MISPRISION

Misprision: (pronounced, miss-prizz-ee-on); adjective; Middle English, a mistake, misdirection or a misunderstanding, deliberate concealment or deflection in the release of information - from Old French 'mesprendre' to mistake, ... was still in common usage in 16th century England.

Chapter Thirteen

Having been told to steer clear of 'Alex's room' for the next hour or so, Skinner and Doggett went with Mulder to the video storeroom to see what he had found. They too were stunned at the sheer size of the archive and as eager as Mulder to see exactly what information they could glean from these, and the other records. ignoring the, by now furious, guard, they took as much of the 'K' archive as they could carry and went in search of somewhere to view the tapes.

They sat in one of the side rooms with the stack of video cassettes and a TV/VCR. Mulder had grabbed some of what seemed to be the key tapes from the stack, one of which was the current tape from room twenty, and switched on the TV. Inserting the tape with the earliest date into the machine he sat back with the others to view it. All three men watched incredulously as a younger Spender outlined the 'K' project. The idea was to use Mengele's research from his twin study and further it. However, they would be able to create a superior study to Mengele's since they would have the twins from conception onwards so that they would truly be able to influence their entire physical and emotional development. Then a man who identified himself as Doctor Romberg explained the plan further. Given the genetic research that had been a growing part of the consortium's work, the new proposal was to select genetic donors and breed certain characteristics into the twin embryos. Thus they would assure themselves of success. There was a lot more technical data, a lot of which was over the heads of the three viewers, but the gist of the information was that all members of the consortium would be tested for their genetic suitability as donors.

Shuffling through several other tapes, Skinner then picked one labelled 'K1/K2 JUNE 1969' and inserted it into the machine. As he took his seat two boys aged four were shown on screen. They were both naked and apparently playing in a sand pit. The voice over introduced the boys as Nicholas and Alexander. The camera zoomed in on the boys to show that far from innocent play the boys were engaged in extricating a mine from the sand pit. They had a box of tools in the sand pit with them. Once they had excavated the mine to the point where it was possible to remove the cover Alexander approached the casing with a screwdriver whilst Nicholas took up the wire cutters. The tension in the room was palpable as the three men watched the two boys work together as smoothly as any professional team to dismantle and diffuse the bomb.

Mulder felt sick. He'd known that being raised by the consortium would have been no picnic, but he'd never really imagined anything quite like this.

The scene changed to show each of the boys assembling a gun. Each worked deftly and quickly, and it became clear that they were both adept and experienced at this routine. It also became clear that this was a race. Spender stood in the background, stopwatch in hand, timing them. When they had completed the task, at the same time, he smiled at them and gave them each a new weapon. This time, instead of a hand gun, the boys each had an automatic rifle with telescopic sights.

"I want you to strip, clean and reassemble these weapons," Spender said, "but remember that you must not get any foreign material in the weapons or they will be likely to misfire. Do not begin before I give you my mark. One last thing," he looked at them sternly, "the winner of this task will be rewarded - and the loser will be punished for his failure. Do you understand?"

Both boys nodded in the affirmative and looked carefully at Spender, waiting for his signal to begin. The announcement of rewards and punishments had obviously added a sense of urgency to the proceedings for them. As Spender gave the signal to begin they hastened to strip their weapons. The urge to avoid being the one punished made them both attack the task with a speed that would have put a commando to shame.. With their chubby fingers though, the speed began to suffer. Eventually Alexander fumbled when trying to fix the sight to his rifle and it fell into the sand. He looked fearfully at Spender and quickly scooped up the sight which was now covered in grains of sand. In order to complete his assembly he would now need to clean the sand from the sight and make sure that none of it had lodged in the lenses. He completed this and finally fixed the sight to his rifle a little over fifty five seconds after Nicholas had finished assembling his rifle in pristine condition.

Nicholas' sense of triumph was clear. His radiant smile lit up his face and he almost seemed to purr with pleasure as Spender gently patted him on his shoulder and congratulated him. Alex, meanwhile, was sat staring glumly at the rifle in his hands, tears rolling down his cheeks though he made no sound.

