Frozen in Time
Tarlan Round 4 Part 4

Lermontov looked at Alderton in horror as Spender screamed out his battle cry and then stood to bask in the adoration of his fanatical followers. The commanders chanted 'Spender' over and over as they clapped furiously, and Spender urged them on, throwing his arms wide open to an even greater roar from the crowd filling the great basilica.

"We must prepare to take back all the Cities of the Domes from the Resistance. We must seek out their nests and destroy them to the last man, woman and child. We will *be* victorious. To the battle... to the battle."

The commanders took up the cry and raced from the meeting hall, eager to destroy every single member of the Resistance. Spender turned to face the head of his military, General Alderton, and the highest placed minister of the Domes, Dmitri Lermontov. His eyes were wide and bright with madness, his face contorted into a fanatical mask as the adulation of his minions ripped away the last bastion of his sanity.

"I AM A GOD. We will crush the Resistance and then I shall rule over ALL the world. No one shall stand before me. No one."

"Sir... what of your father?"

"He is nothing now. I am the Leader. I AM THE LEADER. Arrest my father... Send him to the Punishment Dome. Let them cure him of his disgusting aberration for female flesh."

"But, Sir..?"

"Do you question me?" His eyes blazed in fury. "Do you refute my right of Godhood?"

Lermontov lowered his eyes, bowing his head in self-preservation as the young man stepped towards him menacingly. The guards stepped forward too, ready to do as their *god* commanded.

"Never, my... liege."

"Then do as I command."

Alderton and Lermontov bowed low and walked backwards until they had exited the large meeting hall. They heaved a sigh of relief as the ornate doors closed, removing them from Spender's scrutiny. Lermontov looked at the General and though neither spoke, the thought they shared was identical.

Spender was insane.

"He cannot be allowed to deploy the Dyriluum Bomb... it would be the end of all of us."

Lermontov motioned Alderton over to the side of the corridor, hushing him in case Spender was monitoring their conversation. He led the General away towards his private rooms, knowing if would be far safer to talk there.

Alderton began speaking in earnest the moment the door was sealed behind them.

"The Dyriluum Bomb cannot be used in the Domes. It cannot distinguish between our people and the Resistance. They will *all* burn in his fire... and if we knew the location of the Resistance bases then we would have exterminated them a *long* time ago. This is doomed to failure. No... Worse than failure. It would be a disaster for us all."

"Then what do you propose we do about it?"

Alderton looked away, eyes blazing with impotence. There was nothing either of them could do, not when Spender had already won over the military with his call to arms. If Alderton tried to intervene then they would have him summarily executed as a Resistance sympathiser.

"We could assassinate him."

Alderton looked up at Lemontov's treasonable words but Lermontov could see that he didn't have the backbone to attempt a coup d'etat, and without Alderton, any attempt on his part would be doomed to failure. He needed to have the might of the military behind him. He sighed, realising that he had no choice but to play along with the delusional Charles Spender Junior for the time being.

-ooOOoo-

Alex glanced around the corner and ducked back fast. He motioned to the others, holding up fingers to indicate the number of silver-clad Consortium soldiers he had spotted. The group was slightly larger than the numbers counted from the catwalk, and that placed the odds firmly against them being able to slide past unnoticed. He pointed back the way they had come and they nodded their agreement.

Alex fumed silently. The taking of the City of Domes was not going to plan. He had not anticipated Mulder's capture nor the running battles between the opposing forces. Where had it all gone wrong? Jack Scully bore an equally grim look, but that was hardly surprising as his lover, Wade, was also in the hands of the Consortium once again. Silently, they clambered back onto the catwalk and creeped along until they found another set of stairs.

Alex leapt back as a yell heralded from below followed a split second later by gun fire. Blaster fire ricocheted off the metal handrail, leaving scorch marks in the wall behind them. He cried out as one creased his cheek, the heat cauterising the wound at the same time. Alex fired rapidly into the troops massing below them, watching with grim satsifaction as several fell beneath his assault. He could hear the blaster fire from Jack and Jacqueline, answered by bolts of red as more blaster fire came from below.

