This is my second attempt at X-Files fan-fiction, my first attempt was 
pretty pathetic and unworthy of being called XF fan-fiction, so all your 
praises, flames, corrections, etc. are welcome.  Also I realize that the 
X-Files, Dana Scully, and Fox Mulder belong to Chris Carter and Ten- 
Thirteen Productions and FOX Broadcasting and I used them without 
permission.  No copyright infringement intended.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
           FLASH
By: AgtScully0@aol.com
       (© 09/04/95)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>





>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
New York City
11:21 pm
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The cold winter wind whipped his face mercilessly.  The air was thick 
and he was forced to sit down to rest.  The bench wasn't exactly the 
safest place, but he didn't feel like walking to the small cafe a block 
and a half away.  He watched an orange cat run out of a nearby alley.  
It jumped onto a garbage can and ran into the street.  A car came by 
and swerved to miss it.  The car drove into a puddle and splashed the 
cat with oily brown water.  The cat hissed and ran into a sewer.

Two rather tall muscular men, both in black, sat at either side of him 
on the bench.  The one told him to get up the other shoved a gun into 
his ribs.  He complied and followed the leader into an alley.  The 
leader then abruptly turned around and punched him in the face.  The 
other came, took his wallet out, and hit him with the butt of his gun.  
Both ran off.  Pierce Bryson recovered immediately from the blows 
and walked out of the alley.  He could see his attackers running down 
the sidewalk.

Pierce felt his hands tighten as he watched them run.  His eyes 
followed them, glaring.  Every muscle in his body tightened as he 
stood there rigid.  His face broke out in a sweat as he concentrated 
hard on what he was about to do.  His eyes, now wide with anger, 
darted to the lamppost light.  The light exploded and a blue/white 
surge of electricity came from the bulb striking the two men and 
holding them in place as the electricity ran through their bodies killing 
them slowly.  They both yelled blood curdling screams as the beam 
encircled their bodies.  The two then stopped moving and the beam 
vanished leaving the streets deadly quiet.

Pierce slowly walked over to the men.  They had scorch marks all over 
their faces and, Pierce suspected, all over their bodies.  He turned one 
of the men over, spotted his wallet, and took it back.  Then, after 
looking in both directions for any witnesses, ran across the now empty 
road and headed down the street in the opposite direction.



>>>>>>>>>>>>>
New York City
10:30 am
>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"The 911 call came in at about 1 am this morning.  At first I thought it 
was just some suicide because there were no bullet wounds, no 
apparent weapons anywhere, and there is that window," Police 
Lieutenant Mason gestured to a window in an apartment 30 feet above 
them.

"But?"

"But not many people decide to burn themselves before jumping out of 
windows," the Lt. gestured to the scorch marks on the bodies.

"Whoa, Scully want to take a look at this?"

The female agent pushed her way through the crowd of people that the 
police were having a hard time keeping back, and kneeled down by 
one of the bodies.  "It's almost like they've been electrocuted.  Fire 
doesn't leave these kind of burn marks."

"Um, there is just one strange thing though.  This lamppost, the bulb 
exploded."

"What's so strange about that?"  The female agent seemed somewhat 
bored as she and her partner gazed at the light.

"Well usually when a bulb explodes it doesn't take the glass cover with 
it."

The two agents looked and sure enough there were the remnants of 
glass still attached to the lamppost.  The Lt. watched as the male 
agent's eyes scoured the ground looking for the pieces of glass.

"Still this couldn't have caused the two men's death.  Who lives in that 
apartment?" the male agent asked pointing at the building.  There was 
only one window on the entire building that faced the sidewalk where 
the men were killed.

"Empty.  However, we could go talk to the landlord.  Maybe one of the 
other residents heard something."  The two agents followed the Lt. 
into the building.

As it turned out the landlord heard nothing, but one of the residents 
thought she heard screaming outside.  When she went out to 
investigate all she saw was the back of a man running down the street.

"I thought I was just hallucinating and I went back to bed," she 
continued.

"Did you see what he was wearing, what color his hair was?" Mulder 
questioned.

