Of Mothmen and Militant Nationalists (2/2)
****
Mulder arched his back as he lay, belly-down, on the ground, to get a better look at the two gunmen. One still held his gun to Mitch's temple and the other had just collected all of the agents' weapons.
'Well,' Mulder thought to himself, ' Almost all the weapons.'
A glance around the room showed all the agents down on their stomachs, still in a circle, mostly all with their heads facing towards the middle of the circle. Beside him though, Scully had lain down with her head toward the wall so that they were facing in opposite directions. In fact, she had carefully positioned her right hand close to his right ankle and, as the second gunman was busy putting the weapons in the corner of the room, she deftly unsnapped his backup weapon from his ankle holster and snuck it under her torso.
Mulder felt her slip the weapon off of him and sighed internally. They had only had a couple of glances to work out a silent plan as the gunmen had stormed in and taken Mitch hostage. With mouths stuffed full of bagels and lox, they had wasted one look on expressing confusion but then Mulder had used the last second before dropping to his belly to deliberately look down at his ankle. He knew that she had gotten his message with she had quickly turned around, ostensibly to look at something, before reacting to the gunman and also lying down on her belly.
****
"Hold it - you're saying that Agent Scully knew to take your weapon because you looked down at your feet?"
Mulder looked at Dr. Benton like he was a complete moron."Yes, that's exactly what I said," he said impatiently.
"One glance, over maybe a few seconds and she got enough out of that to figure out what you were looking at? What if you hadn't brought your weapon? Why did you bring two weapons to a partnership seminar? You could have just been looking down for no reason. It seems unreasonable to me that your partner could have answered all of those questions in the time she had to react."
Finally Scully couldn't take it anymore. Mulder was right, this was pointless and she should totally have faked sick. She would way rather be strolling around outside with her partner, eating ice cream instead of explaining their actions to a facilitator that clearly just wanted them to say that they were suffering from post-traumatic stress. But now she had missed her chance at faking enough pain to get them out of the debriefing and was going to have to explain her actions to a moron.
"Yes, one glance. Is that really that hard to understand? Why else would Agent Mulder look down at his right ankle? He sure as hell wasn't just looking for a comfortable spot to lie down. And of course he had brought his ankle holster - like anyone who constantly loses weapons in dangerous situations with armed combatants would. And just because we made it to the seminar this time it certainly didn't preclude trouble from mothmen or militant nationalists." Scully was at her best - firing lines precisely and articulately in a derisive manner only reserved for total idiots. As he watched her address Benton, Skinner flinched, realizing that she had, on more than one occasion, used that tone with him. For some reason, being thought of as an idiot by Scully was something he particularly dreaded.
"Okay, fine, so you got Agent Mulder's weapon," Dr. Benton said, finally realizing that he wasn't going to get anywhere by continuing on that path. "Tell us what happened then."
Scully still looked annoyed. She didn't really want to be responsible for getting a dim-wittted facilitator to understand what had happened between Mulder and her that day. Also, she wanted to wash the smirk off of her partner's face. He was reveling in her irritation at the debriefing process, as if suffering together made up for his annoyance at being there. But she couldn't see a way out of the debriefing without cooperating so she sucked it up and followed protocol, as usual.
****
The tension in the air intensified immediately as all of the agents in the room very quickly realized that they were not dealing with an arranged teamwork exercise. A couple of the agents moved to help the injured man but the gunman harshly ordered them to stay still. The palpable silence was suddenly interrupted with the sound of two equally confident voices.
"You can't just let him bleed out. I'm a doctor, let me help him," Scully said, glancing over at the injured agent, who was trying to staunch the flow of blood but quickly succumbing to shock.
At the same time, Mulder started talking too. "Okay, okay. It's me. Don't shoot me! I'm the snake."
The two gunmen looked first at Scully, then Mulder. "Shut up, or I'll kill him quicker," one of them said to Scully before regarding Mulder with a disarmingly nasty look.
"So you're Snake. What the fuck happened man - fucking chickenshit. You got no balls you piece of shit? Stand up." he yelled, glaring at Mulder with dark eyes.
Everyone's eyes were glued to Mulder as he stood up, his hands held high over his head. He stood, facing the two gunman. The one had let go of Mitch and was now pointing his gun at Mulder's head. The other was still pointing his gun at the other agents but was also looking at Mulder.
"Piece of shit! You're going to be the first to die if you don't prove you're worth something. Here, take this," the second gunman snarled as he walked over to the weapon stash and threw a gun a Mulder.
"Now, who are you going to demonstrate your loyalty on? You pick the first to die for their country."
Mulder fingered the gun nervously. He knew there was really only one choice for what he had to do. But still, even as his only viable option, he was loathe to go through with it. He could feel the sweat in his hairline, threatening to expose his nervousness. He wiped his palms discretely and looked around the room again as he heard a familiar voice attempting to reason with the gunmen.
"Wait, what's the point of this? What are you trying to prove? You're never going to get out of here if you kill any of us. We're all federal agents and we're in a heavily secured federal building. What do you want? Maybe we can work out a way for this to end favourably for everyone."
Everyone now swung their attention to the speaker. Scully was still lying face down on her belly but had managed to turn towards the middle of the circle and looked up at their captors.
Apparently, she asked the right question too as one of the gunmen started to rant.
"We want to show America how pathetic it's national security is. This is FBI property, it's the fucking place where you learn to be a FBI agent and we basically just walked in here with our guns and took you all down. What the hell is that? No wonder we're getting our asses handed to us by the fucking A-rabs. Them fucking Arabs at least have the right fucking idea - kill or be killed or die killing. So we want to make a point. Prove to the American public that our security is shit and our training is shit and our strategy is shit. Them fucking Arabs - they're showing us up. They've got fucking martyrs blowing shit up every fucking day. And what do we have? Weak ass bullshit fucking FBI agents who don't do nothing when Americans are dying. We are regular fucking people and we can walk in here and kill a fucking roomful of FBI agents. That is fucking bullshit! If this is what it takes to get the fucking government to learn it's job, then at least we're fucking man enough to do it. So yeah. That's what we fucking want. We want to make show our American boys that them that it ain't just Arabs that can be martyrs. Show them there's a price to pay if America is gonna be safe. What do we want? We want a fucking room full of dead fucking FBI agents for the news."
