ECHOES OF THERMOPYLAE
by Joseph Anderson JAnder5988@aol.com


Alex Krycek, Mulder, Scully and the X-Files belong to Chris Carter and
10-13 Productions.  Xena, Gabrielle, and Callisto from Xena: Warrior
Princess belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal.  All other
characters belong to the author. No copyright infringement is intended
with this fanfiction which may not be sold, may be copied for personal
use only, and must contain all notices of copyright.

Category: Crossover.  X-Files/Xena Rating:   NC-17

NOTE:  This story was originally posted in installments with the
temporary title Krycek.  There are slight changes in wording from
Krycek but nothing huge, mostly small deletions here and there.  This
is a Xena/X-Files crossover.  But really rather than Xena it is mostly
my own characters I've created and written an extended story line
about: Langland, Jilly, Kimberly, etc.  For my regular readers, this
does not fit with my big story line.  I'm bringing together characters
who never met, ignoring other characters and making other major changes
for the sake of this being a good story.  Just go with the flow and
accept the way I present things here. 

Warning:  This story contains scenes of explicit sex, graphic violence,
and a lot of rough language.  This is NC-17 Adult's only.

***************************************************************

Chapter 1


The wharf was dark and rats scurried about as the water lapped at the
heavy supporting pylons.  A tall figure in dark clothes carefully
emerged from the darkness and looked around as if he was sniffing the
air, then he walked near to a phone booth and waited.  The phone rang,
he looked at it then began running away seconds before the glass box
exploded showering glass down on him as he covered his head with his
good arm and made his body as small as he could.  

"Very good, Alex!  That's what I like to see: intuition, quick
reflexes."

Alex Krycek looked over where the easy man's voice came from. He bared
his teeth and got to his feet gracefully, crunching broken glass under
his shoes.   "You tried to kill me!"  Two figures were barely visible
in the darkness, both much smaller than him. Blonde hair could be made
out on one who gave a girlish laugh.  

The first voice returned. "If I wanted to kill you, Alex, you'd be
dead.  I tested you.  Admittedly, you'd be dead if you failed the
test."

"Jesus, what kind of sick fuck are you?" Alex said.   The blonde figure
jumped and was suddenly right in front of him and holding a small
pistol to his throat.  He saw brown eyes opened wide. Alex
automatically registered the Armani blazer, tight black jeans and
Italian shoes.  He smelled expensive perfume.

"Watch your manners, shithead!"  she said.  Alex nervously saw how her
mouth was twitching.  Mulder would have a field day with this one, he
knew.  A high functioning sociopath, multiple personality, God knows.
It was Jilly herself.  

"Langland, I thought you wanted to talk.  Call your dog off." He saw
her eyes start to take on a strange blank expression. Maybe that wasn't
the smartest thing he could've said, but he didn't want them to think
he was some pussy. 

"That's enough, Jilly.  Jilly!  Alex does have a point.  How would you
feel in his position?"  

The owner of the other voice had sauntered up.  He wore an expensive
trenchcoat.  Like Alex had heard, Langland looked like a pretty boy
wimp; somebody who'd be traded for cigarettes in prison.  In reality,
if Langland ever went to prison he'd be running it within a week.
Except Langland was too smart to ever go to prison.   

Jilly stepped away from Alex but she answered Langland.  "If somebody
ever tried jerking me around like that I'd skin him alive.  But Alex
isn't me.  He's just a little ratfuck errand boy.  Just what we need."

Langland sighed and ran his hand through his long brown hair, "You're
not helping the situation with that kind of talk, Jilly."

Alex Krycek wished he could kill her.  He'd love to kill her. Fuck her
and kill her.  He wouldn't stand a chance.  

"I'll bet he's fantasizing about raping me, Langland.  Wants to beat my
head in with in his wooden arm, then shove it up me. What d'ya think?"

"Jilly, people can think anything they want.  Will you please let me
talk to him now?"

Alex had heard of this, that Jilly and Langland were like some old
married couple.  It'd be funny if they weren't so deadly. The slender
blonde woman gave him a demented smile then stuck her shiny little
Beretta in her waistband.  She seemed to just disappear.

"Where'd she go?" Alex said nervously.  That was genuinely strange. 

Langland answered, "Nowhere.  She's just very good at getting around in
the dark.  She'll be back if you try anything.  But you know better
than that, I know.  Want a job?"

"Just like that?  After you nearly killed me?"  He was trying to sound
furious. 

Langland said, "Don't, Alex.  I'm a sneaking murdering liar myself.
Considerably better than you.  So just don't.  I don't have time.  I'm
trying to keep the yen from sinking in relation to the mark and those
idiots in Pakistan just bought a shipment of defective plutonium that I
have to head off somehow.  So just don't try to play me.  I don't have
time to do my own treacherous backstabbing in the field anymore.  Do
your job and I'll make you a millionaire.  You'll be able to get back
at your enemies."

"Any enemies?"  Alex said hoarsely, thinking of Mulder and the
cigarette smoking man.  

"Of course.  How can I be Mephistopheles if I can't offer something of
value?  Neither of them are really worth it, but that's your business."

"You can get to who I'm thinking of?" Alex said, meaning the smoking
man. 

Jilly reappeared at Alex's side but he kept from jumping.  He felt
something and looking down saw Jilly had stuck an icepick in his
artificial arm.  She buttoned her coat and pulled it out. "You don't
mind do you?  That guy you're so scared of isn't what you think he is,
and he's not what he thinks he is either.  All those puppet master guys
are really putz masters dancing to Langland's tune.  The big secrets
they are protecting are just something Langland put together to  keep
'em busy so they wouldn't get in our way.  Better than killing 'em
because they'd just be replaced."

Alex said, "Wait!  That can't be!  The alien colonists...the black
oil.."

Langland said with a smile, "Not real, like Jilly said.  Oh, there are
aliens out there but they don't have any interest in us and sure aren't
here.  If something like that colonization plan was real the Slithlocs
would just go and turn the planet of whoever was behind it into a
charcoal briquette.  They made an example once and no one will want a
repeat of that though."

"Why?  And why are you telling me this."  

"I'm telling you this so you'll work for me.  The diversion has neared
the end of its usefulness.  So even if anybody believed you it doesn't
matter.    And why the Slithlocs protect Earth--that I think I'll keep
to myself.  You might be able to figure it out though.  I'll give you a
hint.  The blood is the life."

"You could be feeding me something right now you want me to pass on."
Krycek said suspiciously.

"Yes, I could.  Probably am.  Want a job?  You'll do the same things
you've done before, just with better pay and perks. You're a smart,
amoral killer, Alex.  Just the kind of can-do guy I need."

"All right," Alex Krycek said.  

Langland smiled and stepped forward and took his hand with both of his.
"That's great!"  He looked earnestly in Alex's eyes. "I'm glad."  Alex
heard Jilly make a snorting sound.  Langland released his hand put his
collar up against the cold and walked back into the darkness.  

Jilly smiled in a friendly way now at Krycek.  "We'll be in touch.
Sorry about sticking your arm that way.  Wanted to see how you'd
react."

"I didn't react."

"Right.  You were smart.  If you'd gotten mad I'd have killed you.
I'll send you a new jacket."  She seemed to just dematerialize into the
night again in that unnerving way she had.  

Alex looked around the dark wharf, his eyes catching the moonlight.  He
could hear sirens, probably coming to investigate the explosion.
Krycek seemed to sniff the air and then disappeared into the darkness
himself.



Chapter 2


The tall muscular young man looked around with a charming smile. That
had gone well.  Alex Krycek had carried out an assignment for Langland
and enjoyed every minute of it.  An industrial spy, a senior vice
president who was a secret Zionist had been passing information to the
Israelis for years.  In reality he was passing it to Langland.  God
knew what Langland did with it since Krycek did some digging and was
sure he owned the Silicon Valley company himself.  At any rate Langland
wanted him taken out now but at a precise moment.  Something to do with
when the markets close in London, an impending merger, and as a warning
to others present.  That was why it required someone with finesse.  

Krycek had gotten to know the boring little man, pretending to be a
sales representative for a microchip company.  Playing him was
enjoyable.   He'd recognized him as a closeted homosexual so had
seduced the man, letting him weep in his arms at finally being
understood.  He'd seduced his virgin teenage daughter the day before
and his wife the day before that.  The man was going to be in a meeting
at the precise moment  Langland wanted him killed.  Krycek constructed
a small locket with poison and a mechanism to puncture his skin when he
pressed a button on a little transceiver.  Alex had wept about losing
his arm in a car accident and then begged the man to wear this gift.
The little fool cried and agreed and said he would leave his family for
Alex.  Krycek was looking down at the bobbing dark hair of the man's
daughter, glanced at his watch, picked up the transceiver and pressed
the button just as he came in the girl's mouth.

"I love you!" she said emotionally a moment later.  Her large white
breasts mashed against his artificial arm. 

Alex grinned as he reached with  his index finger to pick a little of
his semen from the side her mouth and tapped it on her nose.  "I love
you, too, Monica.  Are you daddy's little girl?"

She smiled and began sucking his finger.  Krycek wondered if she would
like anal sex as much as her late father.  

Now Alex was in Chicago to collect his fee.  He headed toward the
restaurant in Little Italy.  Of course he was careful, but he didn't
really see Langland killing him to silence him. Langland went to too
much trouble to recruit him.   As he arrived a beautiful sports car
parked on the street caught his eye.  Inside most of the patrons were
just regular looking people but there were also characters who looked
liked they'd stepped right out of a Martin Scorsese movie.  Perfect.
He loved the humor of it.  He gave his name and a waitress led him to a
table saying he had a reservation.   Alex saw Jilly then. She was in a
beautiful dress and coming out of an office.  She snagged a waitress
going by with a plate of food, studied it and sent her back into the
kitchen.  A moment later a fat man in chef hat stepped out looking
embarrassed.  It looked odd seeing the slender blonde obviously reaming
this guy out with all these Sicilian hand gestures for emphasis.  His
face was red and he nodded and said something, then went back into the
kitchen. Jilly turned and scanned the restaurant.  She saw Alex but she
didn't immediately come over.  Instead she just started going from
table to table greeting people and asking how everything was.  Alex
noticed how the mob guys looked at her.  They knew at least partly who
she was and that screwing with Jilly Snopes was no way to live a long
life. 

His waitress came over but before Alex could order Jilly came up and
began speaking quickly in Italian to the girl.  

"Hope you don't mind.  I've got something special that's not on the
menu," she said as she sat down opposite him and gave him a dazzling
smile.  

"Please," he said carefully.  He wasn't going to be fooled. He'd seen
crime scene photos that were probably her work.   Alex also remembered
her sticking an icepick in his artificial arm just to see what he would
do.

"Oh, relax.  You're an employee now.  I don't kill my employees...well
unless they just can't make a decent roux no matter how many times I
show 'em.  Just kidding.  No, really. Long as you do your job you got
nothing to worry about from me," she said with a smile.  

"What about Langland?" Alex said. 

She rolled her beautiful brown eyes.  "Oh, well, Langland...that's a
different story.  You probably understand him better'n me some ways,
Alex.  You're sorta like him...just about a million times less
intelligent.  That's not an insult, by the way."

Alex nodded.  "I know what Langland is.  I think I do anyway. That's
not very reassuring."

Jilly grinned. "Every line of work has its drawbacks.   It's your
choice."

Alex was careful.  She was disarming.  It even seemed genuine. Maybe it
was.   He'd read the psychological profile the Bureau had on her.
There were divergent opinions.  Most considered Jilly simply an
intelligent psychopath.  Others thought she was a multiple personality,
while one, Mulder now that Alex thought of it, thought she was a
paranoid schizophrenic whose delusions nevertheless did not keep her
from functioning. That was scary, Alex thought.  That what she could be
thinking as she looked at him had no relation to reality at all.  She
could think he was a talking dog or a figure from a Tarot deck or
something but that didn't keep her from having a pleasant conversation
with him. 

She frowned and said, "Here," and tossed an envelope across the table
to him.  He looked around nervously.  A place like this could very well
be wired.  Then he remembered Langland.  He opened it and found a key
ring.  Jilly said, "That's to a safe deposit box and your new Ferrari
that's parked outside."  

He looked up at her and didn't say anything, still careful. That
personality profile was seeming more and more germane.  She looked
contemptuously at him.  "You did a good job, Krycek, but it kinda turns
my stomach.  You did what Langland wanted, but did you have to screw
his wife and pop his daughter?  You made him LOVE you!  I mean, Jesus! 
Never mind.  I know.  This isn't like Thermopylae.  The glory Sparta
and her noble king, Leonidas, won that day will never die, Alex,
ya'know?  If I coulda been there!  God!  To die like that!  Ya'know?
Course you don't.   You're just a little murdering fuck."  Her voice
got louder and louder and her eyes widened and she had a mad smile that
was anything but friendly.

Krycek sensed a presence and looked behind him to see a huge man with a
battered face and cauliflower ears. "Everything all right, Jilly?" the
old hood said. 

Jilly looked up at him and the mad light in her eyes went away and her
mouth stopped twitching.  "Yeah, Paulie, everything's fine."

The man lumbered off.

Jilly looked at Krycek.  "Sorry.  I shouldn't have gone off that way.
Lotsa people think I'm nuts.  They shoulda seen Callisto. That's all I
can say."  She got up.  "Enjoy your new car while you can.  Some heavy
shit is coming down the pike and you're gonna be working."  The meal
came and she looked at it critically and said something to the waitress
who brought her a portable rack of spices.  As Krycek watched she
seasoned his food, then began going from table to table followed by the
waitress with the spice rack.

Krycek thought about what she had said.  After he finished the best
meal he had ever eaten and left, feeling Paulie eye him suspiciously,
he went to the Main Library and found the Cambridge Encyclopedia of
Ancient History.  At Thermopylae King Leonidas and three-hundred
Spartans held a narrow pass and delayed the Persian army for days
before they were killed to the last man.   It allowed the rest of
Greece time to prepare.  Two soldiers hadn't fought because they had
gone blind from some illness.  After the battle one had himself led out
by his helot and pointed at the Persians who he attacked.   The other
returned to Sparta where he was reviled as a coward and then committed
suicide. 

Alex then looked up Callisto and froze at the picture.  It was a statue
of a female warrior and beside her was a small girl dressed similarly. 
Both held some kind of ring weapon and wore demented smiles identical
to the one he had just seen across the table from him.  The statue had
been recovered from the waters off Herculaneum, a Roman copy of a Greek
original, and was traditionally said to represent Callisto and a child
demon. Henry Sallwethy, the preeminent scholar on the period, felt the
child was none other than a young Queen Jilly.  

Alex began searching for the entry on Queen Jilly when someone sat
opposite him.  He looked up at Langland who smiled pleasantly.  

"Thought I might find you here.  Paulie told me Jilly started talking
crazy about old battles and stuff.  The entry on Jilly isn't really
very good.  Her brother Sam was so important that everybody else gets
shortchanged.  Jilly the Butcher was the greatest fighter who ever
lived with the possible exception of Captain Angela and Shining Kush,
but they don't say much except she was the older sister of Good Prince
Samuel.  And they are VERY uncomplimentary about me.  Jilly never even
would have had a kingdom without me but you wouldn't know that from
history books.  They talk like I needed her when it was the other way
around."

"What's going on?" Krycek said.  

"Don't worry about it, Alex.  You can't understand.  Just do your job. 
This is ancient history, so to speak.   Like your new car?"

Krycek answered, "Yes.  Is it going to blow up when you're finished
with me?"

Langland's too handsome face looked pained.  "Alex, why would you think
that?"

"Is it?"

The man sighed and said, "I hope it never comes to that, Alex. Do your
job and there's no reason it ever should.  Good work by the way.  Jilly
doesn't appreciate the style you showed but it's because she's really
into that whole Thermopylae kinda attitude. Were you with his wife when
you killed him?"

Alex said, "No, I was getting a blow job from his daughter."

Langland winced and said, "Ouch!  I figured something like that. Like I
said, good work.  Brings back memories.  Wish I had time for that kind
of tom foolery."

"Thanks.  Memories from the old days, Langland?  How old?"

The handsome man smiled softly at Alex but there was a flicker in his
eyes.  "I told you not to worry about that."

Krycek kept his face expressionless, masking the terror he felt. Alex
shrugged and said, "Okay."

Langland stood and sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. He
looked away for a moment then looked back at Krycek.  "You might
require more sensitive handling than I anticipated. You're curious as a
cat, I see that now.   It's why you're good but it's problematical."

Alex was preparing to break Langland's neck.  He thought if he was fast
enough he could do it.  Langland looked at him and said, "Don't, Alex. 
Even if you managed to kill me, which is unlikely since I'm tougher
than I look, Jilly would come after you.  She's not like me, Alex.  She
takes things personally. You've seen some crime scene photos, I bet.
That's nothing to what she'll do to you if you kill me."

"You're gonna kill me!" Alex whispered raggedly as he got to his feet. 
His emotions were frayed and his control was loosening. A couple of
students looked curiously over.  

Langland said, "No, Alex.  You're letting your fear obstruct your
thinking.  I hadn't realized quite how high strung you were; like a
race horse.  Losing your talents is the last thing I want to do."

Krycek tried to calm down, to consider what Langland said.  He finally
said quietly, "This is like when Jilly stuck that icepick in my arm.
You just want to see how I react."

Langland smiled, "You haven't disappointed me yet, Alex!  Enjoy your
new car."  He turned and walked off leaving Alex to shakily sit back
down.  He saw Jilly emerge from some stacks of books and join Langland.
She smiled brightly at him and came over to Krycek.  

