"Battlefield"
By Kirsten Kerkhof

Chapter 1

Fitness centre "Move it!"
Orange City, Iowa, USA
day 1, 3.35 pm

	"No, she's Heather" she explained. "I'm Dana!" 
It would never stop, she knew. Nobody could tell them 
apart. Dana and Heather could understand it perfectly 
well. Identical twins always look almost the same and 
they were no exception.
	Dana Campbell became a little despondent. She 
looked at her sister who appeared to be just as irritated 
and bored by it. They had become members of a fitness 
club and a few weeks ago they had started in this group. 
The students already knew the difference between them 
but the teacher just didn't seem to get it right. It would 
never change.
	After the lesson the two girls went to the cafetaria 
with some other girls.
	"Do you get a lot of questions about that?" one of 
the girls asked.
	"About what?" Heather asked who was busy 
replenishing all the calories they had lost during the 
lesson with a delicious strawberry-milkshake.
	"Well, about the fact that you look almost the 
same and stuff. Isn't that annoying sometimes?"
	"Sometimes yes, sometimes no", Dana said. "It can be 
annoying when people can't tell you apart. Just look at Suzy!" Suzy 
was the fitness teacher. "And you always get blamed for anything 
the other has done wrong!" Heather and Dana looked at each other 
and grinned. Everybody laughed.
	"On the other hand it can be quite fun to fool 
people: people who don't know you've got an identical 
twin sister; boy, do they ever look stupid when you walk 
in in duplicate!" Heather said.
	They all ordered another drink and for a moment 
nobody said a word.
	"We're getting fat, girls!" one girl said.
	"We'll get rid of it in the lessons. At least we'll 
know what we're doing this for and we have to have 
something to keep our spirits up!" another girl said. 
Heather and Dana liked the other girls and felt perfectly 
at home. See you next week!

	Tom Jamieson parked his car. He had just had his 
driver's license and with the help of his parents he had 
bought an 'old wreck' as he called it himself. He had 
been so proud when he got his license. The fact that he 
had managed to get immediately on the first time had 
persuaded his parents to pay part in the purchase of  the 
car.
	He got out of his car and was going to lock the 
door. Then he saw two figures he knew walking in the 
street. The twins Heather and Dana Campbell. He was 
especially interested in Heather and it had not taken him 
much time to find out he was simply in love with her, but 
unfortunately they were always together. "Just like now" 
he thought. Still, he decided to call them.
	"Heather! Hey! Dana!" he shouted and he waved 
his arms to attract their attention.
	"Your lover's calling!" Dana said to her sister. 
They laughed and walked towards Tom.
	"Hi!" they said simultaneously.
	"Hi ladies!" Tom said, showing off. "Wanna go 
for a ride?"
	"In that car?" Dana said hesitatingly. "Is ..."
	"Of course! We're going immediately?" Heather 
interrupted her. Dana looked at her. Tom and Heather 
looked at each other in a more than just friendly manner. 
She felt a little jealous. Not because she didn't have a 
boy-friend herself but, she knew this was childish, 
because she and Heather had always been together. And 
now Tom came between them. But she forced herself to 
smile. She thought of the oath. That helped.
	"Yeah, let's go!" she said and she pulled Heather 
to the car.
	Tom got behind the steering wheel and Heather 
and Dana sat next to him.
	It was getting dark when they arrived at the bank 
of the river. This was the favourite spot of the youngsters 
in town. It was the ideal place to meet friends. Tonight 
however they were alone.
	Tom had some beer in the trunk of the car and 
Heather and Dana helped him to carry the bottles. The 
parents of the girls weren't home and they decided they 
could take the liberty of having a little party.
	It must have been about two o' clock the 
following morning when Heather and Dana decided to 
go home. It was a good thing they both had their driver's 
licenses because they were definitely not in the mood for 
walking all the way home. Dana thought it had been a 
great night, but Heather looked somewhat sad. Strange! 
Dana opened the door of Tom's car.
	"Come on, Heather!" Dana said impatiently. "Get 
in the car! Hurry up!"
	"What about Tom?" Heather asked.
	"We'll get him in the morning", Dana said. "He'll 
be there for a while, sleeping."
	Heather got into the car and they drove off.
	"The oath!" Heather thought. "Gotta think of the 
oath!"

