SISTER MOON : I Want to Believe

 “Luther Lee Boggs, 

Clyde Bruckman, 

Gerald Schnauz.. 

I went through those cases 

and that work was 

extremely impressive.”

  

(Cameo) Vanessa Morley: 

When Fox Mulder and Dana Scully first walk back into the F.B.I. offices 

right before they walk into the bullpen, 

a female agent walks by that catches Mulder's attention 

and he watches her walk away. 

The woman is the actress who throughout The X Files (1993) 

played the young Samantha Mulder, 

and is the same Samantha 

in the photo Mulder has taped to the back of his home office door.

 “But I've learned to pretend over the past nine years - to pretend that my victories MATTERED, only to realize that NO-ONE was keeping score.”

— Fox Mulder, 2002,

Post-9/11.

  

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: 

This would look bad for the Marines 

if it didn't look worse for The FBI. 

What does Mulder intend to plea?

KERSH shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head. 

He doesn't know.

Right up until this very instant —

He did not CARE :

He HATES Fox Mulder, 

and everything that he represents.

But now.....

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: 

You wanted a chance to clear up 

this mess, Mr. Kersh, and 

I'm going to give it to you —

Give it to the FBI.

KERSH: 

How?

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: 

A fair hearing for Your Agent 

by his own Agency. 

Mulder isn’t an FBI Agent anymore —

He’s been Out of The Bureau since shortly after he returned from The Dead.

The Military Doesn’t Care.

The Bush Administration Doesn’t Care.

Blame must be assigned.

And for that to happen, 

The FBI must get out of The Way, 

go along with The Lie and Keep Silent.

9/11.

Your Prosecutor, Your Judges. 

Held in my court.

KERSH: 

That can't be legal. 

KERSH:

Why Do This?

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: 

I want a verdict. 

A guilty verdict. 

This man Mulder has made 

a lot of Enemies. 

He's A Crusader. 

And a lot of people do 

not like The Crusade.

KERSH shakes his head, no.

KERSH: 

I can't do that.

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: 

Oh, you'll do it, 

Deputy Director. 

You and I both know there are forces 

inside The Government now that 

A Man would be foolish to disobey.

KERSH knows a threat when he hears one.

SCULLY :

You've always said that you 

Want to Believe. 

 

But Believe in WHAT, Mulder? 

 

If this is The Truth that you've been looking for, then 

What is left 

to Believe in?

MULDER: 

I Want to Believe That The Dead Are Not Lost to Us.

 

That They Speak to Us as Part of Something Greater Than Us - 

Greater Than Any Alien Force. 

 

And if You and I are powerless now, 

I Want to Believe 

That if We LISTEN 

to What is SPEAKING --

 

It can 

Give Us The Power 

to Save Ourselves.

SCULLY :

 Then,

We Believe in The Same Thing.

She reaches down  to the gifted Gold that hangs on a chain around her neck, the same Golden totem that has hung there, 

in plain sight for 9 whole seasons of Network Television without attracting ANY real notice or curious interest —  or not any from Mulder, at least — 

and she gently turns her Cross ever-so slightly, 45-degrees or so from the perpendicular —

It is an X. 

The Unknown and Unquantifiable, Endless-Nameless Mystery

“A lot of people like to 

characterise Grant, as — 

A Space Case.

 

And a NUTTER.

 

 But what a lot of people don’t realise, 

in large-part because They're not listening,

is that he is extremely 

practial and pragmantic.

 

When he talks about his alien abduction, 

when he talks about Magick, it's all about --

 

The Practical Method 

to make Something Happen.

 

In his completely insane and unreasonable way,

he is actually completely reasonable -- 

and pragmatic about these things."

 

-- Warren Ellis.

 

YOUNG GUARDIAN SAAL : 

Ha!

 

It’s good that you were kind to Them.

 

But you turned down Their Offer?

 

 HAL JORDAN,

THE Green Lantern,

Sir Harold of The Emerald Lamp,

Aladdin, a Widow’s Son, The Son of a Tailor,

The New Taylor :

“My Ring’s running on Grail Energy

and I have plans to hitch a ride on some passing comet,

see where The Road takes me.

 

Maybe catch up on some

Unfinished Business.

 

Guardian Saal —

Where Are We Going?

 

….and Why Do I Hear Voices?"

 

 YOUNG GUARDIAN SAAL : 

Only The Voices of Your Fellow Green Lanterns.

Those Who Were Inspired by You.

Those Who Wish to Honour You.

 

Those Who Dream of One Day Surpassing You!”

The Accolytes :

....um?

 

SCENE 5 

SOMERSET, WESTERN VIRGINIA 

5:02 A.M.

The FBI vehicles drive down a snow-laden track. 

Joe is dozing next to Mulder in the back. 

The vehicle goes over a bump and he wakes up.

FATHER JOE: 

Are we getting warm?

WHITNEY: 

You tell us.

Whitney is in the front passenger seat, Drummy is driving.

FATHER JOE: 

I don't know. 

I have a clue where we are.

MULDER: 

That's all right. 

Everybody works differently.

FATHER JOE: 

Who are you - The Good Cop?

MULDER: 

I'm the non-Cop.

He holds out Monica Bannan's FBI photo ID card.

FATHER JOE: 

I don't know this girl. 

This Agent Bannan of yours. 

I haven't a clue of the connection.

MULDER: 

There's always something, 

however small.

FATHER JOE: 

And who made you 

The Expert?

MULDER: 

I once investigated a series of cases involving unexplained phenomena for the FBI.

FATHER JOE: 

So you believe in these sort of things?

MULDER: 

Let's just say 

I want to Believe.

DRUMMY: 

And His Sister was abducted.

By E.T.

FATHER JOE: 

...Is that True...?

MULDER: 

It was a long time ago.

