8ABX02 Without

Scully: [voiceover] We live in a darkness of our own making... blind to a habitant world all but unseen by us. A world of beings travelling through time and space imaginable to us only as flights of fancy. Who are these beings we dare to imagine but fear to accept? What dark work goes on inside their impossible machines... cloaked from us by invisible forces? If they know our secrets, why can't we know theirs?

---

Doggett: Let him go, or I will be compelled to use my weapon. Now, I don't want to do that, Agent Mulder. I don't want to shoot. [Mulder releases Gibson Praise, who runs away, and walks towards the cliff edge] Now, are you armed? Come on, damn it. This is just stupid, Agent Mulder. Don't turn this into a movie. Just tell me if you've got a gun. It's too hot for this BS. All right, then, lie down. Lie down on the ground. Keep your hands out. Lay down on your belly there. [Mulder looks at the ground, then back at Doggett, before walking backwards toward the cliff] For crying out loud, what are you doing? Agent Mulder, stay there! [Doggett lowers his gun and runs toward Mulder, who calmly steps off the side of the cliff, plummeting to the ground below] He went over! Over the edge!

Agent Crane: Who?

Doggett: Mulder.

---

Scully: Where is he? Where's Mulder?

Doggett: I don't know.

Scully: You don't know? I heard an agent say over the radio that you saw him.

Doggett: Oh, yeah, I saw him. I saw him back right off that cliff there and I saw him fall right over there.

Skinner: Then where is he?

Doggett: He's gone.

Skinner: Come on, he can't be gone.

Doggett: Yeah, he can't be, but he is.

Skinner: That cliff there? He fell from there? It's impossible... a fall like that.

Doggett: A cop sees things. A man drops five storeys, dusts his hat off and goes back to work. An old lady gets shot point-blank in a Chinese restaurant, plucks the slug out of her egg foo yung. But even if Mulder survives this, what he does then is too much. You got your point of impact there where Agent Scully is standing... clear and identifiable. And a set of tracks here leading down to the wash. Look at these tracks. What do you see? Mulder was running.

Scully: It wasn't Mulder.

Doggett: That's the one thing I'm sure of.

Scully: It may have looked like Mulder, but it wasn't Mulder.

Doggett: I told you I knew Mulder. Okay, maybe I didn't know him that well. But I know who it was up there, and it was Fox Mulder.

Scully: I'm sure it did look like Mulder, and you have every reason to believe that it was him... but it was not Mulder. I told you that I've seen things... things that I can't explain. Well, I have seen what looks like a man... transform into another man.

Doggett: What looks like a man, but who's not a man? So, what is he?

Scully: You don't want to know. [She walks away]

Doggett: He's not a man? What the hell is he? Hey, don't turn your back on me. I'm asking you a legitimate question. [Scully turns back to him]

Scully: He's alien. He's a bounty hunter.

Doggett: Looking to collect a bounty on...?

Scully: On Gibson Praise... because he's part alien. He's a human anomaly.

Doggett: So, this alien bounty hunter... he disguised himself as Mulder to come out here and grab the boy?

Scully: To take him back to his ship... where we believe Mulder is.

Doggett: You know, Agent Scully... you're, uh, you're starting to remind me a lot of Agent Mulder yourself.

Scully: Well then, you explain it to me.

[Doggett leaves]

Skinner: If it's true or possible, what you're saying — that there's someone like this out there, this bounty hunter — he could just become anyone. You, me, any damn one of us.

Scully: I think that it is true. And possible. And wherever Mulder is right now... he better damn well be smiling.

---

Skinner: What I want to know is how Doggett got out here. How did he even know where we were going?

Scully: I don't know. But he's going to turn this place upside down looking for the wrong person.

Skinner: What happened to Gibson Praise?

Scully: Well, whatever happened to him, he's long gone. Wherever he is, he's three steps ahead of us.

---

Gibson Praise: You shouldn't have come. You'll lead them to me.

