“No I’m telling you, he dove over the table and almost got shot. If I hadn’t have been there, Victor Mansfield would be one dead agent,” Mac said to Mulder, Scully, and Lianne as they walked down the corridor of the Agency.
“You are so full of it, Mac. That is not what happened and you know it,” Victor said rolling his eyes.
“I was there. You weren’t.”
“Alex told me what happened, and that wasn’t part of it.”
“Yeah, like Alex tells you everything.”
The others tried to hide their grins at the sniping between the two men. They knew they would never get the entire story, unless Alex decided to come out and talk and that was a pretty low possibility.
“Mac, I’m telling you-” Victor was interrupted by a young woman’s voice.
“Moose!” That was the only warning he had before something attached its self to his back.
“Alice! What are you doing here?”
“Allegra. How many times do I have to tell you, Moose? The name is Allegra.” She hopped down and walked around him so that they were face to face.
“Okay, okay. So what are you doing here, Allegra?”
“It is my vacation and the Director paid for me to come and visit you. I missed you, Moose.” She reached up around his neck and held on tightly. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck. Then he straightened up and lifted her off her feet.
“I missed you too, kiddo.” He gave her one last squeeze and then set her down.
Allegra looked at Mac and Lianne and smiled at them. “Hey, guys. Long time no see. Are you taking care of my brother?”
Only Lianne and Mac saw the shocked look on Mulder and Scully’s faces.
“Yeah, Allegra. We are taking great care of him. As a matter of fact I saved his life this morning. See it all started when-” Mac was cut off by a hand grabbing the back of his neck.
Victor leaned in close and stage whispered, “She doesn’t really need to hear that, Mac. Especially since it isn’t true.” He turned back to his sister and motioned towards Mulder and Scully. “There have been some changes since you were here last. These are our new partners, Dana Scully and Fox Mulder.” Victor’s smile faded when he saw Allegra’s face pale. “Kiddo? What’s wrong?”
“Mulder? Is he related to Bill Mulder?” Allegra asked.
“Yes. He’s Bill’s son.”
She swallowed hard and grabbed Victor’s sleeve. She took a few steps backwards and maneuvered so that Victor was between her and Mulder.
“Alice, what’s wrong?” Victor asked turning to face his sister.
“Can we go somewhere alone to talk about it?”
“Yeah, I know just the place.” Victor turned back to his partners. “I’ll be back in a little bit. Tell the Director that I’m with my sister and if she has a problem with it she can take it up with me.”
Mulder looked at Mac and Lianne. "Was it something I did?"
"No. I have a feeling this is one of those things that Victor doesn't talk about. We know something happened to him as a child but he refuses to talk about it. We asked if he was worried about Allegra, but he said that he saw no sign that anything was happening to her," Lianne answered.
"Well I guess this means that we will get Victor guilt going on soon," Mac said half-jokingly. They all looked at each other and heading towards the meeting room. They took their seats and waited for the Director.
They didn't have to wait long, before they heard the sound of her high heel shoes. She walked in and looked around. Her gaze fell on Victor's empty seat.
"Where is Victor?" she asked.
"He ran into Allegra in the hall," Lianne offered.
"And he couldn't wait to catch up with her for a few minutes?"
"He introduced her to Mulder and she freaked. She asked if he was related to Bill Mulder. She looked scared to death. She asked to talk to him in a private room," Mac added.
The Director sighed. "Well, we won't see them for a while." She looked at Mac. "In the meantime why don't you tell me how the case went."
****
Victor led Allegra to an empty interview room. He sat her down in the chair and sat on the table in front of her. "All right Alice, what happened out there? What do you know about Bill Mulder?"
She looked down at her hands that were folded in her lap. "He would come and visit mom and dad. It was maybe every other month or so. At first he would just take me into a room and examine me the same way the doctor would at my physicals. Then he started to bring another man with him, and they..." her voice tapered off and she looked at the floor next to her chair.
Victor rested his hand on her head. "They what, Kiddo?"
"They hurt me the way mom and dad hurt you," she whispered.
Victor winced and his eyes hardened. "The other man, did you ever get a name?"
"No. He was old and he smoked a lot."
"Do you remember what brand?"
"Morleys." She looked up and Victor and flinched at the look on his face. "Moose?"
He stood up and strode out of the room. She ran after him. She caught up to him and tugged on his sleeve. "Moose? Talk to me. Are you mad at me?" Her question stopped him in his tracks. He turned and looked at her. He cupped her face in his hand. His eyes softened at he looked at her.
"No, Kiddo. I could never be mad at you over this." His eyes hardened again. "I'm mad at other people, and I promise you this, Alice, they will pay for what they did to you." He let go of his sister and headed down the hall again. Allegra ran to catch up to him again and finally reached him when he threw open the doors to the meeting room.
Lianne and Mac spun around in their chairs at the sound of the doors crashing open. They could tell that it wasn’t Victor in charge at the moment. Alex strode over to the Director. He leaned on the table beside Mac and crowded into the Director’s space.
“I need your permission to go after Spender,” Alex growled.
The Director looked at Alex and raised an eyebrow. “You need what I tell you to need. Why do you want to go after Spender?”