Scully was definitely regretting she had asked. Apparently, the gunmen had no real intention of getting out of the building alive. And they definitely had intentions of killing all of the agents. There wasn't even any point in stalling for the Hostage Response Team to show up. They had to resolve the situation soon or there was going to be a lot of dead agents in that room. She looked up at her partner, standing in the middle of the circle with a gun in his hand, ostensibly choosing the first victim of the day. Scully was pretty sure the gunmen weren't going to be shooting at knees anymore and, from the nervousness in his face, Mulder was pretty sure of that too.
"Hurry up and choose, man - we don't got all fucking day," one of the gunmen said impatiently. He was the one standing next to Mulder, a gun to Mulder's head, prodding him to pick a victim.
"Yeah man - anyone of them will do. Let's get the show on the road!" the other gunman yelled. He still stood outside the circle of agents, with a gun at hand and a good shot at anyone in the circle.
Mulder licked his lips nervously. He had to do it but he needed to make sure that she understood. His eyes met hers and saw her give him the slight eyebrow. The expression in her eyes told him she knew exactly what needed to be done. Other than that she was as stoic as a statue - all business, ready when he was.
Damn. He wasn't fucking ready at all but his hand was being forced. There was nothing to do but act.
Mulder looked at the guy holding a gun to his head. This had to work perfectly or they were all going to be dead. He took a deep breath in a futile attempt to bring down his escalating heart rate. Then he indicated towards Scully with his gun.
"Her. I pick her," he said slowly.
There was a momentous collective silent gasp. The agents in the room craned their heads to look at each other. Even in the midst of a hostage situation the urge to exchange a look of shock and a whispered 'no way!' was difficult to resist. What the hell was going on? He had a roomful of people to choose from and he chose her?
"Stand up, red." the gunman behind Mulder said gruffly. "Good pick man - she looks fuckin' feisty. Good to do her first."
Mulder tried desperately to calm himself down as Scully stood up in front of him. She held her hands to her sides and he could see her right hand inching almost imperceptibly towards the gun tucked into her waistband behind her. He had to do this and he had to do it right or they were both dead. He looked into her eyes and the vivacity of the blue in them showed exactly how ready she was. For a millisecond, his confidence wavered and he considered taking the half-assed approach to their problem but she immediately saw it in his eyes and glared at him until he acquiesced. Apparently she wasn't going to be changing her mind so what right did he have to chicken out?
Mulder raised the gun and deliberately targeted the perfect spot. He was nervous as hell but his hands were steady, the hours of shooting practice paying off when he needed it most. If he was lucky, he would get her in exactly the right spot - the same spot where she had gotten him.
"Okay man, no more fucking around. Take the shot." the gunman with the gun trained on Mulder was getting impatient and Mulder didn't like the idea of a twitchy trigger finger right next to his head.
It was now or never.
He looked at Scully and made sure his aim was true. His eyes and the smallest nods of his head started the countdown. Thankfully, countless games of Rock Paper Scissors had their countdowns perfectly synced. No questions on whether you go three-two-fire or three-two-one-fire.
Three
Two
One
Fire
They fired just milliseconds apart. Mulder pulled the trigger on his gun just as Scully aimed her weapon and fired. She had pulled the gun out during the count and timed it perfectly so that her shot caught the goon with a gun at Mulder's head square in the forehead. Mulder's shot hit her in the left shoulder just before she saw the gunman's brains spill out of his head. Then, instantly, as soon as he had fired the first round and while everyone, including the second gunman, was trying to figure out where the second shot had come from, he turned and placed a bullet dead centre to the second gunman's chest.
The sound of the three gunshots rang through the conference room and was followed by dead silence. The shots had been consecutive, seconds apart, and had come from at least two directions.
Everything had happened so quickly that none of the agents, except for Mulder moved for at least thirty seconds. They were all still busy trying to figure out what had happened and whether it was safe to move yet. Finally, one agent was brave enough to stand up slowly while another realized that it was probably best to disarm the gunmen even if they didn't seem to be in any shape to use their weapons anymore. Eventually all the agents got up dazedly, most still completely unaware of what had actually happened.
Mulder, on the other hand was moving more quickly than a cheetah on speed. He almost got to Scully before she hit the ground but wasn't quite quick enough to save her from a big bruise on her hip. At least she was conscious enough to not have hit her head but the hole in her shoulder was bleeding fairly profusely. Mulder took off his jacket and applied pressure to the wound.
"Hey Scully, how are you feeling?" he asked, glad to see that she still had a strong grasp on consciousness.
"I'm fine, Mulder," she said because it was what he expected her to say. She knew that the pain in her expression and the clench of her jaw told him the truth - that it hurt like hell. And as much as she was all for taking care of her own injuries, she figured that letting him staunch the flow of blood was probably for the best - she wasn't sure she could hold onto consciousness much longer.
"Of course you are, Scully," he murmured in her ear. " Of course you are." He looked down at her and gently brushed some hair away from her eyes. "You're gonna be okay. It's going to be okay. That was some nice shooting Scully. Now you can close your eyes, sleep for a bit. Everything is gonna be okay," he whispered to her, not really for any reason other than to keep on holding her and touching her.
He sat down and took her shoulders into his lap, carefully protecting the wounded one while still managing to stroke her good shoulder gently. "It's okay, Scully, the paramedics will be here soon. You're going to be fine, just like you always say."
Scully felt herself being pulled into Mulder's lap and considered struggling against it. She was in a roomful of agents that did not need to see her being intimately held by her partner. The rumours were really going to be going all out on Monday, she thought warily, but, in the end, she couldn't be bothered to resist the warm feeling of her head and shoulders being cradled in Mulder's arms. The pain in her shoulder was excruciating, even through the dull feeling she recognized as shock. Mulder was saying something about sleep and she was mumbling that she was fine and that she wasn't tired when she passed out in his arms.