"No, it was dark out.  I didn't see and bodies either.  I wasn't really 
looking."

The Lt. thanked the woman and left.  Both Mulder and Scully 
followed.

"Not much to go on," the Lt. admitted.

"Well, I think we'll have a little more information after Agent Scully 
performs the autopsy."  Mulder looked to Scully, who nodded 
acceptingly.



>>>>>>>>>>>>>
NY Bus Station
11:15 am
>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Bryson bent down to tie his shoe, he had to leave before the police 
found him.  He checked his ticket.  11:30 bus to Trenton, NJ.  Not the 
greatest place in the world, but at least he could hide out there and plot 
his next move.  He checked his watch for the ump-teenth time in the 
past five minutes.  11:15 Damn, it's still not here.  

Bryson sat down on a bench next to an elderly man.  He must have 
scared the old guy because he immediately got up to leave, his cane 
accidently smashing Pierce's foot.

"Ouch," Pierce rubbed his foot in pain, the old guy not even 
apologizing.  A slight twinge of anger formed in Bryson's head and at 
that moment a light overhead shattered, hitting the old man.

The old man, shaking in terror, collapsed to the floor almost in tears.  
Two security guards, who had witnessed the scene, rushed to the bench 
and took Bryson by his arms and began to drag him to the security 
booth.

Oh god not now.  I've got to get out of here he thought.  They had just 
rounded the corner and ahead lay a long deserted hallway.  He 
concentrated on the lights just above them.  There was a loud shatter 
and pieces of the light came falling down.  Both guards let go of 
Bryson and covered their heads with their hand.  Bryson stood up and 
glanced at the security camera concentrating on the side of it as it 
moved away from him, he then shifted his gaze to the light and 
watched as a blue/white lightning beam spewed out encircling the 
guards in its deadly grasp.

The guards put up much more of a fight that the thugs did a day 
earlier.  One guard reached for his gun and probably would have shot 
it if Bryson hadn't plucked it out of his hand.

As Pierce ran in the other direction he could still see the surprised look 
on the guard's face as his gun floated in the air toward Bryson's 
outstretched hand.  As he stopped briefly at the corner to catch his 
breath, he wondered what had gone through the guards' heads just 
before they died.  Looking  down at his hand, he saw he was still 
holding the guard's gun.  He quickly shoved it into the waistband of 
his jeans.  He checked his watch again 11:25.  Running toward the 
bus, he checked his pocket for the ticket.  It wasn't there.  Damn I 
must have dropped it in the hall he thought.  He looked back.  It would 
be too dangerous to retrieve it.  He bit his lip trying to think of what to 
do.  He raced toward the ticket counter.  He was relieved to see that 
there was a different ticket seller and no line.

"The eleven thirty bus to Trenton, please."



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Office of Lt. Mason
11:30 am
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"The autopsy confirms our earlier suspicions: these men were 
electrocuted.  Not only that, but pieces of the glass from the light were 
found burrowed deep in their skin," Scully said tossing the report on 
the Lt.'s desk.

"The glass could have entered them from falling on it," the Lt. offered.

"Yeah, but how could they possibly get electrocuted?" Mulder seemed 
puzzled.

"There's no proof that they actually died at that spot.  The woman said 
she didn't see any bodies, they could have-" before Scully could finish 
an officer came running into the office.

"Sir, there's been another murder."



>>>>>>>>>>>>>
NY Bus Station
11:50 am
>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Scully was amazed at how someone could kill out in the open like this 
without worrying about people seeing or even the security cameras, 
which were all over the place.  As they rounded the corner, the stench 
of burnt flesh became apparent.  Then they came to the bodies.  Scorch 
marks infested both faces.  There were blood stains on their uniforms 
and both their mouths were open as if they were screaming.  It wasn't 
a pretty sight.

"What's that, that paper under them?" Mulder reached under one 
guard and removed what had caught his eye.

"It looks like a bus ticket," Scully observed.

The Lt. took a closer look.  "Looks like he was headed to Jersey."

Mulder looked up to see the broken lights.  He looked behind him and 
saw the security camera, a smile creeping over his lips as he 
whispered, "We've got him."



