------------------------------
A New War #31: Reunited
by Lianne Burwell
January 2000
------------------------------

The sun was just peeking up above the tops of the trees when they reached 
the abandoned shed about five miles from the Center where Scully, 
Wolfling and the others were waiting for them with the vehicles to finish 
their escape. Alex was reasonably pleased with the way things had gone: 
The rescue had been pulled off without a hitch -- other than their 
unexpected little tagalong -- with the only casualties being on the other 
side. He would have liked to have blown the entire place to kingdom come, 
but it was too big and they hadn't had the time. Besides, the others 
might have objected to the wholesale death and destruction.

However, since the tunnel had been discovered, he had no problem deciding 
to blow it up along with the people inside. Very few people were going to 
mourn the deaths of a few Consortium thugs; not even Mulder.

With his gun ready as usual -- just to be safe -- Alex pushed open the 
door of the shed. There was always the chance that the opposition knew of 
the building and had beat them there.

Inside, everyone who was supposed to be there was, along with one 
unexpected addition. Jarod's pal, Sydney, was in a corner, tied to a 
chair with a couple of Hunters watching him.

"How the hell did he know to come here?" Alex snapped at Jarod. The 
sheepish expression on the man's face told him all he needed to know and 
he resisted an urge to just shoot the man. These sorts of leaks were what 
led to failed operations. "That's what I thought."

"Scully, are you all right?" Mulder asked squeezing past him. The petite 
red-head glared up at her partner.

"I'm fine," she said coolly. "However, you and I are going to have a long 
talk about these suicidal tendencies of yours." The glance she shot in 
Alex's direction said that she wasn't just talking about Mulder's 
decision to turn himself over to Spender. Alex's back straightened and he 
glared back: The battle for Fox Mulder had begun, and he had no intention 
of losing.

"What about him?" he asked Wolfling in a low voice, gesturing towards 
Sydney.

"Showed up about ten minutes before you. Said he needed to talk to 
Jarod." The big Canadian looked as suspicious as Alex felt.

The others had entered the shed now. Sydney smiled when he saw Jarod, 
then slumped in apparent relief when he saw Broots. "Mr. Raines is 
looking for you," he said, and Broots made a sound suspiciously like a 
whimper. "He put two and two together and decided that the camera failure 
wasn't just a coincidence. He's suspicious, but that's all so far."

Broots turned to Jarod, grabbing at the man's arm. "As soon as he 
realizes I'm not in the Center, he's going to decide that I'm guilty. 
He'll send someone after Debbie!"

"Who's Debbie?" Kincaid asked in an undertone. Alex shrugged, but Jarod 
answered him.

"His eleven year old daughter. Also the best hold that the Center has 
over him."

Kincaid glanced at Wolfling, who gestured to one of his Hunters. "What's 
the address," he asked Broots. "Green will go pick her up before this 
Raines person can get to her."

Broots looked at the heavily tattooed biker dubiously, but obviously 
realized that his options were limited. He rattled off a street address 
and some basic directions. The Hunter left and a moment later they heard 
the a motorcycle start up.

"Now what?" Broots asked, vibrating nervously.

"You run," was the blunt answer from Sydney. Jarod was quickly untying 
him. "Even if you could prove that you weren't involved -- and that would 
be tough since you were -- Mr. Raines would probably kill you on just 
principle."

"Is that the guy I met?" Mulder broke in. "The one with the lung trouble?"

"That's him."

Mulder gave a little shudder. "I can believe he would do just that," he 
told Alex. "This guy makes *Spender* look like the picture of reason."

Alex found that hard to believe, but there wasn't time to debate it. 
"This is all well and nice, but the longer we stay here, the more likely 
it is that we're *all* going to get caught," he said to the room in 
general. "Let's *go*."

"Go with them," Sydney told Broots, rubbing his wrists where they'd been 
tied together. "It's your only option."

"What about you, Sydney?" Jarod broke in. "You could come with us too. 
After all, if Raines suspects Broots, it's only a matter of time until he 
starts looking at you."

"Maybe. But until then, I can be of more use on the inside. Besides, Miss 
Parker needs me." He smiled fondly at Jarod. "But maybe in the near 
future. Until then, keep in touch," he said softly, already heading for 
the door.

"Be careful," was the equally soft reply.

"*Now* can we go?" Alex asked impatiently. "Before someone *else* decides 
to join this little party?"

Wolfling grunted in agreement, and quickly hustled them all into the 
waiting van. They would be dropped at a Hunter safehouse, almost fifty 
miles away. Then the stolen van would be dumped even further away, in a 
different direction. They'd all been careful not to leave fingerprints or 
any other traces, so there would be nothing to lead the police -- or the 
Center -- to them.

They hoped

* * * * *

"Would you mind telling us *what* is done?" Paul asked, shaking a little 
from suppressed tension. From the moment they'd entered the room, he 
hadn't been in control of his own body. It was not a feeling he liked, 
especially after everything that had happened since he'd been released 
from the Mothren storage pod. "What the hell did we just do, and why?" he 
added as an afterthought.