She studied him.  "We're being rough on you because we've got some big
plans, bigger than you can imagine.   You're our boy. We'll make it up
to you."  She indicated the open book with the picture of the statue.
"You wanna know about that stuff?  Be careful what you wish for, Alex. 
You might get it.  Oh, here." She reached into her Gucci purse and came
out with a brown paperbag.  "I made you some canolis."   Jilly patted
his shoulder and rejoined Langland.   




Chapter 3


As Alex approached his apartment he saw light coming from under the
door.  He tried the knob and it was unlocked too.  He opened his door
and entered his apartment, keeping his hand on his gun in his pocket.  
"Who are you?" He closed the door with his foot, not taking his eyes
from his visitor.   

There was a big dark haired woman sprawled on his couch with her arms
clasped behind her head.  She was dressed in blue jeans and a cowboy
shirt and wore tooled boots.  She smiled at him and he saw crafty blue
eyes.  

"I'm Kimberly," she said and brought her hands forward and cracked her
knuckles.  Alex noticed the bracelet of blonde hair she wore on one
wrist.  She waited for a response but when there wasn't one she said,
"Keep poking around like you have been and you'll hear of me.  Thought
I'd drop by and say hello."  

She rose and picked a drink with ice up from his coffee table. "I
helped myself.  This is pretty good stuff.  I was never a scotch
drinker, always stuck with Wild Turkey, but this is good."

Krycek kept his anger down.  She had something to do with Langland.
Was it another test?  Or was this an enemy?  "What do you want,
Kimberly?" he said easily.  

The big woman downed the drink and said, "Langland is impressed by
you."  He heard the contempt in her voice.  "Him and me go way back.
Jilly kept me from killing him twice, no, three times."

"You want me to kill him?  Even if I could Jilly would cut my head
off."

Kimberly shook her head.  "She'd do considerably more than that. No, my
days of trying to whack that little weasel are over. You're getting in
over your head, Alex, but you still have time to back out.  This is my
good deed for the day, warning you. Wouldn't have been my first choice
but I do what I'm told these days."

"I can't back out.  They'll kill me if I try now," Alex said. He walked
into his kitchen and poured a drink for himself.  He looked curiously
at her and the big woman looked hesitant then brought her glass over
for a refill.  That was good to know.     

She took a drink then said to him, "They'll let you go if the right
people tell 'em to.  There must be more to you than I can see.  I sure
wouldn't go to this trouble for you but Hades sent me."

Alex smiled and caught her eyes,  "'Hades.' Isn't that a bit much?"

Kimberly smiled at him, meeting his look with a sensuous one of her
own.  "Yeah, Alex, that's exactly it.  Hades is some cheesy spy master.
I can't fool you."

Krycek was careful, though he moved closer, "I didn't say that. Thanks
for the warning."

She took another drink and looked appraisingly at him, then shook her
head as if to clear it.  "I just do what I'm told. Convincing people
isn't what I'm good at.  Since they sent me maybe they wanted me to
fail.  You and me are alike in that way, Alex.  Just dancing to someone
else's tune whether we know it or not.  You had some of that before but
the guys you worked for were stooges themselves.  You've moved up the
food chain, Alex. You might actually get some real answers now if you
don't bail like you will if you're smart."

"Hades is like Langland?" Alex said. 

Kimberly laughed softly.  "Oh brother.  Lucky for you Helms isn't here.
He wouldn't appreciate the comparison."  She stopped and seemed to be
listening then said.  "I can't tell you anymore.  Thanks for the
drink."

Krycek just said, "Don't go if you want to stay."

Kimberly looked at him.  "You're a bad guy, Alex.  A real bad guy.  But
at least you're up front about it.  How'd you lose your arm?"

"Some Russians chopped it off.  If what Langland said is true, it was
just part of his diversion.  All those men living on the edge; just
pawns.  I was one of 'em."

She shrugged.  "I know about you.  It's a little hard to sympathize.
I'm going now but I'll keep you in mind.  I like you more than I
should.  I have lousy judgment.  Ask my former army.   We'll probably
meet again.  Don't ever try to trick me, Alex.  It pisses me off.  I'm
not as good as Jilly but I'm good enough to kill you without breaking a
sweat."

"What will happen if I tell Langland and Jilly about you?" Alex asked. 

Kimberly set her empty glass down on the counter and said, "How do I
know?  Try it and see.  What's the worst that could happen? Oh, wait a
minute, you've seen crime scene photographs of what Jilly can do
haven't you?  Good luck with whatever you decide." 

She picked up a black motorcycle jacket and shrugged into it, winked at
him, and left his apartment.  Alex sipped his drink and looked
thoughtfully after her.  He decided to keep this to himself. 

*****************************************************************


"Dammit, Mulder!  This had better be impor..."  Scully's voice stopped
as she saw the open folder on Mulder's desk.  She closed the door
behind her and walked over quickly and picked a surveillance photograph
up.  She looked up.  "Krycek...who's he with?"

Fox Mulder said, "You need to get out of the lab more, Scully. Stop
spending all your time with stiffs.  That's Langland.  He's the one who
was actually being watched by Army Intelligence...wouldn't tell me why.
One of my sources passed it on to me."

"Covarrubius?" Scully asked but Mulder didn't answer. 

The small red haired woman pursed her lips as she studied the
photograph.  "That's Langland?  He looks like my grandmother could take
him.  Shouldn't he be older than that too?"

"He's older than he looks, maybe a lot older.  Scully, your grandmother
would have to be one tough cooky, because she'd have to go through
Jilly to get to him."  He picked up another file and extracted a
picture.  

Dana Scully shrugged.  "So?  She doesn't look so tough either."

Mulder raised his eyebrows and handed her some other photographs. 

"My God!  What's this?"  She was looking at a glossy color picture of a
room full of body parts.  There were a number of guns visible lying
around.

Mulder answered, "That used to be Salvatore "Big Sal" Collosimi and
five of his men.  Big Sal was an up and comer who wanted to be more
than just a hood, wanted to play in the big leagues. There were
witnesses to who went in and out.  It was only her. Look close, Scully.
None of 'em were even shot.  Jilly used chef knives.  She left them
sticking out of Big Sal in various amusing ways.  That's an in-joke for
the mob guys.  She's got a restaurant."

"Mulder, what kind of person would do this?" Scully said in amazement. 
She began looking at the other photographs which were also scenes of
carnage.  She could see a kind of pattern though, a strange sense the
corpses and pieces of same were actually arranged.  

Her partner saw what she did and said, "She's known for emphasizing
presentation at her restaurant.  Everything has to be just right.  Read
the profile, Scully.  There's different takes on her.  My analysis is
in there but I'm a minority opinion.  I think she's crazy as a loon but
makes it work for her somehow. Most think she's just a real bad ass."

"Is this a Star of David?" Scully asked, studying one picture.

"That's from Namibia.  Israeli mercenaries who did their job then
wanted a bigger piece of the pie.  That Jilly.  What a card." He took
the picture and studied it.  "They were shot.  They must've been pretty
damn good."

Scully said, "All right, Mulder.  We have Krycek consorting with an
international arms dealer and whatever else Langland has his fingers
in.  So?  Is it an X-File or do you just have a hard on for Krycek?"

"Oooh, Scully.  The mouth on you!  No.  There's more to Langland and
Jilly than just a James Bond villain and his psycho girlfriend."  

The woman looked at him suspiciously.  Here it comes, she thought.
"Okay, Mulder.  What makes this an X-File.  Are they Venusians or
something?"

Mulder said, "Can't you at least try to keep an open mind?  And, no,
they aren't Venusians as far as I know."

"Okay, let's hear it," his partner said resignedly. 

"Well, I don't think I want to share with you now," Mulder said in a
hurt tone.

"Fine," Scully said and turned and walked to the door.

"They're time travelers from Ancient Greece, Scully."

Scully stopped and looked at him, then closed her eyes.  "Oh, God,
Mulder."


"Scully, just hear me out. Look at this."  He took some books off of a
chair and opened them to marked pages. 

Scully took a seat and began studying the history books closely,
comparing pictures to the photographs of Jilly and Langland. Finally
she looked up at Mulder's triumphant face.  

"Mulder, this is fascinating.  But hasn't the most obvious explanation
even occurred to you?"  From the disappointed guilty look he got she
knew that it had.  For a moment Scully felt like she was telling a
child there was no Santa Claus.  He nodded.

"Yeah, sure.  But that doesn't mean it's true."

Scully said, "Fine, make me say it.  I'll be the big bad witch.
Langland and Jilly, whatever their real names are, intentionally
modeled themselves on King Langland and Jilly the Butcher.  You think
she's delusional, right?  Well, maybe this is her delusion and Langland
goes along with it for whatever reason...to keep her working, to keep
her happy.  Who knows, maybe he just loves her. I'm sorry, Mulder.  But
doesn't that seem more likely than them having a time machine?"

"On the surface, Scully, sure.  But it's just too close." Mulder winced
at how weak it sounded.  Langland was a genius and Jilly was a
perfectionist.  If they decided to adopt personas of course they would
do it up right.  And he was the one who had argued that Jilly was
schizophrenic.

Agent Scully got up.  "This is valuable, Mulder.  Knowing this, maybe
Langland's true identity can be discovered.  And it should certainly
help figuring out what makes Jilly tick.  And Krycek, well...they are
up to something no good even if it's not an X-File.  I want a piece of
Krycek myself, Mulder.  I just seriously doubt a time machine is out
there."

"Okay, Scully...you win."

"Oh, Mulder."  She walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's
not about me winning."  Scully looked at his I WANT TO BELIEVE poster. 
"Mulder, no one would be more excited than me if they were real.  I
love stuff about Ancient Greece.  When I was a little girl I wanted to
be Xena, if you can believe it."

"Who?" Mulder said. 

"A hero type who went around righting wrongs with her trusty little
sidekick."

"Scully..."

"Don't say it, Mulder," she said warningly, looking up at his face. 

"Okay."

*****************************************************************

Krycek stepped again into the restaurant.  It was day and was closed.
He noticed Paulie again, watching him.  Alex would have to deal with
him sooner or later.  He knew the type.  Alex just went to the office
in back like he'd been told to.  The door was open but he  knocked on
the door and Jilly looked up from her desk and beckoned him inside
while she continued talking on the phone.

"Listen, how long have I been getting produce from you?  I expect fresh
friggin tomatoes.  Is that too much to fucking ask? Don't 'Ah, Jilly,'
me.   Who do you think you're talking to? Yeah...yeah...see that you
do.  Now lemme talk to Mario..."

Alex tuned out and was looking at the pictures on the wall behind her. 
He recognized the woman from the previous night in his apartment.
Except these looked like they were from late fifties and early sixties,
and she still looked exactly the same.  She was there with a handsome
hood Krycek recognized as Cal Snopes.  There were some pictures of them
with a little girl and boy.  He remembered the statue of a small child
with Callisto.  

"You gotta question?"  Jilly said as she hung the phone up.

Alex shook his head.  "Just admiring the pictures."

The blonde glanced at them and back at him.  "Listen, Alex, I told you
you'd be working.  Here."  She handed a file to him. "Langland wants
this guy to be caught embezzling.  Set it up."

Alex glanced inside: the personnel file on the Chief Financial Officer
for an import export firm in Taiwan.  There were pages of financial
records too.  "When?" he just said.  

The phone rang and Jilly said quickly, "Inside of a month," before she
picked up.  She indicated for him to wait as she started talking to a
rancher about what he fed his livestock. She opened her desk and took
something out and handed it to him. Alex saw a credit card with his
name on it, though it was strangely blank looking.  Jilly shooed him
away and Alex nodded and left her office.  He felt Paulie's eyes and
just walked over to him.  

"Problem?"

"Nah, faggot, just don't like your looks.  We don't need you," the huge
scarred man said with a sneer. 

Alex smiled and lashed out with his wooden arm, sending Paulie crashing
to the floor.  Before he could get up Alex kicked him in the face and
sent him sprawling.   Krycek just stood watching him  slowly get to his
feet.   "Guess, I see why they had to bring in new talent."

"Paulie...Paulie...use your head, will ya?  That's enough." Jilly said
from her office door.

"Ah, Jilly..." he said but silenced at a look from her and just glared
at Krycek.    Alex  nodded at her and left as he saw Jilly looking at
the old hood's face and  brushing him off. 

*******************************************************************

Scully looked out the peephole in her door and saw a tall woman in a
motorcycle jacket whom she didn't recognize standing in the hallway.
It was eight in the morning and she had just gotten out of the shower. 
Opening the door she looked at the taller woman and said, "May I help
you?"

"You probably wanna talk to me. I'm Kimberly."

Scully looked blank.  "I'm sorry."

The big blue-eyed woman sighed, "Jeez.  I don't why they chose me for
this.  Nobody remembers me anymore.  Listen, Agent Scully, you and your
partner are looking at Krycek and Langland. I'm up to my assets in
this, though I still dunno why."

Scully studied her and said, "Come in."   She was in a blue terry cloth
robe.  

The woman said, "Go ahead and get dressed."

Scully looked at her again and said, "Okay.  The coffee will be ready
in a little bit.  I'll be right out."

"Okeydokey," Kimberly said. 

A few minutes later Scully emerged from her bedroom and found Kimberly
pouring a cup of coffee for herself.  She took what looked like a
platinum flask from a pocket and poured it in her drink.  Scully got a
cup for herself and shook her head when the woman held the flask up.
She smelled whiskey.

"Kimberly, what exactly do you have to tell me?  Who are you?" Scully
asked.  

The woman sipped her drink and said, "I'm Jilly's mother.  That little
ratfuck, Langland, is my son-in-law.  Cal was right.  We shoulda killed
him when he first came sniffing around her.  Too late now.  Way too
late."  She sipped her coffee again and waited.  

Scully studied her.  She wasn't old enough unless she was incredibly
well preserved.  Scully asked, "What are their real names?  Why are
they pretending to be King Langland and Jilly the Butcher?"

Kimberly smiled.  "Hey, I like that.  I didn't even think of that take
on it.  Pretty good.  Logical.  Rational.  Believable considering how
over the top Jilly can get.  That's you, right? Mulder's the one with
intuition.  Usually he's right but other times he falls on his face,
and you have to bail him out, I bet."

Scully didn't respond, though she thought the woman had pretty
succinctly summed up her and Mulder. 

The woman continued, "Okay.  So you won't believe what I have to tell
you.  I'll do it anyway.  They aren't pretending.  She's Queen Jilly
and that bastard is Langland.  'Jilly the Butcher' huh?  That's my
girl."

She stood up and said, "Look up the Sword of Ares.  Oh, what do you
think of Alex Krycek?"

Scully stood up too.  "I don't know what your game is.  Krycek is a
liar and a murderer.  I have personal knowledge of at least two
killings he is responsible for."

Kimberly said.  "As many as that, huh?  Gee.  He is kinda cute though.
See ya later, Agent Scully."  She left her apartment. Scully frowned
and picked her phone up to dial Mulder. 

**********************************************************************
******= ****************************

"This woman claimed to be Jilly's mother, Scully?"  Mulder said as she
came out of her apartment building and met him on the street.  

"Like I told you over the phone, Mulder," she said shortly. "But she's
not old enough.  She also said they aren't pretending, that they really
are who you think.  Oh, and it sounds like she's got a crush on
Krycek," she spoke ironically.

"I'm stumped on this one.  Anything else?" Mulder asked.

"Yeah, she said to look up the Sword of Ares.  I just did a search on
the Internet.  The Sword of Ares was a warlord around the same time as
Langland and Jilly.  Before Jilly and Langland carved their own kingdom
out, she was the Sword of Ares' lieutenant.  Oh, and my hero Xena was
real apparently.  Jilly was also related to her somehow.  There are
contradictory stories."

"Wow," Mulder said.  "Did she look like her, the woman, I mean? The
Sword of Ares?"

Scully looked up with annoyance.  "God, Mulder.  She's not the Sword of
Ares. And, I can't say if she looks like her, though it wouldn't
surprise me since she's playing the same game Jilly and Langland are.
The Sword of Ares always wore a helmet with a chainmail veil."

Mulder said, "Hey, I've seen that.  Some frieze of a battle was on the
cover of my college history textbook.  Was it that one?"

Scully nodded,  "Yeah, and there was a statue from China too, and coins
from all over the Near and Far East. She got around. As a rampaging
mass murderer she was ahead of her time.  That frieze shows the
destruction of her army when she was heading back to Greece.  Janice
Covington found both of 'em."

"She still alive?"  Mulder asked. 

"Oh, Mulder.  What are you thinking?" Scully asked. 

*******************************************************************

The little old woman opened her door.  The gun she held wasn't little. 
"Yeah, who are you?"

"We're federal agents, mam.  You don't need that," Scully said
placatingly.  She and Mulder both held identification up.  

"G-men, huh?  Hoover was an asshole.  Hypocritical little shit. Tried
to get me deported as a pervert, like he did Chaplin, when he was
bouncing Shirley Temple on his knee then going home to dress in an
evening gown and take it up the butt from his aide." The old woman set
the big .45 automatic down on a table next to the door.  "Well, come on
in.  You here to arrest me for being a dyke?  That the new crusade so
the director can get funding?"  

The old woman just turned around and walked into her living room.   She
wore wool pants, boots and a man's shirt.   Mulder and Scully looked at
each other and followed her inside.  The walls were lined with books.
An ancient looking hat, bomber jacket and bullwhip hung on a coat rack.
A huge cat wound around their ankles.  The woman sat down slowly and
took a cigar from a box on the table and clipped the end off.  

Mulder bent to pet the cat which hissed and scratched his hand, making
him jump.  He heard the old woman laugh.  "Be careful of Ares, G-man.
He doesn't like secret police anymore than I do."

Scully looked at his hand.  The woman said in a different tone of
voice.  "Really got you good, huh?  Sorry.  Don't worry, he's had his
shots. Lemme put something on that."  She started to get up.  

Scully said, "Let me get it.  I'm a doctor."