“He hurt Alice, and don’t make me spell out what he did to her. I’m sure you can fill in the blanks.”
“Alex, Victor, I know you want to hurt him. Believe me when I say that I would love to be able to let you take out your pound of flesh, but I can’t let you. You will get your chance. I promise you, but not now.”
Alex growled and pushed away. “Not good enough. He will pay for this.” He spun on his heel and started out of the room. The Director leapt up and grabbed his arm before he took three steps. Alex spun around and pushed her to the ground. “Don’t try and stop me, Di. I don’t want to have to hurt you, but I will. This is something I will not tolerate, and don’t try and get Victor or Cory out here to talk to you. This is one of those few times when we are all in agreement.” He was gone before the Director could get up off the floor.
The Director stalked over to her desk and picked up the phone. “Dobronski, get the cleaners down here now. You come too. We have a problem.”
“Wait a minute! The Cleaners? You aren’t going to send them to kill him are you?” Lianne asked in a panicked voice.
“I don’t want to kill him. I like him. All of him, but I can’t let him do this. It is literally a matter of one man verses the world,” the Director replied, her voice strained.
“Wait, what do you mean kill my brother? You aren’t going to kill Victor.” With that statement Allegra was out the door and running down the hall after Alex.
“Maybe she can talk some sense into him.” The Director sat down. “Forget the case I was just about to assign you to. Mac, Lianne you will go with the Cleaners and Dobronski to try and find Victor and stop him. Hopefully you can talk him down.” Just then the Cleaners and Dobronski entered the room. The Director quickly ran down the situation.
“If there is no other choice do you wish us to kill, Victor?” Murphy asked.
“I don’t want you to, but we have no choice. If he refuses to give up this vendetta for the time being, then yes, kill him. Make it quick and painless, boys. We owe him that much.” The Director looked down at the table in front of her. It was clear to everyone that the order she had just given was painful to her. Her face hardened and she looked up at them. “Well, leave. Don’t let him get any further away.” She waited until they had left before turning to Mulder and Scully. “Well, I’m sure you have questions. Ask.”
“What happened to them and what does my father have to do with it?” Mulder asked in a quiet voice.
The Director stood up. “I’ll be right back with your answer. There are some things I need to get to help you understand this.” She turned and walked up the stairs.
Mulder and Scully sat in silence waiting for her return. Both of them wondering if this would give them the last bit of information on understanding just whom the person that they had known as Alex Krycek was. The Director returned and placed a stack of files in front of Mulder along with two videotapes.
“These will explain almost everything. If you have any questions after looking at them, come to me. I’ll answer what I can.” She looked at Mulder with a look that could only be described as sad and worried before turning to go back up the stairs. Mulder stopped her with a question.
“You really do worry about Victor don’t you?”
“Victor is special to me. All of my agents are special to me, but Victor is different. I’m not really even sure what it is, but it effects everyone who meets him. I’m sure you’ve noticed that everyone here likes Victor. He has a special quality about him.” With that the Director continued up the stairs.
Mulder looked at the stack in front of him and then at Scully. “Well, do we want to take this to my place so that we can look at them in comfort?”
“Sounds like a good idea.” They gathered up the files and tapes and headed for their cars.
*****
“Moose! Wait for me.” Allegra jumped in front of Victor’s truck so that he couldn’t pull out of his parking space.
“Alice, what are you doing?”
She ran around to the passenger’s side and jumped in before he could pull away.
“I’m going with you. I want my pound of flesh too. I know that they did a lot worse things to you, but I deserve some revenge too, don’t you think?”
“No. You aren’t doing this, Alice. I’m not going to let you become what I am,” Victor said leaning across Allegra and popping open the door. She reached out and pulled it closed.
“I’m going, and if you want to get out of here before the others come out here, you better go. The Director called the Dobrosnki and the Cleaners. She said that if there was no other way to stop you, that they were to shoot you, and if necessary, kill you.”
Victor looked in his rearview mirror and saw his partners running out of the entrance. With a quick look at his sister he threw the truck into gear and peeled out of the lot. He pushed his car to the fastest it could go, dodging cars and pedestrians.
“Uh, Moose? Are you trying to get us killed?” she asked in a strained voice. She had a death grip on the Jesus bar with one hand and was bracing herself against the dashboard with the other.
“You wanted to come, Kiddo. Deal with it,” he growled.
“Moose?” she asked confused. She had never heard that tone of voice come out of her brother until that day.
“Sorry, I should have introduced myself. I’m Alex.” He took one hand off the steering wheel and held it out to her.
“Both hands on the wheel, please. I don’t want to die. Hi, Alex. How long have you been around?”
“For about seven years. When Victor first started working for the Agency. The Agency created me. Now, why do you think that you have what it takes to kill those bastards?”
“I want revenge. Not just what they did to me, but for what they did to you, or, you know what I mean.”
Alex snickered at her frustration for finding the right way to say what she meant. He looked in the rearview mirror and slowed down. “I think we lost them for the moment. Now, I’m going to find the nearest bus stop and you are going to get out and go to my apartment. I’m sure you still have the key. You are going to go there and wait. You will not try to go after anyone. You will let me handle this.”
TBC