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Title: Take Another Look Summary: Nila Perry is in big trouble. Luckily, Skinner shows up to bail her out. She escapes The Cigarette Smoking Man's nefarious enclave, but now she has to explain herself to Mulder. Nila Perry was dead. OK, so she was still breathing. It wouldn't be long before that changed. She'd made the grave error of deciding to side with the people who stood the most to lose, if she ever forgot how to keep her mouth shut. It was clear now that they intended to use her up, then shut her mouth permanently. As long as she could remain useful to them, she was safe; but she could only keep up that juggling act for so long. Not, it would seem, as long as she thought she could. When she woke this morning, she found that the door to her room was locked from the outside. She was dead. Part of her was tired of the whole game, and wanted to sit back and let it come. Her hands, though, had no eyes for the writing on the wall. Methodically, she went through every drawer and bag in her room. Time passed. Time passed right through lunch. Not a good sign. You only feed people you intend to keep alive. Nila ravaged a stashed candy bar, and went back to work. Somewhere in the huge remote complex, people were deciding her funeral arrangements. If she wanted to save them the trouble, she had to work fast. So far she'd gone through a king's ransom's worth of credit cards, a nail file, several hair pins, and every key on her keychain. Just now, she was working on taking apart her bed. Ev She was starting to seriously wear down, when there was a noise at the door. Grabbing the leg from her bed, she crouched in readiness. The door opened. Nila swung at the first thing that came through, but instead of a "thud," got a "swoosh". Strong arms grabbed her, and a hand covered her mouth. "Relax." A gruff voice whispered. "I'm here to get you out of here." Fearing a trick, but with no real choices, Nila let go of the bed leg and relaxed. When her captor released her and she turned to face him, she saw a medium built man with glasses and a seriously receding hair line dressed in khakis. "Aren't you a little short for a storm-trooper?" she cracked, then glanced at the floor to see the jacket he'd thrown in to distract her. "How'd you know I was gonna jump you?" "I didn't. Frankly, I'm relieved you did. At least you're not crouched in a corner sucking your thumb, like the others." "Others?" "Two techs, like you, and three scientists." "What happened to the other scientist?" The man shook his head. "We have to get out of here. Did you want to bring any of this stuff with you?" Nila looked at her wrecked room. Her credit cards and keys were useless. She pulled what money she had out of her wallet, then dropped the wallet into the mess. ID could actually work against her. With a quick nod, she followed the man out. "I'm Nila," she said quietly. "I know," he answered. "So what do I call you?" "Skinner." "Just Skinner?" "Skinner-may-he-rest-in-peace, if we don't shut up and get out of here." Nila smiled. Things were definitely looking up. They met up with some people dressed just like Skinner, and a huddled mass of quivering intelligencia. Nila did her best to reassure them and get them to snap out of it, but it did very little good. Their current situation had caught them completely off guard, and they just couldn't accept what was happening. They allowed themselves to be herded through the building, but that was the best they could get. At one point, they had to lower themselves through a grate in the floor and crawl through the c "Now what?" Nila asked, while one of the team counted heads. "It may get a little sticky," Skinner said. "We can get out through the cellar doors, but there are perimeter guards." "How'd you get past them coming in?" Skinner smiled ruefully. "Not standing upright and shuffling our feet." "Good point." Nila glanced at her peers. "Maybe we could-" "No time. We're all here?" he asked, and got a nod from a tough looking woman. "I'd rather shoot it out with a few perimeter guards, than wait for the whole complex to come out looking for us. Let's go." He pulled a 9mm from his holster, and led the way. There were enough members of the rescue team that each could take a captive, preventing them from clumping up, though Nila was together enough to not need a hand to hold. This left Skinner free to maneuver. He opened the cellar door, climbed out, then motioned for the others to make a dash for the tree-line. He waited until they were all out, then followed. They were almost among the trees, when the first shot was fired. Nila dropped to her belly and crawled frantically, with Skinner hot on her heels. Once she felt pine needles under her, she rolled a few times and came up in a crouch behind a tree. Skinner did the same, a few feet away. Squeezing off a few shots at the enemy, he glanced over at her. "Not bad," he said. "You've had training?" "A f-friend and I used to RPG alot." she winced as a bullet sent splinters flying nearby. "Better than nothing. Can you shoot?" "With a joystick." The other team members were strung along the tree-line, returning fire. Skinner signaled one to begin to collect civilians and lead them deep into the forest. He pulled another 9mm from his boot, and handed