The Invisible Man
When she was a little girl, Scully had been fascinated with the paint-with-water books. She had loved them so much she could spend hours on long, summer afternoons, patiently applying water to paper as colors magically appeared on the page. Despite the fact that she knew, even as a child, that the process was chemically induced, that it was a simple reaction, she couldn’t help that small part of her that thought that it was magic.
There were few experiences in Scully’s life sense that really compared to that feeling…except for this one, in the lab she occupied, with an invisible body on her autopsy table. It shouldn’t be possible, it certainly didn’t make sense, but there it was…an invisible man. A man that no human eye could see. This…this was magic, this was fantasy, this was…
“This is really, really weird.” Mulder stared at the half powdered body in clear consternation.
“Mulder, you are seriously trying to tell me this is the weirdest thing you’ve seen while working on the X-files?”
“An invisible man, no. You giggling over an invisible man, yes.”
She smirked at him, returning to brushing the man’s skin with yellow powder with the care and precision she would give a crime scene. He didn’t understand, not really. An invisible man, a real one! Not just the hokey, film version with a guy wrapped up like a mummy, but a real man she couldn’t see. Hard evidence of something that shouldn’t exist, and she was the one who got to do the autopsy. Would he be just as invisible on the inside? Would his organs still be there? How would she see them? She doubted the powder would be helpful once bodily fluids were involved, she would have to think of something else…
“Scully?”
What if his fluids weren’t invisible? What if it was just his skin, but his insides were still completely visible? How strange would that be, cutting open thin air to have organs and fluids, raw gore, peeking out of invisible skin, like a movie prop gone horribly wrong. She laughed at the thought. Imagine a persons lungs just hanging in mid-air?
“Scully?”
Or maybe his brain...was it something in the brain doing this? Some sort of chemical release that he could control? Maybe some strange enzyme that reflected light in such a way his skin only looked invisible. Perhaps that’s how he was able to convince his boss he wasn’t there? Perhaps that’s how he planned his attack? The idea was so mad, so ludicrous, so….
“SCULLY!”
She stopped, blinking as she was attempting to brush powder up the victim’s nose. Mulder was leaning on the autopsy table, his face nearly at her own, green eyes wide as he stared at her bemused expression.
“You okay?”
“Fine,” she grinned, teeth flashing wide in her face. “Why?”
“What’s in this powder?” He frowned down at the yellow substance in her jar, and honestly Scully wasn’t sure. Frankly, she wasn’t going to tell him that either.
“Mulder, don’t you know how big this is? This is…bigger than big? This is….huge!”
“A degree from the University of Maryland and another from Stanford and that’s all you can manage? Huge?”
“What, I put up with your alien autopsies and black oil virus. The least you could do is humor me on an invisible man.” She rolled her eyes and returned to her work.
Mulder merely stared.
“So…uh….who is it?”
“Don’t know,” she muttered, running the brush over what she discovered were lips. Lips! She giggled again.
Mulder’s teeth ground slowly together.
“So where was he found? And how did he end up with you?”
“Well best anyone can tell is that some kid was riding his bike and hit the body in the middle of a crosswalk. Scared the hell out of the kid, who called the police. When the morgue heard there was an “invisible body” they called me…for obvious reasons.”
“Obviously,” Mulder muttered.
“Of course, I didn’t believe it till they laid it down here. This is utterly fascinating, Mulder, nothing in medical science is like this!”
“Scully, I would like to point out to you that you have witnessed aliens and spaceships.”
“This is different” she shook her head, swiping at the man’s chin. He was starting to have definition now. And he was starting to look familiar.
“Different how? Because you can’t deny an invisible man staring you in the face?” The petulance from Mulder was clear.
“Well…yes.” She shrugged, grinning up at his clearly less than thrilled expression. “Say, this young, somewhat attractive, and a bit vapid profile, does it look familiar to you.” It was starting to for Scully, and it was making the strangeness of this body even more confusing.
Mulder leaned in, hands on knees as he frowned at the nose. “Well with a proboscis like that he’s a lucky son-of-a-bitch.” He absently rubbed his own. “But I would say that he bears a striking resemblance to Anson Stokes.”
“Why is Anson Stokes invisible?” She frowned down at the yellow stubble now appearing on his cheeks.”
“I think the bigger question is why he’s naked.”
“Well, cause he’s invisible!”
“Of course,” Mulder muttered, straightening. “Can you make a positive ID, make sure this is Stokes?”
“Sure,” she replied, frowning at the rest of his as-yet still invisible body. “If I can find a part of him to ID.”
“Good,” Mulder replied. He shook his head, marveling in a manner Scully didn’t think she had ever seen from the man who had seen everything from liver-eating mutants, to fluke men, to aliens. “Scully, would you think less of me if I said this was the weirdest thing I’ve seen in a long time?”
“Coming from you, Mulder…”
“No, seriously…I mean, the man with the skin over his mouth, now this. It’s like…I don’t know, something from a fairy tale.”
“Which is pretty much every case you work on, Mulder.”
“No, it’s something more with this case.” He frowned in thought down at Anson’s now yellow face. “And I think that the woman we met over there may have more to do with it than we thought.”
“Besides having a bad attitude?” She shrugged, dusting Anson’s chin as if she were applying make up. “I don’t see what she has to do with anything.”
“Scully, now is the time I should point out to you that you are giddy over a dead, invisible man.”
Her eyes flickered up to his in half-annoyance. “Well, if you want to be sanctimonious about it, go find your mystery woman.”
“You’ll just stay here and giggle over Anson’s dead body?”
“It’s invisible, Mulder!”
He turned, waving a hand at her. “Scully, you amaze even me sometimes.”
