AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have never seen a single episode of The X-Files.
As such this is less X-Files fanfiction and more a Tessera story with two original characters heavily inspired by X-Files characters through the lens of popular culture. Also, I'm picturing Sully looking more like a redheaded Scarlett Johansson than Gillian Anderson, but that's not canon if you don't want it to be. I know she's got a fan club.
Erica Jennings (briefly mentioned in chapter 2!) gets a scene here too. I'm picturing her looking kind of like peak Jenna Haze.
Finally, sorry this ended up taking so long. I've had quite a year.
The Tessera Method, Ch 06
FBI Agent Chuck Malder couldn't keep the grin off his face as he hung up the phone. "I've got a lead!"
His partner, Eva "Sully" Sullivan, frowned and brushed a lock of her red hair out of her face. "A lead on what? Don't tell me you've finally decided to work our drug-trafficking case? I've got three Persons of Interest that we need to call --"
Malder just laughed at that. "Of course not. The mind-control therapy case. It's moving, Sully."
Sully groaned. "Malder, that's not a real case." Malder couldn't understand why she refused to take this case seriously. It seemed like a pretty big deal to him.
It had started off at their old boss's retirement party. The old man's son, a class-A loser named Oliver, had gotten drunk and babbled something about a marriage counselor with a magic ASMR track that had really shown his wife a thing or two. Oliver's also-drunk wife, when questioned, had revealed that after counseling she had fixed their marriage by getting back to basics in some very specific ways that didn't sound basic at all to Malder. Clearly, someone had been messing around with what she considered "normal."
Both of them had gotten suspicious when Malder had inquired as to how he might contact this counselor, as he himself was not actually married, so they were off-limits as sources of further information. But that was fine, really. They'd already given him plenty to work with.
Malder's conclusion that there was some kind of mind-controlling marriage counselor around had drawn nothing but eye-rolls from Sully, but their new boss had jumped at the chance to make his predecessor look bad by any means possible, and granted permission for Malder to investigate. That made it a real case. He'd show Sully. The truth was out there.
"It is absolutely a real case! Let me show you what I found." He beckoned, and she sighed deeply, but came over to look at his screen.
"I did some poking around," he explained, "and a few years back a neuroscience grad student at MIT wrote a paper proposing a theoretical link between nerve formations in the brain and certain sound frequencies. In the conclusion, she claimed those frequencies could actually influence human behavior." He clicked over to another tab. "Shortly afterward, that grad student, Erica Jennings, finished her doctorate and accepted a faculty position right here in town, at Willard University."
He pointed to the screen. "Note that she doesn't work there anymore, as of last year. Officially, she doesn't work anywhere anymore. That's because her current place of business doesn't tend to have official public staff listings, or disclose their employees' legal names to the general public. It's a hazard in their industry."
Sully slapped her hands over her eyes. "Oh God, not again."
Malder grinned. "Yup." He loaded up a Google Maps tab and pointed. "Just verified it with the manager: Ex-professor Erica Jennings is now an exotic dancer at this club, the Melon Patch. Wouldn't you call that suspicious?"
Sully shook her head. "Why are we always investigating crimes at strip clubs? Nobody ever told me this job involved so many trips to strip clubs."
"You should have tried watching at least one movie or TV show. Answer the question, please."
Sully sighed even more deeply than before. "A professor suddenly deciding to become a stripper? Yes, I would call that suspicious. I'm not sure there's any connection to this, ahem, 'case,' though."
"After she wrote that paper? Can't discount it until we find out why she made that career move." Malder stood and grabbed his jacket. "Let's go say hi."
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Dr. Jennings went by "Crystal" in this club, and regardless of her previous talents in the field of neuroscience, there was no denying she was amazing with a stripper pole. Her lithe, athletic body, clad only in a sequined G-string and matching glittery platform stilettos, climbed and twirled and slid with an almost supernatural grace. Pretty nice tits, too. Surprisingly big and round for her thin frame, but probably all-natural with the exception of their glittering piercings. Malder found himself mesmerized.
She'd been working tonight, which meant she was easy to find when they showed up, but hard to actually interview since she was on the clock. She didn't get off until closing time at 2 AM, so Malder had naturally decided to get her into a room alone with them by purchasing a private dance for himself and Sully. It had been very reasonably priced.