8ABX18 Three Words

Scully: Mulder, you okay?

Mulder: Yeah. For a guy who was... in a coffin not too long ago, I think I'm doing pretty damn good. I don't quite have my legs under me... yet.

Scully: Well, you might want to consider sitting down when you hear what we have to tell you.

Mulder: Uh oh.

Scully: Now, it's... it's good news. It's... it's miraculous news.

Dr Lim: I can't possibly exaggerate the inconceivability of you sitting here. Let's be honest... your condition may be more incredible than your recovery.

Scully: Whatever neurological disorder you were suffering from, it's no longer detectable. After a course of transfusions and antivirals it has rid your body of the virus that was invading it. The scars on your face on your hands, on your feet, on your chest, they seem to be repairing themselves. Mulder, you are in perfect health.

Mulder: Wow.

Dr Lim: How do you feel, Agent Mulder?

Mulder: Like Austin Powers.

---

Scully: Must feel good to be home.

Mulder: Mmm. Something looks different.

Scully: It's clean.

Mulder: Ah... that's it. [He looks in the fish tank] Missing a molly.

Scully: Yeah. She wasn't as lucky as you. Mulder... I don't know if you'll ever understand what it was like. First learning of your abduction... and then searching for you and finding you dead. And now to have you back again.

Mulder: Well, you act like you're surprised.

Scully: I prayed a lot. And my prayers have been answered.

Mulder: In more ways than one. [He indicates her stomach]

Scully: Yeah.

Mulder: I'm happy for you. I think I know... how much that means to you.

Scully: Mulder...

Mulder: I'm sorry. I don't mean to be cold or ungrateful. I just... I have no idea where I fit in. Right now. I just... I'm having a little trouble... processing... everything.

---

Marion: It's Marion the librarian, boys. I got the new Harry Potter. [He holds a book out to Absalom] Our lord and saviour. For you.

Absalom: I've got my books.

Marion: Expand your horizons.

Absalom: I know all I need to know.

Marion: Want to bet? [The book is The Coming Apocalypse] Put a rise in your Levi's.

Absalom opens the book and find a newspaper clipping about Howard Salt inside — Census Worker Shot On White House Lawn]

---

Reporter: [on television] Again, our top story is the death of a man who jumped the fence at the White House last evening, his name now released. Howard Salt, a federal employee working on the US Census, got as far as the White House front door yesterday where he was stopped by security and shot accidentally by his own gun. According to a Secret Service spokesman, Salt appeared to be irrational and resisted arrest, shouting unspecified grievances against the US Government and demanding to speak with the President. Co-workers describe him as likeable and hardworking.

Deputy Director Kersh: Never see them coming. People are so rarely what they seem. Gentlemen, please, sit down. An application was submitted to me this morning by Agent Scully on behalf of our old friend, Fox Mulder, for reinstatement. I assume you both know about this.

Skinner: Reinstatement?

Deputy Director Kersh: To the X-Files.

Doggett: I thought Mulder just went home.

Deputy Director Kersh: Well, somebody's very anxious for him to get back to work. I wanted you both to see this before I deny the application.

Skinner: What is it?

Deputy Director Kersh: It's a review of the success rate of your X-Files since Agent Doggett joined the team. Damn impressive, John.

Doggett: Impressive, sir? The only thing impressive about my work on the X-Files is that I even know what's going on half the time.

Deputy Director Kersh: From this report, you and Agent Scully have had more arrests on percentage than she and Mulder over seven years. Take a look.

Skinner: Well, that's not very fair to Agent Mulder. So many of his cases involve —

Deputy Director Kersh: Aliens? There lies the problem. The FBI isn't a place for personal crusades. I'm asking you both to make that understood... on my behalf.

Doggett: Well, you can't ask me to tell Mulder he's off the X-Files. It's his unit. He created it.

Deputy Director Kersh: I'm not asking you, John.

Doggett: You sent me to find Mulder. I found him. Don't charge me with driving a stake through his heart.

Deputy Director Kersh: Maybe you'd rather I close the X-Files. Then we'd both be getting what we want.

Skinner: Let's go, Agent Doggett. Now.

---

Mulder: Kersh wants to put me behind a desk? That is not what Kersh wants.