>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Security Booth
12:00 pm
>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"They reported a guy attacking an elderly man.  They said they were 
taking him up front for questioning," the guard informed them as he 
rewound through the camera's tape.

"Do you know where that man is now?"

"Who that old guy?  No.  After Bill and Marty were found, I sent a 
couple more guys out after him.  Nothing.  Okay here you go.  This is 
before they came down the hall," he stopped rewinding the tape and let 
it play.

Mulder watched as three men walked down the hall, he watched the 
glass come down, and one man break free.  Then suddenly the camera 
moved almost like it had been pushed.  The camera didn't move back 
for another three minutes, then rotated toward the two dead bodies, the 
attacker gone.

"Can we get an accurate picture of the guy?" asked the Lt.

The guard rewound the tape and put it into slow motion as he played 
it.  "No .  He kept his back to the camera.  When we did get a shot of 
him, it was a side shot, and his hair seems to distort the picture so we 
can't really see his face."

"I want that camera dusted for prints," Mulder told the Lt.

"What?  Why?  He couldn't have reached the camera, it's too high up."

"Could you just please do it?"  Mulder gave the Lt.  that warning look.

The Lt. matched the look then turned away carrying out Mulder's 
order and muttering something about bossy Federal Agents.

"Mulder. . . ," Scully started.

"It's just a thought.  You saw how that camera had been moved.  It 
didn't turn back until the killer had escaped."

"It could have been a malfunction in the equipment."

"Maybe, but at least this was we'll be sure."

He turned back to the guard.  "Can you radio the bus going to New 
Jersey and warn the driver of a possible killer on the bus and tell him 
to take his time?  Tell him we'll keep him posted and he might have to 
turn around."

The guard nodded and picked up the radio.

C'mon Scully let's see how the Lt.'s doing."


**********

As Mulder and Scully rounded the corner, the Lt. came running up 
with a huge smile on his face.

"We've found a print!  I sent it to the office to get identified."

"Are you sure it's not an employee's fingerprint?"

"No one is supposed to touch the cameras, but we are checking just in 
case and we should have the results soon."

"Good.  The guard is radioing the driver and warning him."



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Security Booth
12:30 pm
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Good news Agent Mulder, we have a positive identification and a 
picture of the guy."  The Lt. handed Mulder the picture.  "His name's 
Pierce Bryson."

Mulder looked at it, then showed it to Scully.  "Take this and go ask 
the ticket sellers if they saw this man."  She took it and left.  Mulder 
watched her go then said," Did either of the guards have a missing 
gun?"

"Yeah, one holster was empty."

"Okay then we have to assume that our suspect is armed.  Get ready to 
radio the driver again."

Five minutes later Scully returned.  "He bought a ticket for the bus 
heading for New Jersey, and she watched him board the bus."

Mulder looked in the guard's direction and nodded.



>>>>>>>>>>>
Bus Station
1:25 pm
>>>>>>>>>>>

Mulder's radio buzzed, "It's coming," came Lt. Mason's voice.  Mulder 
looked at Scully, she was stationed about 25 feet away from him on the 
bench where Bryson had been hours earlier.  He gave her a nod and 
watched as she undid the strap on her gun holster.  He did the same 
and picked up a newspaper pretending to read it.  He had told the Lt. 
and the security guards to stay back as not to create a panic.  He 
reminded them this was still a full bus station and the people on the 
bus had no idea what was going on.

Scully watched the bus pull up to the side.  She watched as the angry 
passengers got off one by one muttering things like "why didn't they 
check the fuel" and "now I'm going to be late for my meeting."  She 
sighed.  People if you only knew she thought.  Suddenly a tall blonde 
man exited the bus.  She looked over at Mulder, who nodded and put 
down his paper.  She counted to herself one. . . two. . . three she got up 
and followed Mulder toward Bryson.

Pierce looked around.  Somehow he knew the cops were responsible 
for this.  He had to get away.  He looked behind him, he was being 
followed.  He looked around desperately for a place to hide.  He found 
a place.  It was an old storage room.  It had some old bus seats and 
some chairs stacked up against the side.  He ran to both doors and 
locked them.  He then ducked behind a stack of seats, gun in hand.