Mulder looked down at his unconscious partner - so much for being fine, he thought, grinning to himself. For once, he wasn't panicking about her lack of consciousness - the ambulance was on it's way and the pressure on her wound was keeping the bleeding to a minimum. Still, he let his breath come in out with her heartbeat, attuning his life to that of his partner's. He loved the feeling of touching her hair, her skin, her everything. He loved the feeling of whispering sweet nothings in her ear and seeing her lips twitch in response. A Scully lip twitch was like a full-fledged smile from most women. He didn't get the chance to take care of her very often and he reveled in it when he did. Next time though, he hoped that he didn't have to shoot her to get the chance.
****
The room was silent. Everyone except Mulder was gaping at her. Even Skinner was having a difficult time keeping his jaw from dropping.
Scully wasn't sure what part of the story was so surprising. They had all been there - they had all witnessed the events. Surely, they had all figured out what had happened.
Dr. Benton took a second to compose himself before speaking.
"Um. Okay. So, Agent Scully, you are saying that you knew Agent Mulder was going to shoot you?" he finally said.
Scully was now the one who wanted to gape in confusion - hadn't that been obvious from the start? It was the only way that things made sense.
"Well, clearly that was the only option," she said.
"Um, agent - I don't think I understand what you mean. How did you come to that conclusion? And how did you understand that Agent Mulder had come to the same conclusion? From what I gather, the two of you didn't have any time to come to a plan." Dr. Benton replied.
"As I said, sir, that was the only option. Agent Mulder had to shoot someone in that room. He couldn't risk shooting anyone else and I needed a reason to stand up or I wouldn't have been able to draw the weapon I had, let alone fire it quickly and accurately," Scully explained.
Dr. Benton nodded slowly. It did make sense. But the likelihood of a such a risky plan succeeding was close to zero. There were too many variables. What if Mulder's bullet hit Scully too soon and knocked her aim off? What if they had then both turned their weapons to the same gunman leaving the other time to shoot? What if Scully flinched or moved (as almost any human would) and the bullet hit her in a more dangerous spot? This wasn't a plan that most agents would come to even after hours of preparation and debate. And then to go through with it? It would take a lot for things to go back to normal after such a dramatic event. Benton didn't even want to think about the traumatic stress that both agents had experienced. Likely, they were struggling with the incident and he wanted to break through to them. In most situations like this, he would have stopped and invited the two agents for a more private session to work through their issues. However, he could tell that neither agent would be interested in going to a follow-up session with him. Therefore, unfortunately, the session would have to take place in front of all their peers.
"Agent Scully, Agent Mulder, please explain to us the reasoning you went through while this situation was developing. I still see a lot of holes in this story. For example, why, Agent Mulder, did you assume the role of informer? What if the real snake had been in the room too? You would have been found out right away." Dr. Benton finally said.
"Just before the gunmen entered the room one of the agents at the seminar left, ostensibly to visit the restroom. When they were calling around for Snake, I realized that it was the guy that left, that he had chickened out so I was safe in assuming his identity."
"But why do it at all? Why not just play dumb?"
"They were on the edge. I thought they might shoot someone else so I went for it. And I thought they might give me a gun. Seeing how I was the only other person in the room that knew Agent Scully had my weapon, I figured I was the most qualified person to help her plan a way to take out the gunmen."
"And when you say plan - how exactly did you plan with Agent Scully? Neither of you could possibly have said anything to each other and I imagine even if you were both proficient in lip-reading, it would have been difficult to communicate with the gunmen watching your every move."
Mulder stopped to think. How had they communicated? It was like he could have a conversation with Scully in his head and get a close enough approximation that they could come to the same conclusion. Sure, sometimes she still threw him for a loop but, most of the time, he could read what she was saying with a combination of the look in her eyes and the countless past conversations they had had. How could he explain that?
He was still thinking about how he could effortlessly communicate silently with Scully when she started speaking. Maybe she was silently understanding that he was having a hard time coming up with the words. Scully would know what to say - bless her logical heart for being able to come up with the stuff that saved him from times like this.
"Agent Mulder and I have worked together for over 7 years. In that time, we have been involved in countless stressful life-threatening situations in which we have resolved in numerous ways. Most of the time we are reasonably successful in coming through without serious injury. Knowing what Agent Mulder is most likely to be thinking in a situation gives me the ability to formulate a plan that meshes our two styles of problem solving and I believe that Agent Mulder would say the same thing."
It sounded pretty reasonable but still damn risky. To trust yourselves that completely to follow through on a plan that involves being shot or shooting your own partner? "Agents. You know that the slightest mistake and you would likely both have been dead, along with everyone else in that room. How could you be sure that it was going to work out?"
"Gee. I hadn't felt the traumatic stress until you put it like that." Mulder deadpanned as Scully discretely nudged him with her elbow. "But it was going to work out because the plan was perfect."
"If executed perfectly. Why, Agent Mulder, didn't you deliberately miss when you fired your weapon? What if one of you had shot too soon or too late?"
"The goon was right behind me. He would have noticed if I was aiming to miss. And Scully knows it's three two one shoot." Mulder said by way of finishing. He was done with Dr. Benton. The man was clearly not understanding the situation. He and Scully were fine except they had to get through this dull bureau-required exercise.
"How did Agent Scully know which man to aim for?
Scully looked over and saw the set in Mulder's jaw. He was done talking. She had to suck it up and get them through.
"Dr. Benton. I would think the reasoning is obvious. Mulder couldn't possibly have reacted fast enough to shoot the man behind him but he had plenty of time to aim at the other gunman once he was distracted."
"Okay. Fine. So let me get this straight. You and your partner were able to agree on a plan which involved shooting you in the shoulder. How did you know where he was going to shoot you?"
At that question Scully looked over at her partner with a tiny, enigmatic smirk gracing her lips. He returned her look with a knowing grin. He wondered how exactly she was going to say it.
"Uh, Agent Mulder knows that is the best place to shoot someone if you are able to get it through clean. No major organs nearby, away from major arteries, and won't do a lot to affect a right-handed shooter's shot."
"Did you have a discussion with your partner on where best to shoot one another? Because that's what it sounds like to me and, correct me if I'm wrong, but this topic isn't really something that comes up in conversation too often."
Scully might have looked unflustered to all the other agents in the room who were all, including Skinner, gaping at her and Mulder but her partner could see through the professional face she had on. She did not want to have to explain to a room full of agents that she had also shot her partner once before. A story like that would only add fuel to the flaming rumours that already ran wild around the Hoover building.
