**********************************
"Manifest Destiny" Part 12
by Kelida Flynn & Slippin' Mickeys
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The country they encountered wasn't as devoid of life as had been the
islands of Northern Michigan. 

They hadn't sailed north along the shoreline long when they came across a
harbor. They had sent out numerous calls to the harbormaster on the hailing
frequency to no avail. But, just as they were about to give up and dock
there anyway, an answer came through on the VHF.

"Vessel hailing the harbormaster, vessel hailing the harbormaster, this is
Seas The Day KRF-315, switch and answer on seventy-one, skipper if you read
me, that's 7-1."

Cass grabbed at the handset and immediately switched to channel 71. There
was already a voice talking on the frequency.

"Dave said to go to the third step," it said, "I can't believe he fell on
the third step."

Then it repeated itself.

Cass looked up to the other members crowded around the radio, confused. She
wasn't alone.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" 

Mulder and Invictus simply shrugged. John looked down at his feet, shaking
his head.

Alan, still somewhat sulky, mumbled something quietly. 

John bent his head toward the smaller man and asked him what he said.

"I said, he's trying to tell you to go down three channels. To channel 68."

When they all simply looked at him, he explained further.

"It was something we came across in Lansing," he said, "they were saying
the same thing when we switched channels to try to talk to the resistance.
They say a name, and tell you how many channels you either have to go up or
down by counting on the steps, and then whether *to* go up or down by
either saying that he fell on the third step, meaning down, or he tripped,
meaning up." 

"Fancy that," said Invictus.

XxXxXxXxXxX

They had hit land in a small town just north of Racine.

A group of about 20 individuals had been passing through the area and had
been carrying a VHF radio when they heard Cass' hails. As luck would have
it, 3 of them had had some sort of dealings with the resistance, and knew
what was safe to say over the airways and what wasn't.

Some members of the large group met with Cass, Mulder, Invictus, John and
Alan and helped them to dock the boat and even supplied them with a car for
their further journey to the state's formal capitol.

They were fleeing from Chicago, they had said. The Windy City was on fire,
and they had fled.

They hadn't known why, but suspected that it was the colonists way of
eliminating both the human and architectural elements of the city so they
could put it to their own uses. The group, only about 5 strong at first, 
had managed to pick up people along on their way north, and eventually
caravan along the shores of Lake Michigan. They were headed, they said, to
the Porcupine Mountains. They had heard that there was a village there, a
sort of safe house community where many survivors had gone to. Many of the
group had lost family, and hoped to find them there, near Lake in the
Clouds. 

None of the group had offered to go with Mulder's small party, but had told
them what to expect when they got there, and where to, and where not to go.


They had told of secret tunnels that the government and colonists had built
underneath the city and university where the vaccine had been created,
transported and, was apparently being held. 

They gave the small group all the information they could, some supplies,
well wishes and then were on their way. Their need to find and reconnect
with their families, intense.

And so Mulder, Invictus and their co-conspirators from Mackinac Island
found themselves in one of the arcane tunnels of Madison, Wisconsin, near
the shores of Lake Mendota planning their next move.

"Listen, Pike said that when we found the tunnels, that we should go to the
Capitol building. That's where they think the vaccine is, right?" Invictus
asked.

"Yes," Cass said, "but he also said that it could be pure speculation.
Rumor."

"Right," Mulder added, "but the fact that the tunnels are here at all I
think, gives credence to the fact that the rumors that the resistance has
been gathering are all true. And you yourself, Cass, said that you'd heard
over the resistance grapevine that the vaccine was in Madison and all of
that."

"True, but I hadn't heard about the tunnels. It could just be a story.
Hyperbole."

"Do I need to mention the fact that we're standing IN the tunnels again,"
Mulder piped in, "or would that be overkill?"

Cass sighed and nodded. He had a hell of a point. But she was wary of
moving or taking action until they had a little more information. On the
other hand, Mulder and Invictus wanted to move as soon as possible. They
were afraid that what was happening in Chicago was happening in the rest of
the world and that they needed to stop it at any cost. 

They were at something of an impasse. 

When they had arrived in the city, their helpers told them, they had to be
careful. Helicopters supposedly flew around like nobodies business and much
of the city had been leveled. There were very few locals left, as was the
rumor, and those that were there took pot shots at just about anything that
moved. 

They found that just about everything they had been told so far was
accurate. 

