Friday 9 July 2021

Papa Spooky








If you release Eugene Tooms, he will kill again. 

It's in his genetic make-up.


He needs to kill, he'll do it the first chance he can. 

If he makes an attempt, 

I'll be there to stop him.





FOWLEY: (smiling) You just need some coffee.

MULDER: No. I'm serious. I have commitments-- to the X-Files, to Scully, to my sister...

DIANA FOWLEY: (sighs) You think you know what that means... commitment. It's all just childish, Fox.

MULDER: (staring at her) "Childish"?

DIANA FOWLEY: Yes. You've been a child... with only the responsibility of a child to your own dreams and fantasies but you won't know the true joy of responsibility until you plant your feet in the world... and become a father.

MULDER: Wow... (sighs and laughs nervously) Diana, if... you lay all this on me after I sleep with you one time what's it going to be like tomorrow?

DIANA FOWLEY: You have to let go, Fox.

MULDER: Just like that? I'm just supposed to slip into domestic bliss even after I was dropped off here by a man I have every reason to believe left here to carry on his dirty work.

DIANA FOWLEY: (soothing) Hey ... he lives the next block over.








Do you swear that The Testimony 

you are about to deliver 

is The Truth

The Whole Truth, 

and 

Nothing but The Truth?


MULDER: 

I Do.

(He is seated. The prosecution attorney stands up and walks towards Mulder.)


PROSECUTION COUNSEL MYERS: 

Mr. Mulder, as An Expert Witness 

for The State of Maryland, 

can you list your qualifications?


MULDER: 

I'm a Special Agent 

with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 

I worked for three years 

at the F.B.I.'s Behavioural Science Unit 

profiling Serial Killers.


DEFENSE COUNSEL NELSON: 

Your Honour, I know where he's going with this -- 

May I remind The Court that Mr. Tooms was placed in psychiatric care 

solely for the previous assault on Agent Scully. 

He has never been charged, 

nor has any evidence linked him to another crime.


JUDGE KANN: 

You may proceed... with caution.

(Mulder sees Scully walk in and take a seat in the back.)

PROSECUTION COUNSEL MYERS: 

Agent Mulder, I understand that you've drawn upon your experience 

and developed a profile on Mr. Tooms.


MULDER: 

Yes, I have.

PROSECUTION COUNSEL MYERS: Please.

(He motions for Mulder to show it. Mulder starts a slideshow. The first picture is of a woman, face down.)

MULDER: These murders span nearly a century. Nineteen homicides, five occuring every thirty years since 1903, all in the Baltimore area. In each case, the liver was extracted and presumably eaten.

(The slides cycle through, showing various people lying face down. The judges are disturbed by the pictures. The pictures change to knick-knacks with a tag marked "Evidence" next to them.)

A trophy was taken, many of which were found in the living quarters of Eugene Tooms at 66 Exeter Street. Records show that a Eugene Tooms has resided at that same address since 1903, the same year a man was murdered in that building.

(Scully looks down, knowing the testimony seems incredulous. The judge looks at Mulder warily.)

Besides the liver extraction, the most notable element connecting these cases is the undetermined point of entry. Many of the victims were found with their windows and doors locked from the inside.

(Various fingerprints are shown in the slides.)

These elongated fingerprints found at seven of the nineteen crime sites match Eugene Victor Tooms.

(Mulder motions to Tooms.)


JUDGE KANN: 

Agent Mulder! Look at his fingers. 

Look at him! 100 years old?


MULDER: 

I contend that perhaps through genetic mutation, 

Eugene Tooms is capable of contorting and elongating his body in order to gain access to victims so that he may extract the livers which provide him with sustenance for the hibernation period of 30 years. 

He needs one more liver to complete this cycle.


Everybody finds this testimony incredulous, and slight murmuring can be heard from the back.


DEFENSE COUNSEL NELSON: 

Your Honor...


MULDER: 

A preliminary examination done at the time of Tooms' arrest revealed abnormalities in his striated muscles and axial bones. His attorney blocked further study...


PROSECTION COUNSEL MYERS: 

Thank you, Agent Mulder!

MULDER: 

I must ask that you place the safety of...


JUDGE KANN: 

Counsel?


MULDER: 

...The People first and foremost...


DEFENSE COUNSEL NELSON: 

No further questions, your honor.


MULDER: 

This is a rare and unusual human creature...

JUDGE KANN: Agent Mulder!


MULDER: 

...who should not be released, 

but should be retained for further study.


JUDGE KANN: 

You may step down!


MULDER: 

If you release Eugene Tooms, he will kill again. 

It's in his genetic make-up.

(The judge bangs her gavel. Cut to Mulder, sitting on a bench in the hallway outside the courtroom. Scully walks out and over to Mulder.)

You think they would have taken me more seriously if I wore the grey suit?

(She sits down next to him.)

