It Came From Radio Shack by Kelly Keil Part 3 See disclaimer in Part 1 ________________________ Chapter Four "My heart is human, my blood is boiling, My brain IBM." Mr. Roboto--Styx "I can't believe it," whispered Scully to Mulder. She looked at Bobby and Carol with horrified fascination. "It's a classic survival response in the face of death, Scully," murmured Mulder. His lips lightly grazed Scully's ear and she shivered. What was he up to now? "But still," she insisted, "I can't believe they're doing it right in front of us." "This is Make-Out Point, Scully. They're two hormonally charged teenagers caught in a stressful situation. It's only natural that they would want to release some tension." Mulder's mouth left Scully's ear and traveled slowly down the curve of her neck. Scully was too surprised to object. Her brain whirled, desperately trying to compute what was going on. "Mulder," she asked, "what are you doing?" "Releasing tension," he replied as his lips met hers, effectively silencing any protests that Scully's brain might be cooking up. Mulder was just getting down to business when the small part of his brain that wasn't intent on Scully heard a crunch. He lifted his head to listen and felt Scully stiffen beside him. "What was that?" she asked. She saw that Bobby and Carol had also broken apart and were staring off into the distance with wide-eyed horror. The sound came again. CRUNCH. It was like someone chewing his way through a gigantic spoonful of Grape Nuts. Scully shivered again, and this time it wasn't in a good way. All of her rational explanations for the kids' story were packing their bags and catching flights out of town. "Gerry," shouted Bobby. "Oh, shit, they've gotten Gerry." Mulder was the first to break the paralysis that held the four of them rooted in place. He jumped out of the car with Scully scrambling out right behind him. CRUNCH. Mulder and Scully ran toward the sound with Bobby and Carol on their heels. They didn't have to run very far-- through a copse of trees Scully could see two figures crouched. She and Mulder pulled out their guns and approached more cautiously. Once through the trees, Scully saw a smartly dressed woman clutching Gerry's leg in both of her manicured hands. Gerry's leg, Scully noticed, was no longer attached to Gerry. The woman was tearing into it with great gusto. Without even having to think, Scully brought up her gun and screamed, "Freeze!" The woman looked up from her snack and smiled, showing sharpened, bloody teeth. "Good," she said. "Good. It's you. Good." She tossed Gerry's half-eaten leg aside and stood up. "I said, 'Freeze,'" repeated Scully. "Don't come any closer or I'll shoot!" "Oh my God," she heard Bobby say. "It's my history teacher." The woman came toward them eagerly. Scully shot her in the shoulder but the bullet didn't seem to faze the creature at all. Scully shot her again in the leg, only to hear a "ping" as the bullet ricocheted off what sounded like metal. This is crazy, Scully thought. Mulder had apparently decided that it was time to go for a vital shot. He put three bullets in a close grouping right where the woman's heart should have been. Blood poured out of her but still she came towards them inexorably. Scully's mind flashed back to the previous night. The man--all right, let's be honest, the vampire--had held Mulder with a death grip. Scully had shot him in the chest twice and the shots should have been fatal but weren't. As Mulder had said later, how can you kill what's already dead? Scully wasn't sure if she could kill this thing, but she had a damn good idea how to slow it down. She aimed for the woman's neck and began firing. Mulder soon followed suit. Sparks flew as the shots ripped into her. It took seven bullets, but finally they severed the woman's head from her body. Scully lowered her arms to her sides and her gun slipped from her numb fingers. She went over to Gerry and examined him. Bobby dropped down on his haunches beside Scully. "Oh, God," he said, swallowing bile. "Gerry, oh, Jesus. . . you'll be okay. We'll get you to the hospital and you'll be just fine. . ." Bobby kept talking to Gerry even though it was already too late--Scully could see that he was already dead. "He's gone, Bobby," she said. "I'm sorry." Carol, hovering over Bobby and Scully, began sobbing. Bobby rose to comfort her. Scully sat back on her heels and sighed. She was exhausted and covered in Gerry's blood. She wanted to lie next to Gerry and just sleep until all of this went away, but instead she stood up and went