And still Cass was against doing anything.

And that was starting to get to Mulder. 

He was still sore emotionally from missing Scully, and his memory and the
world he'd lived in, and he was on a short rope that was beginning to fray.

He took a deep breath and tried not to let his emotions consume him.

Fat chance, he thought to himself. Like that had ever worked before. It
certainly wasn't going to work now. 

It was beginning to be to much, and he was ready to pop.

"That's it!" Mulder burst, nearly out of nowhere. "I need some air. I'll be
back."

"Do you want some company?" Invictus asked quietly as Mulder made his way
out of the temporary headquarters they had made. They'd found a room with a
table, a few chairs, and an empty file cabinet and claimed it for their
own.

"No," he said shortly, and disappeared.

"Was it something I said?" Cass asked, half joking.

Invictus turned to her when he was sure Mulder was out of earshot. 

"Partly," he said, "but that man's mind is an emotional battlefield right
now, I think, and I don't even think *he* knows what side he's on." 

"Getting his memory back was that hard on him?" John asked, "I would think
that it'd be a relief."

"I suppose it depends on what you have to remember," Invictus said, "when
he couldn't remember, he didn't know what he'd lost. He'd gotten everything
back, and then instantly realized that most of it was probably gone. We've
all had some time to deal with losing our families and homes and
lifestyles. He hasn't."

"Do you think it's too much for him?" Cass asked timidly, not really
wanting to know.

"I can't tell," he answered morbidly.

XxXxXxXxXxX

When Mulder reached the entrance to the tunnel, he retrieved his gun from
it's holster and held it at the ready.

He opened the door slowly and scanned the white horizon, looking for
anything that might be a threat. 

Seeing nothing, he stepped cautiously out and took a deep, cleansing
breath.

The air had gotten much colder in the past couple of days, and had a crisp,
biting quality to it. More snow was on the way. 

Mulder hadn't had much time to digest any of the events that had happened
since he awoke in a bunk, fathoms underwater, next to a man who's name
meant "Unconquered." 

Only Mulder's focus on the goal of getting the vaccine and staying alive to
do so kept his mind off of all that he'd lost. 

But when he did let himself think, he felt most licentious when he thought
of Scully. 

And he let himself think a little too often. 

What had she gone through? Where was she? Was she even alive? What would
have happened if he'd took her along to with him to meet with Curtis
McCloud on that fateful day? 

Mulder shook his head and tried to clear it of any such thoughts. They
didn't help, and he had other things to concentrate on at the moment. He
would be with Scully again, but he'd have to save the world first.

Small task, he thought to himself sarcastically, easily done.

Deep in the background he began to hear the beating rotary blades of
another chopper.

Mulder again scanned the sky for the source of the sound. He didn't see any
helicopter and didn't really worry. They had been flying all over the city
on a near constant basis. But they seemed to avoid the lakes, and
concentrate mostly on the university and surrounding area buildings. 

He walked down to the edge of the lake, crunching through the blanket of
snow and on to where the lake lapped gently at the shore. A thin layer of
ice bordered the chilly water and it's crystallized cousin. He surveyed
what lay before him.

The sun had just set and the sky was getting more and more dusky. He felt
like he hadn't seen the sun in days. Then he realized that he hadn't.
They'd stayed in the tunnels during the daylight hours, and when they had
emerged when the sun was still burning overhead, it had been masked by
billowy gray clouds spitting a constant haze of white.

An early November snowfall had fit, somehow. The gray clouds of cold vapor,
dust and ash moving in with the clouds of destruction and despair, as if
the Earth sought to purify herself once more. To cover what had happened on
her surface and begin anew.

Movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye and twirled to
his right. Three people were ducking into a nearby building, not far from
the entrance to the tunnel that he had just come out of. 

He was reaching behind his back to draw his gun as a precaution when he
focused on the last of the three. The figure was small, definitely female,
with a bright, red hair that matched Scully's color exactly. Her hair was a
bit longer than he remembered Scully's being, but from the back it looked
almost just like her…

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself and convince himself that it
wasn't, couldn't be her. He was only projecting and unconsciously trying to
make himself feel better, after his deep, longing ruminations. But he
couldn't help the feeling that maybe, just maybe…

She had just made it to the doorway when the woman paused. She tensed a bit
and slowly turned around, as though she felt his eyes on her.

And their eyes met. 

And it *was* her.

