The X-Files s07e02 Episode Script

[ Man .]
we've exhausted all medical and scientific evidence.
By that l mean nothing we can find--no disease, no hint of disease.
Only symptoms.
The brute fact is he's experiencing so much activity in his temporal lobe that it is effectively destroying his brain.
Enough! There's only so much bluntness a mother can take.
- Sorry.
I just-- -All you do is sedate him.
You're turning him into a zombie.
I know you can hear me, Fox.
- Can you give me a sign? - [ Thinking .]
I can hear you, Mom.
Fox? [ Thinking .]
Mom, I can hear you.
l'm here.
[ Thinking .]
I love you, my darling boy.
Mom, where you going? Mom? Mom? Come back, Mom! Mom! [ Screaming .]
Mom! Mom! [ Man Thinking .]
When in disgrace with fortune in men's eyes.
Ah, but your mommy will still love you.
All a mother wants is to shield her boy from pain and danger.
Safe in the world as he was once in the womb.
But maybe we think a father demands more than mere survival.
Maybe we're afraid a father demands worldly adulation.
Success, heroism.
I know you can hear me.
I can always hear you.
Even when my mind is jammed with a thousand voices, I can hear you like a snake hissing underneath.
How the hell did you get in here? How does anything I do surprise you now? Aren't you expecting me to sprout vampire fangs? You've come to kill me.
It'd be better than living like a zombie, wouldn't it? [ Gasps .]
I'm giving you a choice.
[ Panting .]
- What choice? - Life or death.
Your account is squared with me, with God, with the l.
R.
S.
, with the F.
B.
l.
Rise out of your bed and come with me.
I'm dying, you idiot.
If I could get up, I'd kick your ass.
Don't be so dramatic.
Only part of you is dying-- the part that played the hero.
You suffered enough-- for the X-Files, for your partner, for the world.
You're not Christ.
You're not Prince Hamlet.
You're not even Ralph Nader.
You can walk out of this hospital and the world will forget you.
Arise.
What-- What the hell are you doing to me? I'm showing you how to take the road not taken.
Take my hand.
- Why should I take your hand? - You can't read my mind? No.
I can't.
- All the voices are gone.
- Take my hand, Fox.
You have to take the fi'rst step.
Take my hand.
I'm your father.
[ Door Opening .]
Sleep is a luxury, Agent Scully.
A self-indulgence we have no time for.
- Nor does Agent Mulder.
- How did you get in here? Getting in is easy.
It's what you do once you're inside that's key.
- What's that supposed to mean? - You are the only one with access to Mulder.
- I need you to use it wisely.
- Like you? Almost killing him by shooting him full of phenytoin for a few moments of lucidity? It's what Agent Mulder wanted.
He knows what's wrong.
What he wants now is to prove it.
It's why he asked for me, not you.
I don't believe that.
Two years ago your partner was infected with a virus he claimed was alien.
A virus reactivated in him by exposure to a source of energy, also alien.
Agent Mulder is living proof of what he tried so long to substantiate-- the existence of alien life.
But whatever it is, it's killing him.
And we have to get it out of him.
You destroy this and I'll destroy you.
[ Phone Ringing .]
[ Ringing Continues .]
- Scully.
- [ Skinner.]
Agent Scully, you need to go to the hospital.
- What happened? - Mulder's gone.
He's disappeared.
There were guards posted here.
A man who's gravely ill doesn't just get up and disappear.
- I know, I know.
- How did this happen? - His mother checked him out.
- His mother? - That's what they're saying.
- Has anybody spoken with her? I'm leaving that up to you.
It's better I not be involved any further in this case.
Sir, this isn't just a case.
This is Agent Mulder we're speaking about.
And I'm trying to help him by staying out of this from now on.
Sir? I'm in a compromised position.
The less I know about Agent Mulder's whereabouts and yours, the better.
[ Cigarette Smoking Man's Voice .]
The child is father to the man.
You've been asleep quite a while.
I suspect it'll be sometime before your sleep patterns return to normal.
Would you like an explanation? I'm not sure.
While you were lying unconscious in the hospital this afternoon, my doctors worked on you.
- Why? - At some point I realized that if the Syndicate didn't kill you, the F.
B.