The old woman shrugged, "Sure, honey.  There's bandages and stuff in
the medicine cabinet through the door there." 

Scully quickly returned and began dressing Mulder's hand. 

Mulder said, "Dr. Covington, we wondered if we could talk to you about
the Sword of Ares."

The small old woman instantly became alert.  "Kimberly?  What about
her?"

Scully and Mulder looked at each other.  Scully said, "Mam, we are
working on a case and there seem to be several people who have adopted
the personas of among others, the Sword of Ares. We were wondering if
perhaps you could shed some light on this."

Janice Covington peered at them.  Ares jumped up beside her and she ran
a wrinkled hand through his long gray fur.  "Take a look at the
pictures on the wall over there," she said and gestured with her cigar.
Scully and Mulder walked over.  

"That's her, the woman I met.  But then who is this?  She looks almost
exactly like her."

Mulder said quietly, "Look, Scully."  He pointed to a picture that
showed a baby propped up against a wicked looking helmet with a
chainmail veil.  

"I love that.  Jilly was such a cute baby," Janice Covington said, as
she slowly came over looking fondly at it.  "This one who looks like
Kimberly is Melinda Pappas.  Well, Fredericks, but I always think of
her as Mel Pappas.  Really, both of 'em look like Xena, of course."

"Are you saying that Kimberly really is the Sword of Ares?" Scully
asked.  The pictures looked like they were from forty years ago.  She
was trying to get a handle on what was happening.  Were the pictures
faked?  Perhaps the woman she had met was a daughter of one of the
women in the photographs. Maybe this was a shared delusion that had
been quietly going on for years and years.  

The old woman looked shrewdly at her and took a puff of her cigar.
"She tell you that's who she was?"

Scully said, "Not exactly.  She said she was Kimberly, that nobody
remembered her anymore, and told me to look up the Sword of Ares.  She
said she was Jilly's mother."

Janice Covington smiled slightly.  "Well, that's her all right. Was she
drinking, by the way?"

Scully nodded and the woman shook her head sadly.  "That's too bad.  I
really thought she had it licked.  How bad was she?"

Scully was perplexed by how this conversation was going.  "She seemed
functional.  I saw her in the morning and she was drinking though."

The old woman just looked sadly at the pictures.  "You'd think that's
the kinda thing dying would take care of.  I guess not."

Mulder said, "Dr. Covington.  How can she be the Sword of Ares? And how
can Jilly and Langland be real?"

At the name Covington made a sour face.  "Langland, that little rat
bastard!  I tried to just shoot him down like a dog when I saw how he
had Jilly wrapped around his little finger.  She wouldn't let me.  I
imagine she's done that quite a few times since, saving his weasel
ass."  She studied the agents again. She pointed at Scully.  "You think
I'm a crazy old lady, and you," she pointed at Mulder, "want to
believe.  I'll bet you make a good team, balancing each other out.
Like me and Mel before she left me to live a straight charade--I
shouldn't say that.  Or kinda like Xena and Gabrielle, though that was
more one-sided.  The bard was more like a sidekick, I'm sorry to say,
not an equal partner like me and Mel or you two probably are."

Scully didn't answer.  These people kept summing her and Mulder up so
quick and well.  Were they that obvious?  

"Or Jilly and Langland," Mulder said. 

The old woman frowned again.  "I guess.  I just hate that little shit. 
He murdered Andre Charcot so I could get his grant. That's his idea of
helping out.  Poor Andre.  I feel responsible."

Scully said, "Why are you sorry Gabrielle was just a sidekick?"

Janice Covington, "Family pride.  My own vanity.  I'm her descendant
just like Mel and Kimberly are both descended from Xena.  Kimberly's
actually Mel's granddaughter, though I don't imagine you believe that. 
I'm telling you this since Kimberly came to see you, by the way.  Her
young self is probably somewhere around too.  She wouldn't be any help
to you though. Wouldn't know anything.  I don't just go around babbling
this by the way. Don't wanna get thrown in the loony bin."

Mulder said, "Mam, can you tell us what is going on?"

The old woman laughed.  "Sorry, I don't understand it either. You just
have to accept this stuff.  Too bad Mel is dead.  She might be able to
just summon 'em up somehow and give you some answers.  She's part of
the family.  But she's gone.  You could go ask Jilly.  Course she might
kill ya if her and Langland are up to something."

Mulder said, "Thank you for your time, mam.  He handed his card to her.
If you think of anything that might be helpful could you give us a
call?"

Covington took the card.  "Sure, G-man.  Always glad to help one of
Hoover's stooges.  Sorry about your hand."  She followed them to the
door.  As Scully stepped out she felt a pat on her behind and looked
with surprise at the old woman who grinned at her.  




Chapter 4


It was late evening and Krycek was walking down the street thinking of
how to proceed with Langland's new assignment.  If he spoke Chinese he
would just fly to Taiwan immediately, but he didn't, so he was
arranging what he could from here and looking for a translator.  He'd
play it by ear if he needed to kill the translator as a witness.  Too
many dead ticked people off. Mulder and Scully were still after him for
that ski lift operator.  All he needed was some obsessive Chinese cop
after him too.  As he was passing a bar he just glanced inside and a
motorcycle jacket and dark hair caught his eyes.  He pushed the door
open and walked inside.  

She was sitting alone at the bar.  He looked around.  It was a pretty
rough looking place.  He took a seat beside her and she looked over
with bleary eyes.  There were five empty shot glasses in front of her. 
He saw she had something in her hand.  Alex just reached over and took
it and she allowed it after a second. He recognized one of the
photographs he had seen in Jilly's office.  It was her with a little
dark haired boy on her lap.  

"Hey," she said.  

Alex glanced around.  This didn't look like any place for a good
looking woman to get shit faced in.  Usually he wouldn't think of
something like that.  He wasn't sure why he was now.  

"What are you doing, Kimberly?" Krycek said quietly.  

"What's it look like?  I'm performing brain surgery."

"Where are you staying.  I'll call a cab for you," Alex said.  

She said, "Nowhere.  I just dropped out of the sky.  Don't worry, I'll
find some place."  She got up and said, "I'll be right back."  She
walked unsteadily to the Lady's Room.  The bartender came up.  

"What can I do you?"

"Beer," Krycek said. 

As the bartender placed it before him he said quietly, "I'm glad you
showed up.  Some guys been eyeing her.  I tried sending her home in a
cab, too.  Lady needs a friend."

Krycek nodded and said, "Who was checking her out."

"Over by the pool table.  The two bikers."

Krycek picked his beer up and walked over by the pool table.  He
guessed they'd had a hard day in the crystal meth lab and were here to
relax.  He could just imagine what they planned for Kimberly.  One of
'em, a burly guy with a sleeveless denim vest and a beard said, "Need
something?" 

Alex smiled and said, "The lady's leaving with me.  Hope you aren't too
disappointed."

The other one, a skinny speed freak in a leather jacket covered with
patches said, "What's it to you?"

"Friend of mine," Alex said. 

The first one shrugged and said, "No problem."

Krycek went back to the bar.  When Kimberly emerged from the restroom
Alex set his unfinished beer down and said, "Come with me."

She looked at him with those amazing blue eyes.  There was something of
Jilly in 'em.  "YOU'RE telling ME what to do?"  She smiled, then said,
"What the hell..where to?"

"My place.  You need somewhere to sleep."

She looked at him again.  "Okay, lover."

Alex smiled slightly.  He saw her pull a wad of hundreds out and just
peel one off.  

"Lemme get his too.  Keep the change."

"Yes, mam," the bartender said.  They left the bar and continued
walking down the dark street.  The neighborhoods changed fast. They
weren't that far from where Krycek's apartment was and it wasn't too
bad there.  He felt a hand pat his shoulder.

"My knight in shining armor.  Did you warn off those shitheads while I
was in the can?"

Alex looked at her.  "Yeah.  You knew they were watching you? But you
just kept drinking?"

"My horse had tougher guys than them in her turds."

Alex did a double take then said, "They might come after us now. I
don't think they were too impressed by me."

Kimberly smiled.  "They just don't appreciate all your sterling
qualities."  She stopped and seemed to listen then stepped into an
alley.  Krycek followed her in and they waited.  Moments later the two
bikers appeared searching.  Alex kicked, breaking the right kneecap of
the skinny one.  He turned to deal with the bigger one who had a knife
out.  Kimberly also had a knife out and was grinning. 

Alex said, "Take your friend and get lost."  The big man glanced at him
then at Kimberly who shrugged and stepped back.  He carefully walked
over to his moaning running partner, then jumped at Alex.  Krycek was
expecting it but Kimberly was already there, tripping him and running
him head first into a wall with a sickening thud.  Krycek and Kimberly
looked down at the dead staring eyes and Krycek instantly went over to
the other one with the broken knee who was desperately trying to
scramble away. He slashed at Alex with a knife but Krycek blocked it
with his artificial arm and hit him in the throat with his other hand. 
He dragged his choking form deeper into the alley and broke his neck.
Alex was breathing raggedly now, his adrenalin pumping. He looked up at
Kimberly and saw her smiling at him. 

"Think it'll be okay?" Kimberly asked. 

"The bartender could put us with them."

Kimberly said, "Get your car.  I'll wait here.  Do you have a tarp or
something?  We don't wanna leave traces in your trunk."

"I'll figure something out," Alex said and quickly left, not running so
he wouldn't attract attention.  

In the alley Kimberly looked ironically at the two bodies and said,
"Thanks boys.  That's what I call a fun first date."

*****************************************************************


The light hit her eyes and Kimberly winced.  She frowned and looked
over.  She was in bed with somebody.  Looking to her other side she saw
an arm on the floor.  She lifted covers up and looked down.  She was
naked.  She sighed.  It began coming back to her now.  After her and
Krycek buried the bodies, first chopping up the fingers and faces to
make identification difficult, they'd come back here keyed up.  It was
exciting. Cops and robbers action had a different feel than laying
siege to cities and fighting armies.  Alex had kept on being the
perfect gentleman.  She just ripped his clothes off.  Alex couldn't
stop her and finally understood that he wasn't remotely in her league. 
He smiled and gave up; there were worse ways to be overpowered.  

She had been pretty pent up.  She hadn't been laid in, God...she
started thinking back.  Not since Cal.  When she was losing it there at
the very end she vaguely remembered trying to seduce Joxer...Jesus, Meg
and his kids were just a few tents away...Jesus.  Joxer had kissed her
forehead and left.  God, it was...well, subjectively it was years;
objectively it was hard to say considering how she was always being
jerked in and out of Tartarus and the Elysian Fields where time was
fluid, or sent here or there in history when Hades or somebody wanted
some discrete asskicking carried out, or they wanted one side to win in
a battle, so they'd send Kimberly to make it happen.  When Alex Krycek
looked at the picture of Sam and then tried to actually take care of
her it all just came tumbling out.  This little one-armed errand boy
thought he had to rescue HER: Kimlee, Destroyer of a Thousand Cites;
Kushranhara; the Sword of Ares.  It was just so goddamn cute!

She looked over at him again and traced his lips with a finger. He was
a real bad guy.  She thought of Weldon and Cal.  So were they but not
in quite the same way.  Alex here had a sneaky vicious streak.  But she
still liked him.  She was sure he'd done things that would make her
despise him.  She hoped she didn't learn them, at least for a while.
For the first time she began to understand a little what Jilly saw in
Langland.  As the Sword of Ares she had probably crucified or had
buried alive a hundred guys just like Alex Krycek: agents sent to spy
on her or murder her.  They were talented but not spectacular, and
didn't stand a chance against someone like her or Xena.  

Why had he tried to help her last night?  If he was trying to play her
he wouldn't have tried sending her home in a cab.  Even a ratboy like
Alex Krycek had another side to him.  She saw him wince a little in his
sleep and reach for his missing arm.  Bad dreams.  Kimberly had told
him it was hard to sympathize.  But it was getting easier and easier
for her. 

*****************************************************************

Jilly looked up from where she was sitting on the couch reading
Cosmopolitan. Langland had just come in.  "What happened?" she said.

The handsome man took his stylish trenchcoat off and glanced at her,
wondering how she did that.  If he asked that he could say exactly why,
as he analyzed a thousand variables.  But Jilly didn't think like that,
he knew.  She could just feel things.  

"Something's up, Jilly.  Might be the gods." 

Jilly said, "Shit...which one?" 

"I don't know yet.  But something is happening with Krycek." 

The blonde stood up.  "He's not good enough for any of 'em to want him
as a favorite.  It's about us." 

"I tend to agree but we should keep an open mind.  Remember Angela.
Neither of us saw that coming.  Sam too for that matter. I doubt Alex
is ever going to displace you or I, but there twelve Olympians, Jilly. 
He might have talents  we're blind to because of our own orientation." 

"Jeez, Langland.  Could you be any more pompous?  We mighta missed
something. Can't you just say that?" 

He ran his hand through his hair and didn't respond.   Jilly got up and
came over and put a hand on his arm.  "Sorry, honey.  My temper...you
know...I try but...well..." 

"I know, Jilly.  I know I'm sorta stiff for you."  

She grinned, "Really?" 

He smiled softly at her. 

"Want me to kill him?"  Jilly said as she scratched her head. 

Langland shook his head.  "No.  I don't want to lose him unnecessarily.
It would mean setting our plans back, aside from I just like how he
handles things.  He makes me nostalgic. Reminds me of myself." 

Jilly laughed, "From when?  When you were six." 

He smiled, "About that.  Besides if a god is interested in him we might
anger whoever it is by killing him.  I'd rather not have a replay of
that little scene." 

Jilly winced.  "I know, babe.  Weldon could be one mean mother. The
gods didn't have to turn him loose on you like that.  They coulda just
whacked you.  Didn't have to let a seven foot Celt turn you steak
tartar." 

Langland shrugged.  "When I killed his reincarnation I angered half of
Olympus who had plans for him.  They aren't a very forgiving bunch." 

"Athena shoulda warned you.  She shoulda stood by you.  You were her
boy." 

"There were too many.  And, well, it was also the way I killed
Siegfried, Jilly.  You don't know everything.  I was trying to psych
Kimberly out but it backfired on me.  It had the desired effect on her
but in the process I seriously ticked off several gods." 

"Kimberly?"  Jilly said. "Her spirit or something?  What could psych
out Mom?  What did you do, Langland?" 

"Yeah, her spirit.  You don't want to know, Jilly.  You'll get mad at
me too.  It's all over and done with anyway." 

Jilly said, "Whatever.  So what about Krycek?" 

"Let's just watch him," Langland said easily.  "Oh, I hear he had an
altercation with Paulie." 

Jilly shook her head.  "God, Langland, was Paulie always this stupid?
He couldn't have been."

"No.  I think it's all those years in the ring, not to mention all the
times he's been in fights and shot or whatnot.  He's getting older and
it's all coming out now I'm afraid.  Paulie is on the verge of being a
real liability. I.." 

Langland stopped and looked at the knife an inch away from his face.
Jilly's eyes were wide and mad looking.   She said, "Paulie has
protected me and Sam our whole lives.  He got shot once doing it.  My
dad always said he felt safe when Paulie was covering his back. Paulie
used to pick up Sam from school everyday and would buy me ice cream.
Now just consider that before finishing your thought here." 

Langland said, "I was just going to say we should send him to a doctor
to check him out, and maybe find him a nice cushy position so he
doesn't hear things he shouldn't.  Maybe buy him a gym so he can hang
around with other ex-fighters." 

Jilly lowered the knife.  "I knew that's what you were thinking,
honey!" 

Langland smiled.  "You must be psychic." 

*****************************************************************


Alex's eyes snapped open at a sound and he saw Kimberly fastening her
bra.  She bent over to pick up some blue panties and stepped into them.
"Hey," he said and she looked at him and smiled.  

"I'd make you breakfast but I actually kinda like you.  Don't get the
wrong idea though."  She pulled her blue jeans on. 

He got up trying to keep his side with his missing arm turned away from
her.  He spotted his artificial limb on the floor and walked over to
pick it up and quickly attach it.  Looking back up he saw Kimberly
putting her cowboy shirt back on and not looking at him.  Alex asked,
"What wrong idea might I get?" 

She looked back at him and said, "If things fall out that way I'll kill
you.  This won't change that.  That said, thanks for everything last
night...in the bar..in the alley...here."  He couldn't read her
expression.  She had compassionate eyes but there was something else in
them too.   

Alex said, "What makes you think I wasn't just trying to get close to
you?  You're involved in this somehow.  Maybe I was just trying to
hedge my bets."   

Kimberly came over and handed his shirt to him.  He cursed to himself
as his  prosthetic arm got tangled.  Kimberly looked away from him
again.  She said.  "I don't think you'd say that if you were trying to
play me.  I think if you analyzed how you've acted with me you'd wanna
hide in embarrassment because it's so far from what you think you are
and everybody else thinks you are." 

Alex didn't answer.  She was right.  He just seemed to be a different
person around her.  He pulled his underwear and pants on. 

She continued, just watching him.  "Nice butt, Alex, speaking of which,
but you're no Hercules either.  Langland wouldn't want you as his
errand boy if you had anything resembling scruples regularly.  Maybe I
remind you of your first girlfriend or something." 

Alex looked at her.  She said, "Hope I don't have to kill you, Alex.  I
really do.  If you're on the wrong side when the shit hits the
fan...well, Alex..stay out of my way." 

"Are you trying to scare me?" he said.  He remembered how easily she
had overpowered him the previous night.  It had reminded him of when
Jilly had been appearing and disappearing ghostlike on the wharf.

Kimberly shook her head as she checked the clip in her pistol. She had
a Beretta like Jilly but it looked like a 9 mm instead of the small one
Jilly carried. "Trying to help you, Alex.  Like last night when you
thought I needed help.  What I said before still applies.  You're out
of your league and should get out now."  