SCULLY: 

Mulder, your testimony, you sounded so...


MULDER: 

I don't care How it Sounded 

as long as it was 

The Truth.


(Scully sighs.)

And where were you

Your Testimony was important.


SCULLY: 

I was called into a meeting by 

Assistant Director Skinner.


MULDER: 

What did he want?

SCULLY: Just wanted to reel me in.

(The door opens and Prosecution Council Myers walks out.)

PROSECUTION COUNSEL MYERS: They're ready.

(Back in the courtroom, Tooms and Defense Counsel Nelson are standing. Mulder and Scully sit in the back of the room.)

JUDGE KANN: It is the opinion of this court that Eugene Victor Tooms shall on this daybe released from Druid Hill Sanitarium.

(Tooms smiles. Mulder sighs a heavy breath.)

The court also attaches these conditions. One, that Mr. Tooms remain in counseling under the care of Dr. Aaron Monte; that he retain his job at the Baltimore Regulations Animal Shelter; and last, that he take residence in the house of Mr. and Mrs. Arlan Green...

(Mr. and Mrs. Green stand. Tooms looks back at them.)

... trained in a program to assist patients released from Druid Hill in their transition to society.

(They nod at him.)

Mr. Tooms?

(He looks back at her.)

Do you understand and accept these conditions?

EUGENE TOOMS: Yes, your honor.

(He nods.)

JUDGE KANN: 

Very well. You're free to go.

(She bangs her gavel again. Mulder and Scully walk out of the courtroom.)

MULDER: I'm not taking my eyes off him.

SCULLY: 

Mulder, wait...

MULDER: 

He needs to kill, 

he'll do it the first chance he can but he won't kill the old couple. 

He won't be that obvious. 

Tooms didn't remain a secret for a hundred years by not being careful. 

Think of him as An Animal

He'll only kill 

out of necessity or self-defense

If he makes an attempt, 

I'll be there to stop him.

(They stop walking.)

SCULLY: Okay, well then I'll keep surveillance with you.

MULDER: No, I'll watch him. If he can't be tied to the most recent evidence, you'll have to go back to the earlier murders to prove it was him.

SCULLY: That was thirty or sixty years ago.

MULDER: There's no statute of limitation on murder.

SCULLY: 

Mulder, that's going to entail unorthodox methods of investigation.

MULDER: 

Look, Scully, 

if you're resistant because You Don't Believe, I'll respect that. 

But if you're resistant because of some bureaucratic pressure

They've not only reeled you in --

They've already skinned you.

(Tooms walks out of the courtroom followed by Mr. and Mrs. Green. Tooms slows down a bit as he passes Mulder and Scully and smiles at them. They keep walking, turning the next corner.

ARLAN GREEN: I hope you'll be comfortable, Eugene. The room in the back is small, but I'm sure you'll be able to squeeze in.

EUGENE TOOMS: I'm sure. 




Fox Mulder : 

Do you have that sandwich I asked you to bring?


Dana Scully : 

It's liverwurst.


Dana Scully : 

Mulder, you know that proper surveillance requires  

Two Pairs of Agents, 

one pair relieving the other after 12 hours.


Fox Mulder : 

Article 30, paragraph 8.7?


Dana Scully : 

This isn't about Doing it by The Book. 

This is about you not having slept for three days. 

Mulder, you're gonna get sloppy and you're gonna get hurt

It's inevitable at this point.


Fox Mulder : 

A request for Other Agents 

to stake out Tooms would be denied. 

'Til then, we have no grounds.


Dana Scully : 

Well then, I'll stay here. 

You go home.


Fox Mulder : 

They're out to put an end to the X-Files, Scully. 

I don't know why, but any excuse will do. 


I don't really care about My Record, 

but you'd be in Trouble just sitting in this car. 


And I'd hate to see you carry an Official Reprimand 

in your career file because of me.


Dana Scully : 

Fox...


Fox Mulder : 

[Rueful laughing]  

I... I... even made My Parents 

call me 'Mulder'. 


So... 

Mulder’.


Dana Scully

Mulder, I wouldn't put myself on The Line 

for anybody but you.


Fox Mulder : 

    If there's an iced tea in that bag, 

it could be Love.


Dana Scully : 

Must be Fate, Mulder -- 

Root Beer.






"There really are 
Four Quarters of a Whole. 

And I think that maybe threw some people at the beginning of last season, 
and even at the end of last season. 

But I think that you see, 
as you have seen, that they were puzzle pieces, 
Four Puzzle Pieces to A Circle.

I wanted to tell 
Mulder’s Story — Mulder's Struggle.

I wanted to tell 
Scully's Struggle.

I wanted to tell 
The Cigarette Smoking Man's Struggle,

and I wanted to tell 
William's Struggle.

For me, 
The Four Characters 
who are central to The Mythology.”

— Chris Carter.

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