Skinner held his breath, wondering what the punishment would be. He watched as Spender approached the distraught figure.

"Give me the gun Alex." Spender said, his voice surprisingly gentle.

Skinner had always thought that voice flat and emotionless, he'd certainly never heard the man use that soft and considerate tone. He began to relax. Perhaps it would be all right, after all the boy was only four years old. What possible punishments could Spender inflict on one so young? Slightly reassured, Skinner watched as Alex turned his tear stained face to his mentor and handed him the gun.

Spender took the gun reverently and place it on a blanket outside the sand pit. Then he ignored Alex as he turned his attention to Nicholas.

"Well now Nicholas," he said, "You've done very well and I am very pleased with you. How would you like to come and live with me?"

"Yes please sir." Nicholas replied, his smile widening as he contemplated his prize.

"Then you shall Nicholas, you shall. You shall have a room of your own and a nice bed, and we shall do many exciting things together. Go to the door Nicholas. Mr Anderson will show you where show you where to wait for me." Spender said.

Nicholas stood but before he went he glanced uncertainly at his twin. Spender noticed.

"On you go Nicholas," he said, "I need to speak to Alex and I'll see you in a minute."

Nicholas hesitated one second more before doing as he was bid.

As Nicholas left the room Spender turned and regarded Alex sternly.

"I'm very disappointed in you Alex. That gun is a very expensive piece of equipment and you have managed to damage it."

Alex nodded dejectedly in agreement.

"I'm sorry sir," he said, "it won't happen again."

"Indeed it will not." Spender said, his tone now harsher. "Do you know what punishment you have earned boy?"

Alex looked up again at Spender, his little body trembling with fear as he shook his head.

"N...n...no sir." He stuttered, clearly terrified of the man.

"Well Alex, I'm afraid you won't like it, but remember, you earned it." Spender said, blowing smoke from his cigarette into Alex's face and making the boy cough.

As the boy doubled over, coughing and gasping, Spender pushed him face down into the sand. He held the child as he squirmed ineffectually, trying to lift his face from the stifling mounds of sand.

Skinner, Doggett and Mulder watched this scene, their faces bleak, their feelings towards the smoking man growing more murderous by the second. As they too squirmed in sympathy with the small boy on screen Spender pulled Alex from the sand.

Alex's nose, eyes and mouth were full of the gritty stuff. He was immediately sick as he was released from the suffocating grip Spender'd had on him. He did not cry, however, but continued to look terrified.

The three men viewing the tape were still waiting to see what punishment Spender would choose to inflict on his young charge. They were under no illusion that this was the sum total of his revenge. Alex, retching on his knees and barely daring to move, seemed to understand this too.

"I'm going to be leaving soon Alex." Spender said. "Your brother and I are going to spend a lot of time together. In the meantime, Doctor Romberg wants you to help him with his experiments."

Alex eyed the big man nervously as he came towards him carrying some items. When Alex saw what the Doctor had in his hands he began to scream.

"No, no, no, no, no, noooooooo, no please, no please, I'll be good, please." He wailed as he sank down in despair once more into the sand.

Romberg stepped up to Alex and lifted him to his feet before slapping him hard in the face. The blow was so hard that the boy was shocked into silence. As soon as Alex stopped wailing Romberg snapped a pair of handcuffs on to him, and a collar around his neck. To the collar he attached a lead. Then he took a small device from his pocket and pressed it. The result was a squeal from Alex that shook the entire room as he fell to the ground clutching at this neck. As the sound faded Romberg jerked the boy to his feet again and turned to Spender.

"Danke Herr Spender. I wish you good fortune with your boy, as you must wish me luck with mine." He said.

'Oh indeed I wish you luck Doctor Romberg. Our notes will have to be meticulous and we shall see which of our methods shall triumph. Though of course our aims are slightly different." Spender said. Then he leaned forward and ruffled the hair of the now panting boy as if he was an affectionate uncle bidding his nephew a fond farewell.

"Be good for Doctor Romberg, Alex, you don't want to earn any more punishments do you?" He said.