"Jilly's already given me a new assignment for Langland.  It's too
late." 

Kimberly looked at him sadly, took her platinum flask from a pocket and
took a swig.  

*****************************************************************

Langland glanced down at his beeper then took a cell phone from his
pocket.  "Yeah?" 

"Mr. Langland, this is Charlie.  I wanted to let you know that Paulie's
in the hospital." 

Langland stopped breathing.  He said, "What's he doing in the
hospital?" 

"He just keeled over.  Paramedics said it looked like a stroke. Mr.
Langland..Mr. Langland?" 

"Thanks for calling me, Charlie.  Have you called Jilly." 

"Yes, sir.  Called her first. I know how she feels about Paulie. She
didn't say nothing though about it.  Just said I should call you." 

"Thanks, Charlie.  Charlie...goodby." Langland's hand was shaking and
he looked around.  He was in the open.  She could be anywhere with a
sniper rifle though she'd probably want to be a lot more hands on with
him.  Langland analyzed it even as he knew a chakram could take his
head off any second.  This would be the last straw.  From her point of
view he'd finally crossed the line.  Like Thermopylae.  She was King
Leonidas, Paulie was her loyal soldier dying where he stood in rank,
and Langland had finally revealed himself as the Greek who showed the
Persians the way over the mountain so they could attack the Spartans in
the pass from both sides.  Jilly still loved him.  Wouldn't matter.
He'd finally gone too far.  He began walking over to where his Corvette
was parked.  He was completely innocent here.  Kind of ironic really.
He'd orchestrated wars for profit; created famines merely as
diversions; loosed plagues on populations to test theories; acquired
power and wealth beyond what his most paranoid enemies imagined; and he
was going to lose it all because an aging punchy hood with high
cholesterol had one plate too many of spaghetti.  Too bad Kimberly and
Cal weren't here.  They'd love to watch. 

He knew it was useless but he had a role to play and dialed the
restaurant.  Jilly picked up.  Langland said, "I had nothing to do with
Paulie.  Why would I?  I told you what I'd do." 

Her voice came purring back at him and he felt sweat break out on his
upper lip.  "Sure, honey.  I know you'd never lie to me. You'd never do
something like that when I told you not to. Well, there was that one
time, and that other time, and when we were in Moscow when it was so
cold.  I can't count when you killed Falconi since I'd never
specifically asked you not to jam an icepick in his ear.  That was when
you popped my cherry. You figured I wouldn't avenge Uncle Jimmy, or let
my parents, since I cared so much for you." 

Langland took a handkerchief and dabbed at his upper lip. "Jilly. You
know I love you.  Look at what we've been through together.  Listen to
me.  Poisoning Paulie would be stupid. When have I ever done anything
stupid?  I'm not stupid; I'm evil.  Ask anybody." 

"Sure, honey.  I know.  You wouldn't think you could get me to accept
anything no matter what.  That I was so much dumber than you that you
could train me like a dog.  Well, that one time, I guess; and those
other times.  Couple of people have called me that now that I think of
it.  Your dog.  Your bitch.  Hmmm. Your boy Krycek you like so much
called me that when we saw him on the wharf.  Why don't you come by the
restaurant and I'll fix you up something extra special.  Gotta go,
later honey."

"Jilly!" Langland said but heard a click.   

******************************************************************* 


Langland looked at the man who had come up beside him.   They were
meeting in a busy zoo.  Jilly probably wouldn't come after him in a
public place full of families and kids.  She wasn't like him.  

"Hello, Ahmat.  What do you think of Jilly?" he asked.  

The man said, "Fast, dangerous, possibly delusional.  Old school
weapons master.  Scary bitch." 

Langland said, "That 'bitch' is my wife."  The man shrugged. Langland
studied him.  "You aren't afraid of me and you aren't afraid of Jilly. 
You took out those Israelis and made everybody think it was Jilly.
Bonwazi got what he wanted and nobody knows he carved his way to it." 

"This going somewhere?" the man asked and looked down at Langland.  He
was just under six feet tall and had dark curly hair and a thick
mustache.  He had a slight Indian accent but with something English
about it as well. 

Langland said, "Me and Jilly had a misunderstanding.  I want to work it
out but I want you to keep me alive in the meantime. Oh, by the way, do
you know Ares?" 

"Who's that?" the man said. 

"Just somebody.  Far as I know he's not involved in this but you're his
kinda boy.  Just thought I'd ask." 

The man shrugged and then said, "Hundred-thousand up front. We'll take
it from there." 

Langland smiled and shook his head slightly and the man frowned.
Langland said, "You don't know Jilly as well as you think.  I'll give
you twenty-million dollars to keep me alive six months. Probably be
over a lot sooner but that allows time for variables.  If she kills me
you get nothing.  You'll probably be dead too though so it won't matter
to you."   

"Twenty-million dollars?  Why not go in a bunker somewhere in Central
America if you've got that kind of money?" 

Langland said, "Because I've got business to transact and she'd just
come and kill everybody in it with a Ginsu knife before she ran me
through a sausage machine anyway.  That's why.  Unless I somehow made
it really impregnable.  Then she'd just drop an atomic bomb on me.
She's got money too." 

"You're serious?"  Ahmat said.  

Langland nodded.  

The man glanced away then back at Langland.  "Why don't I just kill
her?" 

Langland looked down a moment and in a low voice said.  "She hasn't
tried to seriously kill me yet.  Just made laughable attempts, trying
to unnerve me.  Showing contempt, I suppose. This is all just a
misunderstanding, Ahmat.  If there is absolutely no other way you can
go after her but not before. That's the deal." 

Ahmat sighed.  "I understand.  I've got an ex-wife myself.  It's crazy
but I still think...maybe.  And she DID try to kill me. Course, she was
no Jilly." 

Langland looked at him with surprise.  "That's exactly right.  I hope
she doesn't seriously try to kill me.  If this works out like I want,
you'll have twenty-million dollars and I'll be with Jilly.  Everybody
will be happy." 

Ahmat said, "But you don't expect that.  You expect her to come after
you." 

Langland nodded. "You'll probably earn your pay, Ahmat.  Oh, Ahmat, I
know you're a great fighter...but don't assume you can beat Jilly one
on one." 

Ahmat said with irritation, "What makes you say that?" 

Langland wasn't worried about Ahmat killing him.  The man was a
complete professional and wouldn't kill someone for annoying him. Not
like Jilly sometimes did.  "You shot those mercenaries in Namibia,
Ahmat.  That was Jilly's only problem with being blamed for that.  It
made it look like she was slipping."  

Ahmat frowned again then glanced around.  His hand flicked out in front
of Langland's face.  The smaller man saw he had caught a small dart.
Langland followed Ahmat's gaze and saw her just smiling at him.  Jilly
disappeared into the crowd.  Ahmat smelled the dart, recognizing the
scent of curare.

"See, Ahmat.  That's what I mean.  Fooling around." Langland said. 

******************************************************************* 

Alex opened his door.  "Jilly..."  Her eyes were kinda scary looking
and she was smiling in that crazy way again.  

"Can I come in, Alex?" she said as she stepped past him.  Alex closed
the door and looked at her.   

"I'm flying to Taiwan, tomorrow, Jilly.  What do you need?"  he asked. 


The slender blonde woman was weaving a little bit, Alex saw. "Oh,
you're leaving the country are you?  That's convenient. You carry out
another little job for Langland he gave you personally?" 

Krycek was frightened.  He said, "No.  What kind of job?" 

Jilly said, "Like slipping something in Paulie's food that Langland
gave you.  Something like that, Alex?  You don't like him anyway." 

"If something happened to Paulie it wasn't me," Alex said.  He
remembered those crime scene photographs again.  He thought of how
Kimberly had overpowered him like a child.  She said she wasn't as good
as Jilly. 

Jilly was trying to control herself.  Langland had probably used Alex
Krycek to get to Paulie but she wasn't sure.  And she remembered what
he said about something going on with Krycek. Jilly didn't want to
anger any of the gods either.  If she discovered for sure Krycek
poisoned Paulie she'd skin him alive but not before.   

Alex was afraid he was going to die.  Jilly looked out of her mind as
she just stared at him.  Before he knew what was happening he fell to
his knees and held his stomach.  He looked up and she kicked him in the
face like he had Paulie. Then she grabbed his prosthetic arm, wrenched
it off, and stood looking down at him with that demented smile.  Alex
lunged at her but she actually jumped over to land behind him, then
kicked him again.  Krycek found himself on his back with Jilly standing
over him.   

Jilly pointed his own hand at him and said, "Have a good time in
Taiwan, Alex. You might as well go ahead and carry out that assignment.
When you get back things will probably be changed around here.  If I
find out it was you who did that to Paulie, wherever you are, I'll find
you.  Not coming back won't do you any good." 

She tossed his arm contemptuously aside and left, slamming the door
behind her.   

******************************************************************* 


"Oh, hello, Alex.  I'm pleased to see Jilly hasn't eviscerated you." 

Krycek was nervously looking around.  He had been watching one of
Langland's office buildings that he knew he visited frequently. Instead
of his Corvette he emerged from a massive limousine with tinted
windows.  Alex recognized an armored vehicle when he saw one.  It could
probably take a shell from a tank.  Alex approached him.  The driver
got out and watched.  Alex had never seen him before.  He was about the
same height as he was but built heavier and had a Middle Eastern look. 


"She thinks I poisoned Paulie for you!  The only reason I'm alive is
she isn't a hundred percent sure,"  Alex said, trying to remain calm.
He looked at the driver.  That bodyguard meant he couldn't do what he
had intended.  "She said I should just go to Taiwan and do that job and
when I got back everything would be different." 

Langland was listening to Krycek with a slight smile.  Even as stressed
as Langland felt and as much as he missed Jilly, he could still
appreciate Krycek.  He was electric in his fear for his life.  He had
half expected him to try to capture or kill him and hand him over to
Jilly.  He may have aborted that plan when he saw Ahmat, demonstrating
his quick wits once again.  Langland still felt something else was
happening with Krycek, something Alex himself couldn't hope to
understand.  There was something slightly different about him.  Not
just his fear.   

"Well, then that's what you should do, Alex.  She'll be angry if you
don't since she told you to, and getting her angry isn't something you
probably want.  As you've surmised, Jilly and I have had a falling out
about Paulie's unfortunate condition. When you return there may very
well only be one of us.  I'd advise you to hope it's me.  If she
succeeds in killing me you may be next whether she is sure you killed
Paulie or not.  You remind her of me a bit." 

"For Christ's sake!  Why did you poison Paulie?" Alex said furiously.
He heard a chuckle and looked over at the new bodyguard.  "What's so
funny?"  The bodyguard shrugged.  

Langland said reassuringly, "Alex, I didn't do anything.  She just
thinks I did; and if I had you're exactly who I would have used.  An
unfortunate misunderstanding and I'm sorry you are getting caught in
the middle of it.  You and I are both innocent victims of circumstance.
Where's the justice, right, Alex?"  He said the last with a sardonic
twist.  Obviously they both deserved anything that happened to them
from most people's point of view.  

Krycek was listening closely, furious and frightened.  If he had taken
Kimberly's advice he wouldn't be in this predicament now. He looked
over at that bodyguard again.  He'd like to go kick his ass like he had
Paulie but he knew not to try.  The man chuckled again seeing the look.
Alex looked back at Langland, considered mentioning Kimberly but
changed his mind.  She at least seemed to genuinely like him even if
she did say that she'd kill him if need be.  He was just a tool to
Langland.   

"All right.  I'll head to Taiwan and take care of that business." Alex
said.  

"That's a good boy," Langland said and patted his shoulder.  He
continued into the building, the bodyguard beside him.  Alex watched
them then quickly walked off.      

*******************************************************************


Stepping out of her office Jilly sensed something.  She began scanning
the room.  Good dinner crowd for a week night.  She caught movement
from her peripheral vision and knew those two had been watching her but
looked away when she glanced their direction. She held a hand up and
the girl on the register came over to her.   

"Veronica, who are those two at table five?  Did they have a
reservation?" 

"No reservation.  They waited thirty minutes, and somebody canceled,"
she answered.  Her voice was quiet.  She was Paulie's niece.  Jilly had
told her to take the night off but she said she'd feel better with
something to do.  "They haven't ordered yet," she added.   

"Thanks," Jilly said and patted her arm.  She began going from table to
table like always.   When she saw the waitress approach them she worked
near.  They were trying to watch her but be sly about it.  It had been
a while since she'd killed some cops. Might be about time.  

"I'll just have the spaghetti," Mulder said.   

Jilly was proud of her waitress for not rolling her eyes.  She walked
up and said, "Can I make a suggestion?  As long as you're here you
oughta get something other than just spaghetti." 

Mulder and Scully looked up.  There she was.  Scully said, "Please." 

"Bring 'em that antipasto was working on earlier.  Then the calimari in
white sauce for him and the Milanese eggplant for her.  Get the '65
red.  Bring the salads now."  The waitress wrote it all down and walked
off.  Jilly took a seat and studied them. 

"Um, thanks for ordering for us," Mulder said.  He was remembering Big
Sal and his men. 

"Which are you?  Local, FBI, Treasury Department?" Jilly finally said
as the salads and bread arrived.   

"What are you talking about?" Scully said gamely.  Jilly smiled at her
and Scully felt a shiver.   

"FBI," Mulder said, taking a bite of his salad.  Scully looked at him
then back at the blonde woman and nodded.  

"What do you want?  You're welcome in my restaurant but I get the
feeling food isn't really why you're here."  Jilly spoke lightly and
smiled sweetly.  

Mulder said, "What is Alex Krycek doing for Langland?"  

A peculiar light came into her brown eyes.  She said, "Now that's a
pretty good question.  I wouldn't mind an answer to that myself."  She
stood up.  "Enjoy your meal, Fox, Dana." 

Scully said, "Your mother came to see me." 

Jilly had been turning away but she froze and turned back.  "My mother
is dead." 

"She was killed in Persia at the Last Stand of the Sword of Ares. You
warned her it was a trap but she went in anyway, destroyed by her own
arrogant pride," Scully continued.  She was carefully watching the
woman.  She wouldn't characterize her as completely psychotic like
Mulder thought.  But she was definitely not the poster child for mental
health either. 

Jilly said, "No, as a matter of fact she survived that.  She was killed
later in Greece.  She committed suicide by charging a bunch of Athenian
lancers in the combined force the city states sent after her under
Xena. They don't realize it was her because her abilities had
deteriorated so far by that point.  She was only a good general and
great fighter.  A shadow of what she was when we were teaching the
barbarians what blood meant." 

Mulder said, "You mean barbarians like the Chinese who invented
printing." 

Jilly looked at him.  "That's right.  Like them." 

"Can we go to your office and talk?" Scully said.  

Jilly sat back down and said, "No.  Your meals are coming.  What did my
mother say to you?"   

Mulder and Scully both noted how wide her eyes had gotten and that she
seemed to weave a little.  Janice Covington had essentially warned them
against coming to see Jilly but they'd ignored it.  They were federal
agents after all.  They'd like nothing better than to arrest her for
any of the numerous murders they were sure she had committed for
Langland. 

Scully said, "She knew we were investigating Krycek and Langland and
thought we probably wanted to talk to her.  She said she was your
mother.  However, she wasn't old enough.  She wasn't really the Sword
of Ares anymore than you are really Jilly the Butcher."

Jilly reached a hand out and grabbed Scully's arm.  "Describe her to
me." 

Scully met her gaze.  "About five ten, dark hair, blue eyes."   

Jilly released her and pointed to her own wrist.  

Scully said, "She had a bracelet of blonde hair." 

"Anything else?" 

"She was drinking at eight in the morning." 

Jilly nodded and stood up.  She looked at the two agents with a wide
smile.  "If you expect answers from me, you've come to the wrong place.
I dunno what she's doing here or why she would contact you and not me. 
If I did know I wouldn't tell a couple of feds who wanna put me in the
electric chair.  I have nothing to tell you about Krycek.  That's your
job.  Word of advice: watch for crossfire, agents.  Enjoy your meal."
She walked off and began going to other tables asking if everything was
okay.  

*******************************************************************

Jilly was sitting on a bench in the park.  She had stale bread crumbs
from the restaurant and was tossing them to pigeons.  She looked up and
saw him, as he knew she would.  She nodded and he approached her and
sat beside her.  Jilly held the bag up and he reached in and took a
handful of bread crumbs and began tossing them to the pigeons.  

"You're Ahmat," she said.  He looked good, dressed in an expensive
jogging suit. Lots of places for weapons.  "What's up?  Here to sell
your boss to me or to kill me?"

Ahmat shook his head.  "Now that's not a very nice thing to say first
off.  Langland just wants me to keep him alive.  He says this is a
misunderstanding.  Why don't you believe him?"

Jilly looked at the big man beside her.  "What the hell kind of killer
are you?"

Ahmat shrugged.  "I help people out with problems.  I'll have earned my
pay if I can get you to just believe him.  People have strokes all the
time."

The blonde woman said coldly, "You don't know him.  He's playing you
like he plays everybody.  I just never believed he was also playing me.
No matter how many times my parents or whoever told me I wouldn't
believe 'em.  Look, Ahmat,  tough guys like you and me; Langland uses
us, tricks us, and discards us when we're no more use."

Ahmat said, "Me maybe, not you.  He wants you back.  He doesn't want me
to kill you unless there's no other way to save him.  I have a feeling
he'll try to stop me even if it is the only way. He's miserable over
there."

Jilly stared at the pigeons again.  She stayed alert in case he was
just trying to put her off her guard.  She said, "I know he misses me. 
I know he loves me, as much as he's capable of.  He went too far.  I
told him not to hurt Paulie.  He thought I'd let him get away with it
like before.  Like when I asked him to keep his nose clean while I was
in Greece.  When I came back he'd bankrolled something like five
insurrections, destabilized the world economy, and killed God knows how
many people.  Ya'know why he said he did it?"