FATHER JOE: 

.....she's dead, isn't she?

Your Sister?

Mulder doesn't answer. 

He takes Monica Bannan's ID and looks at it. 

Whitney glances at him. 

Then Joe leans forward.

FATHER JOE: 

This is where she was taken - Your Agent. 

This is where she was attacked.

MULDER: 

I want him to see the crime scene.

They pull into a driveway and get out of the cars. 

Joe walks towards the garage 

then stops.

FATHER JOE: 

No, this isn't right. 

You've brought me to the wrong house.

Joe walks back down the drive.

MULDER: 

Pulled that right out of his ass.

Drummy walks after Father Joe who has now 

walked onto the road. 

He approaches the house opposite, 

where there is yellow crime scene tape 

around the garage. 

He goes into the garage and looks around. 

Whitney indicates to Drummy to follow him.

WHITNEY: 

There were news crews out here 

covering the scene, 

pictures of the neighborhood — 

He could've recognized it all from TV....

Mulder and Whitney go round the outside of the house.

MULDER: 

Yeah, but, why?

WHITNEY: 

Why?

MULDER: 

Why do it? Why go to such 

great lengths to create such an 

elaborate fiction.

WHITNEY: 

Expiation. Forgiveness of His Sins. 

He's written dozens of letters 

to The Vatican pleading 

re-engagement with 

The Church.

MULDER: 

A rather odd way to impress 

The Holy See.

WHITNEY: 

The Voice of God Speaking 

through A Man - 

I think that's been 

A Winner a few times.

At the back of the house, 

Father Joe is walking towards The Woods, 

Drummy watching him.

MULDER: 

So you think he's Guilty too, huh?

WHITNEY: 

We HAVE to consider him 

A Suspect —

MULDER: 

But you found no connection 

to The Crime.

WHITNEY: 

Don't think My Guys have stopped looking, 

and they think they're going to find Monica.

MULDER: 

But you don't, 

or I wouldn't be here.

WHITNEY: 

Yeah, I'm not the most popular girl 

at the FBI right now for 

calling you in, 

Believe Me.

MULDER: 

I wasn't exactly Miss Popularity 

at the FBI myself.

WHITNEY: 

But you've dealt with 

psychics before. 

Luther Lee Boggs, 

Clyde Bruckman, 

Gerald Schnauz - 

I went through 

those cases and 

that work was 

extremely impressive.

MULDER: 

Yeah, well. 

I'm only half The Yeam.

WHITNEY: 

But it's YOUR insights 

I NEED.

They see Father Joe sink to his knees in The Snow. 

They rush over to him.

FATHER JOE: 

She ran away. 

She tried to escape. 

There were two men. 

Well, she couldn't. 

He pushed her down, 

it was here, 

it was right here, 

and then they put in the back.

WHITNEY: 

Where?!

FATHER JOE: 

In the car - no - it was a truck, 

a truck with something on it.

WHITNEY: 

We have to find her!

FATHER JOE: 

She's in pain, 

great, great pain.

WHITNEY: 

Tell me where!

FATHER JOE: 

I don't know. 

I can't see.

WHITNEY: 

We need to find her!

FATHER JOE: 

I can't see.

Drummy doesn't believe this.

DRUMMY: 

Because he's pulling it out of his ass.

If he were, 

he would be lying better — 

providing more positive and actionable information 

(even if it isn’t True),

and he would never be saying 

“I Don’t Know.”

It isn’t bullshit, therefore.

If he were faking it, 

he would want to seem 

as useful and insight 

as possible — he isn’t.

This is largely unhelpful :

Except for the fact that 

she is in Great Pain.

But that does not help 

in finding her...

He walks off. 

Mulder and Whitney look down at Joe who is weeping. 

They blood spots on The Snow.

MULDER: 

Father Joe?

Father Joe lifts up his head. 

The blood is coming from his eyes.

At the hospital, Scully goes into the children's ward and up to Christian who is lying in bed.

SCULLY: 

Hi, Christian. 

You're looking very bright-eyed this morning.

CHRISTIAN: 

I was thinking.

SCULLY: 

Yeah? What were you thinking?

CHRISTIAN: 

How I'm going to get out of here.

SCULLY: 

Well, you know, 

I'm thinking exactly the same thing.

CHRISTIAN: 

Can I get out of here soon?

SCULLY: 

What's wrong? 

Has something scared you?

CHRISTIAN: 

The Way The Man 

is looking at me.

SCULLY: 

What man?

Christian indicates a man standing in the corridor.

SCULLY: 

Don't be afraid.

Scully walks down the corridor to The Man, Father Ybarra, 

who is looking through a folder.

SCULLY: 

I was just looking for those.

FATHER YBARRA: 

I wanted to go over them myself 

and the results of the 

new tests that you ordered.

SCULLY: 

That isn't really your purview, Father. 

It's his primary physician's.

FATHER YBARRA: 

It is in my purview, to make sure 

that all my physicians are making 

The Right Choices for their patients 

and for The Hospital.

SCULLY: 

Can I have the test results, please?

He hands them to her.

FATHER YBARRA: 

We are here to Heal The Sick, 

not prolong the ordeal 

of The Dying. 

There are other, 

better facilities for The Boy.

 

DRUMMY: 

Dana Scully? 

Dr. Scully, 

I'm looking for Fox Mulder.

SCULLY: 

Excuse me.

Scully walks over to him.

DRUMMY: 

Special Agent Drummy 

with the FBI.

SCULLY: 

I can guess who you're with.

DRUMMY: 

The FBI urgently needs to speak with Fox Mulder.

SCULLY: 

I don't work with Fox Mulder any longer. 

I don't work with the FBI.

DRUMMY: 

Well, if you could contact him, 

it might just Save The Life 

of an FBI Agent.

Later, Scully drives down a country road and turns into a lane blocked by a metal gate. 