Scully: No, I think Kersh wants you to quit, Mulder.

Skinner: It's more than that. He wants to punish you, to hurt you.

Mulder: And you, by putting you in this position, and Agent Scully, for not giving up on me. Truth is, this is a bullet that was fired about eight years ago. It's a magic bullet that's been going round and round, and right now it seems poised to hit me right in the back of the head.

Scully: Well, I think the question is, Mulder, are we going to sit here and let this happen?

Mulder: Scully, you're going to give birth in a couple months. You can talk as tough as you like, but you know and I know and they know, that in a little while you're going to have more important things than whether or not the X-Files remains open.

Skinner: They're not closing the X-Files. Kersh aims to keep them open with Agent Doggett running them.

Mulder: Agent who?

Scully: I've had a partner, for the last several months. He was assigned to help me find you.

Mulder: Mission accomplished. Does he know what he's doing at all, this guy?

Skinner: About the paranormal? Not much.

Mulder: I see. Then maybe the question is not who fired this magic bullet, but whether or not it was a lone gunman.

Scully: Agent Doggett is above reproach, Mulder. He's being manoeuvred, just like you.

Mulder: Well, good. At least he's manoeuvrable.

Skinner: Where are you going?

Mulder: I'm going to get dressed. For the first time, I feel like getting back to work.

---

Absalom: Get over here. Over here. Come on, sit down. Hands behind your back. Head down. Down between your legs.

Doggett: Absalom. That's your name, right? What are you looking at?

Absalom: The back of your neck. Sit up, Agent Doggett. I had to make sure.

Doggett: Make sure of what?

Absalom: Make sure that you're still you.

Doggett: I'm still me. So why don't you put that weapon down?

Absalom: You see this? Huh, do you see it? [The article about the White House shooting]

Doggett: Man shot at the White House.

Absalom: They killed him for what he knew. Then they'll kill me, too.

Doggett: Not if you put the weapon down.

Absalom: No. They'll kill me anyway. I got one chance here. With you. Sit down. Didn't I tell you to sit down?

Doggett: I'm not going anywhere.

Absalom: You're going with me. And I'm going to show you, and you are going to spread the word. Doubting Thomas is going to spread the word.

Doggett: What word?

Absalom: The invasion has begun.

Doggett: What invasion?

Absalom: They're already here.

Doggett: Who's already here?

Absalom: Certain men have gone out among you and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city saying, let us go, and serve other gods that ye have not known.

Doggett: I don't know what that means.

Absalom: I open my mouth... in parables. I utter things that... have been kept secret from the world. On your knees, John Doggett.

---

Skinner: He goes by the name Absalom. A self-styled prophet Agent Scully and I apprehended in Montana where he commanded members of a small UFO cult. [A slide of the words Fight the Future written on a prison cell wall] These words were found on the wall of his cell after he escaped from a work detail 40 miles from the state prison. Now, we don't know they mean, but Absalom claimed to have knowledge of an alien invasion. There were also claims of healings of numerous abductees... that have been subjected to alien torture. [There is giggling from several of the agents at the briefing] Claims that have never been substantiated... or refuted. But evidence of torture was real. Now, the only way we're going to get answers is to bring this guy in. Just know the man that you're looking for is dangerous. He's a felon, and he is capable of physical violence. All right, that's it. [The agents leave and Skinner talks to Scully] Where the hell is Agent Doggett?

Scully: I can't reach him.

Skinner: I can't run this thing, Agent Scully. This is obviously an X-Files case.

Scully: I know. And I'm all over it. I will find him. [Her phone beeps] I don't know if this is going to make you feel any better. [The message reads: WHERE IS EVERYBODY? COME ON DOWN. MULDER.]

---

Mulder: Hey.

Scully: Mulder...

Mulder: Who says you can't go home again?

Scully: What are you doing here?

Mulder: What's it look like?

Skinner: It looks like you want to give them some real ammunition to use on you, that's what it looks like.

Mulder: Hey, I am just down here visiting my buds. Where is this Agent Doggett anyway? What kind of hours does he keep?

Scully: Please, you do not want to stir that up right now.

Mulder: Why?

