R4-Jo-p2

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Skinner looked out of the helicopter window at the brightening landscape below. It wouldn't get too much lighter; the sun barely peeked above the horizon up here at this time of year. His fears for Mulder's safety grew more acute with every passing second. He prayed that they wouldn't arrive too late. That somehow Krycek had gotten Mulder to safety.

//Sir, I'm fine. Alex and I will meet you when you land, but be prepared to take off quickly. That alien shape-shifter and my *ex* are in the woods searching for us,// Mulder's voice echoed within Skinner's head, and he jerked upright startled, he glanced over at Scully to see if she had heard Mulder, too. However, the petite agent seemed lost within her own thoughts. Skinner tried to communicate back to his missing agent. //Mulder, can you hear me or is this a one sided connection?// He waited but when Mulder didn't reply after several minutes he started to think he might have imagined the whole thing. Why would Mulder reach out to him and not to his partner?

//Your mind is more open to me. Scully has more blocks around her thoughts,// Mulder said silently, as he gently shook Alex awake. "C'mon, sweetheart, time to get up, our lift will be here in about fifteen minutes," he whispered huskily, nibbling his ear lobe.

Alex came instantly awake, he slipped silently out of the sleeping bag and started to pack up their gear. He was used to moving in a hurry. "Fox, how do you know how close Skinner and Scully are?"

Mulder smiled at him and grabbed his hand to stop him from packing. "Leave it. It will only slow us down. Their helicopter is close enough for me to read Skinner's mind and communicate with him telepathically. Alex, we have to be careful, the morph isn't the only one in the woods looking for us now. Diana Fowley and a couple of her hired guns are searching as well. We have to move fast, they will hear the helicopter when it gets here."

//Mulder?//

Mulder smiled at the sound of Skinner's voice in his head. This was so cool. It was like being one of his own X-Files. //Sir, we're heading for the clearing by the cabin now. See you soon.// Mulder felt energized and realized that he had made it totally through the change. When he caught Alex staring at him, he got worried that his appearance had drastically changed, too.

"Alex, what? Don't tell me that I've turned into some freak," he said, feeling his face for any weird bumps or protrusions.

"No, Fox, you look beautiful. The change has cured the damages that time had caused to your body. You look at least ten years younger. In the future, they have a cure against aging, at least for those that could afford the expensive medicines and have been approved by the ruling overlords," Krycek said, walking next to Mulder as they trekked through the dense forest.

Mulder kept his mind focused on the positions of their enemies and Alex's conversation. "You were going to tell me why we didn't die from the retrovirus," he asked.

"The treatments you had received as a small child made you partially immune to it, but the change made you totally resistant to its effects. I was vaccinated when I was a teenager against it. The resistance had been able to develop a vaccine that prevents the retrovirus from thickening our blood. That really pissed off the aliens when they found out, it was the first big victory we've had against them," Krycek sighed.

^^^^^^^^^^^

The morph had discovered the hidden cave and stood inside sniffing at the scent of the human's urine against the far wall of the cave. The sweet aroma of his Fox and that sharp scent of Alex Krycek had alerted him to the hidden entrance to the cave. "Careless, Fox Mulder. I will train you how to cover your tracks far better in the future," the morph smiled, looking forward to those intensive training sessions. He would let a very naked Fox loose in the tame wilderness on his planet and hunt him for sport, his reward for catching his Fox would be a long, hard fuck on the spot. His cock twitched at the thought of those ivory, taut, buttocks sandwiching his thick manhood.

He wondered how long Fox would be able to elude him when properly trained. The thought of the beautiful young human having to survive by digging for large grubs to eat, which were a plentiful source of protein on his planet. While the sun colored Fox's skin a golden hue made the morph even more aroused. "Oh, Fox Mulder, when I am through with you, we will be an unstoppable team. I shall teach you to enjoy the kill in addition to the hunt. Watching your prey beg pitifully for their lives as you slid the blade into the base of their skull is one of life's greatest pleasures," he mused, picking up their trail north of the cave.

He headed off at a faster pace, his hunger for the lovely human growing more intense with each passing minute. He stopped occasionally to sniff at a twig or to more closely examine the forest floor.

^^^^^^^^^^^

The thick forest canopy had lightened since they had been out searching, and Fowley stumbled over to a log, cursing as she sat exhaustedly down. She would personally put a bullet between both pairs of beautiful eyes. The two men she was with stopped and waited impatiently for her to get back on her feet.