Alex looked up at Spender, his green eyes full of tears.

"Please sir,' he whispered, "I'll be good. Please let me go with you and Kolya."

Spender laughed. "My dear Sasha. What makes you think that Kolya and I want you?

Alex's eyes widened.

"But Kolya's my twin." He said as if this explained everything. "We promised each other that we would be together always."

"Alex, you do not have a choice. You and Kolya belong to me and I will decide where you go and what you do. What you and Kolya want is not important. Do you understand?"

Alex swallowed and seemed to fold in on himself.

"Yes sir." He said, barely audibly.

It was as if all the energy had been sucked out of him.

"You will not do anything to displease Doctor Romberg, if you do you will seriously displease me too. Do you understand that?" Spender asked.

Alex simply nodded.

Spender grabbed the boy's chin in his hand and squeezed until he squawked in pain.

"I said, do you understand me Alex?"

"Y...yes sir!" Alex managed.

"And if you displease me there will be more punishment. I'm sure you don't want that do you?"

"No." Alex's voice was low but clear.

"Then I think we understand each other. Goodbye Alex."

Spender let him go and left the room without a backward glance.

Romberg pulled Alex's lead in such a way as to make it clear that he should follow him. Alex followed, having no choice but to comply. Yet he could not prevent himself from calling out to his brother as he was dragged along.

"Kolya. Kolya, please Kolya don't leave me. Kolya."

Romberg stopped, turned and made a fist. Leaning over Alex, threatening him.

"If you make one more sound boy, I'll make sure you cannot speak for a very long time. Now stop snivelling and let's get moving." He snarled.

Alex stopped crying and lowered his head. He followed Romberg from the room, all the fight seemingly gone out of him.

As the screen went blank Mulder stopped the VCR and raised the lights. He looked around at his companions. Both men looked drained and angry.

Doggett was the first to speak.

"Fuck!" He said. The expletive sounding like a small explosion.

"Yeah." Mulder agreed. "Fuck! The bastard set Alex and his brother up, trained them from birth. God! What hope did either one of them have?" He kicked the chair he had been sitting on and then punched his fist into the wall.

Skinner stood and placed a restraining hand on Mulder's shoulder.

"Mulder, I know it's hard to watch, but I think we owe it to Krycek and his brother to find out as much as we can ." He said

"I know,"Mulder said, "but everything I see makes me want to go and rearrange every molecule of Spender's and then start all over again. I warning you Skinner, if I have to speak to him again I'm more likely to kill him than not. God," he groaned, and put his head in his hands.

"Mulder," Skinner said, "if you'd rather leave the room, then Agent Doggett and I can carry on here."

Mulder shook his head and lowered his hands.

"No sir. I'll be fine. If I go out of here now I'm likely to take an axe to that bastard and I just know that if I do that somehow I'll live to regret it. Besides," he added, "if Krycek had to live through this then the least we can do is try to understand why they did it to him." He sat shakily.

Doggett picked up a tape from the pile.

"Seventieth Birthday celebrations,"he read, "debut of K2."

"Put it in Agent Doggett." Skinner said, though he hardly dared to imagine what the tape might contain. He felt that no matter how distasteful he found the evidence, no matter how hard it was to stomach, he owed it to Krycek to watch this.

Monica Reyes felt as if she'd fallen down a rabbit hole. Ever since she'd teamed up with Doggett on the X Files, despite Kersh's insistence to the contrary, she'd been thrown into what she could only think of as an alternate universe. Despite priding herself on her open mindedness and acceptance of extreme possibilities, she had never, not in her wildest dreams, imagined anything like the situation she now found herself in.

John had asked her to help out with 'sleuthing' as he put it. He'd warned her that none of this was part of an official investigation right now and that she could expect no back up. He'd also warned her of the danger she might be in if she were caught. Shit! If she hadn't been with Scully when she'd given birth, if she hadn't dealt with Billy Miles and the Game Warden, hadn't seen with her own eyes how they both recovered from serious injuries within seconds, she would never have believed the story John had told her. Except, maybe she would have had to believe it. If only because it was John who was telling her. John Doggett was the least fanciful man she knew, the most level headed, straight-laced, some had even said 'boring' man possibly in the known universe. She smiled at that thought. Whatever doubts any one might have, if John Doggett believed what he had told her then she had to believe it was true too.

