The X-Files: The Truth Revealed

Chapter 36

Underground Facility 

Mulder led the way back to the central hub. He'd seen the door is his passing, but had no idea what lay beyond it. Moving to the door now, he cussed when it failed to open. 

"It's like the one we came through earlier," Scully said, "only this one has a keypad." 

"How'd you get in?" 

Grant smirked in Scully's direction. 

"Sheer genius, Mulder. It was sheer genius that opened it before." 

"You mean you punched it," Mulder said. 

"I persuaded it." 

"Think you can charm your way through it again, Scully?" he asked, stepping aside and gesturing for her to have at it. 

"Let's see... one three two three..." 

"Four three," Grant reminded her. 

"Right," she said. "Here goes." 

Scully carefully pressed the six-digit code into the entry pad. Without hesitation, the dark metal door slid open revealing a brightly lit corridor, a major contrast to the darkness of the ship. Squinting until their eyes adjusted to the lighting, they welcomed the warm, fresh air. 

"You mind?" Grant asked to take the first step over the threshold into the corridor. 

"Be my guest," Mulder said. "I missed all this first time around," he said, following Grant through the doorway. 

"You missed it how?" Scully asked. 

"My head wasn't exactly attached to the rest of my body thanks to Musgrave." 

"Musgrave!" 

"Living proof that only the good die young." 

"You know the General?" Grant asked. 

"We go way back," Mulder confirmed. 

"He brought Mulder up on a bogus murder charge." Scully added, recalling the fear she'd felt when Doggett relayed the panel's guilty verdict, sentencing Mulder to death by lethal injection. 

"I'd love to take him by the hand down to a nice rock quarry in New Mexico and give him a lesson on the finer points of bio-molecular displacement." 

"I don't follow," Grant said. 

"Super-soldiers don't hold up well against magnetite," Mulder said. 

"It's their one flaw. Magnetite breaks down their biochemistry and tears them apart," Scully confirmed. 

"So he's one of them." 

"You'd think the aliens would have come up with a better alternative for their human replacements seeing as it was probably magnetite that downed their ship at Roswell." 

"Well, let's leave Roswell behind and just get the hell out of here," Scully said, anxious to leave. 

"She's got a point," Grant agreed. 

"She always does," Mulder smiled and pushed his way into the hallway looking left and then right. "What do you think?" 

Grant looked around, familiar with their location. 

"Our only hope is through the transport area. This way," he pointed to his right. "Unfortunately, no matter where we go, we're not going to blend in." 

"Agreed. We might as well be wearing Ralphie's pink bunny suit," Mulder said. 

"A sight to behold, I'm sure," a voice announced from behind them.