For a split second, neither moved, staring unbelieving into each others
eyes. Obscured only by fluctuating puffs of steamy breaths. They neither
heard nor saw nor felt anything but one another. 

The second of inaction and reconnection ended, and Mulder moved to run to
her, their matching gaze still held. Just as he did so, a white-hot light
blinded him. 

He blinked and looked away and his other senses hit him again with blunt
force. Momentarily blinded, he staggered to the side just as the roaring of
helicopter blades hit his ears, and the force of wind created by it swirled
around him, sending sharp crystals of snow into his eyes and mouth. He
looked up to the source and the chopper flew by above him, close to the
ground, keeping it's light trained on him, turning almost immediately to
make another pass. 

Then, the search light from the chopper swung around to where Scully was
standing. 

Mulder seized the opportunity presented him and dove headlong into the
frigid lake, disappearing beneath it's surface. He swam as far as he could
underwater until he couldn't hold his breath anymore.

He broke the surface with his head just enough to take a deep breath and
look to Scully.

The helicopter's light was shining full-force on the doorway where she had
been standing.

But Scully was gone. 

XxXxXxXxXxX

The chopper quickly moved it's search back to the water, but Mulder easily
eluded their detection, and soon, the helicopter gave up and headed back
towards the Capitol building. 

Mulder stayed for a moment in the freezing water, then emerged and ran,
dripping wet to the door that Scully had disappeared into. 

He should have been freezing and stiff, standing there in the snow, but he
was, finally, on fire. Something he hadn't been in far too long.

It was locked.

Mulder pounded on it, and considered shooting the lock off, but thought
better of it. 

Better, he thought, to go and tell the others and employ their help. 

He paused for a moment looking at the door, willing her to open it, then
whirled and headed back into the tunnels, water flying behind and around
him. Frosting over his path.

He navigated the twisting maze of concrete quickly and nearly burst into
the room where he'd left the others.

"Whoa, Mulder!" Cass nearly yelped when he burst in.

"What the hell happened to you?" Invictus asked right after her.

"Nothing," he said, dripping his way to the table they were sitting around,
"but..."

"But what?" Invictus asked, catching onto the keyed-up, excited energy
Mulder was all but oozing.

"Scully's here," he said excitedly, "I saw her. But then a chopper came
and…"

"Whoa, there, hold up!" Invictus said, trying to calm him.

Mulder took a deep breath, barely able to contain his anxious, almost
joyful excitement. It wasn't a face he wore often, but it fit him well. 

Invictus was loathe to upset it.

"Huh?" John piped in, "I'm lost, why are you wet? And you actually *saw*
Scully? She's here?"

"Yes!"

They all exchanged worried glances as Mulder nearly beamed around them. 

Invictus was getting more worried. Mulder had been through hell and back,
and it was beginning to show. He doubted Dana Scully was even alive, much
less in Madison, Wisconsin. He feared the younger man was seeing things to
make himself feel better or stop hurting. He didn't want his delusions to
go any further.

"Mulder," he broke in, "I know you want it to be her, but—" 

"It was!" Mulder said loudly, his excitement gone, replaced by an anxious
rage. "She's here!"

He slammed his fist down on the table fiercely in emphasis with his last
word.

Cass shot a worried look to John who threw her back a matching one. He held
her gaze a moment and shook his head. 

Mulder was losing it. 
XxXxXxXxXx 

She blinked, and her eyes adjusted to the view through the misty glass. The 
wide expanse of landscape was white--pure and wild and infinite. She 
blinked again, this time hard. The reflection off the snow made her feel 
blind. Her hand moved to touch the window and her fingers melted away some 
of the condensation, but she stopped, leaving trails of heat streaking down 
the rest of foggy glass. She grunted, sighed, and readjusted herself, 
sinking into the apolstry of the backseat.

Elspeth glanced back over her shoulder and frowned to herself. She felt a 
vibe--not indicating something wrong, but something about to happen. She 
threw a look Richter's way. He was busy concentrating on the snow-covered 
highway as the car slid and shuddered as he pressed and then eased on the 
break. She stared out at the long road to Madison, seeing only nightmares 
coalescing into something even more menacing. Something was there, that was 
for certain. It was going to be more of a question whether or not they 
could survive what lay there in wait for them.