She wasn't moving anytime soon. Fowley was tired, hungry, and totally pissed off at Fox. The longer she had searched for him the more pissed off she got. Humph, to think, Fox had been given powers that he would never fully appreciate just because he was Bill Mulder's son. Those powers should have been hers. She would have made a great ruler, she thought as she removed her boot and rubbed her sore foot.

However, it was too late for her now, the treatment had to be started when a human was only a toddler for it to take and even then it only took to an infinitesimal percent of children. Fox had been one of the very few children that it had worked on … his sister was missing something from her genetic make up that caused her body to reject the treatments. The consortium and aliens worked for decades to resolve the problem of changing an adult, and they finally had it solved with Cassandra Spender, but the rebels destroyed the data and killed her, now they were back to square one.

Fowley looked down at her wrinkled hands, she was extremely jealous of Fox for his beauty and brilliance. Even as her looks faded with age, he only got more beautiful. God it was always Fox, the golden boy of the consortium by age two, next the golden boy genius at Oxford, later the golden boy profiler of the FBI, now … if allowed to live, the golden boy to the alien invaders. Everything just seemed to go his way. She grinned darkly when she recalled the hand she had played in his fall from grace at the FBI. Now she would be his executioner. Maybe life wasn't so bad.

After she killed Fox and that traitorous rat then she'd have a little chat with that pushy redhead. Fowley's head shot up to look at the sky as she heard the sound of a helicopter over head. "Shit!" she swore, pulling back on her boot she rushed after her men as they raced the five miles back to the cabin.

^^^^^^^^^^

"Get your gun ready, Agent Scully!" Skinner barked as the helicopter hovered over the open field and started to set down. "There they are!" He pointed as Mulder and Krycek came out of the dense underbrush on their northwest side jogging toward them.

Scully drew her gun when she saw a few distant figures racing toward them from the other direction. The helicopter hadn't set fully on the ground when Skinner was opening the door and reached out his hand for Mulder to grab.

Mulder took it as his foot stepped on the landing rail and he was pulled inside, he quickly turned and reached back for Alex, hauling his lover on board just as a hail of bullets tore into the side of the helicopter. Scully leaned out and aimed at the closest figure, popping off three quick shots, she watched as the man crumpled to the ground. She had to cancel her next shot as Skinner's arm wrapped around her slight waist and hauled her completely inside the helicopter as it quickly rose above the tree line.

"Hey, Scully, nice shooting," Mulder said, leaning back in Alex's arms, he snuggled closer to Alex's body to the total shock and disgust of his partner.

Skinner just took it all in stride, he was not at all shocked or disgusted. Only a little disappointed that Krycek had won Mulder's heart. "Agent Mulder, how are you feeling?" he asked. Noticing the man's more youthful appearance for the first time.

"I've never felt better, sir," he said, holding Alex's hand in his lap, he started to rubbed soothing circles in his lover's palm with his thumb.

Scully couldn't take it any longer. "What's … what's this?" she asked irritably, her finger pointing between their hand holding and overlapping legs.

"Scully, I am in love with Alex. We're lovers," Mulder said gently. He could read her outrage and disgust on her face as well as her mind.

"Dammit, Mulder, he killed your father and had a hand in my abduction," Scully growled.

"Alex had good reasons for everything he has done. Please, Scully, just hear him out. Alex maybe the only chance we have of stopping the aliens," Mulder pleaded, realizing by her icy blue eyes that convince Scully was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

"I'm willing to listen, Agent Mulder. However, first we need to get you both someplace safe," Skinner said.

"No, we need to get to that disabled spaceship on the Ivory Coast before the morph or the consortium can get to it first," Mulder replied.

"Mulder, how did you know about that?" Scully asked.

"The morph let it slip about the spaceship," Mulder said, looking into her eyes. "Do you really believe now, Scully?"

"Yes. You were right, Mulder. If we can get to that ship before the others do, then the world would have its proof," she said, tiredly. She had been going nonstop since Mulder had been stricken by the ... strange illness. "Mulder, you look ... younger," Scully said baffled.

Mulder only smiled at her.

"No, we need what is onboard that spaceship. We can't risk exposing them to the public, yet. If we do they will only invade early. We need to stop them all together or this planet won't have a chance in hell," Krycek said forcefully, his voice did not allow for argument.

"What's on that ship, Krycek?" Skinner asked.

"Our Future."

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Susan's next.