it to Nila. "This may come in handy. Go on with them." "I told you; I've never shot a real-" "You'll be lucky if that's the only thing you do for the first time today. Now go." Nila shut up and scooted back, then got up and ran to join the others. They ran down hill to a spot where a bunch of camouflage netting covered something lumpy in a clearing. She helped the troop who'd led them there pull away the netting, revealing some rugged looking dirt bikes loaded down with equipment. A few of the others had recovered from their stupor enough to help. "There's only enough bikes for each troop, plus one rider each." Nila observed. "What were you going to do if you'd managed to rescue everyone?" The soldier just looked at her. "Ya know," Nila pulled off the last of the netting. "I'm getting a little tired of being on the bottom of the food chain." "Mount up!" Skinner shouted, running into the clearing. Nila encouraged the other civilians to each hold a bike up, ready for it's driver. They came out one short. "Any of you know how to ride?" Skinner asked, pulling a helmet on over his glasses. One of the scientist brightened up a bit, and volunteered. "Nila," Skinner said quietly. "Ride with him. Try to keep him on track." "You might as well write both of us off," she grumbled. "I'm short one team member, Nila. Your resume looks the best. Go on." She looked at him for a moment, then nodded. Whoever this guy was, he was pretty good. He knew how to get people to do what he wanted. She didn't really trust that, but at the time she had no choice. Tucking the 9mm into the back of her waist band and hoping she didn't somehow manage to shoot off her ass, she mounted up behind the now exuberant scientist. These dirt bikes must be something new, because the motors barely made a noise as they crashed through the forest. Saddle sore, but still in the game, Nila was relieved when they dismounted and walked their bikes down a stream for awhile. She fell back a bit, waiting for Skinner. "Granville's pretty much snapped out of it," she said, referring to the biker scientist. "I think he'll be OK." "Good. The fewer zombies we have to tote, the better. We have a camp in a cave not too much farther." "A cave. That's good. Infrared won't see us." Skinner glanced at her. "You do know a thing or two." "I read alot." she shrugged. "That's good, for now. What we're going to do with all of you once we get out of here, I'm not too sure." "Don't you have some kind of plan?" "A general one. We hang out till things cool off, then hook up with some connections. Other than that, I'm open to suggestions." Nila thought it over. "I don't know if I want to go from one little hideaway to another." "It was your choice to hook up with these guys in the first place. You can't expect to just undo it." "Pretty harsh." "So is running out on someone who's trying to help you." Nila stared at him for a few moments. "I guess we have a mutual friend." "He's not my friend. He works for me. I don't know if you can call him your friend, either. Not anymore." "I had no choice." she looked away. "I was going with Mulder. I really trusted him.-" "Bull." "When they showed up in Virginia...what was I supposed to do? Either way, they would have taken me. If I had tried to get away, they would have shot me. Maybe Mulder, too." "You knew they were there, before you went out." "Of course I did. But we were alone; just me, him, and his partner. What match were we for them?" "I see. So you were a martyr," he scoffed. "I hope you use the time we spend here in the woods to think up another one. After putting his ass on the line for you, I think Mulder deserves better." "How long will we be out here?" "I don't know," he said. "But if you're a really good liar, it should be just long enough." Nila slowed, letting Skinner go on ahead. He didn't look back. At some point, the left the stream bed and continued through the forest. After nearly an hour of slogging up and down hills, they halted in a clearing by a steep hill. The tough looking woman, whom Skinner called Thorpe, moved aside some vines to reveal the dark mouth of a cave. The rescue team pulled out flashlights, and took the bikes and the captives into the cave. It was a big "L" shaped cave. At one point, Skinner and one other back tracked, and struggled with something leaning against the wall of the cave. It was a false wall. They swung it into place, sealing all of them in. The bikes were stored against the false wall, and they set about organizing camp. There were blankets, food, water, lamps; everything needed to keep them reasonably comfortable for at least a week. Thorpe briefed the civilians about the liquid-only porta-potty, explaining they would take scheduled trips to the woods each day. After that, she joined the other team members for a conference, leaving the civilians to make their little bend in the cave more habitable. Everyone was tired, so they went to bed without waiting for their rescuers. By Nila's logic, if they wanted to say something, they could wake them up. Most of the others were out of their stupor by now, and were lucid enough to tuck themselves in. Nila checked on the last zombie hold out; her fellow technician, named Werner. He wasn't quite drooling on his chin, but he wasn't much better. After getting him to lie down, she pulled