front door, the door closing and the cart going down the ramp outside. They watched through the window as it was loaded onto a truck. The grays then headed over to another building and went inside.
"This seems an unlikely place for a laboratory." Walter said looking around at the barrels stored near by.
"Let's see what they've got upstairs." Alex said as he opened the door a crack and peered into the outer room. It was dark and silent and they made their way up the stairs.
They stopped outside a door and listened. Silence. They heard a noise further down the hall and listened against the door. There was movement inside and a sound – a groan of agony.
Alex pulled his knife out and Walter did the same. "There's no time to discuss this. Let's just go in there and get him."
"Agreed!" Walter said.
"Go for their throat. It's messy and stinks like the devil but it's their only vulnerable spot."
Alex turned the knob and the door opened. Three grays turned and came at them. Walter did a sideways flying tackle and took two of them down that came around the table after him. Alex struggled with the one closest to the examining table who was trying to use some large saw like tool on him. One quick movement and Alex's blade found its mark and green ooze seeped out as the grey fell to the floor clutching his throat.
Alex turned to see Walter as he plunged his knife into the hilt into the throat of the second gray then turned to the one he was sitting on and did the same thing. Walter was up on his feet and he and Alex were both at Mulder's side, trying to figure out how to disconnect him from all the equipment attached to him.
Walter moved a small tray table out of the way and something caught his eye. Fingers. There was a pile of fingers on the tray. He glanced quickly at Mulder and saw that all his fingers had been removed. He started to shake from anger and the horror of it all. Alex was working feverishly trying to get the equipment loose. Walter scooped the fingers up and shoved them into his pocket then began working on the equipment.
Somewhere in the facility an alarm went off. They could hear the claxon blaring off in the distance.
They finally managed to disconnect the part of the apparatus that had Mulder pinned from the waist down. Walter began working on the device that was stuck in Mulder's mouth forcing it open. Mulder's frantic eyes watched as they worked and he grunted desperately trying to encourage them on.
Walter couldn't get the device loose from Mulder's mouth and Alex joined him. There were still other devices holding him secure as well. Alex finally gave a disgusted "Fuck this!" and pulled out his gun and fired it several times into the heart of the machine. Sparks flashed and warning bells sounded but the devices loosened enough for them to be disconnected and pulled out of Mulder. Finally he was free!
Walter hauled him up over his shoulder and Alex led the way, stepping over puddles of green alien blood on his way to the door. He peeked outside and saw several grays heading down the stairs, away from them. When it seemed no more were coming, he edged out of the room with Skinner following close behind. They peered down the stair well and saw the grays exiting the building. They waited until the building was silent and made their way down the steps.
They slipped into the back storage room and out the window. A look around the corner of the building and they saw the grays massing in a back area where one who was an apparent leader of some sort was waving his arms in all directions and the grays began to spread out in a search mode.
"We gotta get out of here; NOW!" Alex said and they took off down the alley. Slowly they made it down to where their shuttle was docked. The door opened as they approached and before the door was fully closed their shuttle was taking off.
Walter laid Mulder down in the middle of the floor and Jeremiah began working on him.
"Here; you'll need these." Walter reached into his pocket and dropped the fingers down at Jeremiah's side.
"Fucking shit!" Alex exclaimed as he realized what it was and took a look at Mulder's mutilated hands.
Mulder lay flat on his back unable to move or speak. He groaned and sputtered but couldn't close his mouth or make any words. A closer inspection showed that all his teeth had been removed as well as his tongue. Jeremiah leaned over him, placing his hand over Mulder's face and in two seconds Mulder sank into unconsciousness.
"Looks like you got to him just in time." Jeremiah said as he continued his examination. "This is going to take the regeneration chamber. I have him relatively stable for the moment."
"Will you be able to re-attach his fingers?" Walter asked.
"Re-attach them; no. But we can regenerate them. His teeth and tongue as well."