She opens this and continues driving up the long track to a house. 

She enters the house, into a cluttered living room. 

She undoes her coat, then goes into another room which has press cuttings all over the walls. 

Mulder is sat at a desk with his back to her.

MULDER: 

What's up, Doc?

SCULLY: 

You've become awfully trusting Mulder, 

for a man wanted by the FBI.

MULDER: 

Eyes in the back of my head, Scully. 

"Auf einer Wellenlänge",

 as The Germans say. 

It's a precognitive state often confused with simple human intuition, 

in which the brain perceives 

The Deep Logic underlying transitory Human Existence, 

unaided by The Conscious Mind, 

materializing much as you did just now. 

Though if you'd actually materialized, 

you'd be rapidly de-materializing. 

But Who Believes 

that crap anymore?

Mulder has been cutting out another newspaper article. 

Then he stands and faces her, smiling.

He's dressed in casual clothes, and has a beard.

SCULLY: 

Well, they do at the FBI apparently. 

I had a visitor today, Mulder. 

The FBI want your help finding a missing agent.

Mulder pins the newspaper article, "Princeton closes ESP lab after 40 years of paranormal study" on the board next to his I Want To Believe poster.

MULDER: 

Well, I hope you told them go screw themselves.

SCULLY: 

They say all is forgiven. 

That they'll drop all charges against you if you come in 

and help them solve this case.

MULDER: 

The FBI will forgive me. 

They put me on trial on bogus charges 

and tried to discredit a decade of my work, 

they should be asking me for my forgiveness, Scully.

SCULLY: 

I think they are. 

Desperately.

MULDER:

How can I possibly help these people?

Mulder sits down.

SCULLY: 

Someone's come forward with some promising evidence.

A psychic, he claims.

MULDER: 

It's A Trick, Scully, 

to smoke me out.

SCULLY: 

Mulder, if the FBI wanted to get you,

I have no doubt that they could. 

I think they've just been happy 

to have you out of their hair.

MULDER: 

Oh good, because I am just as happy, 

having them out of mine.

SCULLY: 

A Young Agent's Life is at stake. 

Mulder, I know 

I don't have to say this, 

but it could have been you once, or me. 

You know, The Truth is, 

I worry about you, 

and the effects of long-term isolation.

Mulder chuckles.

MULDER: 

I'm fine, here — 

Happy as a clam.

Mulder eats a sunflower seed. 

Scully looks up at the ceiling which has many pencils embedded in it.

SCULLY: 

I'll Tell Them Your Answer.

She leaves the room. 

Mulder looks at the closed door 

on which there are many press cuttings, 

plus a photograph of young Samantha — 

Looking at him.

MULDER: 

Shit.

He opens the door.

MULDER: 

Okay, I'll go. 

Under one condition.

Scully sighs. 

A helicopter. 

Mulder holds open the door for Scully. 

After they are both seated inside, 

the helicopter takes off.

SCENE 23
TEXAS-NEW MEXICO BORDER
5:07 AM

The SUV driven by MULDER makes it was down the road. 

It pulls off to the side.

MULDER cuts the engine, leans toward SCULLY who is sleeping and gently kisses her cheek. He gets out of the car.)

MULDER unzips his pants and relieves himself, when ...

FROHIKE'S GHOST : 

Hey, hot shot! 

You might have the common courtesy 

of doing Your Business there downwind.

MULDER: 

Oh, boy.

LANGLY'S GHOST: 

Why don't you just finish draining 

the little lizard 

and then we'll talk?

BYER'S GHOST: 

We're very worried about you.

FROHIKE'S GHOST: 

It's craziness, man. Turn around.

LANGLEY'S GHOST:

Just hang a big U-ie and never look back.

MULDER: 

I can't.

BYER'S GHOST: 

Why risk Perfect Happiness, Mulder? 

Why risk your lives?

MULDER: 

Because I need to 

Know The Truth.

BYER'S GHOST: 

You already know The Truth.

MULDER thinks about that one for a moment. 

When he responds, its with complete honesty 

at what he's really doing there.

MULDER: 

I need to know if I can change it.

LANGLY'S GHOST: 

Change it?

FROHIKE'S GHOST: 

For crying out loud --

All you're going to do is

 get yourself killed.

From behind him, SCULLY 

got out of the car to look 

for MULDER.

SCULLY: 

Mulder! What are you doing?

MULDER: 

I'll be right with you, Scully.

They both get back into the car.

GET SOME SKIN IN THE GAME : I Think I'm in Love with Assistant-Protector Walter F. Skinner

A WAR IS NEVER OVER.

 

  

 

My Familiar Spirit.

 

The Past can be haunting.

 

 

Mud Lick :

 

Don’t forget to roll 

when you land.

 

Brother Sun:

Deputy-Director Kersh?

 

FBI Deputy-Director Kersh :

I’m gonna ask you once and only once :

Where is he?

 

Brother Sun:

Sir, of whom are we speaking?

 

FBI Deputy-Director Kersh :

Cut the crap, agents.

 

Have you ever wondered why,

after 35 years in The Bureau,

Walter Skinner isn’t sitting on this side of The Desk?

 

Or even, perhaps, running this whole damn agency, for that matter?

 

Sister Moon :

Are you looking for Skinner?

 

FBI Deputy-Director Kersh :

Let me be unambiguous, 

in the event that there are any questions about this 

in your Conspiracy-addled Minds :

 

Walter Skinner’s stalled carer 

has everything to do with his… 

Blind Loyalty to The Both of You

and your misguided search for some…. 

( handwaving )

imaginary Truth.

 

Brother Sun:

Sir, what is this about?

 

 

FBI Deputy-Director Kersh :

Skinner’s gone AWOL, Agent Mulder.

Without warning or explanation.