Her checks into Zeus Genetics had led her on a long paper chase. Dummy Corporations led her down one blind alley after another and she soon became so frustrated that she sought Dana Scully's advice. The last thing she had wanted to do. Not because Scully was not a meticulous agent, but because she had, after all, just been through a most traumatic pregnancy. The doubts and fears she had encountered during that period and the tension surrounding the birth itself, not to mention the amazing Mulder's gone , Mulder's dead, Mulder's alive scenario, had drained Dana Scully. Monica had felt it would be unfair to inflict any more stress into Scully's life, but in the end it had been inevitable and unavoidable that she would go to her for help despite her fear that this would be the straw that broke the camel's back.

Scully, however, had proved more resilient. It was as if the birth of William had given her additional strength, as if she had got her second wind. She had an equilibrium that Reyes admired greatly and she had been the one to point Monica in the direction of some friends of Mulder's. Thus it was at Scully's insistence that she found herself now with these three bizarre men.

Frohike put a mug of coffee in front of her.

"There you go Agent Reyes." He purred, grinning at her.

Monica had to stifle a giggle. Scully had warned her about Frohike hitting on her.

"Thank you Melvin," she said, watching with an amused smile as he preened at her use of his first name, "so how's it going?"

Frohike immediately became more serious.

"Langley has found his way into the data base, we should have it all cracked before the end of the day." He said. "In the meantime why don't you get some sleep? After everything that's happened you must be exhausted."

She took a gulp of the coffee before nodding gratefully.

"Thanks Melvin. I might just do that." She stood a looked around for somewhere in the room where she could stretch out.

"Byers said you could use his room, and frankly it's the only one that's in a fit enough state for visitors, especially visitors of such calibre." Frohike said.

"Oh I couldn't do that Melvin, where's John going to sleep if I take his room?" Monica protested.

"John will be far too busy, along with the rest of us." Frohike assured her.

"That's right Agent Reyes," Byers said, coming up behind his colleague, "I'd be honoured if you'd take my room. We'll wake you as soon as we find something."

Monica nodded her acceptance. "I'm very grateful to you guys for your support, and thanks to for the refreshments." She said.

"No problem at all,"Byers said, "Melvin, Ringo needs your help with a problem on the data base. I'll show Agent Reyes where she can rest."

The look on Frohike's face was a real picture. Monica, however tempted she was to laugh at his chagrin, did not dare to show her amusement. Instead, she thanked him again and turned to follow John Byers. As they left the room though she couldn't help giving a little chuckle.

'I know that Melvin is a little over the top at times, but he really is quite a harmless flirt." Byers said, smiling at her.

"Oh that's fine, really," Monica said, "Agent Scully did warn me, and actually it's quite flattering, especially as I must look a complete mess right now."

She ran her hand through her hair. She was aware that it probably resembled a bird's nest, she had been on the go for over forty eight hours and she'd had no chance to deal with minute things such as her appearance.

"Not at all." Byers said, stopping to open a door. " This is the room, there's a bathroom with fresh towels, toothpaste, spare toothbrushes, everything you you need." He pointed to a small door to one side of the room. "If you need anything else just call, you can get our attention by pushing the buzzer on the nightstand."

"Thank you." Monica said. "You seem well prepared."

"Never know when some waif or stray might need to hole up here for a while," Byers said, "besides I was a boy scout." He grinned. "I'll leave you to it then. Sleep well Agent Reyes."

As John Byers left Monica looked around again at the room, it was clean and comfortable looking. All at once she was overcome by her own fatigue. all she wanted to do was sleep. She took off her boots before going into the small, but well equipped, bathroom and cleaning her teeth. As she lay down on the bed her eyes closed automatically and she was soon dead to the world.

Alex grimaced a little as he felt Doctor Borrachio cut into his wrist. The Doctor stopped instantly.