XxXxX

Chapter 2

Bank of the river
Orange City, Iowa, USA
day 2, four days later, 2.03 pm

	The sheriff of Orange City looked at his papers 
and sighed. This killing was too much for him. But then 
again he was just a local law enforcement officer and not 
really at ease with this kind of criminal activity. Right 
now he was standing next to his colleague and waited.
	He had been glad when the FBI had complied 
with his wish to send him assistance, but now he had his 
doubts. He had done some research and the agent they 
were going to send him might be very good, but his 
methods were, they told him, "not quite ... conventional". 
Moreover, who had ever heard of an FBI-agent with 
'Fox' as his first name? Oh well, he had to work with 
him and to be fair, he was glad they sent him an agent 
anyway.
	An unknown car rode onto the town square. The 
sheriff walked towards it. These had to be the agents 
because the sheriff knew every car in his area.
	"Special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, 
FBI", the man behind the wheel introduced himself and 
the woman sitting next to him.
	"You got identification?" the sheriff asked. The 
two agents got their badges and showed them to the 
sheriff. He nodded and told them to follow him. The 
agents got out of the car and the sheriff studied them. He 
thought the woman to be very pretty, in her early 30s he 
took her to be. The man was different, he didn't know 
what to think of him: a young face and his hair was much 
too long, but his behaviour and expression showed that 
this man had seen and experienced more gruesome 
things in his life than the sheriff himself who was nearly 
twice as old had. The agents followed the sheriff to his 
office.
	"Who was the last person to see Tom Jamieson?" 
Scully asked the sheriff.
	"The twins, Heather and Dana Campbell. They 
found the boy and informed the police."
	"Did you notice anything out of the ordinary, 
sheriff? About the place, the body, the girls, whatever?" 
Mulder asked.
	"Well, honestly ..." the sheriff said cautiously, 
"Look, in this kind of community everybody knows 
everything, and I knew that this girl Heather Campbell 
had a relationship with Tom Jamieson. And you know, I 
thought the two girls, especially Heather, were handling 
the murder a little bit too easily. Of course those young 
people have become dulled by all the violence on TV. I 
think that the violence they show on TV has a bad 
influence on young people. It gives them wrong ideas. 
Never had any problems here and suddenly we've got 
two murders. I don't understand ..."
	"Two murders?" Mulder interrupted him. "We 
know about just one killing. Do you think they might be 
related?"
	"Oh, I don't know", the sheriff said. "To be 
honest, it was a strange killing and when you look at the 
case this way, yes, it was kind of the same as the murder 
of Tom Jamieson. But a suspect was caught and he 
confessed to the murder, so we closed the case." The 
sheriff clearly didn't understand what could be 
interesting about this case. For him the case was closed 
and over. Just like that.
	Mulder wasn't so sure about that.
	"Can we see the files on that particular case?" he 
asked.
	"Think so. I'll make sure that it's in my office by 
tomorrow, maybe even today" the sheriff said. He was 
glad that the FBI had taken up the case about Tom 
Jamieson's murder. If they wanted to investigate another 
case - which didn't make any sense to him - well, they 
could just go ahead. He didn't care.
	"One question though," he said. "Please don't 
bother the families of those boys with the cases. They're 
having a hard time already, okay?"
	Mulder nodded and the sheriff went outside.

	It was silent in the sheriff's office. The only 
sounds were the turning over of pages and the typing on 
a computer keyboard.
	"So what do you think, Scully?" Mulder asked, 
breaking the silence.
	"That they didn't call us in for nothing", she 
answered.
	"What do you mean?" Mulder asked.
	"Well, it's all kind of vague and unexplainable 
and that's our speciality, isn't it?", Scully answered. "By 
the way, I've got some correspondence of the boy. He 
writing with some club in Sioux City, called 
"Battlefield"; the girls are members as well. But the 
address is illegible."
	"I've got a few letters here as well, but these 
belong to the girls. It's clear that Heather was in love 
with Tom Jamieson and it was pretty much the same 
with Tom!" Mulder said. He was reading the letters 
attentively and Scully saw it.
	"You're reading them rather carefully" she said. 
"Is there something I don't know or don't I want to 
know?" She laughed when she saw Mulder's expression 
and said: "Only kidding, but at least it's something 
interesting. It might explain some things."
	Mulder saw she laid everything aside except a 
leaflet she had in her hand.
	"What are you going to do?" he asked.
	"I've got a leaflet of the club they were and are 
in. I'm going to phone them, just to see what we can find 
out about it."
	While Scully went to phone in another room, 
Mulder went on with the case. He had some ideas, but he 
didn't want to share them with Scully yet. Not before he 
knew more. The sheriff entered the office.
	"Here's the report on the investigation of the first 
murder. I'm leaving right away 'cause they're needing 
me in town. Good luck!"
	"Thanks!" Mulder said and he took the folder. He 
put the papers on the other case aside and looked at his 
latest acquisition. He involuntary raised his eye-brows 
when he read the report. Scully was going to love this! 
He read the report more carefully and started taking 
notes. This case was definitely weird, but it started to 
take some shape. He hoped he was right. Well, for 
himself that was, because his ideas were too horrible to 
inflict them on the community. Scully went to see what 
he had.
	"And?" he asked.
	"It's a club consisting of twins. Identical twins to 
be precise and they won't allow others."
	"Pretty strict entrance requirements!" Mulder 
said.
	"Anyway, I called them, but they didn't tell me 
more than that they were a group of young people having 
parties, camp etc. together. Look, maybe they are just 
that, Mulder, just some youngsters having fun. I mean, 
what do we know about them, and the fact that the boy 
and those girls were members doesn't mean there should 
be anything wrong with the club. Maybe there isn't more 
to it than what they told me!" Scully said.
	"I'm afraid you're wrong, Scully, but we'll find 
out about that later. Just look at the report of the murder 
on that first boy."
	"Maybe I shouldn't have told them I'm with the 
FBI ..." Scully said. She had only been joking but 
Mulder answered as if it had been a serious 
consideration.
	"That only proves there's something wrong with 
this little group. Here, have a look at this first case." 
Mulder handed her the folder. Scully hadn't liked that he 
had taken her joke seriously and she said:
	" Save me the trouble , Mulder, what is it?"
	Mulder looked at her, shrugged and said:
	"This case - the first murder - contains a number 
of  interesting details. The only problem is that you have 
to know what you're looking for and that's why our 
honest, but not really brilliant sheriff didn't understand 
why I thought that there was a connection between this 
murder, of Darren Wilson, and the murder of Tom 
Jamieson."
	"And I'm sure you did see it, right?" Scully said 
scornfully.
	"I had a couple of ideas, yes ..." Mulder said.
	"Okay, "Scully said and she took a chair. "I guess 
I ought to be ready for everything by now."