"Why?" Ahmat said. 

"He was bored."  She paused then said grimly, "But this was different. 
This was one of MY people; somebody who took care of me and my brother.
Langland figured he could sweet talk me like before.  He doesn't
understand the difference.  He's got no loyalty so why should anyone
else?  You must have been a soldier, right?"

Ahmat nodded.  

She studied him.  "Do you understand what I'm saying or are you just
such a ratfuck mercenary you'd sell your own men out?"

Ahmat sighed, "Usually it's not as black and white as that. Captains
are scheming, men are being bribed, you have to be flexible.  I've
never sold out completely in the way you mean."

Jilly said, "You asked why I don't believe him.  I've heard him say
maybe fifty times over the years that so and so was sloppy, was stupid,
was a traitor who just didn't know it yet.  And sure enough, pretty
soon they caught pneumonia,  or they had a heart attack, or were in car
crash, or their horse kicked 'em in the head even though they were
experienced horsemen.  I carried out six or seven myself for him.  So
when he says Paulie is on the verge of being a liability and he
suddenly has a stroke; yeah, I'm skeptical."

Jilly stood up and emptied out the rest of the bread crumbs. "Just
don't pin all your hopes to Langland, Ahmat. I'm gonna kill him.  But
if you somehow stop me, remember what I told you when he gives you that
warm smile of his, looks in your eyes, and sticks a shiv in your gut." 


"I will," Ahmat said to her back as she walked away.  He considered
killing her now but knew she was ready for him.  


*******************************************************************

Langland was at his desk in the penthouse reading a journal on
Biochemical Engineering.  Ahmat was sitting on the other side of the
room doing a crossword puzzle.  He set it aside and stood up.  Langland
looked at him.   His intercom buzzed.  

"Mr. Langland, there is someone to see you."

Langland said, "Who is it?"

"She says she's your mother-in-law...sir...sir"

Langland glanced at Ahmat and said, "Ask her to come in."

The office door opened and Langland watched Kimberly amble in wearing
jeans, cowboy boots and a motorcycle jacket.   In the old days she
never would have been seen dead like that.   She used to be a real
clothes horse.   Well, she was dead he thought. 

"Small world, Kimberly," Langland said.  

Kimberly smiled thinly at him but her real attention was on the other
man in the room.  He was watching her the same way. "Langland," she
said.  "You finally went too far.  Surprises me. you're not stupid;
you're evil."

"I wish you'd tell Jilly that.  I'm innocent..." he paused as Kimberly
made a derisive snorting sound.  "...of Paulie's condition.  He just
coincidentally had his stroke right after I had made comment to Jilly
that he might become a problem.  She jumped to conclusions."

Kimberly was listening to him and broke out in a wide grin.  "I believe
you, Langland.  She can make her own decisions.  Jilly tell you Paulie
used to crawl around with her on his back like a horse?  He'd take her
out for ice cream a lot too."

Langland nodded tiredly.  "The ice cream.  I didn't know about the
other.  Somewhat surreal considering who they were.  What are you doing
here, Kimberly?"

"Tell you the truth, fuckhead, I'm not sure.   Hades uses me for
situations that require a little more finesse than Helms can muster.
Could be he just sent me here to enjoy myself watching Jilly make you
into Swiss steak."  

"I'd have thought you would have toned down somewhat in your feelings
about me, Kimberly.  Wasn't what Weldon did to me enough?" Langland
said resignedly.

"Nothing could ever be enough for what you did to Siegfried! But that
was then.   I'm happy to see you get yours for what I've seen you do
here."  She turned and approached the bodyguard.  "Who are you?"

"Ahmat," he said simply.  

She saw what he was looking at.   Kimberly held her wrist up with the
bracelet of Callisto's hair.

"You modeled yourself on terrible Kushranhara?"  There was something in
his voice.

Kimberly heard Langland chuckle.  She said, "Kushranhara wasn't so
terrible.  No worse than anyone else back then."

Ahmat said, "The village I'm from is near an ancient river. Before
Kushranhara it was a place of life where the women went to wash their
clothes and gossip.  After her our village became famous for its
warriors because we saw what being peaceful had brought us.
Kushranhara and her murdering bandits were carving a swath through our
land.  The rajah refused to pay her tribute and the people all
supported him taking pride in his bravery.  The armies met at the
river, the rajah personally leading although he was only a boy."

Langland watched Kimberly with interest.  She had gone pale.   

Ahmat continued, "Now I understand it, of course.  Our men were just
soldiers in a peaceful land.  Most had probably never been in a real
battle and since they outnumbered the enemy, were proud and confident. 
The boy rajah had said after he defeated Kushranhara he was sure he
could convince her to be righteous and he intended to release her.  He
saw women washing clothes in the river and said he would clean her soul
the same way."

Kimberly said in a hoarse whisper, "He said that, huh?  Nice kid.
Lotta class.  Lotta heart."

Langland said easily, "Too bad he never got to grow up, right? Who
knows?  Maybe he could've been some great philosopher king who averted
the bloodshed of the next three thousand years."

Ahmat stopped talking not understanding exactly what was going on.  He
had simply been relating some local history since he was offended.
Her bracelet of yellow hair meant to him what a swastika would've meant
to someone else.  He'd  asked to be sure she wasn't wearing it for some
other reason.   Kimberly seemed petrified and Langland seemed amused. 

"Go on, Ahmat...please.  I need to hear this."  Kimberly said. Langland
nodded at him.

He continued, "The armies met.   The rajah's army simply showed up.
Neither he nor his advisors really knew anything about tactics.  Not
like Kushranhara who had been fighting continuously for years and
almost seemed to have studied Clausewitz and Bonaparte..." he paused as
he heard Kimberly sharply draw in breath.   "So of course she hit them
in their flanks which turned them into headless chickens since they
were inexperienced, and separated them into nice easily digestible
parts. The story is that bodies were piled as high as the roofs in the
village.  I doubt that, though if Kushranhara wanted to make a point, I
suppose it's possible."

"It wasn't Kushranhara,"  Kimberly said.  "It was Jilly...or maybe
Weldon.  They came riding up grinning at me, crazy with blood the way
you get...and Weldon thought you could stack fifteen bodies right on
top of another without 'em falling over, and Jilly said 'no way, nine
tops.'  So I said I'd split the difference and would take
eleven...being the leader, you know..keeping them happy.   I won.  The
pile fell over when it was twelve high.  Jilly noticed how upset the
prisoners were by it so she and Weldon made another pile  that was wide
enough to just stay there. The more feared I was the less likely people
were to defy me.  That's why I let Jilly do it.  It was right by the
river bank and turned the water red.  They made the prisoners pile 'em
up.  If one started giving them lip Weldon or Jilly would kill him and
add him to the pile."

Ahmat didn't say anything.  He'd dealt with madness before. 

Langland had his soft smile and said, "What was terrible Kushranhara
doing all this time?"

Kimberly looked at him.  "I told 'em to stop it since I never killed
people unless I had to.  Pile up the dead but don't hurt anybody else. 


Langland chuckled again.  "A real humanitarian.  Kushranhara had to
attack them when they didn't pay her tribute.  No choice. She was the
true victim, when you think of it."  

She paused again then said to Ahmat, "I wanted to know where their
general was.  A prisoner told me the rajah himself had led them.  I
laughed and said that was a demonstration of what was wrong with
hereditary monarchies.  So I had a couple of men ride off with orders
to bring the rajah.  I was talking to some prisoners about where the
treasury was when my men came riding back up and just threw this body
at my feet.  Jilly came walking up just then and said 'I wondered where
that was.'  I hadn't spotted it but the very outside edge of her
chakram was visible in the boy's abdomen.  He was naked of course.
Everything a rajah wore was valuable so my men had stripped him.  He'd
just hit puberty, I guess.  Little hair on his body, but not much.
Jilly yanked her chakram out and it spilled his guts all over."

Ahmat said quietly, "What did you say?" 

Kimberly looked at the floor, quiet for a moment then answered, "Watch
it, Jilly. You almost got some on me."  She looked back at Ahmat.  "I'm
sorry.  It was a beautiful place.  I remember that."  She walked to the
office door.  

Langland said to her, "Hope you enjoy watching Jilly give me what I
deserve, Kimberly.  Everybody should get what they deserve."

She stopped but didn't turn around, then opened the door and left.

Ahmat said, "Is she mad or playing a role?"

"Neither," Langland said.   "You can't believe this but she is
Kushranhara.  I have no way to prove it to you though.  So you have to
wonder if I'm mad or playing a role."

Ahmat looked at him and shook his head.  Then he sat down and returned
to his crossword puzzle.



Chapter 5


Alex Krycek was just stepping out his apartment.  He carried a small
bag, liking to travel light.  Whatever he needed he would get in
Taiwan.  Sensing something, he looked down his hallway saw a shape on
the floor by the elevator, drew his gun and walked to investigate.
Then he put his gun away and knelt down. 


"Kimberly...Kimberly...can you hear me?"  He sat her up and an empty
750 ml bottle of whiskey clunked out of her  clothes. Alex was glad the
smoking man wasn't here.  His cigarette would ignite her breath.  

She mumbled, "Kushranhara...no worse than anybody else..." Kimberly
half opened her eyes to look at him and smiled a little.  "My...knight
in shining.." her voice trailed off.

Krycek frowned then said, "Yeah, that's me."  

He managed to get her standing and half dragged her to his apartment,
propped her up as he opened his door and brought her inside and
deposited her on his couch.  Krycek studied her a second then called
the airline to cancel his flight. 

************************************************************

Their chief had instructed them to bring him Krycek, who had been seen
with Langland.  He'd taken a drag on his Morley and looked at them like
they were idiots to still be standing there. There were three of them. 
They'd gotten a key to his apartment by flashing a badge at the
manager.  

"Who the fuck are you?"

A big brunette in a white bathrobe was looking at them.  

"Federal agents.  Where is the man who lives here?"

"Federal agents don't come sneaking in that way.  Take your pencil dick
friends and get lost."

"Where is Alex Krycek?" the senior operative said, angrily.  He didn't
feel like taking crap from some bimbo Krycek was shacked up with. 

The woman studied them then said, "You aren't from Langland OR Jilly.
You work for that walking advertisement for lung cancer Langland has
dancing around like an organ grinder's monkey.  If you don't want your
own organ in a grinder I'd advise you to take Shemp and Larry here and
go right back out that door."

"You're coming with us," the agent said, and nodded his head at the
others who began moving toward her.  

"Alex has really gotta start associating with a better class of
people," the woman said mildly.  When the men approached her she
pivoted and kicked both of them in the face dropping them. Their leader
drew his gun then felt a sharp pain in his wrist and the woman was
holding his own gun on him.  The other agents were groggily getting up.
She quickly went to them and took their guns, putting them in the
pockets of the robe. 

At that moment the door opened again and Alex Krycek stepped in with a
bag groceries which he just dropped.  

"You just bought yourself a mess of trouble," one of the men she kicked
said to Kimberly.

"Lemme tell you something; I'm not the person to threaten that way."
She just casually fired the gun and the man cried out and fell holding
his thigh.  

"Hello, Wilson.  I see you met my friend,"  Alex said.

She said, "Do you wanna call the cops?  Phone's right there. Tell THEM
how you're federal agents.  Your boss'll be happy to come bail you out.
He'll just be glad you're safe and sound, I'm sure." 

Wilson licked his lips nervously and said "Tell her to put the gun
down."  

Alex looked at Kimberly and at the man moaning on the floor. "I think I
used up my cards for telling her what to do.  An unarmed woman in a
bathrobe took the guns from three armed operatives and wounded one for
being stupid.  Have fun explaining that. Get out."

Wilson said, "Krycek, you're only making it worse for yourself."

Alex snarled and grabbed his own gun from where it was concealed in his
waistband.  Wilson mouthed the word NO and barely raised his hands
pathetically as Krycek slashed down with the pistol across his face,
knocking him to the floor where he cowered. All the fear and rage and
anger that he had been feeling because of Langland and Jilly just
exploded out of him.  He struck him twice more with the gun, then
Krycek viciously kicked the man several times as he moaned.  Breathing
hard he stopped and looked at Kimberly who was just watching him and at
the other two fearful men.  Alex turned Wilson over with his foot.  He
studied him.

"Alex!" Kimberly said sharply.  He looked at her with his sweaty
enraged face then back down at Wilson and kicked him in the side once
more.  

"Take him and get out," he ordered the two other men. They quickly
obeyed, the one with the wounded leg grunting in pain as he helped pick
up Wilson's bloody figure. 

When the door closed he put his gun back in his waistband and said to
Kimberly, "The shot wasn't too loud."  He looked at the bloodstained
carpet.  "We can just cover that if the cops come by before we can
clean it up.  Glad you finally woke up.  How do you feel?"

"Like hell," Kimberly answered and sat down heavily, putting the
agents' guns on the coffee table.  "Did you undress me?"  

"Yeah," Krycek said.  

She nodded and said, "Thanks.  I hate waking up in my clothes. How'd I
get here?"

"I found you out in the hall doing your street derelict impression."

Kimberly grimaced.  "I must like you more than I realized."

"Who's Kushranhara?" Alex asked.  She stared at him, then shook her
head and looked away. 

Alex said, "I have to go to Taiwan.  This is one more good reason.
Come with me."  

Kimberly smiled at him.  "That's not a very good idea.  You're carrying
out an assignment for Langland.  I might break your concentration.
Screwing up a job for him isn't healthy. Besides the fact, I might get
it in my head to sabotage whatever you're doing."

He started to say something but stopped as she held a hand up. "Don't
explain, Alex.  Maybe it's not so bad this time...maybe it is.  I don't
wanna see you doing what I can't stomach.  It'll happen sooner or
later.  I'd rather it be later."

He sat beside her and put his good arm around her shoulders and
Kimberly leaned into him.  She'd taken a shower and he kissed her clean
wet hair.  

"Okay, Kimberly."

"Can I stay here while you're gone?" she said. 

"They'll be back," Alex said, indicating the guns.     

"I'm counting on it," she murmured.  "I need something to do."

"Kimberly," Alex said softly.  She looked up at him.  "Do you want me
to change?"

She reached a hand up to stroke his cheek and said, "No, Alex. You
can't change.  I've known plenty of guys like you.  I was watching you
give it to Wilson there.  I like you just the way you are."

He looked in those amazing blue eyes.  "Okay, Kimberly."

************************************************************

"Scully..."  

"Mulder,  if you say one more time that was the best meal you've ever
had, I'll scream.  Can we just concede it was good food and please move
on," Scully said in exasperation.  

Her partner looked askance at her.  "Whoa, sorry, there.  Little
defensive aren't we?  I didn't mean to insult YOUR cooking.  You don't
have to be insecure in your femininity."

Scully looked up at his smart ass face.  "Mulder, I am not insecure in
my femininity and what the hell do you know about whether I can cook or
not?  And for the record, being a mentally unbalanced professional
killer isn't exactly classically feminine either."

Fox smiled and said, "I know, Scully.  I'm just trying to get your
goat.  It's only that that food was..."

"Will you DROP it with the food already?"  Scully exploded.  She had
gone home and tried to recreate the antepasto and wound up feeding it
to her dog.  Scully bought an eggplant too and located a recipe, but
she hadn't attempted it.  The vegetable just sat on her counter,
mocking her with its smug shiny surface as if it was saying, You? 

Mulder looked away pouting.  She said, "Maybe, I am a little insecure
about my cooking."

"You make good fudge.  I remember that, Scully."

"God, Mulder.  Can we just drop it?"

Mulder smiled, tiring of baiting her, and said, "I called a detective
in the Organized Crime Unit here.  I told him Jilly Snopes said we
should watch for crossfire."

"And?" Scully said. 

"And, he said that was good advice.  It's a strange situation.
Apparently Langland and Jilly are trying to kill each other. Maybe that
would explain that remark she made about Krycek, Scully.   Anyway, they
aren't trying to kill each other's people, but it looks like Langland's
enemies think this is their chance to make their move.  Problem is,
according to my detective, that Langland isn't even really involved in
local crime.   It's peanuts to him."

Scully was listening, analyzing what he was saying.  She said, "Jilly."

Mulder nodded, "Yep.  These guys who think it's a disorganized
operation ripe for taking, are actually moving on Jilly the Butcher.
She provides protection or something for all these numbers parlors,
drug dealers, etc.  A shipment of cocaine got jacked.  There's some
cute new crime scene photos, Scully."

Scully said "What about Professor Moriarty?"

"Well, somebody tried to blow him up." Mulder explained.

"Jilly," Scully said. 

"You'd think though it's not her style from what I know.  But the next
day the head of a big European chemical consortium and his security
chief were decapitated.  There were several other unexplained murders
that same day of company security personnel. Langland acquired 51% of
the consortium at that same time."

"Sounds like James Bond stuff," Scully said. 

"My detective said Langland has a new bodyguard they can't identify but
he was nowhere to be seen during the European incident.  I called
Kersh.  He's really into it, Scully; wants to nail Langland and is glad
to see me chasing crooks instead of spooks.  He got back to me.   The
bodyguard is this man of mystery from India or Pakistan.  Langland got
himself a new Jilly, it looks like."

"Maybe this isn't really our kind of thing, Mulder.  If it's
international we should hand it off to Interpol," Scully said. 

"You're forgetting that I really am chasing spooks here, Scully. But
Kersh doesn't want to hand it off.  He wants the Bureau to nail 'em.
So does the director apparently."

"Congratulations, Mulder.   We can all be obsessive together."

He smiled, "Not you, Scully.  You can keep us all grounded."

She nodded but was really thinking about the eggplant on her kitchen
table.  Waiting for her.  Laughing at her. 

