Colonization V
by Donna

Email address - donnah@donnas-stories.com
URL - http://www.donnas-stories.com/
Rating - R
Category - Post-colonization, MSR, AU, MPOV
Spoilers - None
Keywords - Post-colonization, MSR, AU, MPOV 
Summary - None
Feedback - Please
Archive - Anywhere, just let me know so I can visit

Disclaimer - Mulder, Scully, the Lone Gunmen and Skinner 
all belong to Chris, 10-13, and Fox - Bless them for it!!  No 
infringement intended.


Colonization - Part 5


"I was able to read a man in Toronto.  There're a lot more 
cities here than in North Dakota," William complained.  "It's 
crowded even now."

"What did you get from him?"

"There're no private cars anymore.  The people that are 
controlled use moving trucks and panel vans to haul 
supplies to warehouses, things you can't see inside.  Except 
for people.  They move the people in armored cars."

"Armored cars?" Skinner looked over at Mulder.

"They think people are more valuable than supplies?" 
Mulder shrugged.  "Is it the same in DC?  We have to get to 
her before she's put inside one.  We'll have to hide this car 
as well, and steal one of theirs," Mulder began thinking out 
loud.

"Be nice if the one we steal is full of supplies," Gibson 
grinned.

"I like the way you think," Skinner clapped a hand on his 
shoulder.  "We're going to have to take some back roads 
now, stay as far away from cities and towns as possible, but 
William's right, it's more crowded here.  We're going to have 
to slow down."

Mulder's head flew up and his mouth opened.  Skinner just 
stared at him and he clamped his lips shut.  Okay, the man 
was right, but . . .  Mulder looked over at William.  "Have you 
been able to pick up anything about where the women go 
when they reach the front of the line?"

William shook his head.  "But if they're putting people in 
armored cars in the middle of the night, and she hasn't seen 
anyone leave . . . "

"Yeah.  It's a leap, but hey," he managed to grin at Skinner.  
"How far from the front of the line is she?"

"I'll try to find out tonight.  I think I've been pushing too hard 
during the day."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we keep trying to ask her things but we really aren't 
getting through during the day, and she keeps getting 
headaches."

Mulder froze and Skinner reached for him.  "That makes 
sense, William.  Back off during the day.  If she's more 
receptive at night, that's the best time to try to reach her."

William was looking at his father though and Skinner wasn't 
sure he'd heard a word.  "Cancer?" the boy whispered, 
horrified.

Skinner's hand tightened on Mulder's arm.  "William, your 
mother is fine.  She was sick a long time ago, long before 
you were born.  Your father found a cure and she's been 
well ever since.  I don't want you to worry about this, right, 
Mulder?"

"R-right.  Sorry, I was just . . . "

"I won't hurt her, Dad.  I promise."

Mulder reached for the boy and he rushed into Mulder's 
arms.  "I know that.  Don't mind me.  I get a little crazy when 
I'm Scully-less for more than a few hours."  

Skinner and Gibson chuckled at that, causing a glare from 
Mulder, and went back to packing the car.  They were 
definitely moving slower now that they had turned south 
toward the United States again.  They had decided to travel 
only when both boys were up and able to concentrate on 
diverting attention away from them.

"What I'd like, is to get to DC and be able to scout around.  I 
don't remember a building like Scully is living in near the 
monument.  I know they could have converted just about 
anything, but if they're got dormitory space for two hundred 
women and for all we know men somewhere in this . . . " 
Skinner's voice trailed off.

"What?"

"The Pentagon.  They're being held in the Pentagon."

"But that's a couple of miles and a river away from . . . "

"We were thinking the thing just fell over.  It was blasted, 
remember?  It could have flown that far."  After a moment 
Mulder nodded.  "Are you familiar with the layout?"

"I've been in the basement a couple of times," Mulder said 
with heavy irony.

Skinner's chuckle caused Mulder to glance over at him, 
shaking his head.  They piled in the car and headed south 
again.

They had been traveling a couple of hours when William 
touched Mulder's arm.  "One of those places where they 
store supplies is just over there.  They have those vans and 
trucks there.  That's what we need to be traveling in now."