"Can you feel that?" He asked anxiously.

"Sort of." Alex said, his voice still rasping painfully. "It's not painful now, the local anaesthetic is working, it just feels weird. I can tell you're cutting into the skin, but it feels as though you are doing it through several layers of blanket way above my wrist. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."

"Not at all,"Conrad said,"if it starts to hurt however, I want you to let me know immediately."

'Don't worry Doc, I will. You can count on it." Alex said, taking a deep breath to try and centre himself before remembering how bad an idea that was. It hurt, and his chest tightened instantly. His face contorted in an effort to prevent the cough he could feel from erupting and causing further agony. Eventually he relaxed, he had won that round but he really didn't want to have to try it again. He was sweating profusely from the effort.

"Please carry on." He said through gritted teeth. "The sooner you get started the sooner it is over."

Conrad nodded.

"Ok, here we go. But you tell me straight away if I need to stop and add more anaesthetic to the wound."

He held Alex's gaze for a moment and then, satisfied, he began to open the inside of Alex's wrist.

Samantha moved between them, alternating between handing instruments to Conrad and soothing Alex with a litany of calming words. Alex concentrated on the sound of her voice and let it take him out of his body to a warm place of freedom, as he had done many times before. In concentrating on her he was able, for the most part to dissociate this from the time he'd had his other arm hacked off. He was able to control his fear almost totally, only losing himself to that other time and place a few times. She was telling him exactly what Conrad was doing, preparing him for each cut but in such a way that he could just absorb the information and not tense because of it.

She was also telling him that there was no cause for concern, that he was free. He still had trouble believing that, but since there was nothing he could do about that one way or another he merely let himself go and allowed her gentle help him to recoup his inner balance. nevertheless he was relieved when, after an hour and a half, and two additional doses of anaesthetic, Conrad announced that he had replaced both the Scaphoid and Trapezoid bones with titanium metal alloy replacements, and that all the debris was clear from the wound leaving the nerves no longer compromised. The wound needed to be closed and he would be adding a cast to help maintain the wrist's integrity for a few weeks whilst it healed.

Alex registered everything that the Doctor said and responded with a sigh of relief, but then he stiffened in panic.

"What is it?" Conrad asked, alert to his patient's mood change.

"You bastard. I trusted you." Ales replied, struggling to move.

"I know you trusted me Alex," Conrad said gently, "you can trust me. What is it? What's wrong?"

"Damn you." Alex said bitterly. "Damn you to hell!"

"Alex please." Samantha said. "Doctor Borrachio has done nothing wrong. What is it you think he's done?"

"Titanium metal alloys, it's what they use for the replacements." Alex said.

"Yes." Conrad agreed. "It's a standard material for replacing joints."

"NO!!!" Alex persisted. "No. God!"

He groaned and tried to sit up but Samantha prevented him. He looked at her helplessly, and suddenly she understood his fear.

"Oh Alex. Did you think I would allow any of that material to be used on you? This is not the material that the consortium produced. This is purely titanium metal alloy with no extras. I would never allow anyone to do that to you."

Alex relaxed marginally.

"Promise?" he asked, unable to keep the quiver out of his voice.

"I Promise." She said, smiling weakly.

"But you have allowed them to do it to others." Alex countered, still not happy.

"I know. I admit it Alex, but never to you. I would never let them do that to you."

"To Mulder?" He asked.

Samantha hung her head. Then she raised it again.

"Yes, but what else could I do? They had him already. How else could I save him for our side?"

She looked so anguished that Alex wished he had a hand available to caress her cheek and reassure her. Instead he looked her clearly in the eye.

" I guess you were supposed to do exactly what you did. I'm sorry Sam, I didn't mean to upset you. It's just that the whole idea freaks me out." He said

"I know." Samantha said. "You've never been as accepting of the methods the resistance uses as I have. I just trusted that Fox would understand. As it happens it seems as though we wasted our time with him. The conversion didn't take."

Alex looked at her. "Then how...?" He began.

