08x19 - Alone

[bunniefuu]

It's freezing out there.

You weren't gone long.

Did you do what I asked? Yes.

It's important, Gary.

Promise me you did it. You're sick, Dad.

You should be in a hospital, not stuck out here in the middle of nowhere.

You don't owe this guy Stites anything. It's not about owing.

I freeze my butt off checking and rechecking the locks every night.

For what? You don't need to know.

Yeah, that's for sure.

I'm gonna fix some dinner.

Oh, Lord.

He didn't... He didn't.

Oh, God.

Dad?

Agent Scully.

Mm.

Can I take your coat?

I'm not staying, Agent Doggett.

My doctor told me to take my maternity leave.

In fact, she insisted on it.

That's not bad, Agent Scully. You could use some time for yourself.

What is it?

It's a medallion commemorating the Apollo 11 space flight.

I'd like to give this to you, Agent Doggett.

Thanks.

Because?

Agent Mulder gave it to me a few years back.

It symbolizes teamwork... partnership.

It means no one gets there alone.

And after this past year and... everything that we've been through, I just...

I wouldn't be here without you.

Agent Scully.

This pregnancy leave. It's just a leave, right?

I mean... you are coming back eventually?

You're not gone five minutes, Scully, and already I feel like a stranger in my own off...

I'm sorry?

Can I help you? I'm here to help you, actually.

I'm Leyla Harrison.

I've been looking forward to meeting you. Uh-huh?

I've got a case here, an X-File, I think. At least the local PD can't explain it.

A m*rder last night in upstate New York. I booked us on a flight to Buffalo Niagara.

Here's the crime report.

I'm sorry, Ms Harrison.

Who are you?

Oh, gosh. They didn't tell you?

This is so embarrassing.

Uh, I'm... I'm your new partner.

I asked that the body be sent to DC.

It was found in the woods about 50 yards beyond the house.

Maybe we should begin there.

Let's begin inside the house.

OK, then.

The deceased is Arlen Sacks, aged 72.

Caretaker for the estate on which this house is situated.

No physical trauma, but local PD suspect homicide due to the dumping of the body.

Mr Sacks was confined to a wheelchair the last few months, cared for since then by his son, Gary, who's their chief suspect.

Why?

Um...

Because he's missing, too.

If he k*lled this man without leaving a mark, that would suggest premeditation.

But that doesn't fit with dumping the body in the woods or fleeing, both of which indicate panic, haste.

That is great.

What was that last part again, about the premeditation?

What is that?

Slime?

There's a small streak of it on the floor over there, too.

So it's not someone. It's something?

God. This really is an X-File, isn't it?

Congratulations.

I gave the slime to the Buffalo PD.

I told them we wanted to see the results right away.

How much field experience you have?

Um, actually, this is my first time in the field.

Let me guess. Deputy Director Kersh handed you this job, filling in for Agent Scully.

Yes. Yes, he did.

I don't know how to tell you this, Agent Harrison, but you're being used.

Kersh is no friend to the X-Files.

I don't think you understand something.

I begged for this assignment.

You begged for it?

I was in Accounting. I processed Agents Mulder and Scully's travel expenses.

Then you are qualified.

Maybe I'm not, but I know the X-Files, Agent Doggett, inside and out.

Other people don't want to admit these questions exist, but you face them daily.

I am just so excited to be a part of this.

Aren't you?

Mr Sack's body was found here, but they found no footprints leading to it.

Oh, my God. There's more of it.

Looks like it. You know what that could be? Bile.

Bile? From a liver-eating mutant.

Mulder and Scully chased one into an escalator once. It d*ed, but...

This is not a liver-eating mutant, Agent Harrison.

It could be an alien who shed its skin.

According to Mulder's reports, they leave behind a mucus-like residue when they...

You don't think it's that either.

I'll take a sample of this. Have it sent to the lab for comparison.

That's good thinking, Agent Harrison.

Hey. Ready to roll? Yeah. I'll just get my keys.

Hey. Don't forget this.

Relax the back. Breathe in, breathe out.

How do you know all these things, Mulder? I'm unemployed. Got time on my hands.

Oprah. I watch a lot of Oprah.

Thank you for doing this with me.

What's the matter?

I don't know. I, uh...

Maybe it's hormones or...

This is just... I'm just feeling so strange about all of this.

This... having-a-baby this?

No. No.

Leaving work, I guess. I mean, I...

I walked out of that office today feeling like a deserter.

You've paid your dues there, Scully.

More than paid them.

You're concerned about Agent Doggett?

You know, the entire time I was down there I had someone to watch my back.

I'm betting that Agent Doggett can take care of himself. He's a big boy.

You gotta worry about the little boy.