 

And frankly, 

I don’t buy your naïveté,

not even for a moment.

 

He hasn’t been the same 

since The Two of You returned to The Bureau.

 

Sister Moon :

Sir, has anyone checked his apartment?

Could he have had some kind of a medical emergency?

 

FBI Deputy-Director Kersh :

The Director’s asking questions 

about Skinner’s activities

that I can’t answer.

 

There is some implication 

that he recently started poking-around

in places he shouldn’t be poking.

 

Brother Sun:

….What sort of places..?

 

FBI Deputy-Director Kersh :

I couldn’t say.

 

But if you Truly Care about His Future in The FBI,

I suggest you bring him back here while he still has

a Future to return to.

 

 

 

 

 

Sister Moon :

What Happened to The Old, Reliable Skinner

we Knew and Loved?

 

Brother Sun:

Well, based on his dubious behaviour the past couple of months,

it’s safe to say The Old Skinner has left The Building.

 

 

 

 

 

Brother Sun :

Ambulance is on it’s way :

....I would call Kersh —

as soon as you get cell reception.

 

Skin-Man :

Something you wanna share?

 

Sister Moon :

Kersh…. Indicated to us, that wewere responsible 

for your lack of upward mobility in The Bureau.

 

Skin-Man :

If it wasn’t for You Two,

I wouldn’t be Here right now.

 

I’m not talking about the fact that you showed up here today.

 

Wincing, he painfully pulls down an old photo album 

from it’s shelving behind his right shoulder, 

onto his lap.

 

He opens it.

 

Removes a photograph of himself, 

and ’s Father, in Vietnam.

 

I enlisted in The Marine Corps 

the day that I turned 18.

 

I was a kid.

 

Full of callow Self-Confidence and Faith,

and this….

 

This kind of Uncorrupted Belief that

I Was Doing The Right Thing.

 

John James….

He didn’t enlist.

He, uh, he was drafted.

 

And His Whole Life 

was completely upended by a war that he really, 

truly didn’t even understand.

 

He was so afraid all the time.

I felt like I had to protect him.

 

But I didn’t.

 

I couldn’t.

 

That experience in Vietnam with John, it...

it put a dent in that Blind Faith 

that I had in My Government.

 

It planted seeds of - 

of mistrust.

 

I tried for years to supress that mistrust,

but it gnawed at me.

 

he scoffs and shakes his head with a grin — 

 

Then You Two….

 

You Two came along, 

and you taught me,

not to hide from it, but to….

have the guts to Shine a Light

directly into The Darkest Corners.

 

And if given The Choice

between Advancing My Career

by being blindly loyal to some faceless puppeters 

pulling strings from The Shadows

or to Throw-in with You Two,

make no mistake about it,

 

I’d make The Same Decision

every single damn time.

 

M&S exchange a look of 

Pure Love for This Man 

across The Room.

 

So I’m gonna go back.

I’m gonna Kiss The Ring.

 

But I intend to 

Do Right by This Man.

( John James )

And that means Finding The Truth 

of What The Hell it was They used him for.

 

No Matter The Cost.

 

I owe him that.

 

scoffs

 

I owe myself that.

 

His Wound is bothering him — 

As he rises, Scully Helps Him to Stand.

 

Before he reaches The Door, 

Mulder calls out after him, 

and he turns back to face them — 

 

Brother Sun :

Skinner.

We’re with You.

 

He half-smiles, nods grimly, 

gets a stoically firm grip on his emotions

and steps out into The Sunlight.

SCENE 5 

FBI HEADQUARTERS 

WASHINGTON, DC 

OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL REVIEW

Scully is sitting in the office before a review board. 

Assistant Director Jana Cassidy is speaking to her. 

Assistant Director Walter Skinner 

is seated on the panel as well.

CASSIDY: 

In light of Waco and Ruby Ridge, 

there is a heightened need at the Attorney General's office 

to place responsibility as early as possible for the 

catastrophic destruction of public property 

and 

loss of life due to terrorist activities. 

Many details are still unclear, 

but we're under some pressure from the Attorney General 

to give an accurate picture of What Happened 

so that she can issue 

a public statement. 

We Know Now 

that five people died, 

in the explosion. 

Special ...

Mulder enters the room, late, 

and Cassidy pauses, looking up at him, 

as do Scully and Skinner.

CASSIDY: 

.. Special Agent In Charge Darius Michaud, 

who was trying to defuse the bomb, 

three firemen from Dallas 

and a young boy. 

I'd like to begin this interview ...

MULDER: 

Excuse me, excuse me —

The firemen and the young boy, they were found in the building?

CASSIDY: 

Agent Mulder, 

since you weren't able to be on time for this hearing, 

I'd like you to step outside so that we can hear Agent Scully's version of the facts 

so that she will not be paid the same disrespect.

MULDER: 

We'd been told the building was clear.

CASSIDY:

You'll get your turn, Agent Mulder, 

please step outside.

Mulder looks at Scully, then leaves the room. 

He is now seated on a bench in the hallway, eating sunflower seeds, husks and all. 

Skinner leaves the hearing room and joins him in the hallway. 

Mulder stands up.

SKINNER: 

Sit down, they're still talking to Agent Scully.

MULDER:

About what? 

he sits back down

SKINNER: 

They're asking her for 

a narrative, 

They want to know 

why she was in 

The Wrong Building.

MULDER: 

She was with me.

SKINNER: 

You don't see what's going on here, do you? 

There's forty-five million dollars worth of damage to the city of Dallas. 

Lives have been lost. 

No suspects have been named. 

So the story that's being shaped 

... is that this could have been prevented.

MULDER: 

They want to blame us?

Skinner sits down next to him.

SKINNER: 

Agent Mulder, you and I both know that 

if it looks bad, 

it's bad for the FBI. 