"Agent Mulder and I often converse about things that don't usually come up in other peoples' conversations," she replied truthfully.
Dr. Benton nodded in defeat. He was clearly still skeptical but couldn't seem to come up with an argument so he moved onto the topic that he really wanted to cover.
"Okay, then. So you formulated this plan together you say. But, in my experience, often plans that are understood logically sometimes don't work out emotionally. So, Agent Scully, Agent Mulder, how do you feel about what happened?"
They looked at each other with matching expressions of dismay and Dr. Benton noted that he had hit a tender spot in them both. Repressed guilt and anger would be spilling over soon as the agents confronted their feelings.
Oblivious to the nervous tension in the room, Mulder and Scully were having a staring contest, each challenging the other to give in and start talking. Finally, the exasperation on Scully's face made Mulder give up the silent routine.
"What do you want us to say? Wait - forget it, I know what you want us to say. You want me to say that I feel horribly guilty about shooting my partner. That, despite the fact that I know it was the logical thing to do, I still feel terrible about it. So I could say it but it wouldn't be true. I don't feel guilty about this and I haven't repressed my emotions about it. And, let me tell you, I know what guilt feels like." Mulder stopped for a breath and looked over at Scully who was hiding a knowing grin at his last comment. Mulder was the king of guilt complexes and it felt good to know that he wasn't feeling guilty about what had happened. They had talked about it right afterwards, while she was still in the hospital and, even then, she was able to tell that he wasn't doing the usual guilt trip thing.
"Okay. Fine, so you don't feel guilty about shooting Agent Scully because you knew it had to be done. However, that doesn't mean that this incident didn't affect both of you. Agent Scully, you took a bullet to the shoulder - that must have hurt. How did you feel about it?"
Scully gave Dr. Benton a skeptical look that challenged even the best raised eyebrow looks she usually saved for Mulder's more imaginative theories. Mulder noted her expression and winced - he was sure he didn't want to be in Dr. Benton's shoes right then.
"How did I feel about it? Well, you're right, it was painful - physically. Emotionally, though, I was extremely relieved."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I wasn't sure Agent Mulder could go through with it. I thought that he might look for another solution even though we had agreed on the most logical plan. When the shot hit me I had already fired and I was fairly certain that I had hit my target. So I was relieved - that the plan had worked, that Agent Mulder trusted in our decision, and that the situation had been resolved with minimal damage."
"So you felt relieved because the problem had been resolved successfully. Did you feel any other emotions towards your partner?"
"Again, Dr. Benton, what you want us to say and what I feel are clearly two different things. How can I make this clear to you? I do not feel angry at Agent Mulder. He does not feel guilty about shooting me. Neither one of us resents what the other had to do - in fact, I would say that I am more satisfied with the level of trust and commitment in our partnership than ever before. Agent Mulder followed through with a plan that he had personal qualms with because he trusted in our decision. I allowed him to shoot me because I trusted him. This is the type of respect that we have for each other and I ask you not to suggest that this respect can be marred by such a trivial occurrence. It may not seem trivial to any of you, but, believe me, for us, this is a mere anecdote - something we will look back on with something akin to fondness."
Dr. Benton looked at the red-haired agent and didn't bother to open his mouth. What was he going to say? If he challenged her statement she was clearly going to tear him a new orifice. So he decided to take her at her word.
"Okay then. I guess that settles it. Our time is up and, unfortunately, I have to be somewhere else soon. If any of you would like to set up a time to meet and talk more closely about this I would be glad to meet with you. Otherwise, I hope that everyone has gained some insight into their personal experiences and emotions through this debriefing process. It's very important to sort out our emotions after stressful situations and this is the first step to a healthy recovery for all of you."
Dr. Benton definitely seemed to want to get out of there fast. He was stopped, however, by a certain voice that he had started to fear.
"Dr. Benton? I would like to ask something before we adjourn," Scully said loudly, over the din of agents starting to stand up.
Mulder, for once, looked surprised. He glanced over at Scully with questioning eyes but she was focused on her own plan this time.
Dr. Benton looked at her warily and nodded briefly, indicating that she should continue.
"Dr. Benton - how would you rate Agent Mulder and myself in terms of positive partnership qualities such as trust and communication? Mitch, perhaps, as the leader of many partnership seminars, you could help Dr. Benton evaluate our partnership."
Benton still looked wary but couldn't figure out what Scully was getting at so he just went with the easy way out.
"Agent Scully, I would say that I have never seen or heard of a partnership that is more sound in trust and communication and I would be very surprised if Mitch has either. It is a rare to see such high levels of respect in any two people. If what you have described here is true then I can't say that I'm qualified to evaluate your partnership, having never encountered something like this before."
"Thank you sir. Mitch - would you agree with Dr. Benton's assessment?"
Mitch, who was still looking a bit woozy at having to relive the stressful hostage experience, was quick to answer.
"Yes, I would definitely agree."
"Seeing as you have led many partnership seminars in the past, would you be able to tell me what Agent Mulder and myself would have learned that would have improved our partnership?"
"Um... Well, we cover issues of trust and communication mostly. And I guess I would say that you two have that covered pretty well. I'm not going to suggest that we would have done any exercises that require the levels of trust and communication that you two demonstrated. So I can't say that you would have gained anything during the seminar."
Scully smiled and nodded her head as she turned and looked pointedly at Skinner. The look on her face spelled satisfaction as she made her final point.
"So, then, would you both be willing to recommend, officially, that Agent Mulder and myself are no longer required to attend partnership seminars?"
Skinner scowled. He had been outplayed and he knew it. Both seminar leaders were nodding like morons and agreeing readily with Scully. Mulder was grinning like a cat who had just ingested the largest canary to ever live while Scully was giving her partner a sly look that suggested that, under her poker face, she too was hiding a satisfied smile.
Mulder held her jacket for her as she struggled into it with her good arm and she took the opportunity to lean into him and whisper into his ear.
"Mulder, you owe me big time."
Mulder smiled even wider and gave her a gentle squeeze before moving his hand to the small of her back as he led her towards the exit.