over to the body of the woman. "Don't you own a suit just like that one, Scully?" Mulder asked. Scully grunted noncommittally. She did own a suit just like the one on the woman at her feet and she vowed to burn it when she got home. If she ever got home. "Here, look at this." Mulder handed her the woman's head. "I think this might be the evidence you were looking for." Scully turned the head around and peered inside. Instead of gray matter, Scully saw only circuitry and wires. "A robot?" she asked. "A cyborg, I think," said Mulder. "Part living tissue, part machine." "But they don't exist . . ." Scully stopped. She should know better by now, she thought. "Okay, fine. Cyborgs," she said. "We've given them a name, what do we do about them?" "For starters, you could put me down." Scully was so startled that she nearly dropped the head. Carefully she turned it around and looked at the face. It looked pretty mad. "Mulder," Scully asked, "what the hell do you make of this?" "I guess we didn't kill it." "I don't think it's alive, Mulder. More likely this is just a glorified computer in a flesh casing. Rather like a more sophisticated version of the animatronics you see at Disney World." "I can't believe you're comparing me to a glorified puppet. It's bad enough that you shot off my head. There's no need to be insulting," the head snapped. "Well, then what are you?" asked Mulder. "I've been enhanced by the master. Thanks to him I'm stronger and better than I ever was as a human. He perfected me." The face frowned. "Then you had to go and ruin it all. I didn't even get to finish my meal." "Ms. Robards, I can't believe you tried to eat Gerry. And to think I nominated you for Teacher of the Year," said Bobby. "Gerald was a terrible student, Bobby, but as a snack, he was perfect." The head licked its blood-covered lips. Scully tossed the head to Mulder. "Ugh. You hold it." "I thought I'd never seen the day that Dr. Scully would be squeamish about body parts." "I'm hardly squeamish, Mulder, but talking decapitated heads is where I draw the line. She's all yours." "Ow!" "What is it?" "She bit me." "She must have a taste for roguish men." "Damn it, Scully, this isn't funny." Mulder pried the head's teeth from his finger and shook the head firmly. "Look here," he said. "We don't have to be nice. There may be laws against police brutality but no one ever said anything about kicking electronics around. So if you don't want the four of us to use you for a soccer ball, be good." "The master is coming for you, you know." "Who is this 'master' person?" "Oh, you'll see soon enough. He has plans for you. Big plans." "Plans for us? What plans?" "It's not for me to know. The master is all knowing. His will shall prevail, and his will is to have you." "Well the master better get used to disappointment. Not to mention prison. Whatever he's doing, it's bound to be illegal." The head laughed. "You are foolish if you think you can withstand the master. He will show you the true way." "The true way involves being turned into a machine and eating people? I'll pass," said Scully. "You'll see," said the head with a wink. "He'll show you." "We're not going to learn anything from her," said Carol. "She'll do anything to protect him." "Carol's probably right, Scully. We should stow the head somewhere so we can send it to Langly and Frohike to dissect." Scully tapped her lip thoughtfully. "I suppose we could Fed Ex it in the morning." "Good idea - OW!" Mulder had been holding the head by its hair so that it dangled in the air around the vicinity of his knees. The head had been looking for some sort of opportunity and saw Mulder's leg as her ticket to freedom. She had sunk her teeth in when the moment was right and clamped down as hard as she could. Scully and Bobby grabbed onto her hair and tried to pull her off of Mulder's leg. Meanwhile Mulder attempted to pry her jaw open. Suddenly, with a tearing sound, Scully and Bobby managed to pull the head off. The momentum carried Scully backward, and she tottered near the edge of the cliff. Bobby grabbed at her and Scully scrambled for purchase. In the struggle, Scully lost her grip on the head and it tumbled down the cliff. "Damn," she said. "That's another piece of evidence lost." "Forget the head," said Mulder. "We'll look for it tomorrow. It's not like it's going anywhere on its own." He had his hand clamped over his leg and blood streamed through his fingers. "I don't suppose you have some bandages on you?" "Hold on a second." Scully dashed to the car and when she came