Blame has to be assigned somewhere

Mulder looks down at the ground, then looks up at Skinner.

MULDER: 

If they want somebody to blame, they can blame me, 

Agent Scully doesn't deserve this.

SKINNER: 

She's in there right now saying the same thing about you.

MULDER: 

I breached protocol. 

I broke contact with the SAC. 

I ignored a primary tactical rule 

and 

left him alone with the device.

SKINNER: 

Agent Scully says it was she who ordered you out of the building, 

that you wanted to go back in.

MULDER: 

No.

Both men stand as Scully leaves the hearing room 

and walks over to them.

SCULLY: 

(to Skinner) 

They're asking for you, sir.

SKINNER: 

Thank you. 

(he leaves)

MULDER: 

Whatever you told them in there, Scully, 

you don't have to protect me.

SCULLY: 

All I told them was The Truth.

MULDER: 

They're trying to divide us on this and we can't let them.

SCULLY: 

Mulder, they have divided us. They're splitting us up.

MULDER: 

What? What are you talking about?

SCULLY: 

I have a meeting with OPR day after tomorrow 

for remediation and reassignment.

MULDER: 

But They're the ones who put us together.

SCULLY: 

Because they wanted me to invalidate 

your investigations into the paranormal.

 But I think this goes 

deeper than that now.

MULDER: 

This is not about you, Scully. They're doing this to me.

SCULLY: 

They're not doing this. 

(pause as she collects her thoughts) 

Mulder, I left behind a career in medicine 

because I thought that I could make a difference at the FBI. 

But it hasn't turned out that way. 

And now if they were to transfer me to 

Omaha or Cleveland, or some field office, 

it just doesn't hold the interest for me that it once did. 

Not after what I've seen and done.

MULDER: 

(realizing what she's saying)

You're quitting.

SCULLY: 

Maybe you should ask yourself if your heart's still in it, too.

(Skinner comes back out for Mulder)

SKINNER: 

Agent Mulder, you're up.

SCULLY: (to Mulder) I'm sorry.

(Mulder begins to walk back to the boardroom)

SCULLY: Mulder. (she hands Mulder his jacket, which he left on the bench) Good luck.

(Mulder enters the hearing room. Scully pauses for a moment, then turns and leaves the building.)

SCENE 24 

OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL REVIEW 

WASHINGTON, DC

(Scully is seated before the review board, her lovely face marked by the effects of her ordeal, frostbite and scratches.)

CASSIDY: 

In light report on the report I've got before me and in light of the narrative I am now hearing, my official report is incomplete -- pending these new facts I'm being asked to reconcile.

(While she speaks, we see a man entering the field office where the fossilized samples were kept. In the darkness of the closed office his flashlight lands on the tray containing the samples and he takes it away.)

CASSIDY: 

Agent Scully, though there is now direct evidence that a federal agent may have been involved in the bombing, the other events you've laid down here are too incredible on their own, and quite frankly implausible in their connections.

SCULLY: 

What is it you find incredible?

CASSIDY: 

Well, where would you like me to start?

(As we hear them speak, over the next couple of passages, we cut to somewhere in America's heartland as a freshly-painted tanker truck is prepared. The new sign painted on the side reads "Nature's Best Corn Oil". Next we see soldiers with flame torches setting a corn field ablaze.)

CASSIDY: 

So many of the events described in your report defy belief. 

Antarctica is a long way from Dallas, Agent Scully. 

I-- I can't very well submit a report to the Attorney General that alleges the links you've made here. 

Bees and corn crops do not quite fall under the rubric of domestic terrorism.

SCULLY: 

No, they don't.

CASSIDY: 

Most of what I find in here is lacking a coherent picture of any organization with an attributable motive. 

I realize the ordeal you've endured has clearly affected you. 

But the holes in your account leave this panel with little choice but to delete these references to our final report to the Justice Department--until which time hard evidence becomes available that would give us cause to pursue such an investigation.

(Scully stands up and walks over to the board, positioning herself directly in front of A.D. Cassidy. She places the vial containing the bee found in Mulder's hallway on the table, Cassidy picks it up and looks closely at it.)

SCULLY: I don't believe the FBI currently has an investigative unit qualified to pursue the evidence in hand.

(Scully then turns and leaves the room. Skinner looks at Cassidy, then the entire panel turns to stare at him. What are ya gonna do about THIS, Skinner?)

SCENE 25 

THE CAPITAL MALL

(Mulder is sitting on a bench by the reflecting pool reading a newspaper. He stares at a headline: "Local Hanta Virus Outbreak In Northern Texas Contained", looks up and sees Scully walking toward him. When she arrives, he hands her the paper.)

MULDER: There's an interesting work of fiction on page 24. Mysteriously, our names have been omitted. They're burying this thing, Scully. They're just going to dig a new hole and cover it up.

SCULLY: I told OPR everything I know. What I experienced, the virus, how it's spread by the bees from pollen in transgenic crops.

(He gets up and starts to walk away. She joins him.)

MULDER: You're wasting your time, Scully. They'll never believe you, not unless your story can be programmed, categorized, or easily referenced.

SCULLY: Well, then we'll go over their heads.

(He stops and turns to her.)

MULDER: No. No. How many times have we been here before, Scully? Right here. So close to the truth and now with what we've seen and what we know to be right back at the beginning with nothing.

SCULLY: This is different, Mulder.

MULDER: No it isn't! You were right to want to quit! You were right to want to leave me! You should get as far away from me as you can! I'm not going to watch you die, Scully, because of some hollow personal cause of mine. Go be a doctor. Go be a doctor while you still can.

SCULLY: I can't. I won't. Mulder, I'll be a doctor, but my work is here with you now. That virus that I was exposed to, whatever it is, it has a cure. You held it in your hand. How many other lives can we save? Look ... (she clasps his hand) ... If I quit now, they win.