Scully: I'm here to protect you, Gibson. I know you know that's the truth. I know you know my thoughts.

Gibson Praise: I know they took the man you work with... Mulder. And now, they've come to take me.

Scully: The only reason they want to take you, Gibson... is because you're a special boy. They want to take you because of what you are.

Thea Sprecher: I'm sorry. I didn't know that someone was following me.

Gibson Praise: My friend Thea knows. She's the only one at school I've told. She says the FBI is looking for me, too. She's afraid for me.

Scully: She has a right to be afraid. We don't know who to trust now.

[Gibson Praise winces and looks down at his leg, Scully lifts the cloth covering the nasty wound]

Gibson Praise: I fell when I was running away.

Scully: I think you might have broken it, Gibson.

Gibson Praise: If they find me, they'll take me. I know it. I've always known it.

Scully: I'm going to make you a splint, Gibson, okay? I can set your leg, but, uh... I'm going to need a car to get you out of here. I'm going to come back for you. I promise. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you.

Gibson Praise: You said that to me once before.

---

Agent Mosley: [answering phone] Yeah? [to Doggett] Deputy Director, for you.

Doggett: Yeah, this is John Doggett.

Deputy Director Kersh: Agent Doggett, I'm getting reports from Arizona...

Doggett: Yes, sir.

Deputy Director Kersh: ...That you found Agent Mulder.

Doggett: I'm afraid somebody jumped the gun on that. I saw him, sir, but I...

Deputy Director Kersh: What do you mean, you saw him? What the hell is going on out there?

Doggett: Well, we're 'round the clock here. I've got local SAR, a rolling ground cordon and an eye in the sky. We're on top of the situation.

Deputy Director Kersh: How does the FBI find a man and then lose him in the middle of the desert? 'Cause I'd like to know. Agent Doggett, are you there?

Doggett: Yeah. I heard the question.

Deputy Director Kersh: I put you in charge out there, Doggett. Now do the damn job. [He hangs up]

Doggett: This amuse you? I amuse you?

Skinner: No. It just made sense to me. How you found your way out here. Who led you to Gibson Praise.

Doggett: You think I was spying on you?

Skinner: No, but I think our new Deputy Director was. You're being made a pawn in a rigged game.

Doggett: All right, you've painted me the picture, now put it in a frame.

Skinner: All right. You've got a good rep, Agent Doggett. You don't compromise, you don't quit. You're a damned good FBI agent — best of the best. Lot of guys put you in the Director's chair one day. Which is why you've been set up to fail. There's no amount of search and rescue or rolling cordons or eyes in the sky that are going to turn up Mulder. It's just the wrong approach.

Doggett: It's not a question of approach. It's the only approach I got.

Skinner: The only way you're going to find Mulder is to give into the truth. To listen to Scully. But even then... say you did find him, even then you lose. You put anything about aliens or UFOs or alien bounty hunters in your report... Kersh will ruin you. I'm betting that was his plan.

---

Agent Landau: [on radio] I'm with Agent Scully.

Agent Mosley: Then who's this? [Scully is walking out of the desert towards Skinner, Doggett and Agent Mosley]

Agent Landau: [on radio] Go for Agent Scully.

Scully: What?

Doggett: Give me the radio. [Agent Mosley hands the radio to Doggett] You're with Scully?

Agent Landau: [on radio] Right across the room from her.

Scully: From who? From me? Where?

Doggett: [on radio] What room? Where are you?

Agent Landau: [on radio] Bunkhouse. We're in the dorm.

Scully: Tell him to hold her. Tell them not to let her out of his sight! [She begins running toward the building]

Doggett: [on radio] Hold Scully. We're coming to you.

---

Scully: Where did she go? Did you see her?

Agent Crane: No.