back, she was armed with her purse. >From it she withdrew gauze, a tube of antibiotic cream, and tape. "I'm impressed, Scully. Who gave you that purse? Mary Poppins?" "Very funny, Mulder. After being around you this long I'm prepared for anything." "Even talking decapitated heads?" asked Mulder. "Maybe not that. Drop 'em." "Drop what?" "Lower you pants, Mulder. I need to look at that wound." It was hard to tell in the moonlight, but Scully thought that Mulder might have blushed. "Out here in front of God and everybody?" "Carol," said Scully, "turn around. There. Problem solved." Reluctantly, Mulder unbuckled his belt and lowered his trousers. "How bad is it?" he asked. "It hurts like a son of a bitch." "It's nothing a little Neosporin won't cure," she said, placing a gauze pad over the shallow wound and covering it with tape. "It won't even need stitches. Your pants, on the other hand, are beyond repair." "Will you kiss my wound and make it better?" "I'd only introduce more bacteria into the area, Mulder. There, all done. You'll live." "What would I do without you, Scully?" "My guess is that you'd be dead in a ditch somewhere." Scully packed the tape and gauze back into her purse. "I really think we should look for that head," she said. "What if a wild animal takes off with it?" "Well, I'd feel bad about losing evidence, but I won't lie and say I'd shed any tears if she gets mauled by a rabid woodchuck. I was kind of looking forward to sending it to the guys, though. I'd love to see their faces when they--" "Look, are we going to just stand around and talk or are we going to do something?" asked Carol. "We shouldn't be wasting our time searching in the weeds for that head. We should go investigate the mansion. I'm sure there's lots of evidence there you can use." "Good point, Carol. We can investigate the creepy mansion then go and check out the motel." "Mulder, we can't just go and invade this mansion. We don't have probable cause or a search warrant. And I'm not sure why this can't wait until morning." "You heard the head, Scully. This 'master' person has 'big plans' for us. Our hotel rooms aren't safe. Besides, how could you sleep while this mad scientist wannabe is turning people into man-eating robots? Also, I didn't say invade. I said investigate." "What if someone's home at the mansion?" "We'll go and knock on the front door. If someone's there, we'll interview them. If no one's there, we'll look around." Scully sighed. Well, when he put it that way. . . "All right. We'll look around the mansion. If we don't find anything, we'll wait until morning, look for the head, and see about getting a search warrant. Deal?" Mulder put one arm behind his back and crossed his fingers. "It's a deal, Scully." "What about Gerry?" asked Bobby. "I don't think he's going anywhere," said Mulder. "No, I just mean that it doesn't seem right to just leave him up here," he said. "I've got a tarp in the trunk. We can wrap him up and take him with us." Like a gigantic doggy bag, thought Scully darkly. "Bobby," she said, "we can't disturb the crime scene. And we need to call the police and report this." "You can't report this!" exclaimed Carol. "Why not?" asked Scully. "Dad is the chief of police and he's one of Them! Calling the police won't do any good. Why don't we just cover him with the tarp and get out of here?" "Sounds like a plan to me," said Mulder. "Any objections, Scully?" Scully pondered. Crime scene photos needed to be taken but her camera was miles away, in the trunk of the rental. The body would need to be taken to a morgue, and Scully guessed the closest one was in Harpersville. Gerry would just have to wait until tomorrow, she thought. "I've got plenty of objections, Mulder, but I don't think any of them will do us a damn bit of good. Bobby, go get the tarp." She sighed. "Mulder?" "Yeah?" "Are we having fun yet?" "Not yet, Scully, but when the fun starts happening, I'll let you know." "Thanks, Mulder. I knew I could count on you." * * * "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" The master threw his bowl and it shattered against the wall, leaving a trail of melted vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce that didn't go entirely badly with the wallpaper. Velda, standing behind him, didn't say a word. She just winced every time number twenty-three's head hit a bump and bounced as it tumbled down the face of the cliff. Such a pity. Such a waste. "Go retrieve the head," said the master bitterly. "We might as well see what we can salvage." "Yes, Master. Do you want me