"Yeah, Scully, I owe you big time."
Mulder arched his back as he lay, belly-down, on the ground, to get a better look at the two gunmen. One still held his gun to Mitch's temple and the other had just collected all of the agents' weapons.
'Well,' Mulder thought to himself, ' Almost all the weapons.'
A glance around the room showed all the agents down on their stomachs, still in a circle, mostly all with their heads facing towards the middle of the circle. Beside him though, Scully had lain down with her head toward the wall so that they were facing in opposite directions. In fact, she had carefully positioned her right hand close to his right ankle and, as the second gunman was busy putting the weapons in the corner of the room, she deftly unsnapped his backup weapon from his ankle holster and snuck it under her torso.
Mulder felt her slip the weapon off of him and sighed internally. They had only had a couple of glances to work out a silent plan as the gunmen had stormed in and taken Mitch hostage. With mouths stuffed full of bagels and lox, they had wasted one look on expressing confusion but then Mulder had used the last second before dropping to his belly to deliberately look down at his ankle. He knew that she had gotten his message with she had quickly turned around, ostensibly to look at something, before reacting to the gunman and also lying down on her belly.
****
"Hold it - you're saying that Agent Scully knew to take your weapon because you looked down at your feet?"
Mulder looked at Dr. Benton like he was a complete moron."Yes, that's exactly what I said," he said impatiently.
"One glance, over maybe a few seconds and she got enough out of that to figure out what you were looking at? What if you hadn't brought your weapon? Why did you bring two weapons to a partnership seminar? You could have just been looking down for no reason. It seems unreasonable to me that your partner could have answered all of those questions in the time she had to react."
Finally Scully couldn't take it anymore. Mulder was right, this was pointless and she should totally have faked sick. She would way rather be strolling around outside with her partner, eating ice cream instead of explaining their actions to a facilitator that clearly just wanted them to say that they were suffering from post-traumatic stress. But now she had missed her chance at faking enough pain to get them out of the debriefing and was going to have to explain her actions to a moron.
"Yes, one glance. Is that really that hard to understand? Why else would Agent Mulder look down at his right ankle? He sure as hell wasn't just looking for a comfortable spot to lie down. And of course he had brought his ankle holster - like anyone who constantly loses weapons in dangerous situations with armed combatants would. And just because we made it to the seminar this time it certainly didn't preclude trouble from mothmen or militant nationalists." Scully was at her best - firing lines precisely and articulately in a derisive manner only reserved for total idiots. As he watched her address Benton, Skinner flinched, realizing that she had, on more than one occasion, used that tone with him. For some reason, being thought of as an idiot by Scully was something he particularly dreaded.
"Okay, fine, so you got Agent Mulder's weapon," Dr. Benton said, finally realizing that he wasn't going to get anywhere by continuing on that path. "Tell us what happened then."
Scully still looked annoyed. She didn't really want to be responsible for getting a dim-wittted facilitator to understand what had happened between Mulder and her that day. Also, she wanted to wash the smirk off of her partner's face. He was reveling in her irritation at the debriefing process, as if suffering together made up for his annoyance at being there. But she couldn't see a way out of the debriefing without cooperating so she sucked it up and followed protocol, as usual.
****
The tension in the air intensified immediately as all of the agents in the room very quickly realized that they were not dealing with an arranged teamwork exercise. A couple of the agents moved to help the injured man but the gunman harshly ordered them to stay still. The palpable silence was suddenly interrupted with the sound of two equally confident voices.
"You can't just let him bleed out. I'm a doctor, let me help him," Scully said, glancing over at the injured agent, who was trying to staunch the flow of blood but quickly succumbing to shock.
At the same time, Mulder started talking too. "Okay, okay. It's me. Don't shoot me! I'm the snake."
The two gunmen looked first at Scully, then Mulder. "Shut up, or I'll kill him quicker," one of them said to Scully before regarding Mulder with a disarmingly nasty look.
"So you're Snake. What the fuck happened man - fucking chickenshit. You got no balls you piece of shit? Stand up." he yelled, glaring at Mulder with dark eyes.
Everyone's eyes were glued to Mulder as he stood up, his hands held high over his head. He stood, facing the two gunman. The one had let go of Mitch and was now pointing his gun at Mulder's head. The other was still pointing his gun at the other agents but was also looking at Mulder.
"Piece of shit! You're going to be the first to die if you don't prove you're worth something. Here, take this," the second gunman snarled as he walked over to the weapon stash and threw a gun a Mulder.
"Now, who are you going to demonstrate your loyalty on? You pick the first to die for their country."
Mulder fingered the gun nervously. He knew there was really only one choice for what he had to do. But still, even as his only viable option, he was loathe to go through with it. He could feel the sweat in his hairline, threatening to expose his nervousness. He wiped his palms discretely and looked around the room again as he heard a familiar voice attempting to reason with the gunmen.
"Wait, what's the point of this? What are you trying to prove? You're never going to get out of here if you kill any of us. We're all federal agents and we're in a heavily secured federal building. What do you want? Maybe we can work out a way for this to end favourably for everyone."
Everyone now swung their attention to the speaker. Scully was still lying face down on her belly but had managed to turn towards the middle of the circle and looked up at their captors.
Apparently, she asked the right question too as one of the gunmen started to rant.
"We want to show America how pathetic it's national security is. This is FBI property, it's the fucking place where you learn to be a FBI agent and we basically just walked in here with our guns and took you all down. What the hell is that? No wonder we're getting our asses handed to us by the fucking A-rabs. Them fucking Arabs at least have the right fucking idea - kill or be killed or die killing. So we want to make a point. Prove to the American public that our security is shit and our training is shit and our strategy is shit. Them fucking Arabs - they're showing us up. They've got fucking martyrs blowing shit up every fucking day. And what do we have? Weak ass bullshit fucking FBI agents who don't do nothing when Americans are dying. We are regular fucking people and we can walk in here and kill a fucking roomful of FBI agents. That is fucking bullshit! If this is what it takes to get the fucking government to learn it's job, then at least we're fucking man enough to do it. So yeah. That's what we fucking want. We want to make show our American boys that them that it ain't just Arabs that can be martyrs. Show them there's a price to pay if America is gonna be safe. What do we want? We want a fucking room full of dead fucking FBI agents for the news."