************************************************************


"We have a new player it seems.  Krycek has forged a new alliance."
The speaker paused and drew on his cigarette.  He was speaking to a
room full of older white men in gray suits.

A heavyset man said, "Krycek is nothing but an operative.  Now he is
even less: just a criminal working for another criminal.  How does that
concern us?"  

Taking another drag, the man said, "As I've been telling you for years
now, Langland is more than a criminal.  Perhaps much, much more.  But
I'm not speaking of Langland now.  A woman was seen in Krycek's
apartment who may represent other forces."

An older man said, "We've all heard your paranoid theories about
Langland.  Perhaps that is where Mulder gets it."

The cigarette smoking man looked coldly at him.  "As you know full
well, Mulder's theories are anything but paranoid."

The heavy man spoke.  "So Krycek has betrayed Langland to another
criminal.  Again, so what.  It's probably that Snopes woman.  A simple
gang war.  You are wasting our time.  If we had listened to you years
ago we would have pursued Langland instead of uncovering the
colonization plans."

The smoking man looked down at his cigarette.  "Yes, the colonization
plan.  So frightening, so terrible that it supersedes everything else
and makes Langland, or anything, of secondary importance."

The well dressed man said, "He's babbling again that it could all be a
hoax.  He is as obsessed with Langland as Mulder is with little green
men.  Pathetic."

The heavy man said, "We will tell you again:  Do your job as we tell
you, killer, or we will find someone who can.  Don't waste resources on
Langland or some other unimportant criminals.  Do you understand?"

"I understand all of you well enough."

"I'll take that as a yes.  Don't waste our time again on this nonsense"
the well dressed man said coldly.  He looked around. "This meeting is
over."

************************************************************


It was 3:20 AM.  Mulder had his Glock ready and Scully her Walther PPK
as they quietly slipped into Krycek's apartment. The building manager
had given them peculiar looks when they showed him their identification
and they got the key from him. This wasn't strictly legal but Krycek
wasn't any normal suspect. Mulder knew that Scully was right: he did
have a hard on for Krycek; and she wanted a piece of him herself.  They
searched the darkened apartment and didn't find anything.  

They put their guns away and Scully said, "Nothing, Mulder. Maybe
somebody tipped him off."

At that moment the lights flipped on and a woman naked except for the
big pistol she held was looking at them with cold blue eyes.  

"Kimberly!" Scully said and slowly raised her hands.  Mulder followed
suit.

"What d'ya know? Real federal agents...but you didn't knock either.
Tut tut, agents.  Haven't you ever heard of the Constitution?  Janice
is right about you secret police."

"Would you like to put some clothes on?" Mulder said uncomfortably. 

"Why?  Is it hard for you?" she said with a sneer. 

"Kimberly, the Sword of Ares never harmed prisoners," Scully said. 

The woman smiled.  "You think I'm some nutball you can manipulate by
playing to my delusions.  You should get your facts straight, Agent
Scully.  The Sword of Ares killed plenty of prisoners if she thought
they deserved it; crucified 'em, buried 'em, skinned 'em alive if they
were known for doing that kind of thing to other people."

Mulder said, "Neither I or my partner have EVER skinned anyone alive."

The woman absently scratched her pubic hair and said, "I know. You're
the good guys and Krycek is the bad guy."

"Exactly!" Mulder said with relief and began to lower his hands but the
naked woman gestured with the gun to keep his hands up.

"What makes you think I'm not a bad guy?" she said with a smile. 

"Is that why you rode into the Athenian lancers?  You didn't want to be
a bad guy?" Mulder said. 

The woman stared at him without expression.  "Who told you that?"

"Jilly," Mulder said.

She shrugged and lowered the gun and set it down and just walked
unconcernedly into the kitchen, opened a cabinet and brought a bottle
out and poured a drink for herself.   Scully and Mulder looked at each
other.  

The woman came back out and sat on the couch, took a drink, and said.
"If you draw your weapons again now I'll kill you.  I don't like being
tricked.  I'm what you call an antihero.  You gotta watch characters
like me.  Sometimes we do all the wrong things for the best reasons and
vice versa."

Scully said, "That's delusional.  We are now armed and your gun is
across the room.  We have the upper hand."

Kimberly took a drink and said, "Really?  Why don't you draw your
weapon, Agent Scully.  Just know it's the last thing you or your
partner are ever gonna do."

Scully looked like she was going to call her bluff so Mulder said, "We
believe you.  Don't anger the great warlord, Scully. She is being
merciful."

Kimberly was taking a drink and coughed.  She said angrily, "Cut out
that bullshit!  What are you doin' busting in?"

Scully decided Mulder was right.  There was no reason to confront her
delusions yet.  Scully said, "We're looking for Alex Krycek."

"Why?"

"He is wanted in conjunction with a number of crimes going back years,
including murder," Mulder said.  Then added, "He may have killed my
father."

"My sister was murdered.  He didn't pull the trigger but he was
involved somehow." Scully said. 

Kimberly sighed and drained her drink.  She got up and wandered back to
the kitchen.  Mulder couldn't help but look at her ass. He winced as
Scully slugged him in the arm. 

Instead of pouring herself another drink she seemed to just be looking
at the bottle.  Mulder looked at Scully and they both walked over.  

Kimberly looked down at her naked body and back at the agents. "I used
to be really uptight.  Being a rich WASP does that to you.  Callisto
and Jilly really had fun with that.  Even Joxer. I mean they were all
pagan Greeks and just didn't have the twisted Judeo-Christian body
stuff that we do.  We can try to unlearn it, but they just didn't have
it at all.  It made me a perfect foil.  I'm glad Joxer had something
like that on me. Poor guy never had the upper hand with anybody about
anything else."

"I've heard of Callisto but not Joxer," Scully said, trying to draw her
out.  

The woman looked at her.  "He was nobody.  Just a bumbling idiot who
people barely tolerated."

"Sounds like he was somebody to you," Mulder said. 

Kimberly poured another shot and downed it.  "Yeah," she said without
looking at either of the agents, "Joxer was somebody to me."  She
brushed past them and disappeared into the bedroom.

Scully started to follow but Kimberly emerged from the bedroom in a
white bathrobe, sat down again on the couch, just leaned back and
closed her eyes.  The two agents went over to her.

"He's only out for himself, a vicious killer capable of anything.  Help
us get him," Mulder said. 

Kimberly opened her eyes and looked at him.  He felt a shiver. She
said, "I know that's what he is mostly.  I don't know how this whole
thing is gonna play out.  Maybe I'll see Alex do something and I'll
stop him.  Maybe I'll even kill him.  Or maybe I'll just go hit
Langland and go into business with Jilly with Alex as a lieutenant.
One thing I do know is that helping you two put him away is not on the
menu.  Now get lost before I call the ACLU on you for illegal entry."

Scully said, "Kimberly..." but stopped as the cold eyes turned on her. 
She continued, "You may have knowledge of the whereabouts of a
fugitive, Alex Krycek.  You're coming with us. Get dressed."

Mulder didn't saying, carefully watching the dark woman.

Kimberly said, "You read about the Sword of Ares, right?  At the
library?"

"No, I did a search on the net."

Kimberly looked slightly confused.  "The what?  Oh, wait a
minute...yeah.  God, that was so long ago.  Agent Scully, I'm not going
anywhere with you.  You should really consider what you read before you
cross me."

"You aren't the Sword of Ares.  That's a delusion.  You need help.
Knowing Krycek he's using you somehow, pretending to believe you,"
Scully said. 

Mulder was looking nervously from one to the other.  He had largely
accepted Scully's interpretation.  But even IF Kimberly WASN'T who she
said, she still might possess the skills to go with her delusion as
Jilly did.  This could be a far more dangerous person than Scully
seemed willing to consider.  

"Scully, let's go," he said.  His partner looked at him furiously. 

"Smart of you," Kimberly said. 

Scully lost her patience and said, "Mulder, she's a witness and is
coming with us!"  She reached for her gun. 

Mulder said, "Don't!" just as he saw Kimberly seem to burst up off the
couch in defiance of gravity and grab Scully by the throat and plant a
foot in his own face.  Then he didn't remember anything. 

************************************************************

"Hail, brave one!  Agent of justice and seeker of truth!"

Mulder groaned at the voice and opened his eyes.  "SHIT!" He
frantically scrambled away but there was a rocky wall behind him.
Looking around he saw craggy mountains some of which glowed like
volcanoes.  It was dark but a huge bonfire nearby provided light.
Scully was lying not far from where he had been.  She was naked, her
fair skin yellow in the fire light.  Mulder didn't have anything on
either.  He looked in terror at who or what had been speaking to him.
It was a hideous monster.  An actual honest-to-God monster with lumpy,
mottled, scaly skin and a long tail.  It seemed to be on four thick
crooked legs, but also had a pair of big powerful pincers.  For a head,
except for a pair of tusks, a relatively ordinary bald old man's face
just emerged from this hideous body.  It smiled up at Mulder
ingratiatingly then waddled over to Scully and tickled her nose with
the end of his tail.

"Get away from her!" Mulder said almost hysterically.   The old face
looked back at him and winked.  Scully opened her eyes and screamed.
She was right beside Mulder in seconds, both of them staring at this
hideous apparition smiling benignly up at them. 

"Hail, wise one!  Your beauty and skill are only matched by your zeal!"

Mulder and Scully were flattened against the rock wall and breathing
raggedly in fear.  They caught each other's eyes.  

Scully gulped and said, "I have to be dreaming, Mulder."  She covered
her breasts and crotch awkwardly.

"Certainly hope so, Scully," her partner said. 

The creature turned its low slung heavy muscular body surprisingly
quickly and called out, "Master, the two watchmen are awake."

A young appearing, elegant crowned figure in black walked up. "Thank
you, Helms."

"Serving you is my only joy, kind master!" the monster said and rubbed
his bald head against a black clad leg. 

"Mortal stupidity just continues to amaze me.  You two are supposedly
intelligent and competent.  But then when one of the most dangerous
people who's ever lived tells you if you draw a weapon on her she will
kill you both, you go ahead and do it anyway.  You two are lucky I got
you out when I did.  She was doing you both fast, getting it over with.
She didn't particularly want to kill you but she had told you she
would. Somebody like Kimberly has a reputation to maintain.  She knows
at least I'm watching her, probably Ares too...who knows who else?  She
can't afford to say she'll do something like that and then not do it.
I'll straighten it out for you though it's not something I intend to
make a habit of."  

"Thanks.  Who are you?" Mulder said.

Hades reached down to keep Helms from leaping at Mulder and tearing him
apart.  "It's all right.  There's no reason he should know."  The demon
gnashed its teeth in fury and glared at Mulder who unconsciously pulled
Scully in front of him. 

"Sorry.." he said embarrassed, at the look she gave him as she jerked
away.

Helms said, "Ignorant clay!  This is Great Hades, Lord of Life and
Death, Master of Tartarus and the Elysian Fields!  Remember that!"

"Nicely said, Helms," Hades said.

"Oh, thank you, Master!" Helms said looking up at the god.  

"Helms, go supervise those earthquake victims who are arriving. Judy
died in one herself and might get talked into something she shouldn't."

The demon glared at Mulder again and then bounded off.  

Hades looked after him and shook his head then looked back at Mulder
and Scully.  "Wish he was more independent.  He's smart enough and even
has good judgment when he's not going overboard because of his loyalty.
I keep trying to give Helms more responsibility but he just can't seem
to handle it.  He feels terrible when he fails but it's my fault for
asking too much of him.  For instilling terror or just ripping enemies
to pieces he's marvelous.  Well, you saw.  Just now he practically
frightened you to death.  Both of you are still shaking and Helms
didn't lay a claw on you."

Hades studied Scully and she felt new fear as she saw something come in
his eyes.  Against her will the hands she was using to cover herself
moved to her sides and she felt completely exposed.  Then Hades shook
his head.  "Persephone would have my godly gonads for breakfast.  My
brother can have a home life like that but not me," he said.  


Scully opened her eyes and found herself in her own bed.  She looked
over at the clock and saw the alarm was close to going off so she
reached over and turned it off and just got up.  That was some kind of
dream.  She'd decide whether to share it with Mulder or not.  That
being naked with him...you could interpret that different ways.  She
went to her desk and glanced at her notes, and was disappointed to see
the case was real.  The entire thing wasn't some dream.  

When she arrived at the office Mulder was already there with a cup of
coffee.  He seemed a little self-conscious when he looked at her.  

"What's wrong, Mulder?" she asked. 

"Nothing, Scully.  Just a stupid dream."

She didn't say anything but nodded and looked away.  

There was a knock on his office door which then opened up. "Excuse me."

Mulder and Scully both had sharp intakes of breath.  The speaker was a
bald old man who smiled ingratiatingly at them.  He was short and
stocky and in a gray suit and had a red tie with little hourglasses on
it.  

"Can I help you?" Mulder said weakly.  He glanced down at Scully who
was pale. 

"I'm here to help you, Agent Mulder.  And you, Agent Scully."

"Do we know you?" Scully asked. 

The old man smiled and said, "I'm Helms.  Surely I don't look that
different.  My kind master wants me to protect you.  There are future
plans for you it seems, and it wouldn't do for you to be killed by
Great Kimberly, Terrible Jilly or that crafty King Langland."

"Oh," Scully said.  "I thought you looked familiar but just wasn't
sure."

"Nice suit," Mulder said.  Helms beamed up at him. 

Helms said, "I will await you outside, brave ones."  The old man smiled
and left their office.  

Scully looked at Mulder.  "Do you have any theories about this, because
I would be very interested in hearing them."

"Only that I'm dreaming, Scully."

"That's what I said to you in MY dream.  It sounds even worse when you
say it.  Mulder, I'm waiting for you to say that everything in the
dream was real.  That everything Jilly and Kimberly claim is real."
Scully was stressed.  She kept hoping for a rabbit with a watch to
appear so she could be sure it was a dream. 

Mulder said, "What can I say, Scully?  You convinced me earlier that
they were crazy.  If we ignore the dream, then we can say Helms is just
one more member of this cult or whatever it is. Maybe Covington
hypnotized us or something."

"That old woman is your villain?  God, Mulder.  This is all just too
much.  Even your aliens and conspiracies are better than pagan gods and
their gophers running around," Scully said.

Mulder smiled.  "At last.  You finally appreciate me!"

Scully was frowning at the floor.  She looked up.  "Let's take Helms to
Jilly's restaurant.  Just see what happens.  Stir things up."

Mulder.  "Ooo, Scully.  I love it when you get wild and crazy that
way."

"Shut up, Mulder." 

************************************************************

This time they had reservations and were shown quickly to a table for
three. Jilly was already on the floor in another beautiful dress.  They
saw her grin when they came in.  She came over.  

"Fox, Dana....Helms," she said.  There was a glitter in her eyes when
she looked at the old man.  

Mulder to his amazement saw Helms seemed nervous.  He said, "Hail,
mistress of death and delight of Ares' heart...I bring greetings from
my master."

Jilly sat down and looked at the two FBI agents.  "This is unexpected. 
Something is definitely going on with you two. Helms here tried to kill
me when I was a little girl."

"Exalted one," he said. "You know I only was serving my great lord who
desired your fine spirit to reside with him."

"Yeah, I know.  That's blood down the drain.  Whatcha doing with a
couple of cops?  Moonlighting?"

Helms laughed too much at the joke as Jilly continued watching him with
cold eyes.  Mulder and Scully felt like she had about as much interest
in them as a pair of stale bread sticks.  

"Great warrior, I am here to see they come to no harm."

Jilly listened then looked back at them.  She said, "Maybe Langland had
it wrong.  Maybe it's you two the gods are interested in and I can go
ahead and flay Krycek."

"Why would you want to kill Alex Krycek?" Mulder asked.  

"Like I told you, that's your job," Jilly said sweetly. 

Scully said, "I'm a doctor, Ms. Snopes.."

"Call me, Jilly.  So what?"

"All right, Jilly.  I just wanted to tell you that Paul Cerruti's
condition is anything but hopeless.  I spoke to his physicians.  He may
have some residuals but nothing that would force him to be
institutionalized."

Mulder felt the air get electric.  Helms was watching Jilly closely.
Fox wondered if he would just turn back into a monster if the need
arose.  The blonde woman's eyes had gotten wide and her pupils
contracted.  

"What do you know about Paulie?"

Scully was careful herself.  She hadn't talked to Mulder about this.
Scully had talked to the same Organized Crime detective Mulder had.
The fact that someone was in the hospital for natural causes didn't
strike Mulder as particularly noteworthy. Scully had investigated it
though and found how far back the patient went with Jilly.  "Mr.
Cerruti worked for your father, Cal Snopes.  From what I know the rift
with Langland followed soon after Mr. Cerruti's stroke."

Jilly got to her feet.  "Dana...don't spring stuff on me.  It's not a
safe thing to do.  Sometimes I do things I regret later. Langland has
twenty spare sets of dentures and six pins in him various places for
that very reason."

Scully said, "I'll remember that.  I wanted to tell you that there
doesn't seem to be anything suspicious.  I spoke to his cardiologist
and neurologist and Mr. Cerruti had high risk factors for
cerebrovascular accident, including his father and uncle."

"I didn't know that but it doesn't change anything.  Langland always
makes it look good.  Thanks for your concern," Jilly said, then waved a
waitress over.  "Don't charge 'em.  Bring 'em whatever you think is
good tonight."  She looked back at Helms. "You wanna talk to me alone
about anything?"

The old man smiled ingratiatingly.  "I cannot leave my charges, great
one."  

Jilly nodded and walked back to her office.