"Okay, sounds like a good idea. We need to find a place, a 
safe place, to hide this car."

Gibson pointed from the backseat.  "Over there.  The cars 
they've already searched are stored in a big parking lot.  We 
can hide in plain sight, just not near the edges."

Skinner nodded and turned in that direction.  There was no 
one at the entrance, thanks to the boys and they pulled 
deep into the lot.  They pulled into a space and Mulder 
turned back toward the boys.  "We've got to head over to the 
other site.  We have to be careful not to be seen. I've got an 
extra gun, Gibson, if you - " 

"No thanks.  I think I'd rather go with what William's already 
taught me.  I'll be more effective that way."

Mulder and Skinner nodded.

"We shouldn't stay together; four is a lot to hide.  We can 
meet up again at the southeast corner of the lot, near those 
bushes," Skinner pointed, whispering.  Mulder agreed and 
took William's hand.

"See you there."  He and William ducked down and headed 
south.  Gibson and Skinner moved east. Both Mulder and 
Skinner had their guns out, despite Gibson's confidence.

Only one person came close to Skinner and Gibson, and 
Gibson turned his attention elsewhere with no problem. 
Mulder and William were waiting for them without worry.  
Mulder thought again how incredibly lucky he and Skinner 
were to have this advantage, even if the humans they'd 
seen were drugged.

"Come on, guys.  We need to get over to the storage 
building."  Cautiously they moved from hiding place to 
hiding place and, with the boys' assistance, made quick 
work of reaching the building.  They found several vans 
there, waiting to be unloaded.  Skinner and Gibson scouted 
the other side of the building and found the empty vans 
getting readied to be sent back out.

"We might as well take a full one, if we're going to steal it 
anyway," Skinner said.  "Just pick the one with the most 
gas."  

That didn't take much time and they were on their way, 
Skinner driving, with the others hidden in the back until 
they were out of sight.  In addition to the food stored in this 
panel van, there were also a couple of containers of gas, so 
they set off for DC with few qualms.

"We need to get there in plenty of time to be able to scout 
things out.  We believe she's in the Pentagon, but that's not 
assured.  We also need to hide this vehicle and get one of 
the armored cars to transport her away from the building, so 
keep an eye out.  We should have four days before she's 
moved and we'll need every minute of that."

Mulder nodded, letting Skinner take point on this.  It did feel 
like a military operation.  

They reached DC by early afternoon and carefully scouted 
around.  Skinner's building had been demolished, but 
surprisingly Mulder's old apartment building was still 
standing.  Looking around inside of a city for the first time, 
they realized the precision of the destruction.  Business 
buildings, skyscrapers, tourist attractions were gone, but the 
buildings that were mainly housing stood undamaged.  
Skinner's building had housed a bank and several retail 
shops on the bottom floors.

"Did they plan to kill this many?  They struck in the middle of 
a week day and took out just about all of the commercial 
property."

"Who knows?  They did leave plenty of living space, which 
isn't being used since they've gathered everyone up and 
are apparently keeping them under control, at least for now."

"The drugs are definitely in the water," Gibson reported.  
"They're also giving them more drugs in some cases, like 
the cookies, but everyone is getting the water.  That's why 
Scully's still semi-drugged even avoiding some of the food."

"Mulder, you're familiar with the water plants - "

"That was a long time ago, and in Newark."

"But if we went over there, tried to figure out how the drugs 
are getting into the water, then we might be able to . . . "

"We're here to get Scully."

"Yes, and we will, but look at all the other people that need 
our help.  Scully would want us to do everything we can.  
We can't do anything for her until they bring her out of the 
building.  We can at least check this out," Skinner pressed.

Mulder grudgingly nodded.  He did know more about water 
processing plants since investigating Flukeman, and 
Skinner was right.  Anything they could do to break more 
people free would be Scully's goal.

"We have an advantage," William offered.  "They think the 
drugs always work.  They've 'trained' the semi-drugged ones 
and fully drugged anyone else - they think.  The fact that 
Mom quit eating the cookies for some reason, well, they 
never thought about that.  They're not even here now.  Once 
they got the population here under control, they moved to 
another city.  There aren't very many of them on Earth at all.  
They don't have guards out protecting things from us.  The 
drugged people are especially easy for Gibson and me to 
turn away."