"Where's he go, Mulder?"

"I don't know.  He was just here.  Wait, he may have ducked in here."  
Mulder tried the door, it was locked.  "Cover me."  He then took his 
gun out and switched the safety off.  He heard Scully do the same as he 
prepared to kick down the door.

Crash.  The door swung open leaving pieces of wood and the lock on 
the side of the wall.  The room was empty.  Mulder walked in followed 
by Scully.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Bryson and what he was about 
to do.  "Mulder!" she screamed, but it was too late the stack of bus 
seats came toppling down on the FBI agent.  Pierce jumped on top of 
the pile gun pointed at Scully.  "Special Agent Dana Scully drop your 
weapon," she heard herself say.

From under the pile Mulder tried crawling out.  He had lost his gun 
and felt like he had a broken or at least bruised rib.  He finally cleared 
the seats and stood up, diving forward and tackling Bryson.

Scully tried to shoot, but Mulder had gotten in the way of her gun.  
Finally Bryson threw Mulder over his shoulder and, before Scully 
could shoot, he took aim and fired.

"No!" Mulder screamed.  He scrambled over to his partner only to see 
a large pool of blood surrounding a wound in her side.  He turned back 
in Bryson's direction with a look that combined hatred, fear, and that 
psychotic look he had when he had strangled Duane Barry.  He 
jumped to his feet and started in his direction.

The light bulb above him broke, throwing shards of glass everywhere.  
Then a blue/white lightening beam snaked out and encircled Mulder's 
body, weakening him, tearing through his insides, draining his very 
essence.  He cried out in agonizing pain.

Scully awoke to find herself in great pain.  She heard screams that 
weren't her own.  She touched her side and found that she was 
bleeding from a bullet wound.  Memory flooded back as she 
remembered standing in front of Bryson, not firing because Mulder 
was in the way.  I can't believe it, that SOB shot me.  She shifted 
slightly causing more pain.  She realized that the screams belonged to 
Mulder.  Bryson was standing next to him hands curled into fists, 
standing rigid, and eyes glaring.  She looked around her surroundings 
and saw her gun only a few feet away.  She used her shoulder to crawl 
and used her hands to apply pressure on the wound and try to stop the 
bleeding.  Only a few more inches.  She reached out and clutched it in 
her bloody hands.  She held her breath and prepared for the pain that 
was going to follow.  She pulled herself up into a sitting position, 
stretching her arms in front of her, took aim and fired.

Mulder felt himself dying.  He had fallen on the floor and was starting 
to see bright flashes of white light.  He didn't even hear the gun-shot 
or Bryson's cry of pain as he fell only a few feet away from Mulder.  
He did, though, feel the lightning disperse and then felt his energy 
start to return.

"Mulder?"

"Scully!"  He turned around to see Scully propped up against a chair at 
the other side of the room nursing the bullet wound.  "You're okay!"

"I have been better."  She shifted a little against the chair, winced, 
then cried out in pain.  "What about you?"

"Well. . . now I know what Luke felt like."  She smiled.  "Let me go 
get you some help."  He tried lifting himself, which took some time, 
but he finally stood and limped over to the door.  He reached down and 
squeezed her shoulder," I'll be right back."



>>>>>>>>>>>
Bus Station
2:10 pm
>>>>>>>>>>>

Mulder watched as the ambulance took Scully away on a stretcher.  
She turned her head until she was facing him, then whispered,"Hey 
Mulder, keep the office neat while I'm gone."  He smiled and squeezed 
her hand.  He would eventually follow, the doctors needed to check out 
his burn marks.

Lt. Mason came up behind him.  "Agent Mulder, a report came back 
on our friend.  It seems he escaped from a local mental institution 
three days ago."

"Why was he there?"

The Lt. flipped through the report,"When he was eight years old his 
parents were killed by a serial killer right in front of him.  He would 
have been killed also had not a police officer come by and shot the 
guy.  He was placed with his aunt and uncle.  They claimed that the 
boy was never the same, constantly angry.  He put his fist through 
their car window when he was ten.  Shortly after he turned thirteen he 
disappeared for ten days-"

"Wait what do you mean disappeared?"