************************************************************

Krycek had been getting what news he could of what was going on back in
the States during his time in Taiwan.  He found a computer he could use
to go on the net.  There were gangland killings occurring but that
didn't really tell him anything.  If Langland were killed it would make
news in the financial pages so that hadn't happened.  Alex just
methodically went about arranging for his target to be caught
embezzling.  The man was innocent apparently so it was a little tricky.
Krycek was curious about the situation.  This man was anything but
innocent in other ways, being a regular visitor to brothels which
specialized in innocent young country girls from Thailand.  Alex found
evidence his man had actually killed one once.  It made him incredibly
vulnerable but that wasn't what Langland and Jilly wanted; they wanted
him nailed for embezzlement.  Some arcane financial dealings, Alex
assumed, and went about framing him. 


As Krycek came off the loading ramp he saw a tall figure in a
motorcycle jacket.  He hadn't told anyone he was coming back but that
she found out wasn't really surprising.  He was glad to see her.  Alex
hadn't been with a woman, or a man, for the three weeks he had been
away.  There were plenty of opportunities but he found he just kept
thinking of her. 

Kimberly kissed him as he walked up to her.  "How was your flight,
honey?" 

"Okay," he said with a smile.  He'd left his Ferrari with her and now
they began walking out to where it was parked. 

"Kill who you went for?" she said lightly.

He looked at her.  "I thought you didn't want to know what I was doing?
And, no, as a matter of fact, I didn't kill anybody.  I set up somebody
who you would've done a lot worse to."

"Good for you," she said.  Kimberly began going to the driver's side
then tossed him the car keys and got in the passenger side.

"What's up, Kimberly?" he said as he took the sports car onto the
expressway, sensing something from her manner.

"Mulder and Scully came to your apartment looking for you."

Alex digested that for a moment.  "What happened?" he said.

"We talked for a while.  Then I tried to kill 'em but they disappeared
into thin air.  Have you eaten yet?  I thought we might go by Jilly's. 
I haven't been to see her yet; been nervous about it.  Mother/daughter
stuff.  Maybe I can square things between you two.  Assuming you didn't
poison Paulie that is.  I sure hope you didn't, Alex."

"What do you mean they disappeared?" Alex said tensely, then added, "I
didn't do anything to Paulie except kick his ass once to set him
straight."

Kimberly said, "I'm glad to hear that.  I didn't think you did. I don't
think Langland did it, though I understand where Jilly might think so. 
He'd never push her over the line that way.  He's too smart.
Unfortunately for him, Jilly doesn't always operate from logic.  Funny
as hell, I've gotta say."

"Mulder and Scully?" Alex said, though tried to keep the irritation
from his voice.  Kimberly was no one to piss off as he'd come to find
out.  

She looked over at him and smiled.  "Sorry, babe.  They disappeared.
You're gonna see a lotta weird stuff now that you're involved with us. 
I can tell you what probably happened but you won't believe me."

"Try me," Alex said.

"A god took them to save them.  Coulda been anybody though I'd look at
Hades first since he's my boss.  Even if it was someone else they'd
probably clear it with him first.   Nobody but Ares or Zeus would have
the cajones to screw with Hades like that. Rescuing cops isn't exactly
Ares' style though and Zeus has more important things to do."

Alex didn't say anything.  

"Told ya," Kimberly said and chuckled.  

Alex looked over at her.  "Mind if we stop at my place before we go out
to eat?"

"Sure, why?" she said. 

Alex smiled at her.  

Kimberly reached over to stroke his short brown hair, and said, "Okay,
lover."

Krycek sensed something and glanced over at Kimberly who was also
alert.  He floored accelerator just as the shot took out the rear
window.  

Kimberly was looking behind them.  She had her big Beretta out. "It's a
white Bronco with two men.  I see a rifle barrel."

Krycek nodded as he made a screeching turn and shot onto the on-ramp.
The Bronco followed.  The red Ferrari was going 148 miles an hour and
they were leaving the Bronco behind.  He said, "I'd like to know who
the hell just tried to kill me."

Kimberly said, "Let'em catch up, keep moving so we don't get shot."

Alex nodded and slowed the sports car, weaving as if he had a blown
tire so they wouldn't be suspicious.  In the rearview mirror he saw the
white Bronco gaining quickly.  

"Come to mama," Kimberly said with a cold smile.  She rolled her window
down and the wind whipped her black hair wildly.  Krycek seemed to be
losing control of the car.  The white Bronco was right beside them, the
rifle barrel extending out the window, and then Kimberly was no longer
in the Ferrari but was holding onto the side of Bronco and reaching
inside.  Krycek saw the rifle bouncing on the freeway in the mirror.
Looking quickly he saw a splash of red on the windshield of the Bronco.
A moment later Kimberly was behind the wheel.  Krycek headed for an out
of the way place he knew. Luckily there weren't any cars nearby to
witness any of what happened.  

The Bronco pulled up behind the Ferrari in a secluded spot. Alex
quickly ran to it.   Kimberly was holding her Beretta on two men, one
of whom had a bloody head wound.  Alex saw a bullet hole in the roof.
Krycek opened the passenger door and dragged out the wounded man who
moaned and collapsed.  Then he hauled out the other man, keeping his
own gun on him as Kimberly got out and came walking around.  The
standing man had his hands up and was licking his lips nervously.
Kimberly said, "Who do you work for?"  They were Latinos.  

"The Puyanas," he answered.  Kimberly looked at Krycek who nodded. 

Alex said, "Were you after me or her?"

When he didn't answer Krycek walked over to the wounded man and put his
gun in his mouth. Alex looked up.   

"They know you work for Langland.  Don't hurt my brother."

Krycek said, "How did you know what flight I was on."

The man answered, "We've just been watching the airport.  They figured
you'd be back."  

Alex nodded and pulled the trigger.  

"Dios Mio!" the standing man cried out and lowered his hands. Kimberly
kicked and he fell moaning to the ground.  

Alex came over and knelt down and held his bloody gun to the man's
face.

"Alex.." Kimberly said warningly.  He glanced up at her.   

Krycek said, "Take us to the Puyana brothers.  They owe me a new rear
window for the one you shot out."

"What about my brother?" the man said fearfully.

Kimberly said, "He isn't going anywhere.  Maybe you can come back later
for him if you do what you're told.  Come on. I'll ride with you again.
Let's pay a visit to these Puyanas."

************************************************************

"Jesus!"  Krycek said.  He and Kimberly, with the man wedged between
them had came to the house their prisoner said was the headquarters of
the Puyanas.  The door was unlocked.  Kimberly had an amused expression
on her face and just casually walked inside.  

The walls were covered in blood.  Three heads were arranged along a
counter with flowers in their teeth.  The headless bodies were on
stools in front of them.  Six other bodies in various degrees of
dismemberment were also arranged about the house as if they were
playing cards, doing laundry or cleaning the bathroom.  

"That's my girl," Kimberly said with a laugh.  

Krycek felt queasy.  Indicating the heads, Alex said to the prisoner,
"Rafael, Jose and Jorge Puyana?"  

The man nodded and began to shake. 

Alex said, "Hey."  When he looked up Alex hit him in the throat and he
fell choking.  "He saw me kill his brother," Alex said to Kimberly who
had an inscrutable expression then nodded in the direction of the door.
Kimberly and Krycek quietly made their way out of the house.  They
carefully wiped down the Bronco for Kimberly's fingerprints then sped
away in the Ferrari.

Both Alex and Kimberly were breathing hard as they reached his
apartment.  Their lips were locked together as they tore off their
clothes and didn't even make it to the bedroom. 


************************************************************

Ahmat was studying Langland.  He knew what was coming.  It was just a
matter of time.  Now might be it.  For weeks his genius employer had
been getting more and more quiet.  He'd taken to staring blankly out
windows or at walls instead of corrupting foreign politicians, studying
oceanographic charts, or writing articles under one pseudonym or
another for one of a thousand scientific journals.  Ahmat had been
debating how to handle it.  

Langland was sitting behind  his desk looking out the thick bulletproof
plate glass window.  He spun around and looked at Ahmat who had put
down his ever present crossword puzzle and seemed to be waiting. 

"You're too smart for what you do, Ahmat.  Why aren't you more
ambitious?" Langland asked. 

The man said, "Why should I want the headaches you have?  I'm surprised
you don't have ulcers."

Langland glanced away.  Ahmat laughed.  "I thought so.  I should be
like you and burn out my stomach lining with stress?  I don't think
so."

Langland smiled slightly, "You don't think you're in a high stress
occupation?"

Ahmat said, "Not like you are.  I'm not carrying the world economy and
geopolitical stability, or lack of, on my shoulders. I just kill who I
have to, go home and sleep like a baby...unless somebody tries to kill
me.  I'm a light sleeping baby."

Langland shook his head sadly.  "I'm gonna pay you off, Ahmat. Want me
to deposit your money somewhere or just write you a check for twenty-
million dollars."

Ahmat said, "Just like that?  You're going to let her kill you, just
like that?"

"She won't kill me.  We'll get back together," Langland said.

"Bullshit.  She's kept up a steady stream of those little jokes.
Bullets for me to push you out of the way off.  Bombs for me to
intercept.  Even that ridiculous poison snake.  Did she see that in a
Fu Manchu movie or something?"

"Yeah.  Revenge of Fu Manchu, I think," Langland said nostalgically.
"Pretty funny, you've gotta admit."

"Poison snakes are no joke where I come from," Ahmat said.  "You know
her and you think she's going stop fooling around now. She's going to
really come after you and you'd rather die than let me save you by
killing her."

Langland said, "The only problem there, Ahmat, is your assumption you
CAN kill her.  But aside from that, you're right. I don't want to take
the chance you can beat her.  I can't hurt Jilly."  

"She intends on killing you, probably painfully, though I doubt she'd
go through with that part of it.  She'll just break your neck or stab
you in the heart when the time comes," Ahmat said.  

Langland shrugged in response. 

Ahmat stood up.  "Just write me a check.  I'll stick around and keep
you alive.  I won't go after her."

Langland was mystified.  "You're a professional.  You've got your
money.  Move on."

Ahmat studied him.  "I talked to Jilly right after you hired me,
Langland. Did you know that?  Stupid question.  Of course, you did.
Anyway we talked a little about you and why she didn't believe you.
Jilly says you don't understand loyalty. She knows you love her in your
way but you can't understand how she feels about Paulie."

"That's ridiculous. I completely understand how she feels. That's why I
hired you,"  Langland said with irritation.

Ahmat shook his head.  "I know what she meant now.  You understand in
your head how she would feel.  But you don't really feel it.  You don't
feel anything except when it comes to Jilly, and maybe science.  The
only reason you wouldn't kill Paulie is that Jilly told you not to.
Maybe you were even going to ask her to carry it out for you.  That he
had worked for you for years and trusted you would just make him easier
to get to."

"So?" Langland said.  

"So, you hired me to keep you alive and aren't thinking clearly now,
which I'm sure is a new experience for you.  I intend to protect you
because I'm a professional and you paid me.  It's not something you can
understand.  Don't worry about it.  If it comes to letting you die or
killing Jilly, I promise I'll let you die.  It's the only human thing
about you and I wouldn't take that from you."

Langland studied the big man then he said, "Okay. Thanks."

Ahmat sat back down and picked his crossword puzzle back up. "You're
welcome, Langland."



Chapter 6



Ahmat stood up quickly.  Langland was still lost in the article he was
writing about recent advances in carbon dating techniques.  Without a
word Ahmat reached across the desk and picked Langland up and ran with
him to the office door, slamming it behind them as the entire building
shuddered and the reinforced door buckled.  Langland picked himself up
from where Ahmat had dropped him.  He ran a hand through his long hair
and looked curiously at the door and at his bodyguard.  The big man was
listening carefully.  He drew a small gun and yanked the door open
after a few tries and looked inside seeing what he expected.  A small
plane had crashed through the window behind Langland's desk and now was
wedged inside.  Ahmat carefully studied the cockpit and scanned the
room, then put his gun away and walked closer followed by Langland who
studied the shambles of his office.  

Langland looked at the plane and said, "Remote controlled.  It's not
what I usually think of as Jilly's style."

Ahmat glanced at him.  "Looks like she's finally stopped fooling
around.  Unless this also rates as a joke."

Langland smiled slightly.  "Probably sorta both.  She wouldn't be
surprised you saved me, but also wouldn't have been surprised if it
killed me.  I think you were right.  She's not trying to get me to
personally torture.  I'm really touched by that."

Ahmat looked at him.  "Sending a plane into your office to turn you
into a stain on the wall rates as a valentine?"

Langland said, "It does compared to what I've seen her do."

************************************************************

Mulder looked down at Helms sitting beside him.  He was eating another
hotdog covered in chili and onions.  "Aren't you sick of those yet?"
Mulder asked, putting a sunflower seed in his own mouth. 

The old man finished it and smacked his lips.  "No, brave one. I have
simple tastes I must confess.  I understand that Terrible Jilly is as
fine at cooking as she is at killing, but that is too much for a simple
servant like me.  When I have the chance to sample mortal fare this is
much more to my taste."

"Don't you eat usually?" Scully asked from the other side of Helms,
feeling like an idiot. 

The bald old man smiled at her and said, "Not in Tartarus, wise one.
Only when I visit the world of mortals for my great lord. It has been
several hundred years.  The last time was during the Black Death and
the food was terrible.  That's what I remember most.  I slew a company
of soldiers and the manor they served, but I can't recall any details
beyond that.  But that foul concoction they were passing off as
food...phew!  Everyone who could cook had perished apparently."

Scully said, "1348?"

Helms answered, "1349, wise one.  It was well underway when my kind
lord sent me to do his bidding."

"Scully," Mulder said tensely.  

She and Helms both followed his gaze.  They were sitting on a bench not
far from the food vendor and across from a bank.  As they watched they
saw four men march determinedly into the bank. All wore Halloween masks
and carried guns and sacks.  

"Brave ones..." Helms began to say, but they ignored him as they drew
their weapons and began making their way across the street. 


"Call 911!  Tell 'em there's a bank robbery in progress and two FBI
agents are on the scene," Scully shouted to a woman with a baby
carriage looking fearfully at her.  

Leroy was waiting for the others when before he knew it two guns were
pointing at him and he was being hauled out of the car and handcuffed
to the door.    As the two plainclothes cops left to begin working
their way toward the bank, Leroy saw an old man coming toward him.
What the hell was this? 

Helms studied the highwayman his charges had already apprehended so
well.  They were very brave and skillful he had seen, and operated
under rules which required them to take risks he certainly thought were
excessive.  Anything he did for his wonderful lord Hades was an honor
but protecting these fine young mortal watchmen was especially good
since they had the hearts of heroes.  Although neither had the skills
to be a favorite such as Xena and her descendants, they nevertheless
had noble brave souls and protecting them was a pleasure for an ancient
demon such as Helms. 

"Tell me of your accomplices inside.  How dangerous are they?" Helms
asked.

"Fuck off, you old fart!  I don't say anything without a lawyer," Leroy
said with disgust.  He was thinking about what his wife would say when
she heard he was arrested again. 

Helms reached for the highwayman's hand which was shackled to the
chariot.  He let his own hand change back into a pincer and began
squeezing.  He was holding his other hand over the fool's mouth.
Although it looked human it had the strength to rip his jawbone off. 

"Answer me, dog.  You don't know what pain is," Helms said with his
usual ingratiating smile. 

The two agents caught each others' eyes then went in the bank door
quickly with their guns in the prescribed two-handed grip. Mulder
glimpsed something moving quickly in his peripheral vision.  The bank
customers were all on the floor.  "FBI!" Mulder yelled.  A machine gun
held by a tall man wearing a Darth Vader mask swept toward him, but
before he could fire Mulder saw a hideous form leap on the man and tear
the machine gun from his grasp.  Mulder heard a shot from Scully and
saw another robber fall.  The two other bank robbers were firing at the
creature as it leapt from the mangled form of the one with machine gun
at them.  Scully witnessed the head of one man in a pirate mask seem to
just collapse as a pincer closed on it.  The other who had a Spiderman
mask dropped his shotgun screaming as a tusk ripped his belly open.

Mulder and Scully watched as the hideous demon turned to look at them
with its blood covered old man's face, then bounded away and out the
door.  The two agents carefully walked up to examine the bodies but
there wasn't much for them to do now except wait for the regular
police.  They could hear sirens getting closer. The rest of the bank
patrons were getting shakily to their feet, talking confusedly of what
happened. 

"Scully," Mulder said in a low voice, "I think we should just say it
seemed a concerned citizen set his dog on 'em and then ran away.  We
can't say Hades sent a demon to protect us. They'll lock US up."

The small woman was looking at the mangled form of the first robber
Helms had attacked.  "I think you're right, Mulder," she said just as
uniformed police burst in and yelled for them to drop their guns. 

Hours later when the two agents finally emerged from the Police Station
the old man was waiting by their car.  "Hail, brave ones!"

Mulder said, "We had the situation under control, Helms." Scully was
looking closely at the old figure. 

Helms answered, "That may well be, but I learned they were most
dangerous men and I am here to keep you from harm.  I did my duty just
as you did yours, oh noble ones."  He spoke in a wheedling tone.

Mulder was going to say something else but Scully just said, "Yeah,
sure, whatever.  Let's go.  I've gotta feed my dog and want to take a
hot bath."  She got in the driver's side.  Helms and Mulder looked at
each other and shrugged and got in the car.

************************************************************

Ahmat looked around the office he had prepared for Langland to move
into.  The bodyguard pressed his wristwatch and steel plate shuttered
down over the windows.  "All right," he said and Langland came
sauntering in looking at the windows.  

"Charming," Langland said.  Ahmat glanced at him and frowned. 

"It'll protect you from anything like that plane again.  You've got a
living apartment through there.  You never have to leave. I'll start
watching for atomic bombs," he said.  "Oh, the Wanli sent an assassin
after you."

Langland said, "They did?  I always got along fine with Lin."

"She thinks without Jilly she can take you out.  Just business," Ahmat
said. 