"Run!"

He yelled his order, hoping to be heard above the cacophony of shouts, explosions and gun fire and they raced back along the catwalk only to draw up short when soldiers poured onto the far end. Alex looked back the way they had come, dismay filling him as silver-clad soldiers braved the volley of shots from his blaster to climb onto the catwalk. They were trapped betwern them. Several soldiers went screaming to their deaths as Alex shot at one who had managed to draw too close; the soldier taking his own men with him as he fell from the catwalk. The firing stopped, an ominous silence descending as the soldiers moved slowly along the catwalk towards them. Alex glanced over the edge but it would be suicide to jump. He looked back into eyes filled with murderous intent, knowing from the sadistic gleam in those eyes that they would not be offering him a quick death. Suddenly, a grappling hook wrapped around the handrail and Alex's eyes widened in disbelief as he saw the alabaster faces of Resistance fighters far below. Two more grappling irons wrapped around the steel rail and, taking his courage in his hands, Alex grasped the rope and leapt over the side, followed by Jack and Jacqueline.

Cries of rage erupted from the Consortium soldiers as they raced towards the middle of the catwalk where Alex and his compatriots had been standing seconds before, their blaster fire sizzling the air as Alex descended rapidly. Bodies fell screaming around him as the Resistance fighters meted out their own revenge on the Consortium guard. Alex was running as soon as his feet hit the ground, his arm clasping that of Chaz Morrison before he pivoted smoothly and added his blaster fire to the carnage.

Morrison grabbed his arm once more and drew him away, yelling information as they raced along the wide corridors.

"The Fifth Column has reached the outer edges of the forum surrounding Central Dome and we have taken the Military and Pleasure Domes. The Resistance has taken the main gate and knocked out the defense grid. The gates are wide open and our people are pouring through." Morrison grinned broadly even as he gasped for air. "Just as you planned."

Alex grinned. Moments before he was wondering where it had all gone wrong but, in truth, everything was working exactly as he had planned. Only his own small part in the attack had not gone as smoothly as he hoped but then, his group had penetrated into the most strongly defended part of the city where the First Families of the Consortium ruled the world.

They pulled to a halt at the edge of the great forum leading to the most powerful place on Earth -- the Central Dome. Alex had been brought through here on his way to the slave auction, and he recalled it being filled with people bustling about on their daily business. Now it was deserted as members of the privileged Families and their servants and slaves fled the ferocious fighting. On the far side Alex could see sporadic blaster fire, and then the Consortium soldiers appeared as they were forced to retreat before the might of the Resistance.

He glanced across the no longer deserted forum. This would be the most dangerous part for there was precious little cover but he hoped the guards would be distracted by the fighting that had spilled onto the furthest edge of the forum from where they stood.

"Keep your heads down... and let's go."

They raced across the open space, ducking and weaving once they were spotted by the guards. Blaster fire kicked up the paving beneath his feet. Alex kept his focus ahead, refusing to dwell on the Resistance fighters who were cut down to either side of him as the elite guard of the First Families strafed the concourse. He slammed himself up against the wall just to the side of the great steps that led up to the Consortium seat of power.

The battle between the Consortium soldiers and the Resistance grew closer and Alex turned his group of thirty plus Resistance to join the running battle. They cut down the remaining opposition in a crossfire and, as the last of the Consortium soldiers fell, more Resistance and Fifth Column raced into the forum until Alex had a small army at his command. He stripped the tattered remnants of the maintenance overall from his body, revealing the metallic blue body armour and emblem displaying his status of Leader of the Resistance. Now, with victory close at hand, he would no longer work stealthly from the shadows. Now it was time to step into the light and openly -- proudly -- take his place at the front of his people.

With a rebel yell he took the steps three at a time, cutting down the ill-prepared guards by the main entrance. A huge cry rose behind him as Jack Scully, Morrison, Jacqueline and the combined forces of the Resistance and the Fifth Column rushed the Central Dome.