a blanket onto him and let him be. Nila woke up with a start, feeling like she was being crushed. Granville was on top of her; one hand on her mouth, the other struggling with her clothes. She started the thrash about, grabbing him and trying to push him off. Twisting to one side, she caught sight of Werner sitting up watching. As if in a dream, he crawled over, yanked her hands above her head, and knelt on them. Granville chuckled and got busy with the business at hand. She was just deciding there was no way out of this, and that she'd have to settle for retribution afterward, when Granville suddenly jumped backward. No, he was jerked back. Skinner had him by the belt and the collar, slamming the scientist face first against the wall of the cave. Thorpe tucked a blanket around Nila and helped her up, guiding her to the other part of the cave. Skinner waited till the two women passed, then addressed the party man pinned to the wall. "Our mission," he began; in a tight, controlled voice. "is to rescue the scientists and technicians being held by the opposition. Failing that," he paused to shove, insuring Granville's attention. "We are to make sure the opposition can no longer avail itself of your services." He waited a moment to let that sink in, then nodded to his medic; who shot Granville full of sedative. Skinner held him until the needle was out, then tossed Granville to the floor and went to join the others. Granville's last conscious sight was of Werner, who was still grinning like an idiot. "How is she?" Skinner asked Thorpe. Thorpe remained silent. Nila didn't know if she gave Skinner some kind of non-verbal communication; she was to busy trying to melt into the wall. "Nila," Skinner knelt beside her. "Nila!" he jerked her around to face him. "I wouldn't blame you if you wanted a little mental vacation, but the truth is; I can't afford another zombie. Don't check out on me now." "I'll be fine." Nila choked. "It's just the stress," Skinner explained. "They feel out of control. Granville probably just wanted to control someone the way he felt he'd been controlled." "Maybe. Maybe he's just an asshole-son-of-a-bitch-mother-fucking-bastard." Skinner chewed his lower lip. "That's a viable theory." Nila didn't mean to smile, but she couldn't help it. "That's better," he said. "Look: I need you to put this behind you for now. Understand? We don't need any extra baggage on this trip. Once we're clear of this, I don't care if you skewer the bastard on a flag pole. But for now,...-" "I understand." "Good girl." Skinner smiled, then stood. He said a few things to Thorpe, then went back to the other wing of the cave. Thorpe sat down. "Did he rip anything? Do you need clothes?" "I don't suppose you carry an extra bra." "Sorry." Nila shrugged. "It's OK. I guess you've had to deal with this, huh?" Thorpe glanced at her team members. "Not with this bunch. These guys are real professionals. You're safe with them." "What are you guys? Military? FBI?" "I...can't really go into that." "I see. What about Skinner? He sure doesn't look like a commando." Thorpe smiled a hard smile. "Those are the best kind." Hours later the medic, called "Roop" by his peers for some reason, woke everyone for a pre-dawn walk in the woods. Granville practically had to be carried, but no one was excused. After twenty minutes of stretching and squatting, they were herded back inside. Nila was distributing breakfast bars, when the other two scientists pulled her aside. "Who are they?" one asked. "I don't know." "What do they want?" Nila looked from one to the other. "You heard Skinner; they came to rescue us." "Yes, but what for?" "I don't follow you." The other scientist leaned in. "Look at what they've done to Granville." "Maybe you were on another planet at the time, but Granville tried to rape me." "That's no reason to pump him full of drugs." "No, but it's a good reason to pump him full of lead; my personal choice." "And look at poor Werner." Nila stared at them incredulously. "Werner's a flake. He's been pretty much clueless from the start. In fact, this could be a step up for Werner." "Still," the scientist leaned back and glanced around. "I think we should watch what we say. We don't want to breach security." Nila shook her head. "You don't get it; it's over. We have nothing left to bargain with. Our only hope is if we do talk, maybe no one will bother to kill us 'cause it would be too late to matter." "So you're saying you'll cooperate with them?" "Let's see..." She tapped her chin. "Side a, for whatever reason, wants us dead. Side B, for whatever reason, wants us alive. Well, gee; think I'll throw in with side B." "Don't be facetious. There has to be a reason they want us alive." Nila realized she was beating a dead horse. "Right," she said, rolling her eyes. "You definitely have a point. I'll certainly think it over." Sick of the silliness, she scooted by them and off to the other end of the cave. She found Thorpe cleaning her 9mm. "What's wrong?" Thorpe looked up sharply. "Nothing. Stupidity. The brainiacs are having a hard time keeping up." "Anything we should know about?" Nila thought it over. "Maybe Granville isn't the only one who needs a sleeping aid." Thorpe nodded. "I'll mention it to the chief." "Chief?" "Skinner" Nila nodded, then noticed something that she'd