Or little girl.

Boy?

Or girl?

Whoa.

Agent Harrison, what are you doing here? I followed the tr...

It's here.

It?

What "it"?

You're armed, right?

What do you want me to do?

I want you to go outside and I want you to stand by the front door.

Whatever it is, I'm gonna try and flush it out.

Agent Harrison.

Take the safety off.

Harrison.

Agent Harrison!

Skinner. Is it true?

Agent Scully. Someone told me Doggett's gone missing.

It was a m*rder case. He didn't report back.

Why wasn't I told?

Don't worry... I'm heading into the Bureau now.

No, you're not. Are you ordering me not to look for him?

I've got every available law-enforcement officer out here.

You're on maternity leave now. Just trust that we're doing everything we know to do.

I know that you are, but what if it's not enough?

I'll just take this to the lab. Thank you.

Seems like old times - you in scrubs, slicing and dicing.

What are you doing here, Mulder? Actually, I wandered away from my tour.

A better question is, what are you doing here?

I found something that may prove helpful in locating Agent Doggett.

This is Arlen Sacks, the m*rder victim Doggett was investigating.

This old man was not m*rder*d. He d*ed of heart failure, evidently after he was blinded by a chemical substance of some kind.

The orbits have residual traces of a slimy substance known as hydrolytic enzymes.

Venom. Produced by reptiles.

How'd you know? Before Doggett and Harrison went missing, they sent in samples to be analyzed - hydrolytic enzymes. Skinner told me.

I also found some bacteria in the venom, which I'm going to do a culture on.

Let somebody else do it.

There are other concerns right now.

I know, but this is an X-File, Mulder, and you are out of the Bureau.

And now if I go home, where is Skinner gonna find someone qualified to look into this?

I know where he could find somebody.

Agent Doggett? I'm right here.

Are you all right? It sprayed my eyes with something.

My vision's all blurry. Makes two of us.

Three, actually.

I think it's Gary Sacks, the son of the m*rder victim.

How'd you get down here? I think it dragged me down. I'm not sure.

So what do we do now?

I don't know.

Mulder and Scully investigated a case once in Florida.

It involved subterranean men who took people underground.

I told you this is not a man. I fell through some kind of trap.

I'm guessing somebody put that there to provide live meals for this thing.

You're not saying that includes us? I don't intend to wait around and find out.

Bootleggers built these tunnels in Prohibition.

There's got to be one that leads back to the house.

Something up there, I think. Some kind of light.

I can't tell how high up that is.

Mulder, you're not supposed to be out here.

I'm not out here.

What happened to the search?

Police in West Seneca found Doggett's car at a convenience store a half-hour from here.

How'd it get there? I don't know, But we're redirecting our search.

Where you going? For a walk in the woods.

We've already had 40 people looking.

What the hell? I'm out of a job already, right?

Thought all you people left.

You are?

Herman Stites. I own this property.

You're just the man I wanted to speak to, Mr Stites.

Have you seen anything unusual around here?

Unusual? How? Dangerous animals?

Reptiles?

I thought the police were looking for a man - Arlen's son, Gary.

That is what they're looking for.

Agent Doggett? I'm all right.

I don't think Gary Sacks committed m*rder. I think he may be a victim himself.

I didn't catch your name, Agent.

Kersh, Alvin Kersh.

I'm a scientist, Mr Kersh. What kind of scientist?

A biologist, so I know something about animals.

They don't generally carry men off into the woods like poor Mr Sacks.

I don't think this was an animal.

I think it was a man using some kind of reptile venom to blind them first.

That would be quite a trick. You'd have to know what you were doing.

You'd have to be, say, a scientist.

Are you accusing me of something, Mr Kersh?

No.

I'm just thinking out loud, Mr Stites.

I need a hand.

Agent Doggett, what happened?

I lost my grip, with a little help from the man upstairs.

Hey!

Hey! Hey!

I'm a federal agent!

I don't understand. Why would he want to keep us down here?

You wanted to face the unknown. Well, you're facing it now.

But who is he?

Some kind of scientist, I think.

I saw some books and papers on biology in his library.

It could be a kind of symbiotic relationship between this man and this creature.

Mulder and Scully... Mulder and Scully aren't here. We are.

And wild speculation isn't gonna help us find the way out.

You think I'm pretty foolish, don't you?

I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you want to take leaps that aren't supported by the facts.

What I want you to do is stay with that guy right there, while I look for another way out.

If this thing comes near you, I want you to sh**t.

Agent Doggett.

He's gone.

What do you mean he's gone?

I don't know.

It must have taken him.

Mulder. Mulder, what are you doing?

Spitting sunflower shells on Herman Stites's driveway. You?