“You just are jealous you didn’t find the weird stuff first this time,” she called after him, sniffing mildly as she returned to her work. “When he finds Elvis’ alien baby, it’s amazing, when I have incontrovertible evidence of an indivisible body, it’s weird.”
There were few experiences in Scully’s life sense that really compared to that feeling…except for this one, in the lab she occupied, with an invisible body on her autopsy table. It shouldn’t be possible, it certainly didn’t make sense, but there it was…an invisible man. A man that no human eye could see. This…this was magic, this was fantasy, this was…
“This is really, really weird.” Mulder stared at the half powdered body in clear consternation.
“Mulder, you are seriously trying to tell me this is the weirdest thing you’ve seen while working on the X-files?”
“An invisible man, no. You giggling over an invisible man, yes.”
She smirked at him, returning to brushing the man’s skin with yellow powder with the care and precision she would give a crime scene. He didn’t understand, not really. An invisible man, a real one! Not just the hokey, film version with a guy wrapped up like a mummy, but a real man she couldn’t see. Hard evidence of something that shouldn’t exist, and she was the one who got to do the autopsy. Would he be just as invisible on the inside? Would his organs still be there? How would she see them? She doubted the powder would be helpful once bodily fluids were involved, she would have to think of something else…
“Scully?”
What if his fluids weren’t invisible? What if it was just his skin, but his insides were still completely visible? How strange would that be, cutting open thin air to have organs and fluids, raw gore, peeking out of invisible skin, like a movie prop gone horribly wrong. She laughed at the thought. Imagine a persons lungs just hanging in mid-air?
“Scully?”
Or maybe his brain...was it something in the brain doing this? Some sort of chemical release that he could control? Maybe some strange enzyme that reflected light in such a way his skin only looked invisible. Perhaps that’s how he was able to convince his boss he wasn’t there? Perhaps that’s how he planned his attack? The idea was so mad, so ludicrous, so….
“SCULLY!”
She stopped, blinking as she was attempting to brush powder up the victim’s nose. Mulder was leaning on the autopsy table, his face nearly at her own, green eyes wide as he stared at her bemused expression.
“You okay?”
“Fine,” she grinned, teeth flashing wide in her face. “Why?”
“What’s in this powder?” He frowned down at the yellow substance in her jar, and honestly Scully wasn’t sure. Frankly, she wasn’t going to tell him that either.
“Mulder, don’t you know how big this is? This is…bigger than big? This is….huge!”
“A degree from the University of Maryland and another from Stanford and that’s all you can manage? Huge?”
“What, I put up with your alien autopsies and black oil virus. The least you could do is humor me on an invisible man.” She rolled her eyes and returned to her work.
Mulder merely stared.
“So…uh….who is it?”
“Don’t know,” she muttered, running the brush over what she discovered were lips. Lips! She giggled again.
Mulder’s teeth ground slowly together.
“So where was he found? And how did he end up with you?”
“Well best anyone can tell is that some kid was riding his bike and hit the body in the middle of a crosswalk. Scared the hell out of the kid, who called the police. When the morgue heard there was an “invisible body” they called me…for obvious reasons.”
“Obviously,” Mulder muttered.
“Of course, I didn’t believe it till they laid it down here. This is utterly fascinating, Mulder, nothing in medical science is like this!”
“Scully, I would like to point out to you that you have witnessed aliens and spaceships.”
“This is different” she shook her head, swiping at the man’s chin. He was starting to have definition now. And he was starting to look familiar.
“Different how? Because you can’t deny an invisible man staring you in the face?” The petulance from Mulder was clear.
“Well…yes.” She shrugged, grinning up at his clearly less than thrilled expression. “Say, this young, somewhat attractive, and a bit vapid profile, does it look familiar to you.” It was starting to for Scully, and it was making the strangeness of this body even more confusing.
Mulder leaned in, hands on knees as he frowned at the nose. “Well with a proboscis like that he’s a lucky son-of-a-bitch.” He absently rubbed his own. “But I would say that he bears a striking resemblance to Anson Stokes.”
“Why is Anson Stokes invisible?” She frowned down at the yellow stubble now appearing on his cheeks.”
“I think the bigger question is why he’s naked.”
“Well, cause he’s invisible!”
“Of course,” Mulder muttered, straightening. “Can you make a positive ID, make sure this is Stokes?”
“Sure,” she replied, frowning at the rest of his as-yet still invisible body. “If I can find a part of him to ID.”
“Good,” Mulder replied. He shook his head, marveling in a manner Scully didn’t think she had ever seen from the man who had seen everything from liver-eating mutants, to fluke men, to aliens. “Scully, would you think less of me if I said this was the weirdest thing I’ve seen in a long time?”
“Coming from you, Mulder…”
“No, seriously…I mean, the man with the skin over his mouth, now this. It’s like…I don’t know, something from a fairy tale.”
“Which is pretty much every case you work on, Mulder.”
“No, it’s something more with this case.” He frowned in thought down at Anson’s now yellow face. “And I think that the woman we met over there may have more to do with it than we thought.”
“Besides having a bad attitude?” She shrugged, dusting Anson’s chin as if she were applying make up. “I don’t see what she has to do with anything.”
“Scully, now is the time I should point out to you that you are giddy over a dead, invisible man.”
Her eyes flickered up to his in half-annoyance. “Well, if you want to be sanctimonious about it, go find your mystery woman.”
“You’ll just stay here and giggle over Anson’s dead body?”
“It’s invisible, Mulder!”
He turned, waving a hand at her. “Scully, you amaze even me sometimes.”
“You just are jealous you didn’t find the weird stuff first this time,” she called after him, sniffing mildly as she returned to her work. “When he finds Elvis’ alien baby, it’s amazing, when I have incontrovertible evidence of an indivisible body, it’s weird.”