r7-Cerulean_Blue-p3

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Suddenly the door opened, and two grim-looking men in gray suits stood facing him.

"C.G.B. Spender?"

CSM cocked a supercilious eyebrow. "Yes?"

"We're from the State Department. I'm afraid you'll have to come with us."

"Oh, really? On what grounds?"

The two men exchanged glances. "On the grounds of conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States and acts of treason."

CSM exploded in rage. "That's preposterous! Do you have any idea who I am?"

"We have plenty of ideas who you are, and you're lucky I don't kill you on the spot!!!" bellowed the man who had recited the charges. "Now do we go peaceably or do I get to use the cuffs?"

CSM drew himself up with as much dignity as he could muster. "That won't be necessary," he sneered. With the air of a captured Roman emperor, he walked calmly through the doorway with the two men following closely behind.

***

New York City
Central Park

Mulder made his way smoothly through the crowd, rendered invisible by the ancient aliens' device. He passed Henderson who was bullying a television reporter and made his way onto the communications vehicle.

He had no problem figuring out how to contact Skinner. When he got through to Kimberly, it turned out that Skinner was in a closed conference with the Director and other important officials from the FBI. The minute she heard it was Fox Mulder, she put the call through to Skinner in the meeting.

It was merely seconds before Mulder heard the familiar, gruff voice of his superior. "Fox? Where are you? I assume you were able to land the ship!"

"We're in Central Park. Henderson has cordoned off the area and is doing his usual thing of keeping the truth from the American people."

"Well, that won't happen this time! The Bureau has just seen Eryk's device at work, and it turns out that Deputy Director Zalk is one of the Greys! He's been taken into custody. Our men from the State Department have also apprehended C.G.B. Spender just as he was planning to flee the country. I believe we finally have the support of the Bureau behind us, Mulder!" Skinner chuckled.

Mulder sighed with relief. However, it didn't resolve the situation currently, the spaceship with the ancient aliens and the morph on board. The aliens would need the protection of the U.S. government, and the morph needed to be tried for his crimes.

"Skinner, we're going to need to get our people down here before Henderson turns the whole thing into a myth. I wouldn't put it past him to side with the morph and kill our friends. I can protect us for only so long, and the American people need to know the truth but the shock of realizing it without the proper preparation could possibly turn the folks here into a frightened mob a la The Twilight Zone! We need some local FBI officials down here to help with the situation as soon as possible!" Mulder urged. He looked at his hand and could see himself turning corporeal once more.

"Will do, Mulder. I'll send a group down there immediately."

As Mulder disconnected from the call with Skinner, he spotted Henderson headed towards the trailer with several other men in uniforms. "Time to go bye-bye, Mulder!" he murmured to himself. He slid open the back door to the trailer and hopped out adroitly. Unfortunately, as soon as he slammed the door shut, his body materialized, just seconds before Henderson and his men turned the corner to see him standing there.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the lovely Agent Mulder!" Henderson leered as the other men immediately surrounded him.

"Lovely, my ass! You bastard, Henderson, trying to turn this into another one of your bogus army plane crash sites!" Mulder snarled as the men grabbed him.

"Oh, I love it when you talk dirty, Mulder! Well, this is one time your FBI badge isn't gonna save your cute little ass! Take him to Trailer B, guys. Make sure he's cuffed to the chair, our friend is a regular little Houdini in getting himself out of tough situations," Henderson sneered.

The men roughly marched Mulder along a path to an army trailer. Once inside, they quickly sat him down and cuffed his arms behind him to the legs of the chair.

"You're going to regret this!" Mulder glared. "The local FBI will be here any minute, and you're going to have a hard time justifying restraining one of their agents! Not to mention participating in a conspiracy with an alien race to colonize Earth!"

"Ooooh, I'm so frightened!" one of the men sneered while the others laughed. "The little green men are out to get us, and this guy says we're helping!"

Mulder shook his head at their moronic laughter as they left the trailer. These men were so ignorant. They hadn't even noticed Mulder's change. He glanced at himself in the mirror across from him. He definitely looked otherworldly, but it was dusk and the light in the trailer was dim, so the men hadn't been able to see that Mulder was no longer human. However, Henderson had teased him about his looks, the man must have been attracted to Mulder without fully understanding why.

He shuddered to himself. Help had better arrive before the Colonel made his way back to the trailer. Mulder feared greatly for Alex and their friends, and also had no desire to be on the receiving end of an interrogation given by one of his greatest enemies.

---

Amothea, you're next!