XxXxX

Chapter 3

Sheriff's office
Orange City, Iowa, USA
day 2, 3.35pm

	"To begin with, Tom and Darren are twin 
brothers. Identical twin brothers to be exact!" Mulder 
said.
	"Identical?" Scully asked wondering. "They don't 
even have the same surname. They're not even related!"
	"Wrong!" Mulder said. "They are related, but 
they were separated after birth. The boys didn't of each 
other's existence. The were separated by authorities 
when their parents were killed in a car-accident almost 
immediately after they were born. Because they were 
only two weeks old, they were placed with different 
foster-parents. They grew up completely independent of 
the other. But you'll always remain a part of an 
indentical twin."
	"Wait a minute, Mulder," Scully said. "You told 
me they didn't know of the other's existence? But if they 
have been killed here, they probably lived here as well. 
And being identical twins should have been striking in 
this community. If they didn't notice it themselves then 
surely the other people noticed."
	"Very good, Scully! You really are as smart as 
they told me!" Mulder said. Scully heard the ridicule in 
his voice and poked him in the ribs.
	"Cut it out and go on!" she said.
	"Very well, doctor Scully', Mulder said amused 
while he looked at her without her noticing it, he 
thought. But Scully had noticed it and tried to poke him a 
second time. Mulder evaded and grinned.
	"Ahum. That would indeed have been the case," 
he said, "if Darren had lived here, but although they were 
born here, Darren lived somewhere else. He just came 
here to see his birthplace again. Turned out to be not 
only his first but also his last time. He didn't know 
anything about Tom, because he had never been told. 
The reason that I know they are related is because their 
medical records are kept. They are identical, they even 
suffer from the same extremely rare genetical disease; 
that's your department, by the way. I suspected the 
kinship already when I saw the pictures of the boys. 
Different clothes, but the same face."
	"That's nice," Scully said, "but what are you 
driving at?"
	"What I mean is this:" Mulder said. "We've got 
an identical twin. They find another identical twin - or 
rather what's left of it. All four of them are members of a 
group, consisting of even more identical twins, and who 
refuse to give us information because we're with the 
FBI. Kind of strange, don't you think?"
	"What, the twins or the fact that they're not 
giving us information because we're with the FBI? I've 
experienced the latter problem before!" Scully said.
	"How about us trying to find that club and paying 
them a visit?" Mulder said, wisely ignoring Scully's 
remark.
	"Two tiny little problems, partner," Scully said. 
"One: where is that group, because there was no address 
in the leaflet or in the letters and when I called them they 
initially refused even to give me their name, let alone an 
address. And two: how are we going to get in? We're not 
exactly an identical twin!"
	"Hm?" Mulder looked at her inquiringly. He had 
been typing on the sheriff's computer.
	"What I want to say is that you're a man and I'm 
a woman, you're three years older than I am, not a 
relative, from another part of the country, well, in every 
respect different from me!" Scully said.
	"Eh, no, that was not what I meant. I just didn't 
hear you." Mulder said, smiling.
	"All right, how are we going to get in?" Scully 
said.
	Mulder took his badge out of his coat-pocket and 
showed it to Scully. "Secret password, Scully: Agent 
Mulder, FBI!"
	"Love it when we're getting inside so easily." 
Scully said. She saw trouble coming.

