In The Realms of the Unreal

Chapter 2

On Earth in February 2000, FBI Agent Fox Mulder was currently sitting outside a hearing taking place in an office in the J Edgar Hoover building in Washington D.C. Normally Mulder would have spent his time in the basement chasing up yet another one of the unsolved cases or X Files that he was in charge of checking out, but today was different. The person in the hearing was Agent Dana Scully, the woman assigned to keep check on his investigations as well as his best friend. She'd been through a lot in her time with him including (but not limited to) surviving a bout of cancer. Now though she was being forced to explain her actions during a recent home invasion which had seen the perpetrator get himself killed.

A few seconds later, Scully emerged from the hearing with a blank expression on her face.
"So?" asked Mulder "How'd it go?"
"Well the good news is that I'm keeping my job" Scully replied
"And the bad news"                                                                                                                                                       
"The bureau has asked me to take a week off to recuperate

"
Mulder patted Scully on the back "Hey that's not so bad. At least you'll still be able to pay your bills. Besides, you've been through a lot in the last few days so it'll do you a lot of good.

"
Scully smiled "Thanks"


"Don't mention it" Mulder replied "Now how about we get something to eat before your week off"



After a decent meal, Scully arrived home to see a pile of letters on her doorstep. Picking them up, she flopped down onto the sofa and began to thumb through them. Most of them were just the standard run of the mill bills and junk mail promising stuff she didn't care about in the first place. However one of the envelopes stood out.

It was a brown colour with a stamp in the corner and writing in the centre in black biro addressed to her. Opening it with curiosity, Scully began to read

Dear Ms Dana Scully
You do not know me, but you should not throw away this letter without reading it fully. My name is Mater and I'm writing to you to inform you of grave danger. A dark ancient evil from beyond time is about to be reborn in our world and it's rebirth will spell doom for all of us. I have written to you as you seem to be one of the few people fully capable of preventing this dark fate for humanity. In a few days, a meeting will be held in a small hotel in Torquay, Devon England in which much more will be made clear. I beg of you to head to the place in the map included in the envelope and hear my call. If you do not, the entire world and possibly the universe could be facing ruin
Mater

Sure enough, a map was included inside the envelope that gave the address and location of a small hotel located in the town of Torquay. As Scully pondered this new development, her phone rang. So she did what most people do when the phone rings which was picked it up and said "Hello?"
"Scully? It's Mulder"


Scully was a little surprised "Mulder? What's going on?"
"Well something interesting's just come up"
Scully raised an eyebrow

 "What?"


"I've just had a letter asking for my help in fighting some ancient evil"


"You don't say" Scully replied "It didn't mention a hotel in England did it?

"
"So you got one too. What do you think it all means?"


Being her sceptical self, Scully tried to offer her usual rational explanation to the whole thing "It's probably just a prank designed to send us on a wild goose chase. I'd just throw the whole thing in the trash and forget about it"


"But what if it's true?" Mulder replied "What if there really is some ancient all powerful evil about to be reborn and we're the only ones capable of stopping it

"
Scully groaned "Really Mulder? Some ancient all powerful evil is going to be stopped by us? A pair of random FBI agents?"


"Hey it's not completely unheard of" Mulder replied "We've taken on our fair share of supernatural threats before and we've always came out on top"


"But Mulder..."


"Besides Scully, we've got nothing else to do. And who knows, a trip to England might be the break you need"


Scully groaned "Alright Mulder. You win. Where do we go from here"


"I've already booked the flight." Mulder replied "Meet me at Dulles International first thing tomorrow morning"


Before Scully could reply, Mulder hung up. Scully groaned. She'd been hoping to spend her week off doing something relaxing like a nice vacation at a health spa and now she was being dragged across the Atlantic in another one of Mulder's escapades. Scully shrugged. At least it'd get her out of the house for a bit.

Several miles northeast in New York City, another busy shift for NYPD officer John Mcclane had come to an end. He'd been thinking of hitting the bar for a drink, but had decided against it. He'd been meaning to cut down on his drinking for some time which had largely replaced smoking as his vice as choice. He'd always been fond of a drink, but after his divorce Mcclane had started drinking a whole lot more and it was beginning to affect his work.

As he stepped into the apartment he owned, Mcclane briefly the apartment's mail box and sure enough, found several letters for him. Bringing them up to his apartment, Mcclane checked them over. They were the usual bills and rent he had to pay, but one of them was different. It was a brown envelope with his address written on it in black sharpie.


"What the hell?" Mcclane thought. At first he assumed it was a letter from his children until Mcclane remembered they rarely spoke to him unless they wanted something and even then it usually consisted of a short telephone call. Maybe it was a threat of some sort from the relatives of the people he'd killed over his career. He'd seen enough of those in his lifetime that it didn't phase him anymore. Still he thought, might as well see what I'm being threatened with this time.

When Mcclane opened the envelope, he was surprised. Instead of being made out of letters cut from newspapers, it was written in extremely fancy handwriting. Mcclane sat down in a chair and began to read
Dear Mr Mcclane
My name is Mater. Having seen your skill in facing down dangerous criminals, I humbly request your services. A great and powerful ancient evil is soon to be reborn in this world. As you can probably guess, this will not end well for the entire world should this be allowed to happen. I have written to you as I believe you are one of the few capable of preventing this disaster. In a few days, there's to be a meeting in a small hotel in Devon, England in which more will be explained. I have enclosed a map with the letter and humbly await your response.

Mcclane then checked the envelope and discovered that there was indeed a map included in the envelope. He sat back in his chair and thought things over for a second. The thought of John Mcclane of the NYPD being the one to defeat a dark ancient evil was certainly a bit hard to swallow. But at the same time, Mcclane had a feeling that this wasn't something he should just pass up. Besides a trip to England might distract him from his lonely life if only for a short while. So he picked up the phone, dialled the number for his precinct station and told them he wouldn't be in a for a few days due to a family crisis. Before they could yell at him, Mcclane hung up. He then began packing his bags for the trip. A trip which would certainly prove to be a memorable one for reasons he hadn't yet begun to imagine.

Notes:

The events involving a break in in Scully's house refers to the X Files episode Orison