Title:  The Chilmark Project - Part IIIc - Foxhunt   
   Authors:  Wylfcynne & Ravenwald   
      
   For Authors' notes and Disclaimers, see Part I -   
   Demonology   
      
    +++   
      
   The rail car laboratory   
      
   Actual location and date unknown   
      
   Fox had not spoken to him for days.  Sometimes   
   he moaned about the darkness.  Sometimes he   
   fought his bonds mindlessly, screaming for Sam,   
   for Anni, or, most of the time, for Dana Scully.   
   What Nick could feel through their bond assured   
   him that Fox was not faking. For some reason,   
   being rendered sightless had loosened Fox's grip   
   on reality, and he was adrift in time.   
      
   "Sammie..." came the almost inaudible whisper.  "I   
   need a hug, Sammie..."  Nick shuddered. When   
   they were very young, the six of them had   
   frequently hidden from the adults, usually in the   
   woods behind their houses.  The only comfort they   
   had had in those terrifying days had been the   
   warmth of their bond-sibs' arms.   
      
   He remembered spending hours being held by his   
   bond-sibs as he sobbed out his terror and pain.   
      
   "Fox, you're not alone," he called softly.  "I'm   
   here..."   
      
   "Nickie?"   
      
   A thrill of excitement jolted him.  "Yeah, Fox.  It's   
   me.  How you doin' over there?"   
      
   Fox moved a little, tugging restlessly at the chains   
   that held him to the table.  "Where's Samantha?" he   
   asked, his voice a little fuzzy and disconnected.  "I   
   can't feel her or Anni."   
      
   Nick swallowed hard.  (*He isn't all right, after all.   
   He's still lost.*) "'Sokay, Fox.  'S just another test.   
   Just relax.  Sleep it off..."   
      
   The lab door slid open and both subjects froze,   
   aware at once that their respite was over.   
      
   Nick gasped when Diana Fowley entered the lab   
   with one of the head researchers.  She did not look   
   at him at all her attention was riveted on Mulder.   
      
   "Is he conscious?" she growled.   
      
   The researcher shrugged.  "At least partially.  He   
   seems to have lost track of exactly when he is.  He   
   has been heard calling Samantha, Annaliese and   
   Ms. Scully." Nick saw the vicious twist of her lips,   
   and went cold.  (*She's going to do something   
   really evil to Fox...*) She handed the scientist an   
   audio cassette.  "Play this for him."   
      
   "What is it?" he asked curiously.   
      
   "An experiment."   
      
   He frowned.  "Is this approved?"   
      
   "Just do it."   
      
   He flinched from the expression on her face, and   
   then just turned away.  He put the cassette into a   
   port on the console and hit a key.   
      
   "Mulder!" The voice from the speakers was   
   whipcrack, and Fox visibly flinched. "S-Scully?" he   
   whispered.   
      
   Nick frowned.  It sounded like Scully, but not...   
      
   "Mulder, we've been partners for a long time, but   
   you have ditched me for the last time."   
      
   Mulder gasped, desperate to pull air into lungs that   
   craved more.   
      
   "I just thought I'd tell you, before I leave, that   
   Blevins never assigned me to the X Files.  C.G.B.   
   Spender has always been in charge.  Blevins did   
   what he was told.  And so did I."   
      
   Nick heard a sob from his companion.  "No..." he   
   whimpered.   
      
   It was Dana Scully's voice, but, watching Fowley's   
   face, Nick knew that the words were hers. This was   
   an altered tape.  Scully had never said these things.   
      
   "I stuck out this assignment far too long, but Mr.   
   Spender asked me to hang on, so I did.  But this is   
   it, Mulder.  I'm tired of the games, and the stupid   
   jokes, and the midnight phone calls.  I'm tired of   
   chasing you all over the damn country pretending I   
   believe what you're doing. You are such a hopeless   
   wimp, Mulder!   
      
   "And gullible--!  God!  We've been leading you   
   around by your Samantha for years and you never   
   caught on. And you're supposed to be so smart!   
      
   "Well, I've had my fill of playing Mrs. Spooky, so   
   this is it, Mulder. So long.  I'm going back to Mr.   
   Spender's command, where I came from.  At least   
   he appreciates me, and I can smoke there in   
   peace!"   
      
   There was the sound of high heels clicking across   
   a hard floor, and then a door opening and then   
   slamming shut. Fowley stared at Mulder.   
      
   Nick held his breath.  He was thinking at his   
   bond-sib as hard as he could, ("It's a fake, it's a   
   fake, don't believe it!"), but he could not tell if Fox   
   was hearing him.   
      
   "NOOOOOOO...!!!"  A wild, throat-tearing scream   
   echoed through the lab.  As he ran out of breath,   
   Fox went limp.   
      
   Nick's contact with his bond-sib vanished.   
      
   Fowley smiled coldly, triumphantly.  "Interesting.   
   Let me know when he regains consciousness.  I   
   want to talk to him."   
      
   The scientist was still stunned.  "Yes, ma'am..."   
      
   Fowley left, her heels clicking on the floor in an   
   eerie echo of the sounds on the tape.  She had   
   never so much as glanced at Nick, and he was just   
   as glad.   
      
   Nick hardly noticed when she left; he was   
   screaming down the bond, trying to reach the man   
   who had been his friend all his life. ("Fox!  Fox!   
   Fox!")   
      
   But there was no answer.   
      
   +++   
      
   the rail car laboratory a few hours later   
      
   When the physician's assistant came in to take their   
   daily vitals, Fox could not be awakened.  The PA   
   noted this with a frown.   
      
   "When did he lose consciousness?"   
      
   Nick swallowed hard.  They had rarely been   
   addressed directly by the staff.   
      
   "When Diana Fowley was here."   
      
   The PA looked worried, and scribbled something   
   down.  "Thanks."   
      
   +++   
      
   Over the course of the next few days, the medical   
   staff became more and more concerned about   
   Mulder's level of consciousness.  More and more   
   telemetry came into the lab and was hooked up to   
   his insensate body.   
      
   Nick was effectively ignored while the techs and   
   doctors spent their days trying to determine what   
   had happened to Mulder, and what was currently   
   happening.  He listened desperately, trying to   
   figure it out, himself.   
      
   What he heard terrified him.  Fox was dying.   
      
   (*Bastards!  They don't care what they've done to   
   him... they don't care if he goes fucking insane!  It's   
   just more data for their Goddamned study!  At least   
   he's given up on calling for Anni or Sam. He was   
   only calling for Dana Scully until that bitch Fowley   
   showed up and did this to him!  Well, I'm going to   
   get her for him.  Or get him to her.  Or whatever I   
   can manage.*)   
      
   Fox had been comatose for days, and might very   
   well be beyond any help, but Nick refused to face   
   that possibility.   
      
   (*They think that he has attached Scully as his new   
   bondmate.  Maybe he has.  But they really don't   
   have any way to prove that this is the case, so they   
   have to settle for a negative proof, and try to sever   
   the relationship to see what would happen.  They   
   have the police reports and FBI records of his trip   
   to Rhode Island to see Dr. Goldstein, and they   
   have that old quack's records.*)   
      
   He listened to the scientists arguing with one   
   another.  Some of them thought Fox's dramatic   
   response to Annaliese's death was based on his   
   isolation from all his other bond-sibs.  Several   
   insisted that Scully's absolute confidence that he   
   could not hurt her, and her ability to get him to   
   agree to anything, even when drugged out of his   
   mind, such as during the Ketamine experiments,   
   demonstrated that he had attached Scully as his   
   new bondmate.   
      
   Nick thought that was silly until he heard the answer   
   from the senior experimenter.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)