Scully: She ran right back here! I saw her! [to Doggett] You saw her! [She goes to Agent Landau — who is wounded and gasping for breath on the floor — and tries to help him] Agent... Can you breathe? [Agent Landau looks at Scully in fear and tries to get away from her] He thinks it was me. He thinks that I did this to him. [to Doggett] How is that possible? [She looks around the room] It's someone in this room.

[Thea Sprecher is staring at Agent Crane, whose hand covered in blood, she backs away and leaves the room]

---

Skinner: Agent Scully? Where are you going? [Scully ignores him and gets into a truck and locks the door] Agent Scully? [Scully looks about for the keys, Skinner holds them up for her to see] Get out of the car. [Scully gets out the passenger side] Agent Scully!

Scully: Who are you?

Skinner: Who am I? [Scully pulls her gun on him, Skinner does the same to her]

Scully: Drop your weapon and turn around.

Skinner: I'm not going to turn around.

Scully: Just do it! I know how it works — kill shot to the back of the neck.

Skinner: Scully, you're pointing your weapon at a friend.

Scully: Turn around, or I'm going to assume that you're not who you say you are.

Skinner: Scully, it's me! Skinner! [He lowers his weapon and turns around] I can prove it. I know your secret — who else knows it?

Scully: Okay... then tell me.

Skinner: You tell me. How do I know it's you? [He turns suddenly and takes Scully's weapon from her hands] I don't like pointing guns at pregnant women any more than I like them pointing guns at me. [He hands her gun back] This has gone too far, Scully.

Scully: No. That's what's wrong here. It hasn't gone far enough. I need those car keys.

Skinner: And what do you think you're going to do?

Scully: Look, we are being hampered here by the FBI, by John Doggett, by doubt, by our own mistrust. Whatever it is, it is working... as long as we let it.

Skinner: You told me Mulder wouldn't allow it. Wouldn't let me ruin my career over this. Over him. But what about you, Scully? I mean, my god, you've got even more at stake.

Scully: I can't take the chance that I'm never going to see him again.

Skinner: Mulder could just come walking out of the dark — we don't know.

Scully: Look... we've got one last chance here waiting for us out there in the desert — Gibson Praise. It may just be who gets to him first.

Skinner: Get in the car. I'll drive.

---

Scully: Gibson!

Skinner: He's not down there.

Scully: I told him to stay here. He was supposed to stay here. Gibson! [She spots something a few yards away] I found him. Gibson. What are you doing out here? Why didn't you answer me, huh?

Gibson Praise: He's here. I hear him.

Scully: What are you talking about?

Gibson Praise: Mulder. He's somewhere out there.

Scully: [to Skinner] He's got a really bad fever. I think his leg might be infected.

Skinner: [to Gibson Praise] All right, we got to get you to the hospital, okay, buddy?

Gibson Praise: [to Scully] You're so close now.

Skinner: I'll carry you. Put your arm around my neck. Watch your legs. [to Scully] Agent Scully.

Scully: You take him to the hospital.

Skinner: What about you?

---

Scully: For someone who claims he's not following me, you sure have a knack.

Doggett: Hey, you're where the action is.

Scully: What does that tell you? That I'm crazy or that I'm right?

Doggett: Wandering around in the desert in the dead of night, you call it.

Scully: You say you want to find Mulder but you won't do what it takes. You're afraid that I'm right.

Doggett: I'm not afraid of anything. Except that maybe Mulder's got even you believing in this crap now.

Scully: You've seen this crap for yourself now. How do you explain what took place today?

Doggett: Let me ask you something hypothetically. If you were to find him out here or this ship or this alien bounty hunter, what would you do then?

Scully: I know what Agent Mulder would do. He'd do whatever it took.

Doggett: You mean lie. Like you've been lying to me. And flout orders like you've done every step of the way on this thing. Is that what it takes, Agent Scully?

Scully: Give a little, get a little, Agent Doggett!

Doggett: You knew where the kid was, you knew where the kid was and you wouldn't tell me — why?

Scully: What kid? I don't see any kid.

Doggett: You're lying to me again! Assistant Director Skinner took him from here to the hospital.