Scully was definitely regretting she had asked. Apparently, the gunmen had no real intention of getting out of the building alive. And they definitely had intentions of killing all of the agents. There wasn't even any point in stalling for the Hostage Response Team to show up. They had to resolve the situation soon or there was going to be a lot of dead agents in that room. She looked up at her partner, standing in the middle of the circle with a gun in his hand, ostensibly choosing the first victim of the day. Scully was pretty sure the gunmen weren't going to be shooting at knees anymore and, from the nervousness in his face, Mulder was pretty sure of that too.
"Hurry up and choose, man - we don't got all fucking day," one of the gunmen said impatiently. He was the one standing next to Mulder, a gun to Mulder's head, prodding him to pick a victim.
"Yeah man - anyone of them will do. Let's get the show on the road!" the other gunman yelled. He still stood outside the circle of agents, with a gun at hand and a good shot at anyone in the circle.
Mulder licked his lips nervously. He had to do it but he needed to make sure that she understood. His eyes met hers and saw her give him the slight eyebrow. The expression in her eyes told him she knew exactly what needed to be done. Other than that she was as stoic as a statue - all business, ready when he was.
Damn. He wasn't fucking ready at all but his hand was being forced. There was nothing to do but act.
Mulder looked at the guy holding a gun to his head. This had to work perfectly or they were all going to be dead. He took a deep breath in a futile attempt to bring down his escalating heart rate. Then he indicated towards Scully with his gun.
"Her. I pick her," he said slowly.
There was a momentous collective silent gasp. The agents in the room craned their heads to look at each other. Even in the midst of a hostage situation the urge to exchange a look of shock and a whispered 'no way!' was difficult to resist. What the hell was going on? He had a roomful of people to choose from and he chose her?
"Stand up, red." the gunman behind Mulder said gruffly. "Good pick man - she looks fuckin' feisty. Good to do her first."
Mulder tried desperately to calm himself down as Scully stood up in front of him. She held her hands to her sides and he could see her right hand inching almost imperceptibly towards the gun tucked into her waistband behind her. He had to do this and he had to do it right or they were both dead. He looked into her eyes and the vivacity of the blue in them showed exactly how ready she was. For a millisecond, his confidence wavered and he considered taking the half-assed approach to their problem but she immediately saw it in his eyes and glared at him until he acquiesced. Apparently she wasn't going to be changing her mind so what right did he have to chicken out?
Mulder raised the gun and deliberately targeted the perfect spot. He was nervous as hell but his hands were steady, the hours of shooting practice paying off when he needed it most. If he was lucky, he would get her in exactly the right spot - the same spot where she had gotten him.
"Okay man, no more fucking around. Take the shot." the gunman with the gun trained on Mulder was getting impatient and Mulder didn't like the idea of a twitchy trigger finger right next to his head.
It was now or never.
He looked at Scully and made sure his aim was true. His eyes and the smallest nods of his head started the countdown. Thankfully, countless games of Rock Paper Scissors had their countdowns perfectly synced. No questions on whether you go three-two-fire or three-two-one-fire.
Three
Two
One
Fire
They fired just milliseconds apart. Mulder pulled the trigger on his gun just as Scully aimed her weapon and fired. She had pulled the gun out during the count and timed it perfectly so that her shot caught the goon with a gun at Mulder's head square in the forehead. Mulder's shot hit her in the left shoulder just before she saw the gunman's brains spill out of his head. Then, instantly, as soon as he had fired the first round and while everyone, including the second gunman, was trying to figure out where the second shot had come from, he turned and placed a bullet dead centre to the second gunman's chest.
The sound of the three gunshots rang through the conference room and was followed by dead silence. The shots had been consecutive, seconds apart, and had come from at least two directions.
Everything had happened so quickly that none of the agents, except for Mulder moved for at least thirty seconds. They were all still busy trying to figure out what had happened and whether it was safe to move yet. Finally, one agent was brave enough to stand up slowly while another realized that it was probably best to disarm the gunmen even if they didn't seem to be in any shape to use their weapons anymore. Eventually all the agents got up dazedly, most still completely unaware of what had actually happened.
Mulder, on the other hand was moving more quickly than a cheetah on speed. He almost got to Scully before she hit the ground but wasn't quite quick enough to save her from a big bruise on her hip. At least she was conscious enough to not have hit her head but the hole in her shoulder was bleeding fairly profusely. Mulder took off his jacket and applied pressure to the wound.
"Hey Scully, how are you feeling?" he asked, glad to see that she still had a strong grasp on consciousness.
"I'm fine, Mulder," she said because it was what he expected her to say. She knew that the pain in her expression and the clench of her jaw told him the truth - that it hurt like hell. And as much as she was all for taking care of her own injuries, she figured that letting him staunch the flow of blood was probably for the best - she wasn't sure she could hold onto consciousness much longer.
"Of course you are, Scully," he murmured in her ear. " Of course you are." He looked down at her and gently brushed some hair away from her eyes. "You're gonna be okay. It's going to be okay. That was some nice shooting Scully. Now you can close your eyes, sleep for a bit. Everything is gonna be okay," he whispered to her, not really for any reason other than to keep on holding her and touching her.
He sat down and took her shoulders into his lap, carefully protecting the wounded one while still managing to stroke her good shoulder gently. "It's okay, Scully, the paramedics will be here soon. You're going to be fine, just like you always say."
Scully felt herself being pulled into Mulder's lap and considered struggling against it. She was in a roomful of agents that did not need to see her being intimately held by her partner. The rumours were really going to be going all out on Monday, she thought warily, but, in the end, she couldn't be bothered to resist the warm feeling of her head and shoulders being cradled in Mulder's arms. The pain in her shoulder was excruciating, even through the dull feeling she recognized as shock. Mulder was saying something about sleep and she was mumbling that she was fine and that she wasn't tired when she passed out in his arms.