"So we shouldn't have much trouble getting into the water 
plant?" Mulder asked.

"Right.  They think they're smarter than we are."

"Okay, let's take our advantage and use it.  Maybe we'll even 
find some fuel to top off the tank while we're there."

Using back roads and a couple of detours, they made their 
way to the water processing plant.  William had been right; 
there were no guards and few workers.  Those few were 
easily sent to other areas of the building. 

Mulder led the way down into the plant to where the 
cleaned water was released back into the system.  The four 
of them stood at the entrance, scanning the large area.  It 
was Mulder who realized the tarp covered mound wasn't just 
equipment.  He led the others that way and lifted one corner 
of the tarp.  It hid a stainless steel tank and he saw the small 
tube leading from the tank into the water.

"Is it the drug?"

"Don't know, but it is being fed into the water."  He pulled 
the tarp off the tank completely and realized there was 
another tank beside it.  He stepped closer and then jerked 
back.  "Shit!"

"What?" Skinner was closing in on him.  "What is it?"

Mulder looked up at him.  "I don't know."  They all stared at 
the second container.  It was a glass container rather than 
stainless steel, but it was what was floating in it that had 
their attention.  At first Mulder had thought it was a rock, 
until it moved.  The impression was of a jellyfish with green 
tentacles and a stone covering resembling a large shitake 
mushroom.  It rose and sank within some sort of fluid, but it 
seemed to be . . . sweating.  Small beads of an amber 
moisture were forming on the rock and then sliding down 
into the fluid.  That was what was being pumped into the 
stainless steel tank.

"That was never in any biology class I took," Skinner said 
softly.

"You obviously didn't study xeno-biology, but don't feel bad, 
none of us did."  Mulder turned towards the boys.  "I don't 
suppose it has any thoughts you can pick up?"

They both shook their heads, torn between fascination and 
horror as they stared at the thing.

"What do we do?" Skinner asked Mulder. 

"Uh, well, I'd say this isn't something necessary for the 
water.  Is there really not some sort of alarm connected to 
this thing?"  They all looked more closely at the apparatus in 
front of them.  "They are arrogant.  I say we turn off the tap 
and not let any more of this junk get into the water."

"We'll need to stop the source too," Skinner mused as he 
closed the tap of the stainless steel tank, stopping the flow 
of whatever was in it into the municipal water supply.  He 
pulled the tubing up and out of the water, carefully keeping 
his hands away from the wet areas.

"Kill that thing.  Yeah, okay.  Any ideas on that?" Mulder 
looked at all of them.

"It doesn't use oxygen," Gibson offered.

"How do you know that?" Mulder asked quickly.

Gibson pointed to the small tank that was flowing into the 
glass tank just above the level of the fluid.  

"How do we know that's not oxygen?"

"Well, we can't be sure, but isn't that the symbol for 
fluoride?"

He turned to Gibson. "I believe the last class I took in 
chemistry was before you were born."  He looked over at 
Skinner.  "See why I need Scully?"

Skinner cocked his eyebrow at him.  "Wouldn't you say that 
anything that breaths fluoride would have a big problem 
with oxygen?"

"I'd think so."

"There're oxygen tanks over there." William pointed.

"Do we really want to try this?" Mulder asked.

"We really want to keep the 'soma' out of the water," Skinner 
replied.

"Can't argue with that," Mulder sighed.  "Okay, let's try it."  
He headed toward the larger tanks and moved one over to 
the two tanks.  "Everyone get back."

"Mulder, why don't I - "

"Because I've already started.  Keep an eye on the guys," 
Mulder interrupted as he closed the valve on the fluoride 
tank.  He disconnected it from the glass tank as Skinner 
moved the boys back toward the concrete wall.  Once 
Mulder had removed the small fluoride tank, he glanced 
back at Skinner, then carefully attached the tube to the 
oxygen tank.  He opened it the slightest amount and saw 
the ripple of the fluid in the glass tank as air began to flow 
again.  The jellyfish had continued its calm up and down 
movement during all of the commotion outside of its tank, 
but when it reached the top again and the tip of the rock-like 
surface touched the oxygen, it jerked, moving rapidly down 
to the bottom of the tank.