to bring back the body as well?" "No point. The body's ruined--there's no way I could reattach the head successfully. I suppose we could recycle her metal." The master pondered this. "Nah. Evil masterminds wouldn't recycle." "Good point, Master. Is there anything else you want?" "Send in number thirty-two." "Are you sure, Master?" "That was an order, Velda." Velda gave a little grimace of distaste. "Whatever turns you on." She turned to a brightly lit control panel and pushed a number of buttons. "Taken care of, Master." "Excellent. Now go get that head." Velda rooted around until she found number twenty- three's remote control hidden under an empty pizza box. The master would never learn to clean up after himself. She turned it on and saw the location of twenty-three's head depicted on the small screen as a flashing red dot. On her way out the door Velda grabbed a brightly flowered bowling bag. It wouldn't do for her to be seen walking down the street with a head tucked under her arm. Not at all. * * * Chapter Five "I'm just a man who needed someone, And somewhere to hide." Mr. Roboto--Styx As they drove by The Lucky Dog Motor Inn on their way to the mysterious mansion, Scully looked longingly at her hotel room. There was a bed in there. The sheets were probably musty and the bedspread would have cigarette holes in it but it would be a bed, by God. A bed. Scully turned her head away and looked straight ahead. No point in wishing for the unobtainable. Bobby pulled to a stop within sight of the house, but far enough back to try and remain inconspicuous. As inconspicuous as a red convertible could be, at any rate. They all got out and stared at the mansion. "You kids should probably stay here. Scully and I will investigate." "No way, mister. I think we should stick together," said Bobby as he wrapped a protective arm around Carol. Mulder looked at Carol, who was dry-eyed and resolute. "I just want this to end," she said. "It's too dangerous. I don't want anyone getting hurt. Just stay here and wait for us to get back." Mulder marched up the front steps of the porch with Scully beside him. The mansion felt empty to him. It was just a hunch, but he predicted that no one would come to the door and answer their knock. On the door was a huge brass knocker. Mulder gave the door a few very loud bangs. Nothing. "Mulder, what if the occupants are asleep in their beds like normal people?" "Normal people don't get shipments from Radio Shack in the middle of the night." He knocked again, louder this time. Still nothing. "Okay," Mulder said. "Time to do this the old-fashioned way." He turned around headed around to the back of the mansion. Scully trailed behind. Mulder shone his flashlight on the foundation. "What are we supposed to be looking for?" hissed Scully. "A way in." "Wait a minute, Mulder. We're supposed to be looking around the mansion. That means the area outside of it, not breaking in and taking the grand tour." "If you didn't want to be a party to some good ol' B and E, Scully, then why did you agree to my plan?" "I didn't realize you were going to take a broad interpretation of what I said. This could get us in a lot of trouble. I want to be on record as protesting this." "Duly noted. Now do you want me to leave you here?" "No." Scully sounded shocked. "Then pipe down and give me a hand." Mulder was delicately prying away the putty from a basement window with his pocketknife. Knowing she was already in this mess up to her armpits, Scully sighed and helped Mulder pry the window open. When the glass was free, Mulder shone his flashlight into the dark opening. "Are you ready?" "No, but I doubt that'll make any difference," grumbled Scully. "Okay, then, let's go." * * * "I heard where they're going." Velda held number twenty-three's head and peered into its mechanism. "Did you? Play it back for me." The head's eyes rolled back and a whirring noise was heard. When it was done rewinding, the head looked at Velda and the mouth moved, but what came out was a man's voice. "Now I've always been a big one for going to the source of the problem. I think we need to go investigate the mansion in town. Then we can check out the motel. Any objections?" Velda smiled. "Good work, number twenty-three." She put the head in the bowling bag and marched back to her car. There was a lot of work to be done. * * * "I can't believe they left us behind," complained Carol. "I know. But they're FBI agents. They don't want two kids hanging around." "Still, Bobby, I don't think it's fair." She paused with her head