Mulder looked down at his unconscious partner - so much for being fine, he thought, grinning to himself. For once, he wasn't panicking about her lack of consciousness - the ambulance was on it's way and the pressure on her wound was keeping the bleeding to a minimum. Still, he let his breath come in out with her heartbeat, attuning his life to that of his partner's. He loved the feeling of touching her hair, her skin, her everything. He loved the feeling of whispering sweet nothings in her ear and seeing her lips twitch in response. A Scully lip twitch was like a full-fledged smile from most women. He didn't get the chance to take care of her very often and he reveled in it when he did. Next time though, he hoped that he didn't have to shoot her to get the chance.
****
The room was silent. Everyone except Mulder was gaping at her. Even Skinner was having a difficult time keeping his jaw from dropping.
Scully wasn't sure what part of the story was so surprising. They had all been there - they had all witnessed the events. Surely, they had all figured out what had happened.
Dr. Benton took a second to compose himself before speaking.
"Um. Okay. So, Agent Scully, you are saying that you knew Agent Mulder was going to shoot you?" he finally said.
Scully was now the one who wanted to gape in confusion - hadn't that been obvious from the start? It was the only way that things made sense.
"Well, clearly that was the only option," she said.
"Um, agent - I don't think I understand what you mean. How did you come to that conclusion? And how did you understand that Agent Mulder had come to the same conclusion? From what I gather, the two of you didn't have any time to come to a plan." Dr. Benton replied.
"As I said, sir, that was the only option. Agent Mulder had to shoot someone in that room. He couldn't risk shooting anyone else and I needed a reason to stand up or I wouldn't have been able to draw the weapon I had, let alone fire it quickly and accurately," Scully explained.
Dr. Benton nodded slowly. It did make sense. But the likelihood of a such a risky plan succeeding was close to zero. There were too many variables. What if Mulder's bullet hit Scully too soon and knocked her aim off? What if they had then both turned their weapons to the same gunman leaving the other time to shoot? What if Scully flinched or moved (as almost any human would) and the bullet hit her in a more dangerous spot? This wasn't a plan that most agents would come to even after hours of preparation and debate. And then to go through with it? It would take a lot for things to go back to normal after such a dramatic event. Benton didn't even want to think about the traumatic stress that both agents had experienced. Likely, they were struggling with the incident and he wanted to break through to them. In most situations like this, he would have stopped and invited the two agents for a more private session to work through their issues. However, he could tell that neither agent would be interested in going to a follow-up session with him. Therefore, unfortunately, the session would have to take place in front of all their peers.
"Agent Scully, Agent Mulder, please explain to us the reasoning you went through while this situation was developing. I still see a lot of holes in this story. For example, why, Agent Mulder, did you assume the role of informer? What if the real snake had been in the room too? You would have been found out right away." Dr. Benton finally said.
"Just before the gunmen entered the room one of the agents at the seminar left, ostensibly to visit the restroom. When they were calling around for Snake, I realized that it was the guy that left, that he had chickened out so I was safe in assuming his identity."
"But why do it at all? Why not just play dumb?"
"They were on the edge. I thought they might shoot someone else so I went for it. And I thought they might give me a gun. Seeing how I was the only other person in the room that knew Agent Scully had my weapon, I figured I was the most qualified person to help her plan a way to take out the gunmen."
"And when you say plan - how exactly did you plan with Agent Scully? Neither of you could possibly have said anything to each other and I imagine even if you were both proficient in lip-reading, it would have been difficult to communicate with the gunmen watching your every move."
Mulder stopped to think. How had they communicated? It was like he could have a conversation with Scully in his head and get a close enough approximation that they could come to the same conclusion. Sure, sometimes she still threw him for a loop but, most of the time, he could read what she was saying with a combination of the look in her eyes and the countless past conversations they had had. How could he explain that?
He was still thinking about how he could effortlessly communicate silently with Scully when she started speaking. Maybe she was silently understanding that he was having a hard time coming up with the words. Scully would know what to say - bless her logical heart for being able to come up with the stuff that saved him from times like this.
"Agent Mulder and I have worked together for over 7 years. In that time, we have been involved in countless stressful life-threatening situations in which we have resolved in numerous ways. Most of the time we are reasonably successful in coming through without serious injury. Knowing what Agent Mulder is most likely to be thinking in a situation gives me the ability to formulate a plan that meshes our two styles of problem solving and I believe that Agent Mulder would say the same thing."
It sounded pretty reasonable but still damn risky. To trust yourselves that completely to follow through on a plan that involves being shot or shooting your own partner? "Agents. You know that the slightest mistake and you would likely both have been dead, along with everyone else in that room. How could you be sure that it was going to work out?"
"Gee. I hadn't felt the traumatic stress until you put it like that." Mulder deadpanned as Scully discretely nudged him with her elbow. "But it was going to work out because the plan was perfect."
"If executed perfectly. Why, Agent Mulder, didn't you deliberately miss when you fired your weapon? What if one of you had shot too soon or too late?"
"The goon was right behind me. He would have noticed if I was aiming to miss. And Scully knows it's three two one shoot." Mulder said by way of finishing. He was done with Dr. Benton. The man was clearly not understanding the situation. He and Scully were fine except they had to get through this dull bureau-required exercise.
"How did Agent Scully know which man to aim for?
Scully looked over and saw the set in Mulder's jaw. He was done talking. She had to suck it up and get them through.
"Dr. Benton. I would think the reasoning is obvious. Mulder couldn't possibly have reacted fast enough to shoot the man behind him but he had plenty of time to aim at the other gunman once he was distracted."
"Okay. Fine. So let me get this straight. You and your partner were able to agree on a plan which involved shooting you in the shoulder. How did you know where he was going to shoot you?"
At that question Scully looked over at her partner with a tiny, enigmatic smirk gracing her lips. He returned her look with a knowing grin. He wondered how exactly she was going to say it.
"Uh, Agent Mulder knows that is the best place to shoot someone if you are able to get it through clean. No major organs nearby, away from major arteries, and won't do a lot to affect a right-handed shooter's shot."
"Did you have a discussion with your partner on where best to shoot one another? Because that's what it sounds like to me and, correct me if I'm wrong, but this topic isn't really something that comes up in conversation too often."
Scully might have looked unflustered to all the other agents in the room who were all, including Skinner, gaping at her and Mulder but her partner could see through the professional face she had on. She did not want to have to explain to a room full of agents that she had also shot her partner once before. A story like that would only add fuel to the flaming rumours that already ran wild around the Hoover building.