I.
would.
lf the F.
B.
l.
didn't kill you, your own misguided heroism would.
There's really no way out for you.
There's no way for you to cheat death except by disappearing.
A man can't just disappear.
Oh, we've made entire cultures disappear.
Like me now, you'll become a man without a name.
But even while you miss your former identity, you'll learn to love life's simpler pleasures.
Well, that'll be kind of tough with these on.
When you no longer wanna run, those will come off.
How do you feel? I feel better than I did.
I gotta tell Scully.
I gotta tell her.
If you do have contact with her, you'll put her in danger.
You're entering a kind of witness protection program for want of a better term.
- Can I offer you a cigarette? - I don't smoke.
Well, maybe now you do.
[ Clattering .]
Don't move.
- Who's there? -[ Man .]
l don't mean to frighten you.
Albert Hosteen.
What are you doing here? How did you get here? - I'm sorry to surprise you.
- Surprise? That you're standing here-- Last time I saw you was in New Mexico.
They'd taken you from the hospital.
Your doctors feared the worst.
- I was hoping to see your partner.
- He's missing.
You must save him.
He's very ill.
You must find him before something happens.
Not only for his sake, for the sake of us all.
- Where are we? - Home.
This is your new life.
I don't understand.
You can drive away right now.
Drive back to Scully and your X-Files and imminent death.
I wouldn't be surprised if you did.
But I think you should take a look around.
I mean, why leave something behind until you-- until you know what it is you're leaving? [ Man .]
Mulder was taken out of the hospital just before 2.
.
00 a.
m.
His mother's signature is on the hospital documents.
lt's her handwriting.
She checked him out A.
M.
A.
-- against medical advice.
It's all legitimate until you go to surveillance.
This is a camera in the hall outside Mulder's room.
Here's inside his room.
And two other cameras on the ward.
We're guestimating there were at least three others involved.
Check this out.
Where's Waldo? She's talking to someone.
Yeah.
I know who that is.
[ Knocking .]
Hello? Anybody home? [ Deep Throat .]
They can change your name, but they can't change the things you love.
It can't be.
- You're dead.
-[ Chuckles .]
No.
No,just really relaxed.
Scully saw you get shot on the bridge six years ago.
I was sure you were dead.
One, uh, well-placed bullet.
A punctuation mark on a man's life and you get to start a whole new chapter.
I'm fine, son, aside from a little tennis elbow.
I felt responsible for your death.
You can let that go.
Clearly I'm alive.
I thought that you died for my quest.
Yes, along with Scully's sister and the man you thought was your father and Duane Barry and-and even Scully's mysterious illness and on and on and on.
You can let go of all that guilt.
I'm here to tell you that you're not the hub of the universe-- the cause of life and death.
We, you and I, are merely puppets in a master plan-- no more, no less.
You've suffered enough.
Now you should enjoy your life.
Let me show you something.
That's my wife and daughters.
We live just down the street.
I hope you visit us for dinner.
Oh.
Oh, hey, buddy.
That's okay.
You can build it again.
Just start again.
Okay? [ Door Opens .]
Who's there? - Who are you? - Hundreds of little joys to open a door and have a woman beckon you in.
To have her make a fire and lay the table for you.
And when it's late, to feel her take you into her arms.
[ Handcuffs Bang Floor .]
[ Over Answering Machine .]
This is Tina Mulder.
I'm not in to take your call.
- Please leave your message.
- [ Machine Beeps .]
This is Dana Scully.
Thank you.
As before, you can reach me at your son's office at the F.
B.
I.
Thank you.
[ Sighs .]
- [ Ringing .]
- Skinner.
Sir, did you send me this book? - Excuse me? - This book? It explains everything that I found in Africa, using the same symbols that I found on the ship.
Agent Scully, I asked you not to involve me in this.
It's all here, sir.
A foretelling of mass extinction.
A myth about a man who can save us from it.
That's why they took Mulder.
They think that his illness is a gift-- a protection against a coming plague.
I'm sorry, Agent Scully.
The assistant director has given me express orders - not to let you in.
-[ Moaning .]
Sir, are you hurt? Are you cut? Get on the phone.
Hey! Stop that man! [ Fire Alarm Bell Ringing .]
