A Red Love Bizarre or The Roswell Chest

The Meeting of the Twins

4-19-1999 {Mulder}

"Demonology?" Scully smirks at me, "Really, Mulder?"

"We've seen stranger things; Eugene Tooms, Scully, remember?" I comment.

Currently, I'm crouched next to the chest and she's standing almost too near. I want to touch the bare skin at the top of that slit so badly, it's maddening. Focus, Mulder.

"Among the other oddities of our working partnership; I remember." Scully sighs, letting her signature eyebrow arch, "Do you have any theories?"

Before I can answer her, the chest begins to shake, and a bright light pours from the keyhole. It's temporarily blinding.

"Mulder! What's happening?!" Scully exclaims, shielding her eyes.

"You got me!" I answer back. The light is LOUD, if that makes any sense at all, and I find myself yelling.

Three people appear before our eyes as the light dies down. What the hell is going on? They're yelling as if they've been caught off guard in some way; there's an older bearded man wearing a trench coat and fedora, a dark brown-haired male in his twenties along with a redhead of around the same age with the biggest hair I've ever seen. All three are wearing rubber gloves.

Scully gains her bearings before I do and draws her Glock, "FBI!" she announces, still somewhat visually blown away by what happened, "Freeze!"

Three sets of gloved hands reach for the sky.

"Ryan, what just happened? Jack!" the redhead looks around frantically. She appears quite distressed.

"I don't know!" the man she addressed as Ryan says, "Look, we don't want any trouble." he pleads with us, "We have no idea how we got here."

"How did you just appear out of thin air, then?" Scully pushes, visibly shaken.

Jack, the elder gentleman, pipes up, "We're antique dealers, and we came to pick up this chest. As soon as we touched it, we were somehow transferred to this place."

I find myself believing him, his story does jibe somehow with the symbol by the lock. "What are your names?" I ask as I motion for Scully to stand down.

The redhead, still holding up her hands starts, "I'm Micki Foster, this is Ryan Dallion and Jack Marshak."

"Special Agent Fox Mulder. This is my partner, Special Agent Dana Scully. You can put your hands down." I say reassuringly.

"Mulder, do you think that's wise? They might be our perps." Scully nudges me in my side.

"Not likely. Look at how off-guard they are. I think they're victims of a Tesser." I state, causing her to look confused.

Jack seems impressed, "You're familiar with the Tesseract?"

"Yeah, a wrinkle in the continuum that causes matter to skip time," I explain, mostly to Scully, "I've seen this particular symbol on the chest in a book that blends demonology with the effects of time travel."

"What branch of the FBI do you work for?" Jack queries, "You seem to know quite a bit about the occult."

"It's our job." Scully defends, "We're with the X-Files."

"Unexplained cases?" Ryan perks up, then nudges Micki, "You mean, for once we have law enforcement on our side?"

"That remains to be seen." Scully tells him. She still has her guard up, what is happening is beyond rational explanation and her reaction is normal.

Jack seems to get hit with an epiphany, "What year is this, Agent Mulder?"

"1999." I answer, at the same time Scully asks, "What kind of question is that?"