cocked, and was silent for some time. Bobby shook her arm. "Carol? Are you okay?" "What? Oh, yeah, I was just thinking. We should follow them into the house. I think we could help them." "Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Bobby, his voice tinged with doubt. "Oh, come on, Bobby! Don't be a wuss." She grabbed his wrist and together they marched toward the mansion on the hill. * * * Scully and Mulder scanned the room with their flashlights and stared in amazement. "It looks like the movie 'Frankenstein' threw up all over the place," commented Mulder. He moved toward the wall and flipped on the light switch, bathing the room in fluorescent white light. Mulder and Scully put away their flashlights and began investigating the room. It was piled from floor to ceiling with electronic components, strange machinery, and junk food wrappers. Scully found a large pile of correspondence and began to read through it. Apparently one Karl von Stroheim had been trying to submit a paper to various scientific journals. She found a sheaf of rejection letters with various curses scrawled on them in red Magic Marker. Picking one of the letters at random, she began to read. "Hey, Scully! Look at this!" Scully looked up to see Mulder with his hands held to a metal sphere. His hair stood up in a spiky nimbus around his head. "Aren't you supposed to be looking for evidence, Mulder?" "What is this thing, anyway?" "It's a Van de Graaf's generator, and the only thing it's evidence of is Karl's bad taste in gadgets." "Karl?" asked Mulder, moving on to the next bizarre piece of equipment. "I think our mad scientist here is Karl von Stroheim. Judging by the contents of this room, he's bound to be a bit deranged, but I haven't seen any reason to think he's up to anything illegal." Unlike us, she thought. We're flagrantly breaking the law. "Mulder, don't touch the Tessla Coil. You're going to electrocute yourself." He turned it on anyway, and watched the blue spark of electricity play over the wires. "Cool," he said. "I wonder if I could get one of these for my apartment. Maybe Frohike could hook me up." Scully decided to leave him to his own devices. She just hoped that she wouldn't have to drag his charred corpse out of there later. It would be very hard to explain to Skinner what had happened. She concentrated instead on the letter. After she had read it through twice, she flipped through the other letters and scanned them as well. "This is interesting, Mulder," she said. "What is?" he asked, opening drawers in the workbench and rummaging through them. "So far all I've found are some chicken nuggets, half a Snickers bar, and an empty box of Fiddle Faddle. This guy sure likes his junk food." "Listen to this," said Scully. "'Dear Sir, we regret to inform you that we cannot publish your article at this or any time. We consider our journal to be one of a serious and scientific nature, while your research is frivolous and downright silly. We, at The Lancet, have frankly not stopped laughing since reading your submission. This is the best entertainment any of us has had in years. Perhaps you might try submitting your work to a tabloid paper. We hear they pay well for stories such as yours. In closing, we wish you luck and that you not contact us again.'" "That's harsh," replied Mulder. "There's about a dozen more like that over here, all in a similar vein." "Are there any copies of the article he was trying to publish?" Scully searched through the papers one more time and shook her head. "Damn. Do any of the rejections go into detail about his experiments?" "Not really." Scully put the rejections down. "These don't prove anything, Mulder. There are thousands of scientists who can't get their papers published. All these rejections prove is that the scientific journals find his theories to be..." "Unsound?" interjected Mulder. "For lack of a better word, yes. That's hardly unique. There are a lot of crackpots in the scientific community." "Then keep looking. There's got to be something down here to prove he's turning people into robots." "Too bad we still don't have that head, Mulder." "I don't know about that," he said with a grimace. "I don't miss it at all." Scully ran a hand through her hair. "Look, I don't think we're getting anywhere here. This is just some guy's basement hobby room. To do the kind of procedure that you suspect is going on, he'd have to have a fully functional operating room." "What about all those shipments from Radio Shack?" "What about them?" "They've got to be around here someplace. I