Good morning.
- [ Sighs .]
- What's wrong, Fox? There's nothing wrong.
Perfect.
It's all perfect.
What the hell am I doing here? - You just need some coffee.
- No, I'm-- I'm serious.
I have commitments to the X-Files, to Scully, to my sister.
You think you know what that means-- commitment.
- It's all just childish, Fox.
- Childish? 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.
Wow.
Diana, you--you lay all this on me after I sleep with you one time.
What's it gonna be like tomorrow? - You have to let go, Fox.
-Just like that? I'm just supposed to slip into domestic bliss even after I was dropped here by a man I have every reason to believe left here to carry on his dirty work? Hey.
He lives the next block over.
We'll go visit after breakfast.
[ Knocking .]
You told someone, didn't you? You let the information out.
- What are you talking about? - A man attacked Skinner in his office.
- For what? - For what he knows about Mulder.
I haven't told anyone.
What is this? These are mine! You've hacked into my files.
What are you doing with these? - I was having them analyzed.
- By whom? - The National Institute of Health.
- What? The material you have there, encrypted data that describes advanced human genetics, where did you get it? This was not supposed to go public.
- wherever you got it, - [ Computer Beeps .]
that data supports what's happened to Mulder.
It proves what he's become-- biologically alien.
- What are you hiding? - It doesn't matter.
It matters to someone.
Whoever it is, it sounds like they're looking for Mulder too.
[ Door Opens, Closes .]
[ Knocking .]
I wasn't expecting you so soon.
I thought you'd take a few days to settle in.
l think you need to allay his unhappiness with things he perceives as left undone.
Including why you live in a bigger house than I do.
I've got quite a few mouths to feed.
Three grandkids and, uh, your sister.
[ Children Chattering .]
She's been living here all along.
Living a life you'd forsaken.
[ Chattering Indistinctly .]
[ Chuckling .]
He said you were coming.
[ Cigarette Smoking Man .]
A father has high hopes for his son.
But he never dreams his boy's gonna change the world.
l'm so proud of this man.
The depth of his capacity for suffering.
Like father, like son.
They think what he has is killing him, but in actuality, he's never been more alive.
- Do you think he dreams? - Oh, I'm sure he dreams.
- About what I wonder.
- The dreams all men who are owned by the world have-- a simpler life full of small pleasures.
Extraordinary men are always most tempted by the most ordinary things.
Dreams are all he has now.
- Bum a cigarette, Agent Fowley? - I don't smoke.
Really? I could swear I smell cigarette smoke on you.
- Let's cut the crap, shall we? - Yes.
Let's.
Where's Mulder? Maybe before you go around blaming everyone you can find for what's happened to Mulder, you could think about what you could have done to prevent it.
I just want you to think-- think of Mulder when you met him, think of the promise and the life in front of him.
Think of him now.
And then try and stand there in front of me, look me in the eye and tell me Mulder wouldn't bust his ass trying to save you.
I'm thinking, Agent Scully.
I'm always thinking.
[ Door Opens .]
It's a chance none of us ever expected, let alone hope for.
After all these years, trying to develop a compatible alien human hybrid, to have one ready-made.
All these years, all the questioning why.
Why keep Mulder alive when it was so simple to remove the threat that he posed? There was no way you could have predicted this.
The fact remains, he's become our savior.
He's immune to the coming viral apocalypse.
He's the hero here.
He may not survive the procedure.
Then he suffers a hero's fate.
Diana? [ Fowley .]
Fox.
It's time, honey.
[ Children Chattering .]
[ Fowley .]
How you doin'? Don't think of the man.
Think of the sacrifice he's making for all of us-- for the world.
It would have been nice to give him a choice.
You don't think Mulder would have chosen this? To become the thing he sought for so long? To feel what it's like? He is what he sought.
We'll never know.
Besides, his task is almost complete.
I'll carry the burden from here on in.
I know about the boy.
The boy on the beach.
The vision you go to in your mind.
We all have such places-- a point of memory and desire.
I've seen him thousands of times.
I've never seen what he wants me to see.
Close your eyes.
He's ready to show you, if you're ready to see.
Wow! What did you make? An unidentified flying object.