XxXxXxXxXx

The trip had taken all night. With the roads in their atrocious conditions, 
they could not go faster unless they had been haphazard enough to sacrifice 
speed for safety. But they had gone too far to risk it on something like a 
few hours. The end of the world would have to wait until they arrived.

The freak snow storm had not hit Madison as badly as it had Chicago, and 
unlike the Second City it was untouched, at least this part so far, by 
destruction. It was hauntingly beautiful in a way--the frost clinging to 
the thin tree branches and the untouched splendor of snow, but they only had 
moments to take it in. They were finally here, and time could not be 
wasted.

Their arrival time was somewhere before the early hours of morning. Entering 
the east side of town they could see the capitol building rising before them 
as the car made its way down the city's main drag. The sun lit up the 
building, an miniature version of the Capitol in D.C., in the pale morning 
sunlight. Scully, upright and glancing cautiously out toward their target 
destination, felt a slight lump develop in her throat. Capitol hill had 
been annihilated when colonization had first begun. The thousands of 
refugees who had believed that they could find refuge there had all 
perished, the smell of death shrouding Washington like a veil for weeks . . 
. .

"We probably can't continue on driving too long," Elspeth said quietly, 
breaking the silence. "If this is really the place where," she hesitated, 
"the vaccine is, it's doubtful that the colonists and their cohorts would 
leave it unchecked."

"They want to find it just as badly as we do," Scully finished tonelessly.

"Maybe even more so," Richter added, a knot growing in his stomach.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Elspeth had been right--they could not drive for long. Twenty minutes into 
the city they saw the first Huey hovering over the city. It swept in and 
out of their view, but it always returned like a bad rash. Almost clipping 
nearby trees and buildings, the helicopter began to make its way in their 
direction, all the while blowing enough snow around to cause a mini-storm.

"Something doesn't seem right. They should have seen us by now," Elspeth 
said, biting her fist. "I don't care if we've stopped when it's come by . . 
. we're the only car moving on this road--they should be able to notice us. 
I don't even know why we're still in the car."

"You're right. There's something funny about this." Richter stopped the 
car and looked at both of them.

"I propose we get the hell out of this car then," Scully said as she zipped 
up her parka.

They ran from the car and huddled beneath the porch of a house. Their puffs 
of breath came out unevenly and in large, white hazes.

"Maybe they've been too busy searching for the vaccine to notice us," 
Richter said blowing on his hands before dipping them into his pocket. He 
shivered. Scully hoped it was from the cold and not from fear.

"Let's hope so," Scully replied numbly. "What's the game plan."

"I think we should get in the house--take some cover," Elspeth said.

"Good pl. . ." Scully trailed off. Her jaw dropped as she watched Elspeth 
do a slight turn before she kicked the door in.

"Cripes," Elspeth swore to herself. "I didn't mean to knock it down." She 
did a double take when there was no response from either Scully or Richter. 
She spread out her hands questioningly. "What?"

Scully swallowed hard. "A little energized, aren't you?" she asked dryly.

"It's the adrenaline. Always gives me a little boost." Elspeth smiled 
confidently and then sauntered into the house. She ran a finger along a 
nearby bookshelves, intently examining the dust on her finger. This house 
had been abandoned for a while.

"A little boost?" Richter echoed shaking his head. He sighed and followed 
them into the house. Scully wandered into kitchen as Elspeth walked to the 
back of the house. Richter plopped down on the couch and stretched out his 
legs. He was still sore from the confinement back in Chicago, not to 
mention from driving the five hours it took them to make it to Madison.

"Lake Mendota isn't too far from here. We should head that way," Elspeth 
called.

"How do you know that?" Scully asked from the kitchen.

"I went to college here," she replied in a voice that seemed to lose its 
strength the more she said. It was decidedly sad. Then she said no more 
than that. They still knew little about her past, but they knew that they 
could not get anything more out of her unless she wanted to tell them. "The 
helicopters have been avoiding the lake areas," she continued when she 
re-entered the living room and sat on the coffee table. She stared directly 
at Richter as she hoisted one leg onto the table and rested her elbow on her 
knee and cradled her head in the palm of her hand. "We can probably be more 
inconspicuous that way. The vaccine is probably somewhere on the 
University's campus or somewhere in the downtown area--maybe the capitol 
building. Though that seems a little obvious."

"They probably would have found it already if that were the case."

"Well let's hope it's not the case," Scully said. "We should rest for a 
little bit. Get warm and eat a little bit," she said as she displayed a tin 
of canned ravioli. "It will probably be a while before we have this much 
luxury again."