"Agent Mulder and I often converse about things that don't usually come up in other peoples' conversations," she replied truthfully.
Dr. Benton nodded in defeat. He was clearly still skeptical but couldn't seem to come up with an argument so he moved onto the topic that he really wanted to cover.
"Okay, then. So you formulated this plan together you say. But, in my experience, often plans that are understood logically sometimes don't work out emotionally. So, Agent Scully, Agent Mulder, how do you feel about what happened?"
They looked at each other with matching expressions of dismay and Dr. Benton noted that he had hit a tender spot in them both. Repressed guilt and anger would be spilling over soon as the agents confronted their feelings.
Oblivious to the nervous tension in the room, Mulder and Scully were having a staring contest, each challenging the other to give in and start talking. Finally, the exasperation on Scully's face made Mulder give up the silent routine.
"What do you want us to say? Wait - forget it, I know what you want us to say. You want me to say that I feel horribly guilty about shooting my partner. That, despite the fact that I know it was the logical thing to do, I still feel terrible about it. So I could say it but it wouldn't be true. I don't feel guilty about this and I haven't repressed my emotions about it. And, let me tell you, I know what guilt feels like." Mulder stopped for a breath and looked over at Scully who was hiding a knowing grin at his last comment. Mulder was the king of guilt complexes and it felt good to know that he wasn't feeling guilty about what had happened. They had talked about it right afterwards, while she was still in the hospital and, even then, she was able to tell that he wasn't doing the usual guilt trip thing.
"Okay. Fine, so you don't feel guilty about shooting Agent Scully because you knew it had to be done. However, that doesn't mean that this incident didn't affect both of you. Agent Scully, you took a bullet to the shoulder - that must have hurt. How did you feel about it?"
Scully gave Dr. Benton a skeptical look that challenged even the best raised eyebrow looks she usually saved for Mulder's more imaginative theories. Mulder noted her expression and winced - he was sure he didn't want to be in Dr. Benton's shoes right then.
"How did I feel about it? Well, you're right, it was painful - physically. Emotionally, though, I was extremely relieved."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I wasn't sure Agent Mulder could go through with it. I thought that he might look for another solution even though we had agreed on the most logical plan. When the shot hit me I had already fired and I was fairly certain that I had hit my target. So I was relieved - that the plan had worked, that Agent Mulder trusted in our decision, and that the situation had been resolved with minimal damage."
"So you felt relieved because the problem had been resolved successfully. Did you feel any other emotions towards your partner?"
"Again, Dr. Benton, what you want us to say and what I feel are clearly two different things. How can I make this clear to you? I do not feel angry at Agent Mulder. He does not feel guilty about shooting me. Neither one of us resents what the other had to do - in fact, I would say that I am more satisfied with the level of trust and commitment in our partnership than ever before. Agent Mulder followed through with a plan that he had personal qualms with because he trusted in our decision. I allowed him to shoot me because I trusted him. This is the type of respect that we have for each other and I ask you not to suggest that this respect can be marred by such a trivial occurrence. It may not seem trivial to any of you, but, believe me, for us, this is a mere anecdote - something we will look back on with something akin to fondness."
Dr. Benton looked at the red-haired agent and didn't bother to open his mouth. What was he going to say? If he challenged her statement she was clearly going to tear him a new orifice. So he decided to take her at her word.
"Okay then. I guess that settles it. Our time is up and, unfortunately, I have to be somewhere else soon. If any of you would like to set up a time to meet and talk more closely about this I would be glad to meet with you. Otherwise, I hope that everyone has gained some insight into their personal experiences and emotions through this debriefing process. It's very important to sort out our emotions after stressful situations and this is the first step to a healthy recovery for all of you."
Dr. Benton definitely seemed to want to get out of there fast. He was stopped, however, by a certain voice that he had started to fear.
"Dr. Benton? I would like to ask something before we adjourn," Scully said loudly, over the din of agents starting to stand up.
Mulder, for once, looked surprised. He glanced over at Scully with questioning eyes but she was focused on her own plan this time.
Dr. Benton looked at her warily and nodded briefly, indicating that she should continue.
"Dr. Benton - how would you rate Agent Mulder and myself in terms of positive partnership qualities such as trust and communication? Mitch, perhaps, as the leader of many partnership seminars, you could help Dr. Benton evaluate our partnership."
Benton still looked wary but couldn't figure out what Scully was getting at so he just went with the easy way out.
"Agent Scully, I would say that I have never seen or heard of a partnership that is more sound in trust and communication and I would be very surprised if Mitch has either. It is a rare to see such high levels of respect in any two people. If what you have described here is true then I can't say that I'm qualified to evaluate your partnership, having never encountered something like this before."
"Thank you sir. Mitch - would you agree with Dr. Benton's assessment?"
Mitch, who was still looking a bit woozy at having to relive the stressful hostage experience, was quick to answer.
"Yes, I would definitely agree."
"Seeing as you have led many partnership seminars in the past, would you be able to tell me what Agent Mulder and myself would have learned that would have improved our partnership?"
"Um... Well, we cover issues of trust and communication mostly. And I guess I would say that you two have that covered pretty well. I'm not going to suggest that we would have done any exercises that require the levels of trust and communication that you two demonstrated. So I can't say that you would have gained anything during the seminar."
Scully smiled and nodded her head as she turned and looked pointedly at Skinner. The look on her face spelled satisfaction as she made her final point.
"So, then, would you both be willing to recommend, officially, that Agent Mulder and myself are no longer required to attend partnership seminars?"
Skinner scowled. He had been outplayed and he knew it. Both seminar leaders were nodding like morons and agreeing readily with Scully. Mulder was grinning like a cat who had just ingested the largest canary to ever live while Scully was giving her partner a sly look that suggested that, under her poker face, she too was hiding a satisfied smile.
Mulder held her jacket for her as she struggled into it with her good arm and she took the opportunity to lean into him and whisper into his ear.
"Mulder, you owe me big time."
Mulder smiled even wider and gave her a gentle squeeze before moving his hand to the small of her back as he led her towards the exit.
"Yeah, Scully, I owe you big time."