Fox Mulder | Not a Green Man (basementman) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2015-07-05 08:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, fox mulder, luke skywalker |
Log; Mulder & Luke Skywalker
Who: Agent Mulder and Agent Luke Skywalker
When: 5 July, morning
Where: SWORD headquarters, Fort Hamilton
What: Well, Mulder has a superpower and a hunch, and Skywalker may be able to confirm it.
Rating: Low.
Status: COMPLETE.
SWORD Agent Fox Mulder had met with the director, Abigail Brand, earlier that morning. It had been intended to be a routine sort of meeting, just a spot check of some projects and follow-up on some field work they'd been working on, and it had been primarily exactly that sort of thing. But then, towards the end of the meeting, he'd asked her a question - a simple, ordinary, obvious sort of question, and she'd lied. Mulder was certain of it in a way he might not have been a year ago. He had always been good at teasing the truth out of people, at least the truth as best as they understood it - and that might not be the same as the actual fact of the matter - but this was a lie, an outright lie for no good reason and he knew because somehow the powers beyond had decided that being able to tell when a person was lying was a superpower he ought to have. And as superpowers went, it was an exceedingly more useful one than drawing butterflies that moved, if less showy. For most of the morning he'd pushed it aside to focus on work, but Mulder hadn't gotten through years of the X-Files, and being a profiler without ignoring hunches and his hunch said something was wrong. So it was that he cornered the one person he suspected might be able to verify the hunch. He didn't know for certain - his real knowledge of Jedi and Star Wars came from three films he'd watched ages ago in his past - but it was as good a bet as any, and more importantly he knew he could trust Luke Skywalker. "Skywalker," he greeted the Jedi as he approached him, carefully ensuring they were in a corridor where they weren't likely to be overheard, or probably anyway, bugged. Luke had known from the moment she’d reappeared that something was different. He saw Abigail Brand everyday, he’d spent enough time with her to be able to recognize her Force signature and this person might look like Abigail but she wasn’t. She was good though he’d give her that. Something had been off though, he’d known that immediately so he’d reached out with the Force and did something he normally would never do without asking and he’d touched her mind. Just for a moment but it was all he needed. This was not Abigail, she had to be some kind of shape shifter and she had to have been studying the other woman closely for a good while in order to be so convincing. He would have to tell Carol and while he knew she’d believe him, he wished he had more evidence than “she doesn’t feel right.” When Mulder called his name, he looked up, surprised to see him. He’d been lost in his own thoughts and hadn’t even realized anyone else was in the hallway. “Mulder,” he said and he sensed that there was something the other man wanted to say. “What is it? You look like you have something on your mind.” "Yeah, I do," Mulder looked over at the other man. They'd been working together now for several months, and had definitely had some conversations besides which, how did you not trust a man named Luke Skywalker? He saved the galaxy by basically loving his father into turning back to the light, right? That was definitely enough to make one trustworthy. He glanced over his shoulder, and they were alone, so he turned his attention back to Luke. "I've got something that may sound a little crazy here, but I'm certain of what I know, and you may be able to help me out. Back when people were getting spontaneous powers? I seem to have gotten the power to know when someone is lying to me. Director Brand? She lied to me this morning, over something small and insignificant, and something there was no reason to lie to me about. Now I don't know - but can't you Jedi… sense people or something? Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary? It's just a - hunch, but I've learned to pay attention to those over the years." Luke breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t that he’d doubted his senses, he’d known they were correct but this only confirmed what he already knew. “You’re right. She’s not Director Brand. I can’t quite make out what or who she is but it’s not her.” He looked at Mulder. “Everyone has a Force signature and everyone’s is different. I can’t make out everybody’s but someone I’ve been around a good deal or my family or someone I have a close relationship to...those are easy to pick up. I see Director Brand everyday and work closely with her so I know what she feels like in the Force if that makes any sense. That person is not her.” He took a deep breath. “I’m guessing it’s a shapeshifter, I don’t know what else it could be. Whoever she is, it’s pretty clear that she’s been studying Brand. She’s got the outward stuff down pat. Whoever planted her wouldn’t have expected that there would be anybody who would be able to pick up her true sense but they wouldn’t have known about your gift and most people in this World only know about the Force from the movies. We need to take this to Car...Major Danvers..” Luke had to watch himself, he had no idea who knew what, it was probably SWORD’s worst kept secret but he still tried to be careful. “and we can go from there. She’ll believe us and I wouldn’t be surprised if she hadn’t picked up on something herself.” It was very likely given how well the two women knew each other and how closely they worked together. Mulder nodded. It was the sort of thing that might be more difficult for someone else in his world to understand, but he had built his life around things that were somewhat inexplicable, and Jedi and Force sensitivity were certainly a little inexplicable. Still, it was going to come in handy here because Skywalker was certain through the Force of what Mulder had already guessed. "I wouldn't have necessarily guessed anything had it not been for that lie," Mulder said. "But a shapeshifter would sound about right, and it might make sense with some of the other feelings I had that something wasn't quite right. I'm thinking we should probably take this to Major Danvers right away then. Whatever she's replaced Brand for probably isn't pretty." “No, I would guess not. What bothers me is that this isn’t something that whoever did it just thought up quickly. They had to have been watching and waiting for the right opportunity,” which meant that there was something bigger at play no doubt. “Once we tell Major Danvers what we know, we can start trying to figure out where they’ve taken Brand. Or who it is for that matter. She might have some ideas as to that. I’d guess it was related to HYDRA but I could be wrong.” "I've rarely found Shapeshifters replace people just to give them a day at the beach," Mulder said with a shake of his head. Usually it had been part of some larger government conspiracy and something related to HYDRA certainly would be related to a government conspiracy - it fit the method that Mulder had been familiar with a home and it would make sense here as well. "Do you know when she started feeling off? Did you just notice it today?" “I noticed it when she first came back,” Luke replied. “when we found her. I didn’t want to say anything to anyone until I had someone else to back me up. I know Major Danvers would trust me but some of the others might not. The whole Force thing kind of makes people who aren’t familiar with it roll their eyes,” To Luke it was part of everyday life, it was what held the universe together but people from Earth didn’t understand it, they only knew it from movies and books. “I had decided to take my chances anyway and then I ran into you. I’ve been watching her movements too, mannerisms, the way she talks, it’s perfect. Most people would never realize she wasn’t the Director.” "It's a little uncanny," Mulder frowned. "But I believe you. I have a pretty good sense of things, no Force sense, but there's a reason I was a criminal profiler for a long time before I started on the x-files, you know?" But depending on what the purpose of the shapeshifter was, they might not have much time, and the longer she was left wandering around SWORD with Brand's body, and Brand's DNA and Brand's security clearance the more damage might be done. He nodded his head back towards the main hallway. "I'll go with you and we can tell Major Danvers what we suspect. Hopefully she's still herself." Luke could easily see Mulder as a profiler and a good one at that. “She is. I mean Major Danvers is still herself,” he hoped Mulder wouldn’t ask him how he could be so certain and just chalk it up to the Force. “So let’s go, we need to get this settled and find out where they’re holding the Director.” Mulder nodded and took a step down the hall towards Danvers' office. "Hopefully she's all right," he said softly. But this turn of events had his head turning and now he was wondering if it were just one shape-shifter, or many, and if many, how many of the people they worked with might have been replaced, and how many they might or might not notice - because while he and Skywalker both worked with Brand on a regular basis, there were dozens of people in this building, possibly hundreds of people within SWORD whom they did not work with consistently enough and within enough proximity to necessarily notice. And if this was larger than just the Director, then they could have a serious problem. "We should definitely find her." |