"Why, Smith; why would any species do such a thing?" Walter grimaced at Mulder's mutilated body.
"They are so far evolved above man kind that to them, this is nothing more than a biology lesson. As we dissect frogs and other small animals, they dissect humans."
"The difference is that when we do it, the animal is dead." Walter said.
"Don't make the mistake of judging another species by human standards." Smith warned.
Walter shook his head at the horror of it all, thinking that the dissection would have continued if they hadn't gotten there when they did. He took a seat beside Alex and just stared out the window as the stars passed by.
"So what did you think of your first assignment?" Alex asked later as they were in their room preparing for sleep.
"It was horrific; a night mare." Walter answered as he slid under the covers. "Are they all this gruesome?"
"No." Alex answered as he turned off the light. "If you want to speak with the counselor I'm sure she can ease the memory of it for you."
"No. That won't be necessary. I just hope the next assignment will be different."
"I'm sure it will. You did well though. You kept your head every step of the way."
"What about Mulder? Jeremiah says he'll be fine but what about his memories?"
"Jeremiah will make that decision."
"Can you just imagine what it must have been like? Having parts of your body cut off, piece by piece?"
"I already know that."
"Oh God, Alex! I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking. You've had your new arm for a year now; I'd almost forgotten."
"Don't worry about it. Just try and get some sleep now; at least a few hours. Then we'll go check on Mulder."
"I don't think I can sleep a wink." Walter said.
"Just close your eyes and think of a blank wall. Remember your lessons. Sleep is very important. When you're working on a regular basis you have to sleep whenever you can.
You can do it."
"I'll try. But I just keep thinking about Mulder and what he went through."
"Put it out of your mind, just for a few hours. He's in the best of hands. Jeremiah will pull him through."
"You're right; I know that. I remember what professor Daltry said that sometimes the aftermath of a mission is worse than the actual mission itself. I didn't really understand what he meant. I do now."
"Mulder will be fine and you will be too after some sleep. Come on now; think of that blank wall and nothing else."
They finally slept after a while but it took them both several minutes before they could calm down enough.
One week later they sat in Jeremiah's office discussing Mulder's recovery. It was finally decided unanimously that the entire incident should be wiped from Mulder's memory.
"You're sure that can be done without messing up the rest of Mulder's memories?" Walter asked as they were leaving.
"Yeah, Jeremiah can do it. I don't know how he does it, but he does."
"We're not talking a surgical procedure here, are we?"
"No. Jeremiah just does the 'laying on of hands' and sits there a while and before you know it, it's done. The man is amazing."
"He certainly is. I don't normally agree that people's minds should be messed with but in this case I make an exception."
"Agreed." Alex said as they headed down for lunch.
Four days later they escorted Mulder, unconscious, down to his apartment and helped him to his bed.
"You're sure he's going to be all right?" Walter asked.
"I'm sure. Jeremiah said he would wake up in about an hour. If he has any residual memories at all, they will be mild and seem like a dream." Alex answered.
Then they headed back home with Walter trying out his skills and transporting them both back himself.
"Good job!" Alex complimented him as they arrived in the transporter room. "I knew you could do it."
"But what would happen if I messed up?"
"Nothing. The transport simply wouldn't have taken place. You don't have to worry about that. You're not going to transport half of somebody. With this device it either works or it doesn't."
"Well my first assignment is now complete. Is there a mountain of paperwork and reports that I have to work on now?" Walter asked as they headed for their rooms.
"No. I'll make a call to Jeremiah and tell him, mission accomplished, and that will be it. If he has any questions he'll ask them. It was a pretty straight forward drop off though so I can't think of any questions he'll have."
"Oh, I like that!" Walter sighed as they entered their quarters.
"Me too. How about a drink?"
"You could talk me into it; a drink and anything else that you might be interested in." Walter sat down and leaned back into the couch, hands laced together behind his head.
Alex sat down on Walter's lap, straddling him. "Then let's forget about the drink for now."