Skinner: Because we have a manhunt in progress and I want Agent Doggett running it.

Mulder: Anything to do with this? This Absalom abductee class picture?

Scully: Yes... It does. Why?

Mulder: Because I noticed that the man who was shot on the White House lawn is one of the men in that photograph. Top right hand corner. In profile. Howard Salt, if I'm not mistaken.

Scully: He's right. You're right.

Mulder: Consider that a freebie. Next one's going to cost you.

Skinner: Why? What else do you know?

Mulder: Oh, I don't know anything. But you know me, I got a real big hunch. This Howard Salt was a multiple alien abductee, worked for the US Census Bureau. Wanted to get word to the President, unspecified grievances. What do you want to bet those grievances were?

Scully: You think he knew something?

Mulder: I think they killed him for it.

Skinner: The man jumped the White House fence. He had a gun.

Mulder: Once again, I'm a betting man. I'm betting he had more than that.

Scully: Mulder, you make it sound like this was a conspiracy.

Mulder: Ooh. There's that word again.

Skinner: You're being paranoid, Mulder. Even for you.

Mulder: Do you want to hear something really paranoid? The FBI gets its way, there's going to be nobody down here to ask the paranoid questions. Nobody to find those faces in those photographs. Surely not this Agent Doggett.

---

Doggett: So what do you have in mind, if you don't mind my asking? It's my head that's going to get blown off if there's a screw up.

Absalom: We're going to get what that man at the White House died for.

Doggett: To get it? To get it where?

Absalom: You just concentrate on not screwing up, Agent Doggett. Either way, you and I are going to become overnight sensations.

---

Scully: Mulder, I know you know this, but if anything leaves this room you could be in violation of the law.

Mulder: Really? When I was dead I was hoping maybe they changed the rules.

Scully: Mulder, just being here could be used by Kersh as cause for dismissal.

Mulder: Then why don't you shut the door so he doesn't find out. [Scully closes the door and joins Mulder]

Scully: I just don't know what you're hoping to find in Howard Salt's personal effects.

Mulder: Neither do I, really. But maybe it's like Howard Salt's picture. I'll know it when I see it.

Scully: So you'll risk the consequences even though there may be nothing here?

Mulder: You don't get it, do you, Scully? The man shot at the White House, the prison escapee, there's something bubbling to the surface here. I want to know what it is.

Scully: Mulder, you've been through an ordeal that defies all logical explanation. How can you think that these two men have the answers when they defy all standard of credibility?

Mulder: Since when has an X-File not defied a certain standard of credibility? At least that's the way it used to work. Look, Scully, I need to make sense of what happened to me. So that I can stop it. Because if I can't stop it, it could happen to anyone. It could happen to you. And who's to say it's going to stop there?

Scully: Mulder, if you go down, the X-Files will go down, too. I mean, theoretically, they could put you in prison for what you're doing here.

Mulder: Yeah, well, compared to where I just was, prison would be a Princess cruise. [He's fiddling with a laptop] Ho. Hey. What the hell is this? The entire hard drive is taken up with this. Ten gigabytes of memory.

Scully: It's been encrypted.

Mulder: Mm. [He closes the laptop and removes the hard drive]

Scully: What are you doing?

Mulder: I'm going to book myself on that Princess cruise.

Scully: I'll book it for you. [She takes the hard drive]

---

Doggett: I hope you know I got no idea where I'm going down here.

Absalom: I just need access to wherever they compile all the available data from the current US census.

Doggett: And then what?

Absalom: Then you pick up the phone, you tell the FBI why you aren't coming to work until somebody pays us some serious attention.

Doggett: Just so you're not surprised, we might not make it that far. We passed through an x-ray scanner on the way in here, back at the gate.

Absalom: Well, you better hope we make it. I'd hate to see you die in vain.

Doggett: That's sort of in your hands, huh? So just in case, how about you tell me what's in this facility that's worth me dying for.

Absalom: It's all in the census data.

Doggett: What?

Absalom: Proof. That they're already here. That they're already among us. [They reach a glass walled, locked room] The proof is in there. [A SWAT team enters the corridor] I got a loaded gun pointed at this man's head! He's an FBI Agent!