Highway from Orange City
day 3, 9.56am

	"Have you already figured out where that club 
is?" Scully asked. She sat next to Mulder in the car. 
Mulder was driving. Scully didn't like that, but at least 
he seemed to know where he was going. She hadn't got 
the faintest idea of where to go, or what she wanted.
	"No", Mulder said.
	"No?" Scully asked. She looked at him. "So 
where are we going then?"
	"To someone who might know where the club is 
based."
	"From whom did you get the address?" she asked. 
"Who is it?"
	"To begin with question number two: it's a 
former member of this group. Her sister is dead and she 
blames the club. Actually the murder is rather similar to 
the murders of Tom and Darren. Anyway, she left the 
club, but lives sort of in hiding, because she afraid the 
members of Battlefield will take revenge. Enfin, we'll 
have a little talk with her."
	"And the answer to question number one?" Scully 
asked. The trouble she had seen the day before was 
coming closer, also because Mulder hardly ever evaded a 
question. There was something to this and she knew she 
wasn't going to like it.
	"Where I got the address? From our close friends, 
the Lone Gunmen!" Mulder said almost 
triumphantically. The trouble Scully had seen was here 
and now and it was big trouble!
	"How am I going to survive this investigation?" 
she thought. "Why haven't I gone crazy a long time 
ago?" Then she said:
	"The Lone Gunmen? I know they'll provide you 
with all the information when your ideas are out there 
again ..." Mulder grinned " ... but I didn't know they 
even kept files of things like clubs etc."
	"Those guys have files on everything. In fact 
they're pretty much like the FBI: files on everything and 
everybody. One big difference though: while the FBI is 
trying to get rid of all the strange cases, these guys throw 
away every normal case. Good for me I guess, as I'm 
trying to get to all the weird stuff!"
	The radio was playing and Mulder tapped with 
his fingers on the steeringwheel. He was in perfect 
humour. Scully was ticking with a pen as well. But not in 
time with the music like Mulder: she was annoyed and 
impatient. She hoped that someday soon Mulder would 
grow up mentally as well.
	"All right then ..." she sighed. "What did those 
gentlemen have to tell you?"
	"Well, to begin with, they pointed out that girl. 
They didn't even know who it was themselves but they 
thought 'that I might use my FBI-salary for something 
useful' ... and moreover they knew quite some things 
about that nice little group Battlefield. Founded in 1993 
and it seems to be a rather dominant and pretty sadistic 
organisation. It seems to have a bad reputation."
	"Why is that?" Scully asked.
	"It pretty much resembles a sect. Many of its 
members don't want to be a part of it after some time, 
but the rituals they have - they aren't averse to sacrifices 
- more or less commit the members to the group. You're 
in but there's hardly a way out. In this case even more so 
because the leader is in duplicate as well. Their rules 
influence their members' private lives. When they start 
everything looks great and fantastic, but after some time 
it becomes clear: friends are wrong, parents are bad, 
money is for the club. It's like a sect, they get for a 100% 
dependent on the club." Mulder told her. "Anyway, it's 
all in here. The boys faxed it to me." He took a folder 
with some papers in it. Scully took them.
	However, there was still one question she needed 
answered, before anything:
	"What did they ask in return? I can't imagine you 
don't have to do something for them too."
	"More information about the club." was all 
Mulder said.
	"Oh no," Scully said, "You're not getting away 
with it that easily! There's more to it than that. Come on, 
what is it?"
	"Okay, maybe you should have your phone-
number changed ..." Mulder looked at Scully who stared 
at him perplexed.
	"You gave Frohike my phone-number?" She 
looked out of the car again and thought for a moment. 
Then she said half-jokingly, half-seriously to Mulder:
	"Of course you realise, this means war!"
Chapter 4

Address unknown, Iowa, USA
day 3, 00.34 pm

	"It all happened rather quickly," the girl told. 
"Sheila, my sister, had heard something about a club for 
twins from a friend. It should be really cool. You know, 
parties, movies, camp, things like that, well, really great 
and she suggested we should write to them. I agreed of 
course, and our parents agreed too. I mean, you've been 
in the town where I lived! I can't imagine a more boring 
place in the world than that one and for people my age 
there's absolutely nothing to do!"
	"After two weeks we received a letter from 
Battlefield. It was a leaflet and a letter with which they 
welcomed us to the club and they invited us to come and 
get to know the other members."
	"Have you still got that letter?" Mulder asked.
	"No, after Sheila died I burnt it, together with 
everything that reminded me of Battlefield. It's a pity 
you can't burn memories", she said sadly. She looked at 
the floor.
	"Anyway," she continued while she tried to pull 
herself together again. "we were invited to come a party 
where we would be initiated as new members. Until then 
everything had been fun, but after that it turned into a 
nightmare."
	"What exactly happened?" Scully asked. She had 
been watching the girl very carefully. She made a note to 
go and check the girl's medical records.
	"Sylvie, what happened afterwards?" she insisted 
when the girl showed no intentions to continue her story.
	"They ... they had a party ... and everyone was 
drunk! They forced us to drink too, but I didn't want it!" 
Sylvie cried. She had her hands in front of her face and 
the sobs shook her body. Still, there was something in 
this scene that caused Mulder to be suspicious.
	"Would you like us to leave for a moment so you 
can recover a bit?" he asked. Sylvie nodded and the 
agents went out of the room.
	"What do you think, Scully?" Mulder asked.
	"I don't know. She's hardly told us anything so 
far, but already it seems to be too much for her. I wonder 
what will come next. What do you think?"
	"That's she's a liar and a good one too!" Mulder 
said. "I don't believe her being so upset about those 
parties, just because everybody is drunk ..."
	"What do you mean?" Scully asked.
	"Well, most parties for teenagers end with a 
couple of people who drank just a little more than would 
strictly speaking be good for them. I know this town is 
not exactly a metropolis, but even a girl from a town like 
this wouldn't get so upset by it. No, I think there's 
something more to it", he said. "And she should try to 
cry a little bit more convincingly!"
	Mulder and Scully went back into the room. 
Sylvie had dried her tears and looked a bit more 
comfortable once again.
	"Sylvie," Mulder began, "I know this is difficult 
for you to dicuss, but ... were those parties really so bad 
because everybody was drunk and you two had to drink 
alcohol too?" He tried to remain friendly despite his 
growing impatience.
	Sylvie didn't answer. Mulder continued but every 
bit of sympathy had disappeared from his voice, it had 
become cold and pertinent. And imperative.
	"Young lady, we know several things about this 
club already and it's no use hiding anything from us. If 
you don't want other people to end up in the gutter like 
you, you'll have to co-operate, okay? So, what did 
happen at those parties?"
	The girl looked at him amazed. Scully saw it and 
said with a friendlier voice:
	"Come, Sylvie, tell us whatever you can tell." 
Mulder heard the soothing sound in Scully's voice, 
leaned towards her and said softly and sneering:
	"Softie!"
	Sylvie didn't see it and told them:
	"At those parties ... eh ..." she was still too 
confused to break into tears, "You got a drink which 
contained alcohol and you drank it. It made the world 
look ... different, yeah, that's it, it was like entering a 
completely different world, that was here but wasn't here 
at the same time. With more beautiful colours than this 
gray, boring world. A parallel dimension was what they 
called!" Sylvie became almost delighted as she talked 
about it.
	"And it was just because of the alcohol?" Scully 
asked, suspicious. She was a medical doctor and she 
knew all too well where the dreamworld of alcohol 
ended and the one of drugs began.
	"Oh yeah. They said there was nothing but 
alcohol added to the drink. I mean, some people said 
there was drugs in it as well, but you wouldn't believe 
that, would you? Drugs kill and I'm still alive so ..." she 
laughed.
	"Was there anything else happening at those 
parties?" Mulder asked.
	"I think so," Sylvie said thinking. "I didn't notice 
it, but, you know, they had those sacrifices and stuff. I 
don't know really, with little kids and ... Strange I guess, 
but I never really noticed."
	Mulder and Scully looked at each other. They 
thought the same thing. Scully asked:
	"Sylvie, can you take us to such a party?"
	The girl got frightened. "Take you there? Oh no! 
I'm not going there again in my life!" she shook her 
head.
	"Can you tell us where it is then?" Mulder asked.
	Sylvie hesitated and he persisted:
	"You can choose: either you give us an address or 
you take us there. Don't forget we're with the FBI. We 
can force you to help us!"
	"So what do you think I've got to lose ...?"Sylvie 
said scornfully and got up to go and find the address. She 
had barely left the room when Scully got up from her 
chair and said to Mulder:
	"By the way, agent Mulder. Won't you ever call 
me 'softie' again?"