think that what we're looking at here is just window dressing. We need to search the rest of the house." "Couldn't we just wait until tomorrow?" "We should strike now, while the iron is hot, Scully. No rest for the wicked." Mulder walked over to the door that led out of the workroom and held it open for Scully. "If that's true, Mulder, then it's amazing you get any sleep at all." Mulder just chuckled and followed her out the door. * * * The master crunched on pork rinds as he watched the monitors in front of him. Velda's guests, one Fox Mulder and one Dana Scully, were heading deeper into his house. Excellent. Number fifteen was already in pursuit of them. Even better. Everything was going swimmingly. The master brushed crumbs off of his chest and grinned. Those two would be his specimens before the sun came up. With Fox Mulder and Dana Scully added to his collection, it would be less than a year and he would be in the black. A future of champagne and gourmet ice cream stretched before him. Life was sweet. * * * Mulder and Scully wandered through the rabbit warren that was Karl von Stroheim's basement, searching the rooms for evidence. "Well, he hasn't done a good job of separating his colors from his whites," commented Scully, examining the laundry room. "No one's perfect. Why don't you finish checking this room while I go further down the hall?" "Sure," murmured Scully. Thankful for her vinyl gloves, she screwed up her courage and stuck her hand in one of the laundry baskets to hunt for evidence. She'd found six dollars and forty-two cents, a parking ticket from last year, and candy wrappers galore when she heard Mulder shout her name. "Mulder?" She asked, hurrying toward the sound of his voice. She turned a corner in the hallway and stopped. "Oh, my." On the door in front of her was a sign, "Karl's Secret Laboratory." Below that was another sign, this one bearing a pig in a mud puddle. "Bless This Mess." "I'm starting to like this guy, said Mulder, his hand on the doorknob. It turned easily in his hand and he started to open the door. "Are you ready, Scully?" "Ready as I'll ever be." She had her gun drawn, and as Mulder flung the door open and pierced the darkness with his flashlight, she prepared to shoot anything that came at them. Much to her relief, nothing did. Mulder found the wall light switch and flipped it on. Scully put away her gun as the overhead lights flickered into life. When the room was bathed in harsh purplish-white light, Mulder and Scully looked around themselves in astonishment. "This is it," said Scully. "This is the place." Mulder just nodded. The room was large--too large to be contained under the house. It had to be carved into the hillside the mansion rested on. In one half of the room a crude operating area had been constructed. The other half was filled with countless cardboard boxes and computer equipment. There was a door barred with a padlocked latch on the far side of the room. Mulder moved toward it while Scully gravitated toward the surgical equipment. He picked the lock on the door in short order and flung it open. It turned out to be not a room, but walk-in cold storage. There was no light so he brought out his flashlight again and shone it into the area. Swallowing bile, he called out to Scully. Scully was by his side in mere moments. He heard her sharp intake of breath as she caught sight of the storage room's occupants. "How many are there?" she asked, her breath coming out in short puffs of steam that hung on the frigid air. "I don't know," Mulder replied. Side by side, they walked deeper into the freezer, counting. "Ten on my side." "Eleven on mine." Scully shivered. The chill she felt was only partially due to the temperature of the freezer. She hadn't wanted to believe that any of it was true. Even while inspecting the surgical equipment, she'd been formulating rational explanations for it all. Now she was staring at proof positive: twenty-one bodies stacked on shelves that lined the walls. Some of the bodies were whole, while others were works in progress, with hideous combinations of metal and flesh poking out of still open incisions. "God, it can't be real." "It's real enough," said Mulder, sounding bleak. * * * As they moved deeper into the basement of his house, the master had lost sight of his quarry on the monitors. Impatient for knowledge of the their whereabouts, he went over to his computer to communicate with number fifteen. Bringing up the program, he typed, "Where are they?" Number fifteen's reply marched across his