(Hand in hand they walk off into the sunset .... sort of anyway.)

SCENE 26 

FOUM TATAOUINE, TUNISIA

(A helicopter flies over the vast desert. We then see CSM walking next to a cornfield, a native man yelling something in Tunisian into the crop. From out of the corn comes Strughold. He walks over to CSM.)

STRUGHOLD: You look hot and miserable. Why have you travelled all this way?

CSM: We have business to discuss.

STRUGHOLD: We have regular channels.

CSM: This involves Mulder.

STRUGHOLD: Ah. That name, again and again.

CSM: He's seen more than he should have.

STRUGHOLD: What has he seen? Of the whole he has seen but pieces.

CSM: He's determined now. Reinvested.

STRUGHOLD: He is but one man. One man alone cannot fight the future.

CSM: Yesterday, I received this.

(From out of his pocket, he pulls a telegram and hands it to Strughold. He reads it then drops it to the ground and walks away. CSM looks down at the telegram. It reads:

"X-FILES RE-OPENED. STOP. PLEASE ADVISE. STOP."

CSM looks up, then walks away. The camera pans above the scene to show the huge cornfield in the middle of the desert ...)

[THE END]

[In the upturned car, Mulder struggles to free himself. There his blood on his face. He pulls himself out and gets to his feet.]

[Back in the FBI. A cell phone rings.]

SAC FOSSA: FBI Special Agent in Charge Fossa speaking. It's for you.

[She hands the phone to Drummy and walks away.]

DRUMMY: This is Special Agent Drummy.

SCULLY: I've been trying to find you for hours. I can't reach Mulder.

DRUMMY: Is this Dr. Scully?

SCULLY: Yes, it's Dr. Scully.

DRUMMY: Where is he?

SCULLY: If I knew that I wouldn't be calling.

DRUMMY: Dr. Scully, I'm going to suggest you call the police. This is not an FBI matter.

SCULLY: Listen to me! I need your help!

DRUMMY: I'm sorry, I can't help you.

SCULLY: Then let me talk to somebody there with some balls who can.

[Back in the makeshift operating theatre, a gowned figure approaches Cheryl's wooden kennel. The woman speaks Russian to Cheryl who backs away in fear. ]

CHERYL: Don't touch me!

[More people come over and drag her out. The Russian doctor injects her and she loses consciousness. The snowplough truck drives along a snow-packed track, then suddenly stops as the snowplough drops to the ground, fluid leaking. Mulder is walking a road in the falling snow. He sees the truck down the side-road and jogs towards it. He opens the driver's door. It's unoccupied. He looks around, then picks up a wrench. He jogs further down the track. In the operating area, Dacyshyn sits by Tomczesyn's operating table, talking softly to him.]

DACYSHYN: You're going to be fine.

[Cheryl is carried to another operating table. The Russian doctor comes over with an injection. He pulls down the blanket, showing surgical sutures around Tomczesyn's neck and below that a much paler, mottled body.]

DACYSHYN: I've taken care of it. I've taken good care of it. You don't need this one.

[Cheryl, barely conscious, is lowered into an ice bath. Mulder has now reached the chain-link fence surrounding the compound. The surgeon begins removing the sutures around Tomczesyn's neck. Dacyshyn speaks to Tomczesyn.]

SURGEON: Look at me. You're going to live. You're going to have a fine, strong body.

[The Russian doctor speaks Russian to Dacyshyn, waving him away. In the ice bath, Cheryl's neck is being swabbed with iodine. Mulder climbs over the chain-link fence. A guard dog rushes at him and knocks him down. Dacyshyn hears the dog barking. The Russian doctor speaks to him and he rushes off and out of the house. He looks around, then hears the dog whimpering. Other dogs continue to bark. The Russian doctor starts cutting the skin of Cheryl's neck. Dacyshyn runs over to the whimpering dog. It has two heads. He sees blood on the snow nearby. He sees footprints going towards the house.]

[Mulder's car has been found and tow truck drivers prepare to drag it out. Another vehicle arrives and parks alongside a police car. Scully gets out. A patrol officer approaches her.]

COP: Excuse me.

SCULLY: I'm Dana Scully and that's my car.

COP: Right. I talked to some bigwig down at the FBI, called from Washington.

SCULLY: Yeah, that's him. Walter Skinner.

[Skinner walks up.]

SCULLY: Is there any indication what happened, or any footprints?

COP: Nothing. The snow is pretty heavy. But we did find this, you might want to give it to him. Excuse me.

SCULLY: It's his cell phone. It's got blood on it.

SKINNER: Hey, listen to me, calm down, stop and think. He's okay. He's got to be. He climbed out of this thing, he climbed out, he probably climbed up.

[Dacyshyn walks around the compound and goes to the chute that Cheryl had tumbled down. Mulder is crouched just inside and can see his shadow through the plastic covering the entrance. Dacyshyn walks on and Mulder listens to his footsteps moving away. In the ice bath, tubes have been inserted into Cheryl's neck through the incisions. A machine is switched on and blood starts circulating through the tubes. Tomczesyn's head has now been removed. Mulder peers through the plastic surrounding the operating area, then moves inside. He starts to speak, but he is shocked at what he's seeing and his voice is very quiet.]

MULDER: Stop what you're doing.

[They don't hear him, then he regains his voice and shouts.]

MULDER: Stop! Back off!

[He holds up the wrench, advancing towards them. They all speak in Russian.]

MULDER: Back away! Back off!

[The people continue to speak in Russian.]

MULDER: You speak English? Anybody speak English? I want her out of here. I want those tubes out of her neck and I want her neck sewn up. Do it! Do it!!

[Mulder goes over to the operating table, pulls back the sheet and sees the headless body. He grimaces.]

MULDER: Are you going to do what I say!