Doggett: Listen to him! Just back off!

Absalom: I'll pull the trigger!

Doggett: Listen to the man!

Absalom: I'll pull it! Back off!

Doggett: Lower your weapons! Listen to him!

[One of the SWAT team shoots Absalom in the head]

---

Skinner: It may not be the best way but it's certainly one way to catch an escaped convict. I'll give you that, Agent Doggett.

Doggett: I'd just as soon stick to the old-fashioned way, sir. Shot was a little too close for comfort.

Skinner: You say this man claimed the US Census Bureau had data, information that he was after that connects to this man who was shot on the White House lawn?

Doggett: Proof, he said, that they were here among us... whoever they are. [Mulder enters]

Mulder: Sir.

Skinner: Agent Mulder.

Mulder: Is this John Doggett? You Agent Doggett? [Doggett stands up and offers Mulder his hand, Mulder pushes him back down] I hope you're not commending him as a hero for what he did...

Skinner: Agent Mulder, back off.

Mulder: ...in this thing, 'cause he's not.

Skinner: Back off! I'm not about to referee a boxing match.

Doggett: Just what's the problem here?

Mulder: The problem? You occupy an office that used to be devoted to finding the truth and now you're busy burying it. That's the problem.

Doggett: Whoa, you must've got your wires crossed somewhere, Agent Mulder.

Mulder: You got that man killed.

Doggett: I got him killed?

Mulder: Because of what he knew. What he was going to expose.

Doggett: You see this, Agent Mulder? [The bullet crease on his cheek]

Mulder: I see you sitting there, Agent Doggett. That's good enough for me. [He leaves]

Skinner: You've got to understand what he's been through. I mean, now he's back and you're... [Doggett leaves]

---

Frohike: You know, it's really not fair. You've been dead for six months and you still look better than me. But not by much. [He hugs Mulder]

Mulder: Melvin. I'd be a whole lot happier to see you if you'd just take your hands off my ass.

Frohike: Sorry.

Byers: I think it goes without saying that we're all tremendously relieved.

Langly: And not just because we got big questions about your involvement in a certain... blessed event.

Scully: So much for playing a hunch, Mulder. The Gunmen were able to decrypt the data that you found on Howard Salt's hard drive. It was a series of file directories that were downloaded the day that he died.

Mulder: Downloaded from where?

Langly: The FSC, the Federal Statistics Centre.

Byers: A government information bank used by the US Census Bureau where your Mr H Salt worked.

Mulder: All right, what are you waiting for, boys? Get cracking.

Frohike: Unless you think we're all idiots, it's only Langly who's the idiot.

Langly: Don't make like it's my hacking skills. I've never seen such a radical counter-defensive.

Scully: Fifteen minutes after Howard Salt was shot at the White House, firewalls went up on every data bank at that very facility.

Mulder: Well, why do that? Because I'm right. Because they would kill to protect what's in those files.

Byers: Unless you got a password, we don't see any way short of that of getting a hold of this data.

Langly: And the thing is, even if you have a pass code you still have to break into the FSC just to use it. We all agree, you're going to have to let this one go.

Mulder: Oh. I see. Somebody's been doing a little campaigning for her cause. Well, just remember, boys, this is America. Just because you get more votes doesn't mean you win.

---

Knowle Rohrer: Your name came up today, John. Folks are all worked up. They say you dodged a bullet.

Doggett: You can't dodge what you don't see coming, Knowle, that's for sure.

Knowle Rohrer: That should tell you something about who you're dealing with.

Doggett: Who am I dealing with? NSA? Secret Service? Military? Who?

Knowle Rohrer: You know better than that, John.

Doggett: They shot the man in cold blood. Didn't even stop to ask him his name.

Knowle Rohrer: The way I hear it he made it too easy. Taking a federal agent hostage in a government facility.

Doggett: They'd have shot him anyway.

Knowle Rohrer: Without a doubt.

Doggett: Why?

Knowle Rohrer: You and I have been friends a long time, John. I tell you things. But this is a whole other level.

Doggett: Don't give me that doublespeak crap, Knowle. I'm being accused.

Knowle Rohrer: Accused? Of what?

Doggett: Of being used to get that man killed.