"There are no exact details, but when his aunt and uncle found him he 
was naked, bruised, and could barely talk.  He claimed he was taken by 
aliens and was aboard their. . .uh. . . ship for that entire time, and was 
being experimented on.  There was no other proof to substantiate his 
claim so his story went ignored.  His aunt and uncle thought he was 
just badly traumatized, they thought that someone associated with his 
parents' death was responsible.  But here is the familiar part, after he 
was returned his aunt and uncle were mysteriously killed.  It was 
speculated that they were electrocuted to death, and the light bulbs 
around them were shattered.  When Bryson was questioned, he started 
ranting on about aliens and an experiment done on him.  The police 
report says that he started pointing to his skull saying that he had 
some kind of telekinesis.  He said that there used to be a hole in his 
head between his two eyes.

"Trepanning," Mulder muttered to himself.

"What's that?"

"Trepanning.  It's a uh spiritual practice that rids you of the evil spirits 
inside you.  In ancient times trepanning was performed on live 
patients suffering from fractured skulls, convulsions, insanity.  Some 
people who were trepanned claim to have telekinetic powers, some 
even claim they could control people's thoughts."

"Yeah. . .well. . .um he was in such a bad mental state that he was 
committed to the mental institution.  The death of his aunt and uncle 
was said to be caused by a kitchen electrocution, Bryson uninvolved in 
it.  So Bryson stayed in the institution for fourteen years.  His mental 
state never improving."

"Did he ever attempt to escape before?"

"According to the report no, but the night he did escape there was a 
mysterious black-out at the institution.  It was the only place in New 
York City that lost power."

"Did anyone bother to look for fingerprints or broken wires or 
anything?"

"The institution heads say that the wiring in the building is old and 
pretty bad.  In fact they were having someone come to fix the wiring in 
a week.  So do you have any idea about how this guy killed these 
people?"

"You said  that when he returned he had been trepanned right?"

"Yeah his aunt and uncle were so terrified that they had him go 
through surgery to cover it up.  Bryson claimed that it was and I quote 
'the work of the aliens.  They used a blue laser and cut right through 
my head.  They told me I'd have powers beyond human 
comprehension."

"Well. . .um he seemed to keep it under control most of the time.  It 
must be when he gets angry he would use it.  When he attacked me," 
an involuntary shiver made it's way down Mulder's back and his burn 
marks started to hurt with the memory of that lightening beam circled 
around him, killing him," I had fought with him a little while before. . 
.before he shot Agent Scully," again he shivered, " I hit him pretty 
hard in the face before he threw me to the floor, then when I saw what 
he did to her. . .I wanted to kill him. . .I guess he must have saw it 
coming and had gotten angry.  That must have been the power he was 
talking about, the one *they* gave him."

"Agent Mulder, you okay?"

"Huh?  Oh I'm fine.  He possessed telekinesis, something he
must have gained from being trepanned.  He could move things easily, 
but somehow it left his fingerprints almost as if he was actually 
touching the object.  If you have the circuit breakers dusted you'll most 
likely find his fingerprints there."  He brought the back of his hand up 
to his face too cool off the burns.  "He probably channeled the 
electricity in the light sockets.  The bulbs had to be broken so that he 
could channel the power there.  This must have had to take extreme 
concentration, which is probably why he never saw Agent Scully with 
her gun."

The Lt. was looking at him strangely.  "Well we are going to conduct 
an autopsy so that might give us some more answers.  Anyway Agent 
Mulder I want to thank you for helping us out on this case, we 
probably could never have solved it without you and Agent Scully.  It's 
been a pleasure working with the both of you."  He extended his hand 
and Mulder took it.

"You're welcome Lt.  Do you by any chance have a quarter I can 
borrow, I need to call someone."

"Who your boss?  Here."

"No, someone else."  He took the quarter and headed towards the 
phone.  He inserted it and dialed as he thought of what he was going 
to say.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mrs. Scully this is Fox Mulder........"


THE END