"I think I'll take that as a reaction," Mulder mused, watching 
the thing closely, but moving back away from the tank 
slightly.  Almost immediately the tentacles that hung down 
from the jellyfish began to change color, going from the 
green tint toward a red hue.  "Does that mean it's getting 
angry?" he asked and heard Skinner harhumph in 
response.  He turned and grinned, but William's pointed 
finger caused him to look back quickly.  The beads of 'sweat' 
for lack of a better term were also turning red now and there 
was no more up and down movement.  In very little time, the 
thing was completely motionless at the bottom of the tank.  
The beads of fluid stopped appearing on the rock like 
surface.

"Dead?"

"That'd be my guess."

"We need to clean up, so it won't be noticeable that we've 
done anything."  Mulder quickly disconnected the oxygen 
tank and Gibson rolled it back over to where it had stood 
before.  The fluoride tank was reconnected but not turned 
on.  Skinner, using rags, coiled the tube from the stainless 
steel tank around its base and then they covered both tanks 
with the tarp that had covered them before.

"Let's get out of here," Skinner advised as they turned back 
toward the exit.

Safely back in the van, the boys were excited about what 
they had accomplished.  It was Skinner that spoke.  "We 
have to hope that it dissipates quickly.  It would be nice to 
have some people realize something was being done to 
them before 'they' get back to fix it."

"We'll get Scully out in just a couple of days and head back 
to North Dakota.  Stay out of their way for awhile, but maybe 
these guys can keep a look out for non-drugged activity," 
Skinner said.

"True, we need to do that, but what if we look for water 
treatment plants on the way, at least in the smaller area," 
Gibson agreed.

"Good idea.  I don't want them to lose their arrogance, but I 
would like to see us make some trouble for them," Mulder 
grinned down at William, who nodded.

*****

They found a place where they could hide the van and hold 
up for a couple of days.  The waiting, this close to her was 
actually harder for Mulder than when they had been 
traveling.  Now he was having to just wait.

The first couple of days in this apartment building, they had 
broken into the apartments and taken what supplies they 
could find.   It occurred to Mulder that Scully would want 
medications, vitamins, things like that, so he concentrated 
on that kind of thing while the others handled food and 
whatever they deemed essential.

The apartments had been stripped now, and they waited.  It 
was eerie that no one was in the streets, coming or going.  

There were no more preparations they could make.  The 
plan had been reviewed so many times, Mulder dreamed of 
it and he was pretty sure the others did as well.

The day finally dawned, and William assured him that 
Scully had indeed received the first shower of the women in 
her dorm.  Small reward for being taken wherever she was 
scheduled to be taken tonight.  There had been no 
information on that front.  No one that had been taken was 
available for William or Gibson to read.  That gaping silence 
was enough to chill Mulder's blood.

As the day continued though, Mulder found himself 
steadying with icy resolve.  She was his and he would get 
her back, they would get her back.  That part of the darkness 
would be gone.

*****

She was led to a door she had never used before, that led 
outside.  There she was placed in a line of other women 
dressed exactly as she was.  Had these women also 
reached the front of the 'line' in their dorm?  They walked 
toward a large heavy vehicle and again words appeared in 
her head, 'armored car'.  It wasn't a car, it was a truck, a large 
one and the back was open.  The woman at the beginning 
of the line was already climbing into it.  Where would they 
take her?  What would happen to her?  The women around 
her were so damn compliant; did they not realize what was 
happening to them?  Did they not care?

Suddenly all activity stopped.  The handlers stopped in their 
tracks, their faces even more blank, if that was possible.  
The women didn't seem to notice or care, standing still until 
they were urged to move forward again.  

A movement on the far side of the truck caught her eye and 
a man, the man she now thought of as her husband, 
stepped out from behind it looking around to ensure that no 
one was noticing this activity and motioned for her to come 
to him.