Knowle Rohrer: Well, that's insane.

Doggett: Oh, is it? Maybe I am being used, and I just don't know it. That's what I want to know from you.

Knowle Rohrer: I can't tell you that, John. But I can tell you something. One thing you already know. These men are very good shots.

Doggett: What don't I know?

Knowle Rohrer: Three words.

---

Doggett: Hold up!

Scully: Agent Doggett?

Doggett: Yeah.

Scully: [to Taxi Driver] Could you wait minute?

Doggett: Agent Scully, I'm sorry to surprise you. I don't mean to.

Scully: What are you doing here at is hour? You're freezing cold.

Doggett: I got something for Agent Mulder, only I can't go up there. I don't know him, and I know he doesn't trust me, so I'm going to ask you to get it to him.

Scully: What do you have to give him?

Doggett: Information, about this escaped convict who took me hostage. One of his disciples was the man shot on the White House lawn.

Scully: Oh, yeah, Agent Mulder knows that already.

Doggett: What he doesn't know is that man had a computer diskette that he was trying to get to the President.

Scully: Who gave you this information?

Doggett: I can't tell you that, but what I can tell you is... is this diskette was labelled with a pass code.

Scully: You have this, this password?

Doggett: It's three words: Fight the Future.

---

Mulder: Scully, what are you doing back? Did something just happen?

Scully: I'm... I'm not exactly sure I should tell you, Mulder.

Mulder: Scully, if you know something that can get us moving forward again, you need to tell me.

---

Doggett: Yeah, who is it?

Skinner: It's Skinner. Open up, Agent Doggett.

Doggett: What're you doing here?

Skinner: I got a call from Agent Scully. She's at her apartment, completely beside herself.

Doggett: Over what?

Skinner: Mulder somehow got hold of a computer password to a database filled with secrets.

Doggett: What kind of secrets?

Skinner: Names of people the federal government is tracking using the US census. Names of people who have a certain genetic profile. It's the same information he believes the shooter at the White House knew about. Also the guy that took you hostage.

Doggett: You said Scully was upset.

Skinner: That Mulder was going to act on this information in some way that... What? You know about this?

Doggett: I gave Scully the password.

Skinner: Where did you get it?

Doggett: I can't tell you that.

Skinner: You know, I'm starting to wonder about you, too, John. Just whose side you are working on here.

Doggett: I'm starting to wonder about that myself. You said Scully's at her apartment. What's the number there?

Skinner: That's why I'm here. I can't get a hold of them — either one of them — and I have no idea where they went. Where are you going?

Doggett: I can't tell you that, either. If I open up my mouth, I put you at risk. You're going to have to trust me on this.

---

[Doggett taps on the window of Scully's car, startling her]

Scully: What are you doing here?

Doggett: Where's Agent Mulder?

Scully: He wouldn't listen to me.

Doggett: Get out of here. Get going.

Scully: I can't do that to him.

Doggett: Then do it for yourself. [He reaches through the window and starts the car] Look... I think I may have set you up.

Scully: What?

Doggett: You just get out of here now and I'll explain it to you later.

Scully: No. You explain it to me now. Set us up how, and with whom?

Doggett: The same men that shoot first and ask questions later.

Scully: Agent Doggett! [Doggett leaves her and runs towards the building where Mulder is]

---

Mulder: [on radio] Frohike? Langly? Byers? Let's go. I'm dying out here.

Frohike: [on radio] Well, let us just finish our cappuccino and biscotti, and we'll see what we can do.

Byers: [on radio] You can start walking now, Mulder.

Mulder: [on radio] Is the system bypassed?

Langly: [on radio] You'll know if it's not.

Mulder: [on radio] Great. [He runs past the guard house]

Frohike: [on radio] Smile, buddy boy. The eye in the sky is watching.

Langly: [on radio] We'll be watching Mulder get busted if I don't find that override circuit.

Byers: [on radio] Everything's under control, Mulder. Just hold tight.

Langly: [on radio] Okay, got it! [The door near Mulder clicks open]

Frohike: [on radio] And voila!

[Mulder enters the compound. Doggett arrives and follows Mulder]

Mulder: [on radio] Come on, guys. I'm on autopilot here.