The android seemed strangely relaxed, considering she was basically an 
artificial being. "There are those in my home who disagreed with the 
plans for your world. Knowing that those factions might try to infiltrate 
the project, the leaders ensured that no members of the project would be 
able to act against them directly."

"A familiar story," Harrison said, moving to wrap his arms around Paul 
from behind. Paul leaned back into the embrace. "I take it that we were 
your way around that injunction?"

"Correct. When I healed you," she said, referring to their first meeting, 
more than a decade earlier, when she'd saved their lives, "as a 
precaution, I implanted the knowledge you would need into your 
subconscious. Once you entered this room, that knowledge was activated."

"And what was it we did?" Paul asked again, wondering if she were giving 
them the run-around.

"And what was Norton supposed to have done?" Suzanne added, a catch in 
her voice. Paul winced, remembering the relationship that the two had 
had. They'd been discreet, especially around Debi, but everyone knew 
about it. Probably the same as they'd all known about Paul and Harrison, 
although no one had ever mentioned it.

The android nodded to Harrison. "You activated a device implanted inside 
every android form, transporting them first here, then back to our home 
dimension. You," she nodded to Paul, "sent a signal that will spread 
through our computing network, erasing all information that refers to 
your dimension or its coordinates."

"What about off-line backups and archives? Paper, even?" Harrison asked.

"There are none," she replied, a slightly puzzled expression on her face. 
Harrison snorted, and Paul had to agree. Even in the Project, they'd 
always kept at least two backups, unconnected to the outside world to 
protect them from hackers and spies.

"Then you," she nodded to Suzanne, "destroyed the only homing device 
that would have guided them back, severing the last link between this 
dimension and mine."

Paul shook his head. This was ridiculous. "You mean to tell me that this 
is the only link? No backups at all?"

"They were not necessary," was the reply. He shook his head again in 
disbelief. These people were far too overconfident. He found it hard to 
accept that they'd managed to get this far with all their eggs in one 
basket, so to speak.

"And Norton?" he reminded her before Suzanne could.

"His knowledge would have activated the bases self-destruct. However, the 
leaders gave us the authorization to activate if the base were in danger 
of being seized by humans." Her lips curved into a small and obviously 
artificial smile. "The circumstances allow it. I will transport you to 
safety, then destroy this place." She reached for a panel.

"Wait!" Harrison said, reaching out. "Do you have to? There is so much we 
could learn here," he pleaded.

"Yes. Too much." She started to tap a series of commands at one panel. "I 
will give your race the chance to develop unmolested by mine, but I must 
protect my people as well. This technology, in human hands, might 
endanger them."

Suzanne frowned. In the background, a computer voice started speaking in 
the rhythmic tones of a countdown. "Why weren't you transported with the 
others?" she asked as the android moved to another panel. "Didn't you 
have one of those devices implanted in your body as well?"

"I removed mine before I retrieved you. While most of my kind in this 
world wore mechanical forms, there are still others that are housed in 
either human bodies or those of the shift-form animals we brought with 
us. After this base is destroyed, I will locate and neutralize them 
before they can interfere with your race any more than they already have."

Paul wanted to ask for more information on those remaining aliens, but 
before he could speak, she pressed one last control. Immediately there 
was the flash of light that went with the alien transportation method.

When the blinding light faded, Paul looked around and started cursing. 
His idea of safety and the alien's were obviously very different. They 
were back in Spender's study.

"We have to get out of here before..." He was interrupted by the sound of 
a gun safety being clicked off. A *lot* of gun safeties, actually.

Standing in the doorway to the study was a depressingly large number of 
armed men. Then they parted, like the Red Sea in front of Moses, and 
Spender stepped into view.

He stared at the group standing in his study for a long moment, then 
turned to leave. "Take them, but don't damage them," he said. "We want 
answers."

Paul snarled, but raised his hands. Fighting now would be a waste of 
time. But their time would come, sooner or later.

He was looking forward to 'talking' to Spender *then*.

* * * * *

They arrived at the safe-house just before lunch. Normally it wouldn't 
have taken that long to drive the distance involved, but they'd taken the 
scenic route, watching for any sign of pursuit. Once they were satisfied 
that they weren't being followed, they'd headed for their final 
destination.

Alex had beaten Scully to the spot next to Mulder and had been pleased 
when the man had promptly leaned against him and dozed off, obviously 
completely at ease with Alex. Scully, sitting opposite them in the van, 
squeezed between Kincaid and Wolfling, had to be content with just 
glaring at him. He didn't care. She'd turned Mulder away too many times 
in the past and now he belonged to Alex, and he wasn't going to give him 
up.

Mulder woke as they pulled into the barn next to the old farmhouse. 
Green's motorcycle was already parked in the rickety old building, Alex 
noted as he helped Mulder out of the van. The man's bare feet were a mess 
and were going to need attention. As soon as they were out of the van, 
the Hunter driving it left again, heading for the site where the vehicle 
would be dumped.

"Just a little further," Alex promised as Mulder leaned on him heavily. 
The man just bit his lip and nodded.