Highway to Sioux City
Day 3, 5.09pm

	The address Mulder and Scully had received was 
in Sioux City, a dozen miles ahead. On a map they had 
bought at a restaurant annex petrol station they had found 
the usual location of the parties. It was an old barracks 
which had been deserted for five years and had been 
squatted by Battlefield since 1993, though officially this 
wasn't the case of course.
	"What do you think we'll find there?" Scully 
asked. She had insisted on driving herself and Mulder 
hadn't thought that a problem. He knew she didn't like 
his style of driving. "I mean, I don't think we'll be 
welcomed as close friends and get a sight-seeing tour of 
the buildings."
	"Honestly, I don't have a clue what we might find 
there. Maybe nothing at all, maybe everything is ready 
for a gathering. Maybe they're in the middle of one. I 
don't know" Mulder said.
	The silence in the car returned. They both had a 
mindful of thoughts. Thoughts and visions they didn't 
want to bother the other with, but of which they knew the 
other had them as well.
	As if the weather knew what was awaiting the 
agents it became more and more gloomy. It made Mulder 
feel depressed. He didn't like the case one bit anymore 
and hoped it would be over soon. Very soon if possible. 
He felt bad about the case. He looked aside to Scully 
who was kept her eye on the road. Her face was grave. 
He could see that her thoughts were probably the same as 
his: what kind of club was this, what did they do and 
most importantly: what was lying ahead of them?
	Scully looked at her watch, it was 5.15pm. She 
caught herself in doing that continually, alternated by 
checks on her gun that became less and less necessary. 
She knew the feeling: she was nervous. And, something 
she didn't experience very often, she was afraid. Not the 
kind of fear you felt in a life-threatening situation, but a 
fear of not knowing what was coming to you. You just 
knew it couldn't be anything good. The cold steel of her 
gun seemed to have a protective feel in it. Right now, she 
would have given much to turn around and leave this 
whole case alone. But she couldn't and she didn't like 
that in the least.
	"Nervous, Scully?" Mulder asked. Scully was lost 
in thoughts and she heard only her name, but not what he 
said.
	"Eh ... what did you say?" she asked.
	"If you're nervous", Mulder repeated his 
question.
	"Yes", she said. She added: "I would give a lot to 
turn around now and go home. I'm afraid of this case." 
She felt it would lead to nothing to deny it.
	"I feel the same", Mulder said. He was glad 
Scully was sitting next to him, rather than anyone in the 
world. But first they had to see what was going to 
happen. And that could be turning out to be a lot more 
unpleasant than they had ever imagined.