"Tonight would seem the best time, under cover of darkness," Elspeth said 
ominously.

"Is that a glint in your eye I see?" Richter asked playfully.

"Could be," she mused.

Scully laughed and stopped as quickly as she had started. Laughter--it was 
such a foreign sound to her now. To all of them, she corrected as the other 
two turned to look at her, open-mouthed. They all glanced at each 
other--the feeling was mutual. Scully shook off the strange feeling and 
took a seat next to Richter. She gave Elspeth an appraising look.

"Yes?"

"You just seem . . . kind of different." Secretly to herself she wondered 
if Elspeth's change had to do something with her being a hybrid . . .

"You mean I've stopped being so dull and melancholy?" She gave them an 
embarrassed smile. "Don't worry, I'm over that."

"I actually was talking more about the whole kicking in the door thing." 
Scully smiled.

"I've been too inactive." She shook her head. "What have I done so far? 
Yelled. Threatened . . ." she gave Richter a sidelong glance, "and been 
captured and tested. It's time to get my ass in gear and help out with this 
mission! I guess all I needed was a little adventure." She raised a hand 
in anticipation of their comments. "Yes, being chased from Rhode Island to 
Indiana didn't qualify as enough of an adventure for me."

They all laughed and the room felt suddenly warmer. Scully sank back deeper 
into the chair. Last moments of peace she thought sadly through the good 
humor. Last chance to give up . . . Last chance to find Mulder. She 
sighed. Would she ever forget him? Did she want to forget?

She closed her eyes. No more last chances, she thought. No more regrets.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

At dusk they headed off. The game plan was this: Hit the lakeshore and 
maneuver somehow towards the capitol square, and before morning find a base 
from which they could operate. Find firearms. More plans would be made 
once they were safely within range of their target--the Capitol building.

Scully pulled the navy blue knit cap over her head, her teeth set and her 
face fiercely determined. Do or die, she thought. There was no in-between.

They pushed out into the snowy neighborhoods of Madison, quickly dodging in 
and out of the shadows. Quick and intense they were so wired on stress that 
exhaustion did not overtake them. Aside from the presence of the 
helicopters which now they only heard and did not see, their only 
distraction or impediments were the bodies and the wreckages of destruction 
that lay around them, dark angels cast into the snow.

They were on the University of Wisconsin campus now, Elspeth hissed as the 
continued to run. Heading their group, she waved them closer and jabbed her 
finger toward a building not too far in the distance. In there, was her 
silent call. Now.

Surveying their surroundings, they broke into a dead run towards the 
building. Ducking beneath a tree, a branch caught Scully's hat and ripped 
it off. Her head snapped back viciously but she only allowed herself one 
curse before she pushed forward yet again. The cold wind swept through her 
hair and effectively caused a chill to rocket through her body. Almost 
there, she thought, gritting her teeth. Almost.

Richter reached the building first, Elspeth trailing close behind. Scully 
was almost to the door when the feeling hit her. She moved closer, touching 
the doorway that Elspeth had thrown open when a figure and a flicker of a 
movement became caught in her peripheral vision. There were eyes on her.

As if caught in slow-motion she twisted slowly and saw him. Mulder. All the 
breath in her body left her and she felt as though someone had punched her 
in the stomach. Her heart felt as though it had exploded in her chest and 
her knees gave way. No, she thought, it could not be him. But there he 
was. And those eyes so intently trained on hers--they were unmistakably 
his. Nothing else could cripple her like this.

Her vision began to blur and she blinked ddesperately. Fluttering her eyes 
wide her line of vision became solely focused on him, and there beneath the 
impartial skies there was only him and her. Then she saw him move and every 
impusle in her body told her to run to him.

All in a split-second this began and ended. A white light and the roar of 
helicopter blades overtook the night and Mulder disappeared, becoming 
another ghost of her past.

Elspeth screamed. "GET THE HELL IN HERE!" She grabbed Scully by the arm, 
jerking her like a puppet into the doorway.

Suddenly the world gave way beneath them. She heard Richter's gasp and 
Elspeth's amazed, short scream as she felt herself tumbling silently down. 
She had become Alice in Wonderland. And Mulder's face became every painting 
in the rabbit hole as the continued their free fall.

Then with a thud, there was nothing but darkness.