"And what exactly are you, Mister Mulder?" The smoking man stepped forward into the dim beam of Dana's light. He puffed on a cigarette and stared at the two agents without blinking.

The two sat there in silence. Dana had a gut feeling of what was going on, but refused to believe it nor say what she thought. Fox Mulder on the other hand knew but was too weak to speak up.

"Do not be afraid." The smoking man said with an evil smile. It was so eery to see his wrinkled lips turn upward the way they did so. "I know that you know what you both are, Fox." The smoking man laughed.

'What,' Dana said to herself. 'What you both are." It was down-right odd to be classified as a what rather than a who. She glanced over at Agent Mulder who was frozen, his head hung down and his eyes closed.

Seconds passed on and the room was in silence. Dana could feel the tension expanding and her heart began to pulsate in her throat.
"Agent Mulder, please speak up. It might be for the best if you just say something." Dana whispered as softly as she could. Mulder slightly nodded his head with all of his strength and slowly picked his head up and balanced it on his thin neck.

"We're," he stuttered,"We're a part of your failed," he paused once more, "alien-human hybrid  project, aren't we?" Mulder struggled to say. Dana's eyes widened. Her life seemed to get more interesting and complicated by the minute.

"Now, let's not get too ahead of ourselves here," he laughed "The proper name of the so called 'project' you're referring to is Order 0993." The cancer-ridden man said as he paced the dark room.

"What's 0993?" Dana asked with a nervous, trembling voice.

Bitter silenced echoed the room until a younger and softer voice spoke up.

"A project performed by the government, instituted by President Johnson himself in the 1960's; to inject a select number of infants with a serum that removed the Rhesus Protein from their blood as well as amplifies their brain functions. Therefore creating a race of psychic humanoids." Eric stepped forward into the blue light and folded his arms against his broad chest, not losing eye contact with Dana and Fox. He was intimidating, but his words were what scared the two agents the most.

"And what exactly was this serum composed of?" Dana exhaled. Beads of sweat formed above her lip.

The Cigarette Man spoke this time. "It was nothing more than a simple mixture of atropine, barbituric acid, codeine, and..." he paused to puff his cigarette.

"And what else?" Dana asked insistingly.

"Oh, nothing too extreme," Eric interjected, "just a drop or two of blood from an extraterrestrial."

Fox Mulder hung his head once more as his point had been proven. He had nothing else to argue. His hypothesis was confirmed correct. Dana, on the other hand, became very heated with confusion and frustration.

"There's no such thing as aliens!" She barked from the bottom of her throat. The sweat beads were popping and spilling down her face like tiny waterfalls.

"My dear, how wrong you are." The smoking man chuckled.

"You have no hard evidence, no proof!" She yelled.

"Dana, my darling, the proof, the evidence is in this room right now."

"Oh yeah? What is it, then?" She snapped with wide eyes.

"You."

The news didn't strike her as a surprise, but more of something that she didn't want to hear. She didn't want to accept it. Yes, yes she knew that she was different and possessed some sort of strange powers. She was beginning to understand how her mind and body worked. However, she didn't want to hear the realizations of her being different, being psychic, being alien coming from anyone that wasn't herself.

"What do you want with me? With us?" She stammered. Tears swelled in her blue eyes.

"That's why we're all here. We're all gathered here today to discuss what will happen to both you and Agent Mulder." The smoking man blatantly said. Dana could see him, and Eric in the dim light but she couldn't see the woman. All she could make out was an outline of hair and the height of the woman that stood in the darkness. She was short, but not as short as Dana. Her mind raced as she had a few guesses of who it could be. She wanted to dismiss those thoughts, but how could she when she could trust no one, after all.

"And what is our fate?" Dana asked, still kneeling beside agent Mulder on the cold, damp floor of the basement. "We made a deal, remember? That if I returned to you by dusk of the third day with my answer that you would free him."

"You're right, my dear. I am a man of my word, after all." The smoking man said as he stepped closer to Dana and Fox. Dana scooted back in fear. "What have you decided to do then, Dana?" He asked as he stared her in the eyes.

"I--I have decided to leave-"

Before Dana could finish her sentence, Agent Mulder began to speak. "Dana, Dana no. You don't have to do this."

The redhead moved in closer to the weak agent and they quickly whispered back and forth in a hushed conversation.

"Yes, I do. I have to. It's the only way to save you." She confided.

"Don't waste your life away because of me," he whispered with tired eyes, "You don't have to do this."

Just then Dana realized something. If neither she nor Mulder decided to leave then they couldn't get rid of both of them. It would be all too suspicious. More than it already was.

"I've decided to stay at Quantico." She said. Her voice trembled at the beginning of her statement but ended on a strong and confident note.

"Then Agent Mulder has decided to leave, correct?" The smoking man said with raised eyebrows.

"No. We are both staying." Dana declared. Her heart pounding and her chest heavy with anxiety.

"I had a feeling that would be your answer." He said an unamused. "Didn't I tell you that this would happen, Miss Dawson?" The Smoking Man sang as he gestured to the woman standing in the darkness.

Dawson. Dana knew that name.

"You're right, sir." The female voice said strongly.

"Dear, why don't you step into the light. Show your face. I'm sure that Dana will be thrilled to see you." The Cancer Man said. As he did so a face all too familiar to Dana Scully emerged from the pitch black.

"Chanel?" Dana exclaimed with a gasp. Her world was tipped upside down. "Out of everyone I knew," Dana cried, "I trusted you! I chose you to be my friend. Were you spying on my the whole time? " She whimpered.

"You should've listened to Spooky, I suppose. Remember Dana, trust no one."

The two people that Dana trusted, liked, formed friendships with were the two people out to get her. She regretted being so gullible and naive as she gravitated towards Eric Jenson and Chanel Dawson. She had only wished that she had trusted Agent Mulder over them. Yes, they would still be in the predicament that plagued them, but she wouldn't be as hurt.

"We are prepared for your decisions," The Smoking Man began to say, "In order for you both to keep your positions here at Quantico, we will need to perform a few procedures."

"Procedures?" Agent Mulder asked as he lifted his head. Dana looked over at him. She wiped the tears off of her cheeks and tried her best to put on a brave face.

"Yes. Nothing too incredible. Routine, really."

"I'm a medical doctor," Dana said sternly, "how routine are these procedures?"

"Quite simple, actually," he said as he began to pace the room, "To start, we will restore your Rhesus Protein, therefore taking away your otherworldly powers and deeming you 'normal'. The next step is a bit tricky but I believe we have it worked out to the point that fatalities are near obsolete."

"What is the second step?" Dana asked with a lump in her throat.

"Erasing your every memory from this past week."

500 reads?! That's incredible! Thank you so much! It's so fascinating to me to not only have so many reads but to see that they are coming from all over the world. Thank you!

I'm sorry that it has taken me so long between updates. I am working to update at a steady pace and hopefully finish this story soon.

Check out my other TXF story, Amorem Animalem. It's an MSR Mystery and I'm planning to begin writing the sequel very soon!

Once again, thank you!