"I don't know. Maybe he does, or Mr Skinner. I intend to find out how he survived. Perhaps there is something we're overlooking. Now let Doctor Borrachio finish closing and doing the cast. We need to be collecting all the data we can and making moves to leave this place at the first opportunity."

Alex nodded, finally relaxing.

"I'm sorry Doctor." He said. "I know that you have done everything you should have done, Excuse my freaking out. I promise I won't do it again. Please forgive me."

"Of course." Conrad said. He couldn't pretend he even began to understand any of what had just transpired, for now though, he was simply glad that his patient had calmed down. He neatly stitched the layers of muscle together and then the skin. The scar would be as small as he could make it. It would show, but at least, if he was as good as he thought he was Alex would not lose any of the functions of his only remaining hand.

The "Debut" tape was, if anything, worse than the 'sand pit' tape. The initial shots of Romberg and his cronies, including Bill Mulder, Spender, Victor Klemper, Strughold and the English Gentleman, had been sickening enough. How could they laugh and joke at the footage of a young Krycek being tortured? Especially whilst the boy himself was in the room also watching the same footage. The worst though, as far as Skinner was concerned, was the fact that Krycek, along with about a dozen other boys were naked except for ghastly decorations. Garishly jewelled bracelets and anklets, thick belts and collars bedecked each youth. Krycek was clearly the youngest one there, about twelve or thirteen years old, but none of the other boys appeared much older than eighteen. Some of them had clearly taken, or been given, some mood altering drug. They 'allowed' the audience to fondle them whilst the screening progressed. In reality they probably had no choice in the matter. Certainly none of them looked really comfortable. If Skinner had thought this was bad however, he was totally unprepared for what came next.

All the young men except for Krycek were arranged on the podium in front of the large screen. At a signal they began to caress and kiss each other with abandon. The performance grew more frenzied until finally they were all engaged in full sexual intercourse. In other circumstances it might have been erotic, the sight of these beautiful young men loving each other. In this case however, it seemed more a sick parody of love than the real thing. Its aim was clearly to arouse the watching group, and in that it certainly succeeded. As the young men reached their climaxes and lay sated, happily caressing each other and snuggling together, their sexual haze was interrupted by a summary dismissal.

As they left, on unsteady legs, a nervous Alex was pushed up on to the podium to take their place. Krycek, looking like a deer caught in headlights, stood trembling in front of the crowd of men. Spender, who was beside him, nudged him forward until he was on his knees in front of the audience.

"Gentlemen. This is our young friend's debut. He has been well trained, but until now he has been untouched." Spender said. "Who's name was first out of the draw?" He asked the guard by the door.

"Mr Mulder sir." The guard replied.

"Ah, Bill! A singular honour." Spender said, and he stood watching expectantly for Bill Mulder to come and claim his prize.

It was clear that Bill Mulder, who had hitherto been so accepting and relaxed, was now distinctly ill at ease. It was also clear that he could not afford to refuse Spender's invitation.

Fox Mulder watched, his breath catching in his throat, as his father made his way to the podium to join Spender.

Spender rested one bony hand on Bill Mulder's shoulder.

"It's only fitting that you should be the first Bill." He said. " As the donor it should be your privilege."

Then he turned and pressed a button on the wall. The screen was drawn up to the ceiling and the curtains behind it were pulled back to reveal a range of equipment that would not have looked out of place in an S&M dungeon.

"Make your choice Bill, you can have whatever you need. Tell Alex what he needs to do." Spender instructed.

Bill hesitated for a second or two and then indicated to Alex that he should get up and move towards a whipping post which was in the centre of the newly revealed room. It had a cross post on the top so that it resembled a capital 'T'. Moving behind Alex he attached the bracelets at each wrist to either end of the cross bar, and each anklet to a spreader bar at the base of the post. Then he went to a cabinet at the side of the room and selected a bamboo cane before returning to his captive.

The tension in the room was clear on the faces of the watchers. The tension visible on Alex's face, however, was almost unbearable. Sweat beaded his brow and began to trickle down into his eyes.