I just got off the phone with Skinner, who is furious.

Stites called him saying you're impersonating Kersh and making baseless accusations.

What's he mad about? Me impersonating Kersh or me harassing Stites?

The victim had reptile venom in his eyes.

Are you now saying it was a man who did this?

What are you saying it is, Scully?

I know this may be hard to believe, coming from me, but a reptile att*ck is the only explanation consistent with the scientific evidence, I don't think it's a monster we're dealing with. I think it is a man.

Why do you say that? You re-gifted.

I'm sorry? My Apollo medallion.

You found it? Yeah. On the grass on Stites's estate.

Doggett must be around here somewhere.

Agent Scully? I gotta go.

What am I looking at?

We cultured the bacteria from the hydrolytic enzymes sprayed into the old man's eyes.

Looks like they're breaking down the tissue.

They are. The venom blinds its victim, then the bacteria excretes protease and collagenase throughout the victim's body.

Digestive enzymes. Everything is liquefied for easy digestion, while the victim's skin is made hard, forming a shell from which the reptile can drink.

So the reptile sprays its victim and then all it has to do is wait.

There are precedents for this sort of thing in nature.

Yeah, but there are no species that can do all of this.

At least not yet.

What do you mean?

Talk about the blind leading the blind.

I owe you an apology, Agent Doggett.

You're doing fine, Agent Harrison. Hang tough.

You were right. I'm not qualified.

We're going to find a way out of here, Agent Harrison.

I don't think I am.

Why? What is it?

Whatever happened to Sacks, I think it's happening to me.

I'm completely blind now.

Oh, God. Agent Doggett!

I think it's Gary Sacks.

Mulder.

You were right about Herman Stites, Mulder.

What'd you find?

Stites is a crypto-biologist specializing in reptile genetics.

Listen to this. It says here he published a monograph last year claiming to be "on the verge of creating a new species of reptile."

You don't think he succeeded, do you? I don't know. He never issued a follow-up.

But, Mulder, the bacteria inside this venom...

If Stites is genetically altering reptile breeds, ..it may explain the peculiar properties.

Mulder, are you listening to me?

Mulder?

Mulder?

I think Mr Stites might have a lot more than that to explain.

Mulder?

Mulder!

Mr Stites!

Mr Stites, open up! Mr Stites, open the door!

Mr Stites!

Mr Stites!

Mr Stites!

What do you want?

Where is it, Mr Stites? This thing you're protecting, this creature of yours?

I don't think you meant for it to, but it att*cked the caretaker and his son, and then it att*cked my colleagues.

Now, I can have 50 men in here to comb this place within the hour.

Where are they, Mr Stites?

It's all right. It's just me.

Doesn't make any damn sense.

There's no exit, except that door. Maybe it does.

Agent Doggett? Right here!

It's all right, Agent Doggett. We're gonna get you out of here.

Who's that with you? The man that lives here.

He's been protecting this thing. He's kept us here.

Agent Doggett, I know... It's him.

He's not protecting it.

He is it.

Agent Mulder?

Agent Doggett, I don't have a w*apon. I'm coming to get yours.

No, I'm not.

Mulder, I can't see.

Mulder, where is it? Right above you.

It's coming this way.

Where, Mulder? I can't see. Aim down.

Aim at the sound of my voice. No, I'll sh**t you! I can't see!

Aim at the sound of my voice! Where is it?

Aim at me! Fire when I tell you to fire! No!

Fire!

Agent Mulder?

Agent Mulder?

I'm right here.

I'm right here, Agent Doggett.

Agent Doggett?

Is this it? No. No, We just came by to visit Agent Harrison.

How is she?

She's on the same antivenin treatment I got. Her eyesight's pretty much back.

She’s gonna be fine, physically.

Skinner said she won't return to the X-Files.

That was her choice.

It's just gonna be me for a while.

I want to return something to you that I think you deserve to keep.

I appreciate the gesture, but, if it's all the same to you, there's someone else who should have it.

No way.

This means...

I can't tell you what this means to me.

Can I ask you something?

Sure.

When you went to Antarctica to save Agent Scully from being taken by that spaceship and you ran out of gas in your snow cat, how did you get back?

Um...

Well, first of all it was never actually proven that it was a spaceship.

It wasn't?

No, what happened was that we fell off of something that rose out of the ice.

What do you think that was?

I don't know, but we didn't see a spaceship.

I can't believe you're saying that. It could have been a spaceship.

Of course it was. We don't know it was. You have no picture.

You saw it. No, no, no. I was unconscious.

You still are! When I woke up there was no ship.

Mulder, no, no, no.

Then you were frozen, and I hugged you until you were not frozen any more.

I made this!