screen. "They've entered the lab, Master." "Excellent, number fifteen. Stay where you are--I'm sending Velda your way to help you. Between the two of you I expect you not to fuck it up. I'm counting on you, number fifteen. Don't let me down." "No, Master, never. Never, ever, never." "That's quite enough. Now sit tight." The master logged out of the program and called Velda's cell phone. "What is it?" she snapped. "Velda, you should know better." The master sounded deeply wounded. Velda sighed. "I'm sorry, Master. What is your bidding?" "Number fifteen has our two pigeons caged in the laboratory. How far away are you from the house?" "Ten minutes, tops." "Well get your ass over there and get them for me, Velda." "Yes, Master," she grumped. "Watch that attitude, Velda," said the master, and hung up. Really, it was so hard to find good help these days. * * * Scully had gone into scientist mode. "I've got to see how he's doing this." "I'll just go over there and check out the computer, okay?" asked Mulder, not wanting to play lab assistant while Scully went about her grisly investigations. "Whatever," she said absently. "Would you help me move this body onto a gurney before you escape?" She unwrapped a particularly mutilated form. Eyes averted, Mulder complied, then gratefully fled to the computer while Scully pushed the gurney to the surgical area. He turned on the computer and waited impatiently for it to boot up. Mulder hadn't the foggiest idea where to search--he wasn't even sure what he was looking for. A folder marked "security" looked promising so he clicked on it and was surprised when a diagram of the mansion popped up. He saw that there seemed to be a room off of the one they were in, but the wall it was beyond didn't have a door in it. He was musing on the possibility of a secret passage when a red flashing warning appeared on the screen. "Car approaching!" Mulder clicked on the warning and a window opened up, showing the outside of the house. He could see a Ford Pinto pulling into the driveway. "Oh, shit! Scully! We've got to get out of here." Scully looked up from the body. "This is just amazing, Mulder. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but--" "Scully, someone's coming. I just saw it on the computer." She looked around them with wide eyes. "There's nowhere to go, Mulder." "Well we can't just stay here. We need to find somewhere to hide, at least." Scully tore at the mask and surgical gown she had donned earlier. In seconds she was free and following Mulder out the door of the laboratory. A few turns down the corridor and Scully spotted a staircase she hadn't noticed earlier. "Do you think we could risk it?" she asked. "Maybe, if we're--" Mulder was interrupted by the slam of a door. The person had entered the house. Mulder and Scully started toward the stairs when the stairwell was flooded with light. "Oh, shit," said Mulder. "They're coming down here." "Look," hissed Scully. There's a closet under the stairs. We could hide in there." It seemed as good a plan as any, so they hurried over to it, opened the door, and shut themselves into the darkness. Hardly daring to breathe, they waited. * * * Velda, having found the laboratory deserted and number fifteen nowhere in sight, went from room to room, switching on lights and thoroughly searching each one. Where was number fifteen anyway? Useless robot. Velda found number fifteen in the master's playroom. "What're you doing here?" she demanded. Number fifteen pointed toward the window. "That's where they got in. I thought they might go out the same way." Velda shook her head. Stupid robot. "They're hiding, fifteen. Biding their time. We've got to flush them out. Come on and help me find them. Waiting here won't do any good. Master isn't gonna be happy if we fuck this up." Both woman and robot shuddered. The master's anger was not to be contemplated. "Yes, Velda," said number fifteen. "Let's find them. The sooner, the better." * * * Scully hadn't gotten a good look at what was in the closet before she and Mulder had rushed in. Boxes and cleaning equipment, if her impressions were correct. It smelled faintly of bleach and dust, making Scully's nose crinkle up with the need to sneeze. She held her breath, hoping the urge would pass, but instead the itch got worse and worse. She put her face in the crook of her arm and tried to stifle the sneeze as much as possible. "Are you all right?" asked Mulder softly. "No," she whispered back. "I'm going to sneeze again." Mulder enfolded her in his arms and put his back to the door