She didn't hesitate, it was him, the man she had been 
dreaming about.  He took her hand, holding it tightly, but her 
grip was just as tight in return.  He and the bald man, who 
had remained hidden behind the truck, hurried her around 
a corner and toward a vehicle identical to the one they had 
kept her from entering.

"It's okay; we 'borrowed' this one.  Come on."

She nodded and scrambled into the back.  The little boy, his 
son from the dream was already there.  The young man with 
the limp was in the front seat.  The man she thought of as 
her husband climbed in beside her, and the bald man took 
the wheel.  They were moving before the back door was 
completely shut.

"Give us a few minutes," the man was speaking to the little 
boy and he nodded.

They were all checking the windows.  No one could see 
inside, but they were obviously watching to see if they were 
being followed.

The bald man drove carefully but swiftly, as though laws 
didn't apply to him.  She kept quiet; it had been the right 
thing to do to go with them, but . . . 

After several long minutes, in which he never let go of her 
hand, he turned back to her.  His eyes, she'd been right 
about one thing, this man loved her.

He pulled her against him, burying his face in her hair.  He 
was murmuring something she couldn't quite get, "sully"?

He kissed her tenderly and let his fingers explore her face 
as though reacquainting himself with the feel of her.

"You must have a thousand questions," he finally said 
when she remained quiet.  "Go on, I'll try to answer them."

After a moment she nodded, she had to do this.  "What, 
what's my name?"

She felt the vehicle swerve slightly as the bald man looked 
in the mirror and the others turned to stare at her.  He was 
frozen in front of her.  "Scully?"

"Is that it?  Scully?"

"Oh god."  He looked at the little boy, obviously asking 
questions, but not speaking.  "Scully, do you know me?"

She shook her head slightly.  "I, I think you're my husband."

Relief flooded his body.  "Yes, I mean, we're together."

"Is this our son?"

"William, yes."  She looked at the young man.  "That's 
Gibson, Gibson Praise, he . . . works with us.  And that's 
Walter Skinner.  He's a very good friend."

Her hand reached for him, but didn't touch him.  "I'm 
Mulder."

"Mulder?"

"Fox Mulder, you call me Mulder and I call you Scully."

She looked puzzled at that, but didn't know the question to 
ask.

"We were partners, we worked in the FBI.  That's how we 
met."

"I work at the FBI?"

"You did, we both did.  We've been away from it for a while."  
She didn't say anything for a moment.

"We, we left together?"

"It's a long story.  I will tell you everything, I promise, but I 
need you to trust me for now."

"I . . . I do."

The smile he gave her startled her, but she responded with 
one of her own.

He carefully took her back into his arms.  He couldn't seem 
to get enough of touching her, but she didn't mind.  It felt 
safe in his arms, and her headache had vanished at the 
sight of him.  She'd had it so long she hadn't realized it was 
a constant until his touch removed it.

He looked up, not releasing her and looked at the boy.  "Is it 
gone?"

The boy shook his head.  "All of her memories are still in 
there; they've just been . . . blocked off.  I didn't realize, I 
didn't think to - "

"No, it's not your fault.  No one thought to even check.  If it's 
still in there, we'll get it back."

She tentatively reached out and stroked the boy's hair.  
"Please don't blame yourself.  I want to know you.  I'll work 
on it, okay?"

"Uh, actually you don't know him, at least you haven't seen 
him recently," Mulder offered.  "It's another thing I'll tell you."

"Who are we at war with?  Who bombed Washington?"

The man, Mulder, exchanged looks in the mirror with the 
bald man.  "Scully, the, the planet was invaded."

"Invaded?"

"By aliens."

She stared at him.

"Yeah, I know, we've been here before."  He managed a 
sick sort of smile.  "Look, it's the middle of the night.  Why 
don't you try to rest?  Everything will look better in the 
sunlight.  I promise, okay?"

As though at his instruction, she seemed to droop in front of 
him, too weary to do more than crook her finger toward 
William.  He came to her eagerly and curled up next to her 
smiling.  She lay her head on Mulder's thigh and was 
asleep before her arm completed encircling their son.

Mulder and Skinner were quiet then, each thinking their 
own thoughts.  Gibson avoided them both, concentrating on 
keeping their path clear and unobserved.  Skinner returned 
to the packed van they had been using.