almost missed. For the first time since she couldn't remember when, she'd stated her opinion and was actually taken seriously. Thorpe took her word for it, and she didn't have to drag in a Library full of reference material to back her statements up. No more bottom of the food chain. "So...Thorpe." she sat back. "What do you do when you're not doing this?" "Switch board operator." "Really?" "Yup." "That's not boring to you?" "Sure it is. I consider that a plus." Nila thought about it. "I guess I could stand to be good and bored, after this. What about the others? What do they all do?" Thorpe held her weapon up and squinted, sighting down the bore and looking for dirt. "I have no idea." "You mean outside of...this, you don't know each other?" "Yup." "How do you get organized?" "Not my problem. I get a phone call telling me where and when to show up, and I go." "But...why?" Thorpe looked at her. "Someone I trusted told me it was the thing to do." "That's it?" "That's it." The next morning the man who had been on watch woke up with a bloody head. The false wall was pulled out. Granville was gone, and so was one of the bikes. "Roop!" Skinner called. "He shouldn't even be able to walk straight yet." the medic answered. "This is supposed to reassure me?" Skinner shook his head. "Time to move, people," he said, grabbing whatever he thought might be useful. "Leave everything not necessary. We don't know how much time we have. Even if he hasn't gone looking for them, they'll pick him up before long." After grabbing a quick cold meal while walking, they mounted up and rode. Nila sat behind Skinner, feeling pretty safe. It was like being taken care of by your dad, only dad with attitude. By evening, they reached a secluded lodge that was obviously the next camp. The team members changed into civilian clothes they'd left there, Skinner donning a fishing hat replete with hooks and lures. They pulled up some floor boards and dropped all their equipment and the bikes into the huge space below. Then "Now what?" Nila asked. Skinner had let her sit directly behind him. "A safe house. After that, it'll be up to each of you to make some decisions." "Think I can get a second chance?" she knew he knew what she was talking about. "That's between you and him. Are you sure you want to risk it?" "Yesterday morning I thought I was dead meat. I figure I'm already into bonus points." "That's one way to look at it." She sat back for a moment. "What would you do?" Even though his head was turned, she could tell Skinner was smiling. "I don't know; but begging Mulder for a second chance with him wouldn't be one of my options." "I'm serious." she tried not to laugh. "Ok. Seriously, I'd do whatever I thought would give me a chance at a good life. Living long and miserably isn't what I'd call life. I'd rather risk it all, and go out happy." "Yeah." Nila said, absently staring out the window. They reached the safe house late at night. After a hot meal and some stern talk, it was time to rest. Some went to bed, but Nila went to the den and stared into the fireplace for awhile. This wouldn't have been odd, except for the lack of a fire. "You should get some sleep." Thorpe came in and sat beside her. "Do you get used to being in danger all the time?" Nila asked her. "Sure. But then again, everyone is. What's the difference between being mowed down by bullets in a fire fight, and being mowed down by a tornado in a trailer park? Dead is dead." "Geez; with an uplifting attitude like that, it's a wonder you don't just go out and kill yourself." "I keep trying." Nila turned to look at her to see if she was serious, and saw that she wasn't. "So then what's the point?" "It's all in what you choose to do with the time you do have." "How very philosophical." "I call 'em like I see 'em." Thorpe caught sight of Skinner in the doorway. "Check with you in the morning. 'Night." "Good night." Nila went back to staring at the cold fireplace, till she sensed Skinner sitting in the chair beside hers. "Make up your mind?" he asked. "You don't like him, do you." She meant Mulder, of course. "I don't dislike him as a person. I just have a hard time with that bull's-eye he insists on wearing." "He's just trying to make a difference." "I know," he leaned forward. "Turning on the lights and making a lot of noise may work with the monsters who live under the bed, but some monsters live in the light. And just like the kid afraid of monsters, he figures the two sides are clearly divided. He doesn't see the places where the lines blur. The only one he ends up really exposing, is himself." Skinner watched her for a moment. "Our friend might have more success if he learned to keep his eyes open and his mouth shut. You can get away w Nila had a flash of intuition. "How long did it take you to learn that?" "Almost too long." "He reminds you of yourself, doesn't he. That's why you can't stand it when he makes the same stupid mistakes." Skinner leaned back and took off his glasses, holding them up and examining them for imaginary dust. "He's smarter than I was. Maybe not wiser, but he has more to work with. It would be a damn shame to lose him. He'd be an excellent agent, if he could get his head out of his ass." They pulled up to Mulder's apartment building, and sat for awhile to see if the coast was clear. As