The battle raged through the corridors of power to the very heart of the dome until the last of the Consortium threw down their weapons and surrendered.

Alex stood in the great basilica where, unknown to him, Spender had given his passionate speech only a short time before. He turned swiftly as the door slammed open and General Alderton was dragged before him by Morrison. Morrison's eyes were blazing in triumph as he forced Alderton to his knees in front of him, and Alex recalled Mulder's description of the welts and bruises marring Morrison's physically and sexually abused body... courtesy of the sadistic General who now cowered before him.

"Where's Mulder?" he demanded viciously.

"And Wade du Pres?"

Alex glanced across as Jack Scully came to stand by his side.

"Lermontov ordered them to be taken to the Punishment Dome."

Alex glanced sharply at Jacqueline and she shook her head in negation. The Punishment Dome had been a low priority so it had yet to be breached. Alex strode away, intent on rectifying that situation immediately, with Jack Scully close on his heels. He stopped and turned as Morrison called out.

"What do we do with *him*?" he spat out the last word in contempt as he kicked the cowering General.

Alex gave the General once last cold and contemptuous look.

"Do what you want. I don't need him so he's all yours."

Alex didn't wait to see what Morrison would do, but the echo of a single blaster shot reverberated around him as he and Jack Scully raced towards the corridor connecting the Central Dome to the Punishment Dome; their one intent being to find Mulder and Wade. Thirty soldiers of the Resistance came behind them, filled with a single purpose... to follow their leader, Alex Krycek, to the death if necessary.

-ooOOoo-

Mulder cried out weakly as the shock stick sizzled against his beaten and bloodied body. His body twitched and twisted as he tried to escape the incredible pain that flowed through him. His arms, that were secured together high over his head to a hook dangling from the ceiling, screamed in protest, almost dislocating from his shoulders as he wrenched away from the stick once more. A thin trail of mostly saliva dribbled down his face, mingling with the blood still seeping from his split lip, as his empty stomach rebelled once more. The roar of his own blood pounding in his ears almost drowned out the feeble screams as Wade suffered at the brutal hands of *his* punisher.

Mulder jerked again, screaming hoarsely, body spinning as his tormentor laughed manically. Spender had taken it upon himself to administer Mulder's punishment, and his sadism had no bounds. He grabbed Mulder's shoulder and pulled sharply so Mulder's body was spinning faster, and then he touched the shock stick to Mulder's battered frame once more.

Spender trailed fingers through the sticky come seeping from Mulder's ass, recalling the pleasure of brutally raping the defenceless man. He licked his lips in anticipation of slaking his pleasure again, having already decided that he would not allow Alex Krycek a quick and easy death after all. Instead he would keep both of these men barely alive and in constant torment, using their bodies for both his pleasure and as a deterrent against any further uprisings by either the Resistance or his own traitorous people.

Spender dropped the shock stick and moved to the bench to select his next toy. He lovingly caressed the laser whip and snapped it once against Mulder's exposed ass. It crackled, the smell of seared flesh filling the air as it striped across the bare cheeks leaving a red, raw welt in its path.

Mulder sobbed pitiously, too far into shock and pain to find the strength to scream out again. His body spun slowly, his blurred vision barely registering the demented look on the young face of the cruel Consortium leader.

"You won't be so macho after this next blow. I'm going to castrate you."

As he came around again, Mulder saw the whip raised with the intention of striking across his exposed groin. He thought of all the pleasure he had shared with Alex, knowing that he would never have that again. A sharp crack echoed around the room but Mulder felt no pain. He stared hard into the surprised features of Charles Spender Junior, confused by the dark hole that had appeared in the center of the sadistic leader's forehead. Spender crumpled to the floor, eyes still wide open in shock and Mulder sobbed harder as he heard the familiar husky voice of the man he loved. The rope attached to his wrists was severed and he was careful lowered into his lover's arms, his tears of pain and relief flowing freely as he was wrapped in the strong arms.

Spender was dead. The Consortium defeated. Alex was alive and they were together once more.

Over to Demi-X for the final part <vbg>