Inside the large kitchen, warmed by a wood stove, Green waited with an 
attractive young girl who promptly threw herself at the man that Jarod 
had insisted on dragging along. Alex supposed it was necessary; after 
all, the man *had* helped them by dealing with the security cameras. They 
owed him, even if he had complicated matters by his presence.

Alex settled Mulder into one chair with his feet propped up with another, 
then went to fill a bowl with hot water to clean the man's feet. Bandages 
were also located and pulled out. Mulder's feet were bruised and cut 
under the layer of dirt and blood. He kicked himself for not anticipating 
the problem and bringing extra footwear.

Scully took the water from him and immediately started to clean Mulder's 
cuts. Since she *was* the one with a medical degree and the first-aid 
kit, Alex decided to let her have her little victory, but he chose to sit 
next to Mulder, on the heavy kitchen table.

"All right, folks. Time to make some plans here," he announced to the 
room at large. Broots was sitting in the corner, talking with his 
daughter. Jarod was leaning against a wall, watching them with an almost 
wistful smile on his face. The sight of the two men reminded Alex of one 
question he had. "But first of all, what the hell was so damned important 
about that package?"

Broots jumped, obviously not expecting to be addressed. The man glanced 
at Jarod, who pulled the bundle out of his jacket pocket and starting to 
unwrap it. Inside was a series of small silver disks which made Mulder 
perk up in interest.

"I've been downloading everything from the Center computers," Broots 
explained, nodding towards the storage disks. "Everything I could get to 
over the last few months. I thought you could... use it." He shrugged 
helplessly.

Jarod's expression turned surprised, then he smiled broadly. "Broots, I 
could kiss you," he said and the other man turned bright red. Jarod 
glanced at the young girl and said, "Maybe later," then winked. Broots 
looked completely flustered.

Alex snorted, then his eyes narrowed. "That could be useful," he said 
thoughtfully. "When we rescued Scully," the woman in question glared at 
him, "the technician I questioned said that the younger McCullough was 
taken to 'the Mexican facility.' Anything on those disks to tell us where 
that is?"

Broots frowned, then shook his head. "Maybe. I'd have to check, though. 
I didn't exactly have time to read everything while I was copying it to 
disk."

"Do it," Alex told him.

"My daughter... They're going to be looking for me. For her." Debbie 
clutched his hand, but looked amazingly calm and collected for her young 
age. Alex found himself admiring the kid.

"We can protect her," Wolfling said from his seat next to the back door, 
speaking for the first time. Broots looked uncertain, but Jarod nodded 
reassuringly. "I have a cousin living north of the border in Ontario. He 
and his wife have two kids at university. They can take her in. Both of 
you, if you like."

Broots looked down at his daughter, then shook his head. "Just Debbie," 
he said softly, then shushed her when she tried to protest. "They'll be 
looking harder for me. Debbie will be safer if I'm not around."

"What about you?" Wolfling asked.

Jarod looked up from the disks he was holding. "He'll come with me."

"Are you sure?" Broots asked hesitantly.

"Of course. Just like old times." Both men grinned, and Alex wondered 
briefly what story was behind the comment.

"What about the others?" Scully asked, fastening the last bandage on 
Mulder's feet. "Suzanne, Debi, Harrison and Ironhorse?"

Alex sighed. "That's a little more difficult. The techie said that 
someone came and took them away, but we were watching the estate. They 
didn't leave by any means *we* saw, but they were gone when we searched 
the building."

"So how do we find them?"

"Right now, unless a miracle happens, we don't." That blunt if honest 
reply earned him another Scully-glare. He wasn't sure just what she 
expected from him; he wasn't clairvoyant, after all. Hell, finding a 
clairvoyant was probably their best bet at that moment.

"But for now," he continued, "let's start with what we *can* do. We find 
Debi McCullough -- since we have a lead, even if it is pretty slim. Start 
going through those files," he told Broots, confident that the nervous 
man would do what he was told. "Once we've found her, we can start 
looking for the others. The Consortium has to have them *somewhere*."

There were some nods and some murmurs, but no one seemed to object to his 
orders, he was pleased to note.

In the meantime, Mulder was falling asleep where he sat. Alex slid off 
the table and leaned over. "Let's get you upstairs," he said in a soft 
voice. Mulder blinked and looked a little nervous. Alex held out a hand 
to pull him to his feet.

"I can take care of him," Scully promptly said.

Alex glared at her, but she didn't back down. He didn't say a word, but 
waited not-so-patiently for Mulder to make his choice. He could have 
pressed the issue, but it was about time that the other man made a public 
stand. Besides, Alex was pretty damn sure that at the moment, he would 
come out on top.

It didn't stop him from being damned relieved when Mulder finally said, 
"It's okay, Scully. I'm sure Alex will take good care of me."

Shooting a triumphant look at Scully, Alex braced Mulder against him and 
led him towards the stairs to the second floor and the bedrooms up there.

"Besides," Mulder said softly in his ear, his voice a little shaky. "I 
suppose we need to talk."


TO BE CONTINUED