of the closet. He hit his head on the ceiling and stifled the urge to cry out. "Mulder, what are you doing?" hissed Scully. "Sneeze on me. I'll muffle the sound." Mulder surrounded her as much as possible, trying to be human soundproofing. Scully buried her nose in his chest and breathed slowly. The urge to sneeze passed and Scully became aware of how close she was to Mulder. When was the last time they had been this close? She couldn't remember. Scully tried to take a step back and found she couldn't. "Mulder...I'm okay now," she whispered. Mulder didn't step back. "Uh, Mulder--" "I'm sorry, Scully," he said into her hair, "but I'm afraid to move. I don't want to knock something over." That made sense. She felt so awkward, though. She didn't know where to put her hands, for instance. She put one out for balance and grazed Mulder's leg. He flinched and she quickly withdrew her hand. The movement put her off balance and she tottered on her high heels. Mulder embraced her again and this time Scully clung to him, fearing to fall in this pitch- black space. Giving up, Scully leaned into him and closed her eyes from weariness. "Mulder, I'm so tired," she murmured, stifling a yawn. "I'm sorry, Scully," he replied, resting his chin on her head. "I owe you a week's worth of sleep for this." "I've heard that before." "I mean it this time." Mulder smoothed her hair with one hand and rubbed her back with the other. Scully was so tired that she felt she could fall asleep right there. Mulder smelled so nice, and it was very warm in the little closet. As if she were in a dream, she felt his lips find her forehead and trail a path down to her eyes and nose. 'A very nice dream,' she thought, and sighed with contentment. Mulder's lips dipped down to capture hers and she saw stars bloom behind her tightly shut eyes. In the drowsy darkness it seemed the most natural thing in the world for her to bury her hands in his hair and pull him closer. He groaned into her mouth and somewhere in the back of her mind she realized that this was not a dream after all. Scully pulled back and drew in a ragged breath. Mulder bent his head and grazed his lips along her throat. "Mulder..." she sighed. "What are you two up to?" asked a voice as the closet door was flung open. Mulder and Scully were blinded by the light poring in through the doorway. Scully threw up a hand to shield it from the glare. "Carol," she said in relief. "What are you doing in here? We told you and Bobby to stay outside." "Get in here," said Mulder. "Someone's searching the house. I don't want any of us being found." Carol giggled. "Too late." She put two fingers into her mouth and let out a piercing whistle. "Velda! I've found them." Before either Mulder or Scully could react, Velda came around the corner. In one hand she held a very large pistol. "Good work, number fifteen," she said. "Master will be very pleased." Velda looked at Mulder and Scully with suspicion. They had ordered separate rooms, but here were the two of them, hidden in a closet and standing very close to one another. Granted, the closet was small, requiring that the two be friendly, but that didn't explain the love bite on the woman's neck. Velda ground her teeth. It wasn't fair. All the good ones were always taken. Well, not this time. Before either Mulder or Scully could react, Velda grabbed Scully by the hair and dragged her out of the closet and buried the muzzle of the gun in the base of her throat. "No!" Mulder shouted, starting to lunge toward Velda. She brought him up short. "Cooperate, Mr. Mulder, or I'll kill your little friend here. Carol--get the ether." Scully tried to break free, but Velda had too firm a grip on her hair. Mulder clenched his hands into fists. He felt helpless seeing Scully held at gunpoint and he hated feeling helpless. "Let her go," he said. "You don't want to do this." "Shut up. We've got plans for the two of you." Carol stood on tiptoe to put the ether over Mulder's nose. He started to dodge but Velda brought him up short. "Stand still or I'll shoot your little partner." She dug the gun more forcefully into Scully's throat. Mulder froze, allowing Carol to put the cloth over his nose. "No!" cried out Scully. "It's your turn, lady," said Carol, and the smell of ether filled her nose. As she fell into unconsciousness, she thought, it's a dream. It's just a dream. * * * End Part 3/4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ eGroups eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. 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