Frohike: [on radio] Go left, Mulder. There should be a pair of glass doors up about a hundred yards up.

Byers: [on radio] According to our information, those doors will lead you straight into the databanks.

Mulder: [on radio] Hey, who's working on the locks, fellows?

Frohike: [on radio] Stand by. There you go. [The doors open]

Langly: [on radio] Mulder, there ought to be two work stations in the middle of the room. Either one will give you access to the data.

[Mulder sits at one of the work stations, when challenged for a password, he types in Fight the Future]

Mulder: [on radio] Let's do some emailing.

[Doggett catches up to Mulder and pounds on the door]

Doggett: Agent Mulder, get out of there! Agent Mulder!

Frohike: [on radio] Mulder? What the hell's that?

Doggett: Your life's in danger if you don't get out now.

Mulder: [on radio] Just a fly buzzing around the window.

[Doggett shoots the glass door, the Lone Gunmen grab their ears in pain as the shot is relayed through their audio link]

Doggett: Agent Mulder... get out. You're coming with me. I'm here to save you, whatever you may think.

Mulder: I think you're trying to keep this information from ever seeing the light of day, just like you did once before, Agent Doggett. That's what I think.

Doggett: Agent Mulder, I don't even know what that information is.

Mulder: Well, you're about to, along with a lot of other people. They're going to learn that they've been targeted because of their genetic profiles for abduction and replacement by alien facsimiles. What do you say we start off with the Washington Post, huh?

Doggett: You can believe whatever you want, but that information is never going to make it out of here.

Mulder: What are you going to do, shoot me?

---

Lone Gunmen: [answering mobile] Hello. [Frohike and Langly put their phones away, when they realise it's Byers mobile]

Scully: Something's wrong.

Byers: What are you talking about?

Scully: I think we've been set up. You have to get Mulder out of there.

Byers: Right now that's basically impossible.

Frohike: Uh oh. [on radio] Mulder? You'd better start typing fast.

Mulder: [on radio] Why?

Frohike: [on radio] The cavalry just arrived.

Mulder: You son of a bitch. You set me up.

Doggett: No.

Scully: [on mobile] Get him out of there, Gunmen.

Langly: [on radio] We're working on it.

Doggett: Come on, Agent Mulder.

Mulder: Hey, get off of me.

Doggett: If I set you up, I wouldn't be here trying to convince you to go. They're coming to kill you. They're going to kill me, too. That's the set up.

Langly: [on radio] Mulder, I think you better listen to the man. They got the data trapped and I can't get it uploaded let alone start transmission.

Scully: [on mobile] What is happening, Byers?

Byers: [on mobile] I'm trying to figure that out. [on radio] Mulder, are you there?

Mulder: [on radio] Yeah, I'm here.

Byers: [on radio] It's look like there's really... no good way out of there. Except...

Mulder: [on radio] Except what?

Byers: [on radio] It's a long shot, but... worth a try, especially given the alternative. Here's what you do.

[As the armed SWAT team sweep the empty room, a ceiling tile is being lowered back into place from above]

---

Doggett: You've got two minutes, Knowle. Two minutes to give me one good reason why I shouldn't put your name in lights. Why I shouldn't expose you for the lying bastard you are.

Knowle Rohrer: Hey, John, nice knowing you.

Doggett: You see that man across the park? [Skinner is walking toward them] You walk, that man puts your name on all the wrong desks.

Knowle Rohrer: I get it John. You asked me for information, I tell you what I can. What you do with it is out of my hands.

Doggett: You knew what I would do with it. That's when you gave it to me.

Knowle Rohrer: You expose me and then what? Where are you going to get your answers? 'Cause you're standing on the tip of the iceberg, my friend.

Doggett: You're full of crap.

Knowle Rohrer: Am I? What is it you think those men were trying to protect? Census data? You need me worse than you know.

Doggett: I don't need someone using me to get another man killed.

Knowle Rohrer: You think this about Mulder. It's about the truth, John.

Doggett: What truth?

Knowle Rohrer: You got it all right in front of you. It's all in the X-Files. I'm just one man trying to point you in the right direction. [Knowle Rohrer has a visible lump on the back of his neck]