XxXxX

Chapter 5

Barracks number 427
Sioux City, Iowa, USA
day 3, 9.21pm

	On the terrain around the barracks wasn't a single 
movement to be seen. The building was dark and the 
lights on the terrain were failing. The two agents drove 
onto the former parade-ground after Mulder had opened 
the rusty fence. Right now Scully was looking for a 
slightly unconspicious place to park their slightly 
conspicious car, but yet in such a place that would allow 
them to get out of here very quickly if necessary. Today 
she cared even less about looking like a coward than 
usual. Personally she would like to enjoy life just a little 
bit longer than today! 
	Meanwhile Mulder scanned the building.
	"Do you think Sylvie would have sent us in the 
wrong direction?" he said to Scully. She didn't think so:
	"No, I don't believe she did. I got the impression 
that she wasn't going to lie to us about the address, but 
then again ... you're the psychologist here!"
	Mulder smiled a bit and said:
	"Well, we didn't expect to be welcomed by a 
military band anyway, so everything taken into 
consideration it hasn't been too bad so far. So you're 
sure this is the right place?"
	Yes, I mean, it has to be.  There aren't that many 
military bases around so I presume this must be the right 
one."
	She got out of the car and Mulder did the same. 
With their guns in their hands they walked towards the 
entrance. Mulder tried the door handle, but the door was 
locked.
	"It's locked. We'll have to find another way to 
get in", he whispered. Scully nodded. She had expected 
this. Now she was first and after a few meters she saw a 
small window that was open. She pointed it out to 
Mulder who gestured to go ahead searching another way 
to get inside, but to keep this in mind.
	Still everything was deadly quiet. It gave Scully 
the creeps. The threat that soaked the building, and pretty 
much the whole investigation, was terribly oppressing. 
Then suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She 
gasped and turned around, ready to fire, only to discover 
that it was Mulder who wanted to draw her attention to a 
few doors and who even dared to ask her why she was 
standing still. She didn't answer, she was too angry.
	Mulder went on and Scully followed him. The 
doors they had seen were all locked and they couldn't 
use their master-keys because the locks were of too old a 
kind.
	The little window was the only choice they had.
	They crept through the window, after having 
checked what or who could have been there to surprise 
them. It turned out to be a little room filled with junk, 
brooms, buckets and other things of which the origin and 
fuction had long since become a mystery. 
	"Looks like your office!" Scully said. Mulder 
grinned but didn't say anything. Scully was definitely not 
the only one who questioned his way of keeping offices 
in good order.
	Ahead of them was a door and Mulder tried it. It 
was open and carefully Mulder opened the door further. 
Scully didn't lose sight of him for a single moment. She 
knew from experience that in such a case it could be of 
the utmost importance to know exactly what the other 
was doing. It could mean the difference between life and 
death. And Scully prefered the former.
	Cautiously the agents entered the next room. 
They shone around the room. It was furnished with a 
table and a few chairs. There were some posters on the 
wall, but that was it.
	"This isn't much, Mulder", Scully said. He 
agreed.
	"I wonder where ..." he began, but Scully 
interrupted him, whispering to be absolutely quiet. Then 
he heard it too. In the next room were people. He heard 
footsteps and the hum of voices, but he couldn't figure 
out how many people were present. If this was 
Battlefield it had to be a large group of people, but they 
didn't even know for sure if it was Battlefield at all.
	Then the noise became less and less and stopped 
when they heard a door shutting. Mulder knew this could 
be a trap, but they had to know for sure. They had to take 
their chances.
	The agents stood at both sides of the door and 
Mulder cautiously pushed it open. The room behind it 
was dark and nothing moved. Scully was alert and ready 
for everything. She had her gun ready. They went inside 
and to the middle of the room. It made Scully think of 
the hall of crematory. Even the atmosphere was identical. 
But here it was empty and dark. And silent.
	Then a bell sounded and at the same moment all 
the lights went on. The room was splendidly lit but 
Mulder wasn't noticing it in the least. What he saw were 
hundreds of young people, staring at him. And he saw 
the trap.
	Instictively he raised his gun, but he lowered it 
again right away. After all, there was no chance of 
defending themselves anyway.  

XxXxX

Chapter 6

Battlefield Headquarters
Sioux City, Iowa, USA
day 3, 10.17pm

	The two agents were in the room, standing back 
to back. From all around young men and women 
appeared. Each and every one part of a twin. Scully felt 
small and vulnerable, the silent presence of the twins 
made the atmosphere extremely threatening and 
oppressing. Even with Mulder she felt very alone.
	She noticed she had moved towards him, much 
closer than she needed to. She knew he was feeling at 
least as uncomfortable as she was feeling.
	"I don't like this one bit, Scully!" he said softly.
	"Ditto!" Scully replied. "What do you think 
they're going to do?"
	"Don't know, but we were not invited and I'm 
afraid they're going to make that very clear to us!"
	In the room people had started to whisper. There 
was even some giggling and Scully relaxed a little bit. 
Maybe it wasn't going to turn out as bad as they had 
thought.
	"Of course I can be wrong, Mulder, but to me it 
seems to be not so bad as I thought", she said softly. 
Mulder didn't answer and Scully looked at him. He 
looked straight ahead.
	"You are wrong, Scully! Just look over there. 
Three o'clock", he said grimly.
	Scully looked into the direction he had pointed 
out and started. She saw an altar and a cross that was 
placed upside down. A devil's cross. Next to it, more or 
less hidden behind a curtain, was a normal cross.
	A bell rang.
	Two girls stepped forward and walked up to the 
agents. One of them stood in front of Mulder, the other in 
front of Scully. Suddenly the girl with Scully walked 
away and joined her sister.
	Mulder looked at the girls. He didn't like this at 
all. He wondered what was coming to them. Then the 
bell rang again and Mulder was pulled roughly towards a 
platform in the room. Scully screamed. She wanted to 
stop them, but was immediately seized by a couple of 
boys. She tried to free herself but even though she had 
black belt in karate, she couldn't get loose. She relaxed 
her body and felt relieved when the grip was lessened.
	But she realised that she had lost sight of Mulder 
by now. She looked around and then she saw him. He 
was sitting on a stool, his head in his hands. He cried.
	"Mulder?" she said. This wasn't normal. 
Something must have happened, but what? What had 
happened to him while she had been trying to free 
herself?
	"Mulder!!" she screamed. He didn't show a 
single reaction ...
	"Don't waste your breath, agent Scully!" a 
woman's voice sounded behind her. She turned around 
and then she saw the reason for Mulder's strange 
behaviour: the cross had been placed in the light and the 
text could be read easily now:

Samantha Mulder
Honorary Member
January 1964                -                February 1992

	She felt so terribly sorry for Mulder. For all those 
years he had passionately searched for his sister and this 
had to be the way he had to find out it had all been for 
nothing. That she had been dead already.
	Then Mulder looked up. His eyes were red and 
his cheeks were wet with tears. Scully wasn't surprised 
by that, but she got frightened when she saw the look in 
his eyes: rage and hatred were flung in her direction. For 
a moment she didn't understand, but then it became 
terribly clear to her: in Mulder's eyes she was the reason 
Samantha was dead.
	"Do it, agent Mulder!" the woman said. She and 
her sister were clearly the leaders of the club. Her sister 
went on:
	"You knew it, didn't you? You trusted her, but 
did she trust you? Come on! Answer me! You know why 
she was assigned to be your partner, didn't you? You 
knew what they wanted to do!"
	"Yes!" Mulder said and he took his gun. Scully 
got frightened. This was going horribly wrong! "I trusted 
her, but I could have known it! I should have known it!" 
He cocked the gun and pointed it at Scully. "I hope 
you've got nothing planned for the rest of your life, 
Scully, because you won't live to see it!" His voice was 
cold and no-nonsense. He was serious!
	"Mulder, no!" Scully screamed, she was terrified. 
"Who would you believe? Me or them? Come on! Listen 
to reason for God's sake!"
	"I don't have to, Scully!" Mulder said icily. "I 
knew it! You never trusted me! The reports you had to 
file, you're in the same conspiracy as the Cancer Man. 
Just admit you were the one who murdered Samantha 
and you were planning to kill me! I know you were so 
there's no need denying it!"
	"No, Mulder, you're all wrong!" Scully said. 
Tears were running over her face, not only of fear but 
also of anger. "You've always trusted me and I' ve never 
betrayed your trust." She became angry and said, 
speaking up: "My God, Mulder, do you really believe 
that if I had wanted to kill you I would have needed five 
years to do it? To find a convenient moment? There were 
plenty, weren't there? Don't you see that the only thing I 
want with regard to the X-Files is to keep them open? I 
admire the passion you have for those cases! That you're 
always making a good job of it! Yes, I admit I was 
assigned to the X-Files to debunk them, five years ago! 
It's no use denying it, because you know it's true, but ..." 
she burst into tears, "... please, Mulder, put down the 
gun. I didn't kill Samantha and I'm not an accomplice 
either. When I was assigned to the X-Files in March 
1992, I didn't even know you. Why would I have wanted 
to kill your sister? Or to kill you?" 
	Mulder had kept the gun pointed at her head all 
the time, but the look in his eyes had changed. The 
hatred had gone and had been replaced by grief. Scully 
saw it and walked slowly towards him.
	"Fox, be reasonable. I would never hurt you or 
anyone of your family, you know that. Come, put away 
the gun, we can handle this differently, can't we?" 
	She felt like a mother, reassuring a child. One big 
difference though: she wasn't talking to a child but to a 
well-trained and highly experienced FBI-agent. She 
knew she had to be careful: one wrong move and Mulder 
would inevitably and mercilessly shoot her, because he 
was still not sure. She was standing near him now and 
she placed one hand on Mulder's hands that were 
holding the gun while she used her other hand to softly 
pushing the gun away from her. She looked at him 
almost begging him not to fire.
	Mulder, who hadn't realised until now what he 
could have done, dropped the gun and turned away. 
Scully wanted to comfort him, but was pulled back by a 
couple of boys.
	"Stop it!" the first woman shouted. "You can't 
trust her, agent Mulder! Here, you see the proof!" She 
pointed at the cross.
	"Oh yeah, lady?" Scully said. She was furious. 
"Then maybe you could have paid some attention to the 
dates you put on your stuff. Like the cross for instance! 
And check your leaflets, those leaflets promising so 
much that will never become reality."
	Mulder looked at her. "What do you mean, 
Scully?"
	"This club was only founded in 1993, remember? 
That means that Samantha could never have been a 
member of this group, because in 1992 the club didn't 
exist. We were afraid that there might be a trap and I 
think they knew we were coming. Besides, what club 
would have such a huge monument made for any 
member? This was all part of the plan." She turned 
towards to the twins who were whispering among each 
other and who were walking around. "And so ... you can 
see this whole thing is a fake! Look at your leaders, 
you're tricked! They're ruining your lives, turning you 
against yourselves and against those you can trust. 
You're getting addicted to alcohol and drugs and ..."
	"Drugs? There were drugs?" a boy asked of the 
women.
	"Eh ... yes ..." she said hesitatingly.
	"You're a liar!" the other woman said and 
shouted: "Fellow-members, don't listen to them! Think 
of what you learned!"
	It remained absolutely silent. The woman was 
bewildered, but her sister didn't seem surprised. A boy 
stepped forward.
	"We're sorry, but I'm afraid we can't be members 
anymore. We had our doubts, but ..." his brother finished 
the sentence:
	"You blew it!"
	A nervous giggle sounded in the group, then it 
was quiet again and silently the twins turned around and 
walked away.
	Scully took two sets of hand-cuffs and arrested 
the women.
	"You have the right to remain silent. Anything 
you say can and will be used against you in a court of 
law ..."