[The Russian doctor approaches him, frantically speaking in Russian. Mulder looks over to an ice bucket in which Tomczesyn's head has been place. The eyes open. The Russian doctor then injects Mulder with his tranquillizer. Dacyshyn comes into the room as Mulder crumples to the floor. He grabs Mulder and pull him and punches him in the face. Mulder falls to the floor.]

[Skinner drives his car, Scully in the passenger seat. ]

SKINNER: We will find him.

[Scully looks upset.]

SKINNER: I know Mulder. He'd get to a phone and call first. He wouldn't do anything crazy.

[She looks at him.]

SKINNER: Not overly crazy.

[Dacyshyn drags the headless body outside, then returns for the unconscious Mulder. He drags Mulder outside and then into a shed alongside the headless body. Mulder groans.]

[In Skinner's car, Scully has seen something.]

SCULLY: Wait a minute. Back up.

[Skinner brings his car to a halt, alongside a parked vehicle, then reverses back up the road.]

SCULLY: Stop.

[She gets out the car and walks over to a row of mail boxes. Skinner follows her.]

SKINNER: What is it?

[Scully stops at one mailbox that has the numbers 25 and 2 on it.]

SCULLY: Proverbs 25:2.

[In the shed, Dacyshyn lifts the headless body onto a chopping block. Mulder is groggy but notices the arm of the headless body, and sees a medical ID bracelet on it. Dacyshyn brings down an axe.]

[Scully opens the mailbox and looks through the mail. As she does so she quotes what Father Joe had said to her.]

SCULLY: The glory of God to hide a thing. I've got it. It's an invoice for medical supplies to a Dr. Uroff-Koltoff. It's an address on Bellflower Road.

[They look around.]

SKINNER: Maybe I could Google it.

[He takes out his phone.]

SCULLY: Listen.

SKINNER: What?

[They look around, seeking the source of the noise.]

SCULLY: Dogs. Dogs!

[In the shed, Mulder watches as Dacyshyn puts severed body parts into a black plastic bag. The axe is embedded in the chopping block. He reaches and gets hold of it, but he's still very weak. Dacyshyn intervenes, and pulls Mulder on to the chopping block. He starts sharpening the axe, smiling as he does so. He raises the axe, about to cut off Mulder's head, when he's hit by Scully wielding a long piece of wood. He falls to the ground. Scully goes to Mulder.]

SCULLY: Mulder. Can you hear me?

MULDER: Sorry about your car. The girl is still inside.

[Inside, the surgeon starts cutting into Cheryl's neck.]

SKINNER: Show me your hands!

[Skinner has his gun aimed at them. They speak in Russian to him.]

SKINNER: Put the scalpel down. Put that scalpel down!

[They continue to argue with him in Russian.]

SKINNER: Just put it down or I'll blow your goddamn hand off.

[The surgeon drops the scalpel and Skinner pushes him away.]

SKINNER: Get over there!

[He sees Cheryl in the ice tank.]

SKINNER: God, what have you done?

[The surgeon still argues with him in Russian.]

SKINNER: What have you done?!

[Scully enters.]

SCULLY: Mulder needs warm clothes and fluids.

[He indicates Cheryl in the ice bath.]

SCULLY: Oh, god.

[Scully takes off her coat.]

SCULLY: I've got work to do here.

[Skinner orders the people into the dog kennels.]

SKINNER: Get in! Get in!

[Scully scrubs up while Skinner goes outside to find Mulder.]

SKINNER: Mulder.

MULDER: The girl inside.

SKINNER: Scully's got her. She's in good hands.

MULDER: Skinner?

SKINNER: Yeah.

MULDER: I'm cold.

SKINNER: I got you. I got you.

[Skinner puts his coat around Mulder, then holds on to him to keep him warm.]

[It is day. Scully's car is parked outside their home. Inside, Mulder cuts out a newspaper article titled "FBI arrest modern-day Frankenstein doctor". Scully comes into his office.]

SCULLY: Mulder?

MULDER: What's up, doc?

SCULLY: Father Joe is dead.

[He turns round to look at her.]

SCULLY: He was clearly a very sick man.

[He tears a page from the newspaper.]

MULDER: Did you see this story? The FBI's claiming Father Joe was an accomplice. Not a word about his psychic connection.

SCULLY: He's dead, Mulder. We'll never know.

MULDER: I know, Scully, and I can prove it. Father Joe died of lung cancer, right? The same as that man that Dr. Frankenstein tried to give a new body.

SCULLY: Mulder.

MULDER: What time did you pull those tubes from that woman's neck. What time did you cut off the blood supply to that man's head? That's when Father Joe died. You get me his death certificate and I'll show it to you, and then I'll take it to the FBI and I'll show them.

SCULLY: Do you think they're really going to take your call?

MULDER: It's an injustice to the man's name.

SCULLY: Well, considering his crimes against those young boys, who is really going to care?

MULDER: I thought you believed him too.

SCULLY: I wanted to believe him. I did believe him. I acted on that belief.

[There's a pause. Scully is upset.]

MULDER: Why don't you just tell me what he said to you.

[She shakes her head. Mulder moves over to the poster on the wall and pins up the newspaper cutting which has a photograph showing Drummy leading away the Russian surgeon.]

SCULLY: He told me: Don't give up.

[Mulder turns to face her.]

SCULLY: And I didn't, and it saved your life. But I've put that boy through hell. And I have another surgery scheduled for this morning, because I believed that God was telling me to. Through a pedophile priest, no less.

MULDER: What if Father Joe's prayers were answered after all? What he were forgiven, because he didn't give up.

SCULLY: Try proving that one, Mulder. I'm due at the hospital.

[Scully leaves the house and walks up to the car. Mulder comes out of the front door onto the porch.]

MULDER: Scully? Why would he say that - "Don't give up"? Why would he say such a thing to you?

