Vincent Verrgo X Files

Part 1

Dana Scully had had a long day. The X Files weren't nearly as glamorous as they had been in the beginning. It had been another day of investigating false reports of abductions and demons, even a monster under a porch that turned out to be an extra large family of raccoons. It seemed that Skinner no longer took the X Files seriously, and to make matters worse, Mulder was a no-show for the second day in a row.

He had left her a spooky voicemail that day, something about "an old friend" and "exposing the truth", but those words didn't excite Dana like they used to. Mulder was always trying to uncover a deep secret or solve a decades-old mystery, but after leaving her alone in the field for a second day, Dana decided it was time to check up on him.

After knocking and receiving no answer she used her spare key to open the door, revealing a mess of papers and overturned furniture. "Fuck."

She quickly dialed his phone number, only to find his ringing phone left on the end table in the living room. She scanned the house. No windows were open, and the door had been locked. The house was empty. It was like Mulder had simply disappeared.

Dana began collecting the scattered papers, trying to piece together what had happened. After finding nothing but old case files she searched his desk for clues, but his computer had been smashed. In his printer, however, a page had printed halfway through. Carefully, Scully pulled it out of the machine and read the text at the top of the page. She recognized a name: "Vincent Verrgo". An old friend.

As Scully continued to search the house she found nothing more on Verrgo, which was strange, given Mulder's extensive research on him. For years, Mulder had gone on about this man, collecting witness reports and photos that Dana thought were doctored. Verrgo had been gaining popularity in the past few years as a music artist and Dana assumed the accusations were part of a strange marketing tactic. What better way to garner a cult following than make fans think he was an alien?

On the other hand, she knew Mulder wasn't stupid. He wouldn't pursue something for years if it was so obviously fake. Sure, at any mention of aliens he seemed to let his imagination get the best of him, but he wouldn't waste years on something that wasn't substantial.

Scully knew she had to go to his office to see if there were any more hints about where Mulder might be. There must have been more files pertaining to Verrgo in his office. He wouldn't keep so much information in one place.

She left Mulder's place and spent her drive back to the bureau entertaining different ideas as to where Mulder could be. She knew Verrgo was living in Louisville, but she didn't know where, and she didn't know the nature of Mulder's disappearance: was he taken— abducted— by Verrgo or did he escape his house, forgetting his phone? Both seemed unlikely, but Dana struggled to conjure up a third scenario.

At the bureau she searched through Mulder's desk to find any files on Vincent Verrgo. She found a thin Manila folder with his name on it, and perusing it she found nothing but witness reports: some detailing Verrgo's apparent hypnotic powers and some claiming they had seen him shapeshift, from a man to an entity unlike any alien Dana had seen or heard of before.

Looking through his tape recordings, Dana found one labeled "V". Pressing play, Dana was greeted with Mulder's familiar voice and noticing the sense of relief that washed over her she realized how tense she was. She focused on her breathing, closed her eyes and listened to the tape.

"November 15th. I was contacted today by a man claiming to be a friend of Vincent Verrgo. He told me that for a long time he believed Verrgo's charisma and talent explained the devotion of his fans, but upon listening to his newest tape he was overwhelmed with the urge to share it with everyone he knew. This was unlike his normal support of Verrgo. He described this feeling almost like hunger, like a survival instinct. Only after sharing the music with everybody he could did he feel relief from this sensation. Upon speaking to his friends they described a similar urge, as well as an uncontrollable desire to smoke marijuana."

Dana paused the tape. This was ridiculous. It sounded like they were just describing the effects of really good music. She took the tape and the files with her and left to her car.

When she returned home she packed an overnight bag and was quickly on her way to Louisville.

Back in the car she unpaused the tape. "While this would normally not raise any red flags, I have noted that others have described experiences with Verrgo's music and with the man himself this way as well: characterized by an unnatural desire to do something. Looking back at a previous report, from April 21st, I noted that a woman responsible for sound design at a concert of Verrgo's described the sound in the tracks as inhuman, unlike anything she had heard before. When trying to explain this to her coworker during the show, she noted that as he stared at Verrgo, he did not blink, and he was unresponsive to her attempts to get his attention. Audience members and fans who have claimed to have never smoked marijuana in their lives were pulled over for DUIs, and drug tests found high levels of THC. While there is no way proving that these people did not use marijuana, after listening to Verrgo's tapes I administered to myself a drug test which came back as positive for THC as well."

Scully frowned upon hearing this, knowing Mulder didn't use drugs, but she also knew that immunoassay tests sometimes gave false positive results. The information certainly was strange, but it didn't point to Verrgo being an alien.

The sun set behind her as she drove wearily onwards. It had been a very long day.