they walked up, they could see a masking tape "X" in a window upstairs. Skinner sighed, shook his head, and ran a hand through non-existent hair. "What?" Nila asked. "Nothing I can't handle," he replied grimly. They went in. Nila hung back a little, as Skinner knocked on the door. Mulder opened the door after a moment, holding it only a few inches open. "It's not a good time," Mulder said. "Can it wait?" "Just open the door, Mulder. I know who's in there. We must eat the same cereal, 'cause we got the same secret decoder ring." Mulder hesitated, looked behind him, then opened the door. When he caught sight of Nila, his face turned to stone. Nila avoided his eyes, and followed Skinner in. Seated on the sofa was a black man with a neatly trimmed beard and tightly clenched teeth. Skinner walked up to him, licked a finger, and casually made an imaginary mark in the air. The man on the sofa said nothing, though his eyes said plenty. "You had her all this time?" Mulder asked Skinner. "No," Skinner turned to face him. "I found her. I brought her by, so you could close out your file." Mulder glanced at Nila and turned his back. "I was finished with her, anyway." "I read your report, agent Mulder. I think you could stand to tie up a few loose ends." As he headed for the door, he handed Nila one of his cards. Without another word, he left. The man on the sofa got up and went to the window. "Was everyone accounted for?" he asked. It took Nila a moment to realize he was talking to her. She glanced at Mulder to see if she should answer, but he was busy ignoring her. "All but one," she answered. "Granville...slipped away. We don't know if he was picked up." "Which end did he work on; collection, or analysis?" "Collection. He...um...designed equipment." The man nodded. "Can we replace him?" "Easily. He wasn't very inspired." "Good," he pushed away from the window sill, nodded at Mulder, and left. They stood in silence for awhile. Then Nila asked for paper and a pencil. Mulder dropped a legal pad and a pencil on the table, and went back to pouting. Nila sat down, and began scribbling calculations; occasionally glancing at her watch. At one point, she got up and took an atlas off the book shelf and opened it on the table. She tore the first sheet of paper off and pushed it aside. Busily scribbling and crunching numbers, she pretended not to notice when Mulder came over to look at the sheet she'd discarded. Two or three times through this, and she was simply handing the sheets to him. Once in awhile, he would ask her something. She'd answer, "Ok, have a look," she said, and he came over to sit beside her. "Do you think we can get a dish that fits these specs?" "I think I know a way. What about this? Do we really need that high a grade of oscilloscope?" "This thing has a big fat carrier wave. If we're gonna pull down the data link, we have to see where we are." "Are these the parameters we're looking for?" he handed her one of the discarded sheets. "Roughly." "And the schedule is based on Greenwich Mean time?" "Of course." He looked over the data for awhile longer. "So this is what you seduced me to keep me from seeing." "I didn't-" Nila wanted to tread carefully here. While it was true, distracting him with sex had the added benefit of keeping him from questioning her, it hadn't been her motivation. "I may not have told you the whole truth, but I didn't lie about anything." "Except the part about going to the outhouse." "I did go to the outhouse." she looked away. "I just didn't stop there." "Cute." "I didn't think I had a choice. Actually, I just didn't have a clear view of what the choices were." "And now?" "I still don't know what I could have done. I was scared. Not just for me-" "Don't." "It's true!" She got up and paced. "There were more of them, they had bigger guns. As long as they knew I hadn't said anything, I knew they'd just take me and leave you alone. The only way I could think of to convince them of that, was to let them think I was on their side. Once I talked, we were all toast." "I understand that part. But did you have to let me think we...-" "Call it wishful thinking." Nila said, her back turned. "If you're going to use this stuff, we'd better move on it. It won't take them long to figure I went to you." "Where did Skinner find you?" "More or less in a prison. He saved my life." Mulder was quiet for awhile. "Ok," he said, finally. "Ok. We'll give this a shot. I know some guys who keep this kind of stuff lying around in their basements. Are you warm enough in that? Do you need a jacket?" "I'll be fine." He put a hand on her shoulder on his way by. "It's just that you made me feel so-" "I know. I'm sorry." She turned to face him. "I don't know what else I can say." "Say you didn't mean it." "Which part?" He laughed a little. "The bad part." She smiled back. "I really hated even the idea of hurting you. I just thought I was doing what was best." "Yeah, well; next time ask. You have some rotten instincts." "Sometimes." "So you owe me, right?" "Big." She scooped up all the loose papers, and handed them to him. "Good, 'cause I may want you to pay up." He took the papers and put them in a briefcase. "Just let me know." Mulder turned off a lamp and peeled away the tape "X". "Do you do windows?"
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