SCULLY: I think that was clearly meant for you, Mulder.

MULDER: He didn't say it to me. He said it to you. If Father Joe were the devil, why would he say the opposite of what the devil might say? Maybe that's the answer. The larger answer.

SCULLY: What do you mean?

MULDER: Don't give up.

[Scully starts to cry.]

SCULLY: Please don't make this any harder than it already is.

[He puts his arms around her.]

MULDER: If you have any doubts, any doubts at all, just call off that surgery this morning. And then we'll get out of here. Just me and you.

[Scully pulls away and looks closely at him, smiling slightly.]

SCULLY: As far away from the darkness as we can get?

[Mulder smiles.]

MULDER: I'm not sure it works that way. I think maybe the darkness finds you and me.

SCULLY: I know it does.

MULDER: But let it try.

[They both smile. Then kiss. Then Scully gets into her car.]

[The hospital. Scully walks down a corridor. She crosses paths with a woman who stares at her as she passes. She sees Christian's parents talking to Father Ybarra. She walks up the stairs. A little later, in the operating room, Scully prepares for the next procedure on Christian. She walks to the operating table, where Christian looks at her.]

WOMAN: Are you ready to begin, Dr. Scully?

[She looks around at the other people in the operating room. She sees three nuns looking in through the glass door. She steadies herself.]

SCULLY: Yes.

[She smiles at Christian.]

Brother Sun:

Deputy-Director Kersh?

 

FBI Deputy-Director Kersh :

I’m gonna ask you once and only once :

Where is he?

 

Brother Sun:

Sir, of whom are we speaking?

 

FBI Deputy-Director Kersh :

Cut the crap, agents.

 

Have you ever wondered why,

after 35 years in The Bureau,

Walter Skinner isn’t sitting on this side of The Desk?

 

Or even, perhaps, running this whole damn agency, for that matter?

 

Sister Moon :

Are you looking for Skinner?

 

FBI Deputy-Director Kersh :

Let me be unambiguous,

in the event that there are any questions about this

in your Conspiracy-addled Minds :

 

Walter Skinner’s stalled carer

has everything to do with his…

Blind Loyalty to The Both of You

and your misguided search for some….

( handwaving )

imaginary Truth.

 

Brother Sun:

Sir, what is this about?

 

 

FBI Deputy-Director Kersh :

Skinner’s gone AWOL, Agent Mulder.

Without warning or explanation.

 

And frankly, 

I don’t buy your naïveté,

not even for a moment.

 

He hasn’t been the same

since The Two of You returned to The Bureau.

 

Sister Moon :

Sir, has anyone checked his apartment?

Could he have had some kind of a medical emergency?

 

FBI Deputy-Director Kersh :

The Director’s asking questions

about Skinner’s activities

that I can’t answer.

 

There is some implication 

that he recently started poking-around

in places he shouldn’t be poking.

 

Brother Sun:

….What sort of places..?

 

FBI Deputy-Director Kersh :

I couldn’t say.

 

But if you Truly Care about His Future in The FBI,

I suggest you bring him back here while he still has

a Future to return to.

 

 

 

 

 

Sister Moon :

What Happened to The Old, Reliable Skinner

we Knew and Loved?

 

Brother Sun:

Well, based on his dubious behaviour the past couple of months,

it’s safe to say The Old Skinner has left The Building.

 

 

 

 

 

Brother Sun :

Ambulance is on it’s way :

....I would call Kersh —

as soon as you get cell reception.

 

Skin-Man :

Something you wanna share?

 

Sister Moon :

Kersh…. Indicated to us, that we were responsible 

for your lack of upward mobility in The Bureau.

 

Skin-Man :

If it wasn’t for You Two,

I wouldn’t be Here right now.

 

I’m not talking about the fact that you showed up here today.

 

Wincing, he painfully pulls down an old photo album

from it’s shelving behind his right shoulder, 

onto his lap.

 

He opens it.

 

Removes a photograph of himself,

and ’s Father, in Vietnam.

 

I enlisted in The Marine Corps

the day that I turned 18.

 

I was a kid.

 

Full of callow Self-Confidence and Faith,

and this….

 

This kind of Uncorrupted Belief that

I Was Doing The Right Thing.

 

John James….

He didn’t enlist.

He, uh, he was drafted.

 

And His Whole Life

was completely upended by a war that he really,

truly didn’t even understand.

 

He was so afraid all the time.

I felt like I had to protect him.

 

But I didn’t.

 

I couldn’t.

 

That experience in Vietnam with John, it...

it put a dent in that Blind Faith

that I had in My Government.

 

It planted seeds of -

of mistrust.

 

I tried for years to supress that mistrust,

but it gnawed at me.

 

he scoffs and shakes his head with a grin — 

 

Then You Two….

 

You Two came along,

and you taught me,

not to hide from it, but to….

have the guts to Shine a Light

directly into The Darkest Corners.

 

And if given The Choice

between Advancing My Career

by being blindly loyal to some faceless puppeters

pulling strings from The Shadows

or to Throw-in with You Two,

make no mistake about it,

 

I’d make The Same Decision

every single damn time.

 

M&S exchange a look of

Pure Love for This Man

across The Room.

 

So I’m gonna go back.

I’m gonna Kiss The Ring.

 

But I intend to

Do Right by This Man.

( John James )

And that means Finding The Truth

of What The Hell it was They used him for.

 

No Matter The Cost.

 

I owe him that.

 

scoffs

 

I owe myself that.

 

His Wound is bothering him — 

As he rises, Scully Helps Him to Stand.

 

Before he reaches The Door, 

Mulder calls out after him,

and he turns back to face them — 

 

Brother Sun :

Skinner.

We’re with You.

 

He half-smiles, nods grimly, 

gets a stoically firm grip on his emotions

and steps out into The Sunlight.