TITLE:  Maybe Worm Food
AUTHOR:  Maidenjedi      
EMAIL: texgoddess@yahoo.com 
RATING:  PG-13 
CATEGORY/KEYWORDS:  LGM, Frohike POV, V, A
ARCHIVE:  List archives, otherwise please ask
SPOILERS:  small ones for Planet of the Frohikes
DISCLAIMER:  They just aren't mine.  I leave 
the hard stuff to the big boys.  
SUMMARY:  Is Langly fish food now?

AUTHOR'S NOTES: at the end.


*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*


It's not like it was a hard assignment.  Get in, 
change the passcode for the doors, get out.  Simple.

Not even Jimmy could have fucked this one up.

But somehow, our fair-haired comrade HAD screwed it 
up. Langly wasn't the clumsy *type*, he didn't just 
walk into the arms of the enemy....

Shouldn't have let him do it, should've found some 
other way to break into the system at MuriTech.  It 
wasn't even that important a story, it was just 
another ho-hum sidebar about another ho-hum company 
that is really a front for a Mafia king.  Or maybe it 
was a drug-dealer.  I forget which now.

I can't help but wonder what they did with him.  We 
know they shot him.  We heard the shots on his wire 
and the thud as he hit the ground.  I'll never forget 
the look on Byers' face.  The horror, the dawning 
realization that we'd lost him.  The sickest part had 
come as we realized we couldn't wait, that we had to 
get the hell out of Dodge before they came after us.  
Jimmy hadn't been able to drive, he was blubbering so 
hard; I took the wheel and off we sped into the night,

leaving a man behind.  I had to stop once before we 
made it back to the office; I was nauseous and
couldn't
hold it back.

Langly.  Dead.

Because we'd all been cowards.  Because he was the 
tech wiz, and I was too damn lazy.  I'd get the next 
one, I'd said as he suited up.  He didn't care, he 
said.  He relished it, the thrill of it.  Byers hadn't

even volunteered to go in, and after the debacle with 
that stupid monkey, none of us would let Jimmy
go.  It was as if fate had stepped in.

And now he was likely fish food.

Or maybe worm food.

I think I'll be sick again.

Its been weeks, and we haven't ventured into the 
field again.  Its been so bad that Yves called in a 
panic when we didn't show up unexpectedly during her
last foray as Mata Hari.  Jimmy barely speaks, and
Byers spends the hours listening to police scanners
and scouring the internet for news.  He hasn't let me
call Mulder to tell him.  Byers is in denial again,
just like he once was with Susanne.

Me?  I've been sitting here at the computer nearly 
nonstop, playing Langly's Everquest character for him.
I can't think of anything to say or do to fix this.
Langly's dead.  And if I go near the kitchen I'll
start swigging red wine or maybe even that bottle of
Jack under the sink.

Maybe we'd all be better off sleeping with the fishes.

----------------------------------
---------------------------------
THE END.

AUTHORS NOTES:   Written in response to a challenge
issued by Surreal on the Topica LGM list:  Write
about Byers or Frohike's reaction/feelings to hearing
about Langly's death or rumor thereof.  This challenge
was issued sometime last year; I just dug the fic up,
dusted it off, and decided to post it.  

Feedback/criticism always gratefully accepted at
texgoddess@yahoo.com


=====
"Bring me the head of Fox Mulder."  Yeah, okay,
whatever buddy.  Like we haven't heard *THAT* 
one before. - XPFC's Beta Julie
----------------------
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