XxXxX

Chapter 7

Highway from Sioux City to Orange City, Iowa, USA
day 3, 11.56pm

	After the two women had been imprisoned by the 
police and Scully had asked the sheriff to find a solution 
for the former members of Battlefield, Mulder and Scully 
drove back to their motel in Orange City. Scully was 
driving and neither said a word. Then Mulder broke the 
silence:
	"So I guess she could still be alive ..."
	He was talking to himself rather than to Scully 
and she waited to see what would come next.
	"I can't give up, Scully", he said. It sounded 
bitter but determined. "I've got to be sure about what 
happened to her."
	Scully knew this could well be the only thing that 
kept Mulder going and she knew that if this hope, this 
goal would disappear, he would have no reason to carry 
on. He had nothing else. She felt the shivers down her 
back.
	"I was so scared, Mulder ..." she said softly.
	"So was I, Scully", Mulder said and he looked at 
her. "I was so sure you had killed Samantha. I just knew 
you were going to kill me as soon as the opportunity 
would present itself ..."
	"Then why did you let me come near you? I 
could never have missed you!" she said. "And why 
didn't you shoot me when I came near? You couldn't 
have missed me either!?"
	"My finger was being more reasonable than my 
head", Mulder said. Scully didn't understand. "My 
instinct told me to fire the gun in order to save my life, 
because I couldn't trust you, but my common sense 
stopped my finger from actually pulling the trigger", he 
told. "Maybe I trusted you too much even then ...
	Once again the silence returned and Scully hoped 
with all her heart that she would never dis-appoint him in 
his trust.

Mulder's office
FBI Headquarters, Washington D.C., USA
two days later, 13.17pm

	Mulder was sitting behind his computer and was 
working on the report. It made considerable progress, 
though the subject could hardly be called a pleasant thing 
to report. Assistent-Director Skinner would probably 
raise his eye-brows about the report again, but Mulder 
had long since stopped worrying about that. As long as it 
remained just that, Mulder felt safe. He just had to make 
sure it didn't get worse.
	He went on typing. The suddenly he thought of 
something, got out of his chair and pulled open a drawer. 
Nothing. Well, there was plenty of stuff inside, but not 
what he was looking for. Another drawer. Again nothing.
	He hoped Scully wouldn't come in right now. 
The fact that he couldn't find what he was looking for in 
his own office - being a chaos, he knew that - was a bad 
thing already, but Scully would jump at the opportunity 
to tell him that he finally had reached the point of no 
return: if he wasn't going to clean up now, the office 
would be forever doomed. She had already threatened to 
bring a box of matches and set the whole lot on fire, but 
it had been a joke. And yet ... she had been serious 
enough to make him careful.
	Still nothing. Then he remembered something, 
sighed and sat down again. He stared at the lit computer 
monitor and the half-finished piece of text. He couldn't 
bring himself to go on typing.
	Somebody knocked.
	"Door's open!" he shouted and looked to see who 
would want to see him. Scully entered his office.
	"Since when do you knock when you want to 
come inside? You haven't done that since, let me see, the 
first time we met!" he said.
	"How are things?" she asked, ignoring his 
remark.
	"... Okay, I guess", Mulder said. It sounded 
listless, which was exactly how he felt. Scully saw it and 
smiled while she opened her bag. Mulder saw she took 
out something that was wrapped in a little plastic bag.
	"To keep your spirits up, partner! Catch!" she 
said and she threw the bag to Mulder who caught it and 
looked at what he was holding in his hands.
	"Sunflower seeds! Thanks! I was just looking for 
some! How did ..." then he stopped and became 
suspicious. "Wait a second, this is a hint, isn't it? You 
hate it when I eat these things. It gets messy, you hate 
messy, I know that. Okay, Scully, what's going on?"
	Scully looked at him innocently, but something in 
her eyes said that this was faked. Then she got out of her 
chair, walked up to him and said softly:
	"Lesson number one, agent Mulder, when you're 
investigating something, do it good!"
	Mulder looked at her. He didn't understand, but 
Scully turned around and walked to the door. He looked 
at the little bag he was holding in his hand again and saw 
the little card that was attached to it. It said in print:

"Thanks For Being You"

	On the other side was hand-written:

And for not shooting me,
      Dana

	Mulder smiled. He got up and followed Scully, 
who had left the office. A.D. Skinner would have to wait. 
At first there was something much more important for 
both of them!
	He reached her, put his arm around her and said:
	"Lesson number two, agent Scully, how about 
lunch together?"

	Meanwhile, in Mulder's office the computer 
turned on the screen-saver. However, after a few minutes 
it was interrupted by the message of an incoming e-mail. 
An e-mail from Battlefield.