Scully: How do you know that?

Doggett: There's one thing I know for sure in this case and that's that Mulder is after this boy Gibson Praise. Why? It beats the hell out of me. But when he goes after that kid, my men are going to be waiting for him.

Scully: Your men... followed Assistant Director Skinner?

Doggett: Hey, where you going? Agent Scully, where you going?

Scully: Your men are at the hospital?

Doggett: They got it controlled. Nobody goes in or out of that building without them knowing about it.

Scully: How do you know that they're your men?

---

Scully: Where's the boy?

Agent Crane: Door at the end of the hall, with AD Skinner.

Scully: Are you certain about that?

Agent Mosley: My agents have a visual in the exterior window. The night nurse has been checking the boy every 20 minutes — he's fine.

Agent Crane: We have hospital personnel going about their business. We're just laying back, waiting for Mulder.

Scully: Yeah, every minute that you wait, that boy's in danger. He's exposed.

Agent Mosley: No one's getting past us, Agent Scully. No one's gotten past us.

Scully: You believe that, Agent Doggett? [Doggett looks at her, then crosses to Gibson Praise's room. Scully pulls her gun and follows] Hey, if something tries to rip your throat out, I got you covered.

Doggett: AD Skinner... this is John Doggett. [He opens the door and finds the room empty] What the hell is this? What the hell is going on?!

---

Doggett: The window doesn't even open. How's a grown man and a boy get out of the room except by that door?

---

Skinner: Agent Scully. [Scully pulls her gun] It's okay, I've got him. Gibson.

Scully: How did you get here? How did you get him out of that room?

Skinner: We went up through the ceiling. I don't know who to trust.

Scully: Where is he?

Skinner: He's right here. They're going to find him.

[Scully sees Gibson Praise's reflection in a window, he is violently shaking his head. Skinner grabs her around the throat and flings her across the room. Gibson Praise runs into the room to help, he distracts Skinner long enough for Scully to grab her gun and shoot him through the back of the neck]

---

Doggett: Agent Scully! [Doggett finds Scully, Gibson Praise and a large green puddle of ex-Alien Bounty Hunter on the floor] An agent needs help! [He sits Scully up and holds her in his arms. She begins to cry and he yells out the door for help] I said an agent needs help!

---

Deputy Director Kersh: The best I can say is it's lucky it all happened at a hospital.

Doggett: Very lucky, yes, sir.

Deputy Director Kersh: I assume the hazardous materials or chemicals which caused this must have been medical.

Doggett: That has not yet been determined, sir.

Deputy Director Kersh: So much here is undetermined... as remain the whereabouts of Mulder. But some of your... facts... like a man falls from the cliff and disappears... An agent has his throat crushed by an assailant who vanishes into thin air. This reads like a piece of pot-boiled science fiction.

Doggett: You mean it reads like an X-File. But that's what you intended, wasn't it, sir? When you assigned me to the case.

Deputy Director Kersh: I'll ask the questions, John. You just give me some damn answers. Don't come back until you do.

---

Doggett: My dad always said it's not who wins or loses... it's who takes the worst beating that counts.

Scully: That supposed to cheer me up?

Doggett: I thought so. But then I never did get to see your opponent.

Scully: And you never will. You still don't believe me.

Doggett: What I don't believe is how long they're keeping you here.

Scully: Oh, it's just some things they have to check out... make sure of.

Doggett: Well, I've got some things I thought you'd want checked out. AD Skinner is in stable condition, resting comfortably and awaiting diagnosis and further study. Ditto Agent Landau, his throat. Gibson Praise is right now a ward of the state, but I asked for special protections, as I assumed you would yourself.

Scully: What are you doing here, Agent Doggett?

Doggett: Keeping you apprised of the case.

Scully: That's not your job.

Doggett: It is, actually. And officially. I'm... assigned now to the X-Files. Whatever you and I may differ on, I'll find him, Agent Scully.