Doggett, Skinner and Mulder watched as the scene began to unfold. None of them was sure who made the whimpering sound as Bill Mulder struck the young Alex Krycek hard across the buttocks with the bamboo. The scream Alex gave was enough to make them all flinch in sympathy. Bill Mulder stopped his beating and gently stroked Alex's shoulders. He leaned in close to his victim and whispered something into his ear. Alex blinked a little and nodded slightly. Bill then moved back to his former position and resumed his task.

Blow after blow rained down on Alex's back, shoulders and buttocks. He flinched at each stroke and cried out as the pain grew stronger. The on-screen audience appeared to take immense satisfaction from the scene. They began to shout encouragements and make lewd suggestions to their colleague, adding in thoughts of what they would do to the boy when it was their turn.

Finally Bill laid down the cane and walked to the front of the post. He adjusted it so that the top half of the post was now leaning forward at an angle of about fifty degrees whilst the bottom stayed anchored in its original position. Alex's ankles were still fastened to the base and his wrists to the cross bar. As the bar tilted forward he was stretched into a leaning position. His body was taut. His back and ass were covered in raised weals that were bright red in colour. The skin was broken in places though not much blood was visible. Once the bar was fixed to Bill Mulder's satisfaction, he undid his belt and opened his fly.

Standing directly behind Alex, who was trembling uncontrollably, but whose screams had now become choked sobs, he pushed his rampant erection into the boy's anus without any further preamble. Gripping him tightly around the hips he began to fuck him.

Skinner caught his breath. This was Alex's history, and he still felt he owed it to him to learn as much about his past as possible, whilst also learning as much about the consortium's plans as possible, yet there was this nagging feeling warring in his gut that watching this video amounted to nothing less than prurient voyeurism. The fact that he had managed to watch thus far in an almost detached fashion sickened him. Was he as much of a monster as those bastards in the screen? He hoped not, but how was he to judge?

Doggett closed his eyes, unable to bear watching any longer. Every time he looked at the screen all he could see was Luke in Alex's place. He knew it didn't make any sense, they looked nothing alike, and Luke had only been missing a short while before his mutilated body had been found - whereas Alex had been in the consortium's 'care' for his whole life. Yet still, whenever he had come across a crime involving a child victim he could not but help automatically imagining Luke in their place. Maybe it made him a less effective law enforcement officer, but he hoped it made him a better human being.

Fox's reaction was far more violent than those of his companions. As he watched his father beating Krycek he became agitated. His face lost all its colour and he couldn't stay in his seat. When Mulder Senior entered the boy, making him scream out in agony, Fox picked up his chair and threw it at the screen.

"You fucking bastard!!" He screamed, before collapsing on the floor, his breathing erratic and his face a sickly shade of green.

Doggett was out of his chair almost immediately. Having gone through all the X-files, including the ones concerning Samantha Mulder's abduction, he had immediately recognised the man raping Krycek as Mulder's father. He knew how he'd feel if that was his father up there on screen.

"Hey Mulder, it's OK." Doggett said, wincing at the inane remark even as he said it.

He put a hand on Mulder's shoulder, offering physical comfort to go with his words.

"Bastard." Mulder gasped. "God how could he?"

Skinner shook his head and turned off the VCR which now showed Mulder Senior being replaced by another of the group.

'I'm sorry Mulder," he said, "it must be difficult for you to see that."

"It's not just that he raped Krycek." Mulder said. "You heard Spender. My mother hinted at it once but even then I didn't want to believe it. My father gave Samantha to them. The kidnapping was just for show. He spent years telling me it was all my fault and yet he engineered it. I used to think that he at least had integrity, but this!!! God!! If he could do this to a young boy what might he not have done to his own daughter?"

Skinner turned as he heard the door behind them open. Samantha Mulder entered the room as her brother asked his question.

"No Fox. I was always safe." She said, looking directly at him. "The better question would be 'how could he do this to his own son?"

end of chapter 13

Chapter 14

Many thanks to Ursula for sterling efforts to kill the typo....above and beyond the call of duty. Any mistakes still remaining are definitely my fault and not hers.

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