Hey, what are you doing? Why are you destroying your spaceship? It's your spaceship.
You're destroying it.
You were supposed to help me.
- You're running out of time.
- [ Gasps .]
why do you come to me like this? Why, when I can't find him? You don't look in the right place.
- I don't think you're hearing me.
- You don't know where he is? Even if I did, I wouldn't know how to save him.
This science makes no sense to me.
Have you looked for him here? Are you asking me to pray? There are more worlds than the one you can hold in your hand.
I hope you see the poetry in this, Diana.
You're removing genetic material that may kill your son.
We're forcing the next step in evolution to save man.
we're doing God's work, Diana.
Without this immunity, everyone would die.
This knowledge is God's blessing.
I'll carry on for Mulder from here.
The patient's come out.
Mulder's awake.
We've got him topped off, but he won't stay under.
I don't think we can take him any further.
-[ Man #2 .]
ls he feeling any pain? -[ Man .]
Flat on the monitor.
-Any flatter, he'd be circling the drain.
-[ Man #3 .]
Okay.
Let's do this thing.
[ lnstrument whirring .]
[ Beeps .]
[ Cigarette Smoking Man .]
Rest now.
Can you open the blind? I'd like to take a look outside.
I wanted you to have peace.
Where's Samantha? Your sister died five years ago.
What about Deep Throat? We've been over this.
He's dead.
Diana's dead.
And Scully.
Scully's dead? She's dead.
It's time for you to let go.
They're waiting for you, if you let go.
Close your eyes, Fox.
[ Whimpers .]
We're the last, you and I.
The end and the beginning.
There's nothing to be done.
Nothing at all.
[ Footsteps Approaching .]
[ Mulder .]
Scully.
l knew you'd come.
They told me you were dead.
And you believed them? - Traitor.
- What? - Deserter.
Coward.
-Scully, don't.
- I'm dying.
- You're not supposed to die, Mulder.
Not here.
What do you mean? Not in a comfortable bed with the devil outside.
No, you don't understand.
He's taken care of me.
No, Mulder.
He's lulled you to sleep.
He's made you trade your true mission for creature comforts.
There was no mission.
- There were no aliens.
- No aliens? Have you looked outside, Mulder? I can't.
I'm too tired.
No, Mulder.
You must get up.
You must get up and fight.
Especially you.
This isn't your place.
Get up, Mulder.
Get up and fight the fight.
[ Panting .]
- Scully? -[ Footsteps Departing .]
Scully? Scully? Scully? [ Beeps .]
Mulder? Mulder, you've got to wake up.
I've got to get you out of here.
- Mulder, can you understand me? - [ Screaming .]
[ Grunts .]
Mulder, you've got to get up.
I don't know how much time we have.
- You've got to get up, Mulder.
- [ Screaming .]
No one can do it but you, Mulder.
Mulder, help me.
Please, Mulder.
You help me.
[ Knocking .]
Scully, what are you doing here? Actually, I was just getting dressed to come see you, but I couldn't find a tie to go with my victory cap.
Mulder, no work.
You have to go back to bed.
Oh, wait.
Tie goes to the runner.
Scully, I, uh-- I was comin' down to work to tell you that Albert Hosteen is dead.
He died last night in New Mexico.
He'd been in a coma for two weeks.
There was no way he could've been in your apartment.
He was there.
We-- We prayed together.
Mulder, I don't believe that.
I-- I don't believe it.
It's impossible.
Is it any more impossible than what you saw in Africa or what you saw in me? I don't know what to believe anymore.
Mulder, I was so determined to find a cure to save you that I could deny what it was that I saw.
And now I don't even know.
I don't know-- I don't know what the truth is, I don't know who to listen to, I don't know who to trust.
Diana Fowley was found murdered this morning.
I never trusted her.
But she helped save your life just as much as I did.
She gave me that book.
It was her key that led me to you.
I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.
I know she was your friend.
Scully, I was like you once.
I didn't know who to trust and I-- I chose another path, another life, another fate where I found my sister.
And even though my world was unrecognizable and upside down, there was one thing that remained the same.
You were my friend and you told me the truth.
Even when the world was falling apart, you were my constant, my touchstone.
And you are mine.
Ah! [ Child .]
l made this!