The handsome man sighed and said.  "Have you done anything yet?"

"The assassin is dead. Another team might be somewhere though. Want me
to go after Lin?  Langland, are you even listening to me?"

"Do whatever you think is best, Ahmat," Langland said.

"Snap out of it!  Jilly doesn't need to get to you.  She's already
killed you," Ahmat said angrily. 

"You're right, Ahmat.  Yeah, go kill Lin.  Long as you're there take
out Quan Chun and Li Shao Sho.  It was probably their idea. Leave now,"
Langland spoke briskly.

Ahmat nodded and said, "That's more like it.  I'll take care of the
second team when I get back.  Just stay here.  Don't leave this room
without me."

Langland said, "Goodby, Ahmat."  

The big man looked at Langland, something about the tone making him
uncomfortable.  "I mean it, Langland.  Stay here."

Langland shrugged and said, "I heard you.  You better get going."

Ahmat said, "Goodby, Langland."

************************************************************


"What is it?" Alex asked Kimberly.  She had stopped walking and was
scanning the evening street. 

"Not sure, yet.  I feel something.  Let's get a drink, maybe it'll come
to me."

Krycek shrugged.  He was tired of her constant drinking but his father
had been an alcoholic.  Maybe that was part of why he got along so well
with her.  He knew better than to get in an argument over it.  She
headed for the dive bar again.  Alex smiled slightly following her.
Kimberly had a self-destructive side that was fascinating.  

They stepped inside the bar and both saw him simultaneously. Kimberly
and Krycek caught each other's eyes.  He said, "It has to be a trap."
The woman didn't say anything but was carefully scanning the room.  


"Let's say, hello," she finally said quietly to Alex.  They walked over
to the table where the handsome man was sitting alone with a drink with
ice in front of him.  He looked up with a smile. 

"Ah, Alex, and my mother-in-law.  When I learned you two were an item,
I confess I was amazed.  Please join me."

Krycek felt like he was walking on a tightrope.  He looked around.
Langland couldn't just be sitting by himself vulnerable in a bar.  It
wasn't only Jilly out to get him after all.  Practically everyone who
had ever had anything to do with him even remotely wanted to kill him. 
Alex counted himself in that.  He was furious at finding himself in the
middle as he had between Langland and Jilly.  There was also the little
matter that his arm had been cut off thanks to Langland's smokescreen.

Kimberly sat down and looked up at Alex.  She could see how tense he
was.  She didn't blame him.  Langland gave her the creeps and she was
much closer to his level than an errand boy like Alex Krycek.  "Have a
seat," she said.  Kimberly was sitting across from Langland but Alex
sat beside him, where he could kill him in a second if Langland really
was vulnerable.

The almost pretty man glanced over at Krycek ironically.  "Alex, I told
you before you should be on my side.  If you take Jilly my body there's
no telling what she'll do.  Maybe reward you, maybe kill you fast,
maybe kill you slow.  She's a moody girl. Without me to calm her down
who knows what kind of trouble she'll get in."

Kimberly picked up Langland's drink and sniffed it.  "Since when did
you drink whiskey?  I thought a glass of chardonnay once a week was
pushing it for you."

Langland softly smiled and took his glass back from her hand. "I'm
surprised you haven't killed me yet, Kimberly.  You've wanted to for
years.  Jilly's not here to stop you...she wouldn't even if she was."

"Where's Ahmat?" Kimberly asked.  She didn't like this. Langland knew
what his life expectancy was these days without his bodyguard.  She
hated him but that he would passively kill himself out of love for her
daughter...it wasn't quite the Langland she had always wanted to cut
into a hundred pieces. Kimberly looked at Alex and made a quick
movement.  

"What are you doing?" Alex whispered angrily.  He had decided to just
break Langland's neck.  He'd worry about the witnesses later; just kill
'em all if he had to.  But Kimberly had intercepted his prosthetic arm
before it smashed into Langland's amused face.  

"Not yet," Kimberly whispered back at him and released his wrist.  He
looked furious and she knew how he felt: just like she had when Jilly
had stopped her from killing him.  Langland was sipping his drink
calmly.  He'd known what Krycek was doing but hadn't tried to stop him.
Langland just didn't care anymore.  Kimberly also knew how he felt.
She'd never experienced that with Langland before.  He had always
seemed like he wasn't even the same species as far as she was
concerned. 

Kimberly heard the door burst open behind her and without hesitating
she drew her Beretta 9 mm and rolled away on the floor.  She fired
twice and heard Krycek's gun bark three times. They got to their feet
and looked at the three swarthy dead men with Ouzis.  The bartender and
other patrons were scrambling out the door.  Alex's heart was pounding.
He looked at Kimberly who was studying the dead men.  Alex looked back
and saw Langland still sitting unconcernedly at the table.  He sipped
his drink, stood up and walked over.  

"The Mossad, I imagine," Langland said easily.

"Israelis?" Kimberly said.

"They're Modi'in, Army Intelligence.  I worked with Yuri once," Krycek
said tensely.  

Langland said to him, "That's right, Yakov was transferred over that
stupid business about his wife's cousin.  Relax, Alex. They were after
me, not you.  You were just carrying out my orders.  You don't rate
this."  He looked earnestly in Kimberly's eyes.  "You saved me,
Kimberly.  That's twice in just a couple of minutes."  There was a
mocking edge to his voice.  

Kimberly looked at Alex who seemed like a coiled spring, with his eyes
darting around and his gun ready.  She turned back to Langland.  "They
were gonna spray the table.  We didn't do it to save you."

Langland shrugged and said, "I know.  But you still saved me. What
would Cal say?"  He finished the drink and went behind the bar and
picked up a bottle.  Kimberly walked over and took it out of his hand. 
He looked curiously at her.  

She said, "If you're gonna start drinking at least do it right. This is
crap."  She put it back and found a bottle of Chivas Regal.  "Here,
Langland."  She set three shot glasses out, filled them, and picked one
up.  Alex came over and took one. Langland smiled slightly and picked
up the remaining shot glass. Krycek and Kimberly both threw the shots
down.  Langland followed suit and began coughing. 

The dark woman looked at his red face.  "Go back in your bunker,
Langland.  This isn't your style.  I'll even make sure you get there
okay."

Alex remained quiet watching the exchange.  He knew he was out of his
league. 

The slender too good looking man set the shotglass down and refilled
it.  This time he just sipped it.   He looked at her ironically, "Don't
let the door hit you on the ass on the way out."

"Let's go, Kimberly," Krycek said.  She looked at him then back at
Langland who was going back to his table with the shot glass and the
bottle of Chivas.

"Yeah, okay.  Goodby, Langland," Kimberly said. 

Langland sat down and just waved at her.  She and Alex left the bar and
began walking back in the direction of Alex's apartment. They could
hear sirens coming to investigate the shots, but they turned and
stepped into shadows and watched as two cars came screeching up and
five Asian men ran into the bar.  Machine gun fire lit up the doorway. 
After a pause there was another burst of fire, then another.  A moment
later the men dashed out, got back into the waiting cars and drove off
with squealing tires.  

"Kimberly..." Alex said.   He was looking at her face, not being able
to read her expression.  

"Come on, let's get outta here," she said abruptly.

************************************************************

Three squad cars arrived simultaneously and the officers waited outside
a moment assessing the situation then went into the bar fast with their
weapons drawn.  

They relaxed when they saw it was all over apparently.  Three dead
males in their twenties and thirties, possibly of Middle Eastern
extraction, were just inside the doorway, and another dead male of
indeterminate age across the room.  He was shot up so bad it was hard
to see anything but that he had longish brown hair and was slender.  No
way to tell if he'd been good looking or ugly as a toad.  An unarmed
Caucasian female in her twenties was sitting there holding his head in
her lap like he was asleep.  She was stroking his hair.  His blood was
all over her elegant white dress.   

The cops looked at each other.  The sergeant nodded at a female
officer.  A lot of times they were better at dealing with stuff like
this.  Officer Janet Johnson holstered her weapon, though the other
officers kept theirs trained on the woman.  

"Honey, Honey..." the black policewoman said, carefully approaching
her.  The woman looked up at her.  "Can you tell us what happened here?
Who did this?  Is this your husband?"

Pallas Athene looked up then back down at her favorite.  She answered
calmly, "No, he is not my husband.  I am a chaste goddess.  His enemies
did this.  He had many enemies but he could have outwitted them as
always if he had cared to.  You mortals live in so much pain..so much
pain."  She rose and picked the limp bloody form up like it was
weightless.  

"Put him down, mam.  We'll take care of him for you," the Officer said.
She'd seen stuff like this before. People crazy with grief, refusing to
give up their loved one's bodies.  Dogs would do that too with their
dead masters.  She was shocked at what the woman said.

"You have a fine heart, Janet Johnson.  But you have it backwards.  I
am the mistress and Langland my loyal dog.  He was my sly dissembler,
as fine as in his way as Odysseus or the Warrior Princess.  I've lost
him twice now...my beautiful man. He wanted me to save him before but I
could not.  This time I could but he did not want it."

"Put him down, mam," Officer Johnson repeated.

The woman looked at her and the policewoman had never seen such perfect
features or such deep gray eyes that seemed to bore into her soul.  She
said, "Be sure to wear a bulletproof vest tomorrow.  You will need it. 
Farewell."   The elegant woman and the bloody corpse she held seemed to
shatter into a thousand mirrored shards which tumbled away in all
directions.  

"Shit!"  "What the fuck!"  "Christ!" the police officers exclaimed.  

************************************************************

Mulder answered his cell phone and waved Scully over as he listened,
finally saying, "Yes, sir.  No, it wasn't what I wanted either but it's
no loss.  All right."   He slipped his phone back in his pocket and
said, "Langland's dead."

Scully said, "Jilly?"

"Maybe.  Maybe not.  He was in a bar and got shot and a mystery woman
took his body.  Witnesses say a man and a woman matching the
description of Kimberly and Krycek killed three men with Ouzis in a
shoot out.  Who the hell knows what's going on?" Mulder replied. 

Helms had approached them as Mulder was speaking.  He said, "Terrible
Jilly did not kill King Langland.  He was slain by other enemies,
barbarians from the land of Chin."

"How do you know that?" Scully asked.

"My kind master informed me of it.  He warned me to be vigilant as
Jilly's actions cannot be anticipated," Helms said.  "She is most
dangerous."

"We already know that," Mulder said.  

Helms looked up at him.  "No you do not, brave one.  What you have
witnessed is nothing to what she is capable of.  Crafty King Langland
restrained her and softened the Queen's hard heart."

"What do you mean?  What might she do?" Scully asked.  

The old man shrugged and said, "I am a mere servant and cannot predict
the actions of one so high above me. The Queen may be overcome with
grief and do nothing, she may seek solace in drink as her mother, or
she may avenge Langland by slaying everyone in the land of his
killers."

Mulder said, "China?  There's over two billion people.  That's absurd. 
She's just a gangster."

"Brave one, she is Jilly the Butcher, who delights the heart of the God
of War.  What you have witnessed here and find so fearsome are
diversions which she did merely as entertainment. She had no need to be
a criminal.  It was nothing but play to her.  But she may well stop
playing now that Langland is dead. She could drown the world in blood."


"My god," Scully said.  "We have to do something, Mulder."

"Wise one, there is nothing you can do.  Great Kimberly would have
killed you if not for Hades.  Jilly is even more dangerous. I would
advise you to avoid her for the time being.  You were seeking to
incarcerate Langland and her after all, and her temper may well be
short."

************************************************************

Charlie was nervous.  He knocked on the office door and stepped inside.
Jilly looked up from the restaurant supply catalogue she was reading
and said, "What is it?"  Then more intently as she saw Charlie's face. 
"What?"

Charlie put the newspaper in front of her.  He had been sure to keep
the door open.  Jilly looked at the page three story. "Financier
Presumed Dead.  Body missing in bizarre circumstances."  Jilly read the
short piece then looked up at Charlie.  "It's probably just one of his
tricks."  

"Yeah, Jilly.  You'd know, right?  I just wanted to let you see it,"
Charlie said.  He really wanted out of this small room.  He nervously
saw Jilly stand up and begin rereading the article. She was starting to
weave.  Charlie backed out of the room and closed the door.  He began
to run and nearly made it out of the restaurant before a pair of feet
slammed into him.  

"Jilly.." he said as she used his own weight to hurl him across the
room, crashing over a table.  Then she was sitting on his chest and
Charlie felt a knife at his throat.  "Honey...it wasn't me! I just
brought you the paper."  The whites showed all around her brown irises
and she had that demented smile and Charlie began praying inside.  But
then the knife moved away from his neck and Jilly  stood there weaving
again.  

Finally she said, "Sorry, Charlie."  She helped him up and brushed him
off.  "Lemme give you a new car.  I shouldna' done that.  You okay?"

Charlie was shaking and bruised but he said, "I'm okay, Jilly. Sure, I
can use a new car."  

She patted his shoulder and walked back to her office unsteadily.  "Go
pick one out.  Anything you want.  Go crazy. Get a overpriced sports
car if you want."  Her voice was choked. "But not a Corvette, okay?"

"Okay, Jilly.  Honey, I'm sorry..."

She didn't answer but just closed her office door. 

************************************************************

Kimberly said softly, "Remember how I said you were moving up the food
chain, Alex?  Well, you're about to meet a big fish."

Krycek followed her gaze and saw an attractive dark haired young woman
had come into the restaurant where he and Kimberly were having
breakfast.  She walked over and sat down with them.  She was
conservatively dressed in black and Alex noticed a small gold pin of an
owl.  The waitress approached and refilled his and Kimberly's coffee
but acted as if she didn't even see the newcomer who was studying him
and Kimberly with gray eyes.

"Happy now, oh noble Kimberly?" she said in a melodious voice finally.

Kimberly sipped her coffee, wanting to put some whiskey in it but not
in front of her.  "Not really.  I would rather Jilly personally killed
him when he was poisoning babies or something. Langland's punishment
for Siegfried was much better."

"You would think that," Athena said calmly.  "You could have made peace
between Langland and your daughter.  You are the only one.  Instead you
chose to let it play out, chose to let my innocent favorite be
destroyed."

Kimberly said, "Yep, that's what I did all right."

Alex felt something awful.  It seemed as if the table became liquid for
a moment and the walls and ceiling shimmered and could just come
crashing in on them.  He saw anger in those gray eyes but the face was
still calm.

"Show proper respect.  I am not my brother.  He enjoys consorting with
mortals, allowing them to speak freely.  I do not.  It was as a
peacemaker I requested my uncle bring you here.  I foresaw the illness
of Jilly's servant and knew she would blame Langland.  Hades refused to
instruct you, however, or allow me too, either; perhaps finding
entertainment in my discomfiture, as if he were holding water just
beyond reach of a thirsty man; perhaps he had another motive.  It would
have been a service to your daughter who loved my favorite.  But your
selfish hatred was more important.  You are no better a mother to Jilly
than you were to the son you abandoned."

Kimberly was stricken.  "Jilly is better off without him!"

"Convince yourself of that, fearsome Kimlee.  Your liquor should help,"
the goddess answered.

Athena looked at Krycek.  "There is more to you than appears. Hades has
an interest in you I have not divined yet."  She caught his eyes and
looked into his angry conflicted soul. "What would you do for the
return of your arm?"

Kimberly was horrified.  She tried to speak but was paralyzed.  

Krycek licked his lips and said, "I would do anything."

Athena reached over and laid a hand on the shoulder of his missing
limb.  She said, "I accept."  She stood up and looked down at Kimberly
who found herself able to move again.  "Think of me when your plaything
strokes your white breasts with his new hand."

"Wait!" Kimberly said in terror as a thought hit her.  Athena looked at
her and there was a slight smirk on her perfect lips. "What will Jilly
do?"

The goddess said, "That has finally occurred to you, has it? When Xena
went mad with grief to become the Bitch of Tartarus, it took Ares
thousands of years to find you to set things right. Jilly is no Xena,
however.  As you know yourself she is far more dangerous.  Farewell,
Kushranhara."

************************************************************

Ahmat whirled around and studied the figure who had just appeared
behind him in his apartment. 

"Jilly," he said to the ghostly figure with wild eyes and a twitching
mouth.

"You were supposed to be protecting him," she said in a disjointed
voice.

"He wouldn't let me.  He sent me away and went out alone. Langland knew
what he was doing.  He always did."

The slight blonde figure weaved slightly.  "You were supposed to
protect him but the Wanli got him.  Shot him to pieces.  The cops said
he was..he was...she came to get her boy, I guess'' Her voice trailed
off.

Ahmat jumped aside and avoided the rapid fire of bullets from the
little Beretta.  She stopped firing and began reloading the weapon.
"Very nice, Ahmat.  Very, very nice.  Why couldn't you do your job that
well?"

"I did my job as well as he'd let me."

The slight blonde figure weaved some more then jumped and Ahmat barely
avoided the lethal kick.  He caught her with a body blow that broke her
left collarbone and a kick that sent her reeling back then he found
himself on the ground with two broken legs and Jilly on his back,
holding the gun to his temple with her right hand.  Her left arm was
hanging limp. 

"Not bad.  You're as good as Xena or my mother. I'd stay away from
Angela and Kush if I were you though."

Ahmat prepared to attack her again but she jumped away anticipating it
and said, "Don't...I'm leaving.  I was afraid you'd sold him out." 

"You were the one trying to kill him.  You were why he needed me,"
Ahmat said. 

She began weaving again slightly and said with a giggle, "Haven't you
heard it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind?"  It sounded to
Ahmat like a totally different person speaking.  Her eyes were wide and
blank looking.  Jilly said in a girlish voice "Gotta go.  I have places
to go and people to kill.."   With a wave she left by his front door.  
Ahmat pulled himself over to a phone and called an ambulance. 


[continued in part 2]