Gibson took William and Mulder lifted Scully into his arms.  
He lay her on the floor of the van on a pallet.  There was 
less room, but the supplies were more important than 
comfort.  Mulder took over the driving, giving Skinner a 
break, and himself some sort of control.

She didn't know him.  She thought he was her husband, 
and hell, he was and had wanted to be for some time.  She 
knew their son if only from the dreams he had sent her.  At 
least she'd come with him, they'd get the rest back.  They'd 
return to North Dakota and take the time she needed.

He heard her stir and glanced over at Skinner, asleep in the 
passenger seat.  He heard her talking to Gibson and turn to 
smile at her.  "Hungry?"  He grinned at the sound of her 
stomach rumbling.  "I guess you are."

Gibson offered her some food and offered his name.  
Mulder, watching in the mirror saw her curiosity.  "I can read 
minds," Gibson said.

Before Mulder could respond, Skinner opened his eyes.  
"Could we let her ease back into this?"

Mulder was still watching Scully's expression and 
immediately pulled the van to the side of the road.  Skinner 
took over the driving even as Mulder was closing the sliding 
door.  "Too much, huh?"

"What's going on?"

"We're on our way to a safe place."

"Why did we change cars?"

"We couldn't be sure that truck wasn't being tracked, and 
this one was already packed."

"Packed?"

"With the supplies we're going to need."  At her expression 
he knew he had to give her more than he had so far.  He 
looked around, hell, everyone that could hear him already 
knew the story.  She got comfortable and listened.

Well, she didn't argue with him, though from her expression 
she wasn't what you could call convinced.

Gibson joined the conversation, explaining how she had 
been able to help them, as Mulder just watched her.  She 
was real. "You're stronger than I am."  Mulder squeezed her 
hand.  "Tell me what you did while we were apart.  What you 
remember."

She related her "adventures" such as they were.  When she 
was through they sat in silence until Gibson spoke quietly.  
"There's a convenience store ahead.  We should stop.  It's 
deserted."

Mulder led them in and watched William take Scully's hand 
and show her the kinds of things they looked for - lighters, 
batteries, food that was still good.  William found a box and 
they loaded it with things they decided were the most 
important.  The others joined them after filling up the gas 
tank and canisters.

"We should stay here tonight," Gibson said.   "Yes, it's safe," 
he said before Mulder could ask.

William and Scully fixed a meal as the others cleaned up.  
Scully realized that William was watching her, and she 
stroked his hair.  "I'm sorry I can't remember . . . "

"You do," he said quietly.  "They've just blocked you for 
getting to it, temporarily."

"Can you and Gibson help me get it back?"
 
"We don't know, but Mulder doesn't want us to try out here.  
When we get to where we're going, we'll try."
 
"Where are we going?"
 
"Mulder has a place.  I've only been there once.  Gibson 
might have when they were in hiding."
 
"In hiding?"
 
"Don't worry about it, please.  Mulder will keep you safe, 
there's nothing more important to him than you."
 
"You're his son, our son."

William smiled.  "Yes, but he hasn't known me very long."

She started to ask more questions, but the others joined 
them and they ate.  When the others drifted off to sleep, 
Mulder led Scully to a private corner.  "You doing okay?"

"I guess so.  I want to know what's going on.  I want to 
remember you and Will and what happened."

"Will and Gibson say that will happen.  Maybe whatever 
they drugged you with hasn't worn completely off yet.  It's 
enough to know its all still in there.  Hey, maybe it's better if 
you don't remember all the times I've pissed you off or 
disappointed you."

"Have you ever disappointed me?"

"Too many times, I'm afraid.  Way too many times."
 
"When I was dreaming of you, it didn't feel that way.  It was 
the only time I felt secure."
 
He closed his eyes and pulled her close.  "We're headed 
north.  There's a place set up for us.  I hope we'll be safe 
there.  Whatever happens, we'll be together, all of us."
 
She relaxed against him.  He was right, whatever she had to 
face, she trusted him.  She slept in Mulder's arms that night 
and had no dreams.