"It's freezing out there." "MAN:" "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 going to fix some dinner." "( door closes )" "( monitor beeping soft, slowtones )" "( windows flapping )" "( beeping speeds up )" "( fast, rhythmic beeps )" "( groans softly )" "( groaning weakly )" "( monitor beeping faster )" "( rapid beeping )" "Oh, Lord." "Gary, you didn't" "( microwave beeps )" "Oh, whew." "( steady tone )" "Oh, God." "Dad?" "( steady tone )" "( tone stops )" "( soft rattling )" "DOGGETT :" "Agent Scully." "Mmm." "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?" "( footsteps approaching )" "You're not gone five minutes, Agent Scully and already I'm starting to 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 murder 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 D.C." "It was found in the woods about 50 yards beyond the house." "Maybe we should begin there." "Let's begin inside the house." "Okay, then." "The deceased is Arlen Sacks, aged 72 caretaker for the estate on which this house is situated." "There were no signs of 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... oh, because he's missing, too." "If he killed this man without leaving a mark that would suggest premeditation an attempt to disguise the murder." "But that doesn't fit with dumping the body in the woods or fleeing the scene 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, Agent Harrison?" "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." "Deputy Director Kersh is no friend to the X-Files." "I don't think you understand something, Agent Doggett." "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 even want to admit these questions exist but you face them every day." "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?" "It could be bile." "Bile?" "From a liver-eating mutant." "Mulder and Scully chased one into an escalator once." "It died, but, but there was" "This is not a liver-eating mutant, Agent Harrison." "It could be an alien who shed its skin." "According to Agent Mulder's case reports they leave behind a mucous-like residue when they, uh" "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." "( rumbling )" "( knocking )" "Hey." "Ready to roll?" "Yeah." "I'lljust get my keys." "Hey." "Don't forget this." "Relax the back." "Breathe in, breathe out." "( forceful panting )" "How do you know all these things, Mulder?" "I'm unemployed." "I got a lot of 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 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 that I was down there" "I had someone to watch my back." "I'm betting thatAgent Doggett can take care of himself." "He's a big boy." "You've got to 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 going to try and flush it out." "Agent Harrison." "Take the safety off." "( soft rattling )" "( gunshots )" "Harrison." "Agent Harrison!" "( creaking )" "( telephone ringing )" "Skinner." "Is it true?" "Agent Scully." "I can't reach Agent Doggett and someone told me he's gone missing." "He was investigating a murder." "He hasn't reported back." "Why wasn't I told?" "Agent Scully, don't worry." "I'm heading into the Bureau right now." "No, you're not." "Sir, are you ordering me not to go looking for Agent Doggett?" "I've got every available law-enforcement officer out here." "You're on maternity leave now." "Just trust that we're doing everything that we know to do." "I know that you are... but what if it's not enough?" " I'lljust 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-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 murder victim Doggett was investigating." "This old man was not murdered, Mulder." "He died 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 that?" "Before Agent Doggett and his partner went missing, they sent in samples to be analyzed." "Hydrolytic enzymes." "Skinner told me." "I, uh, 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 going to find someone qualified to look into this?" "I know where he could find somebody." "( clattering )" "( raspy crunching )" "( chittering sound)" "( gate opens )" "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." "HARRISON:" "I think it's Gary Sacks, the son of the murder victim." "How'd you get down here?" "I think it dragged me down here." "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." "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." "These tunnels were built by bootleggers back 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 parked at a convenience store about a half hour from here." "How'd it get there?" "I don't know, but we're redirecting our search." "Where are you going?" "I think I'll take a walk in the woods." "We've already had 40 people looking around out there, Mulder." "What the hell?" "I'm out of a job already, right?" "I'm out of a job already, right?" "( grunting )" "( grunting )" "( grunting )" "( metallic clinking )" "MAN:" "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'm confused." "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." "MULDER:" "I don't think Gary Sacks committed this murder, Mr. Stites." "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 a scientist are you?" "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 really 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." "( grunting )" "I need a hand." "Agent Doggett, what happened?" "I lost my grip with a little help from the man upstairs." "( distant clang )" "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, Agent Harrison." "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 some kind of symbiotic relationship between this man and this creature." "Mulder and Scully" "Mulder and Scully aren't here, Agent Harrison, we are." "And wild speculation isn't going to help us find a 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 shoot." "Agent Doggett." "He's gone." "What do you mean he's gone?" "I don't know." "It must have taken him." "( phone ringing )" "Mulder." "Mulder, what are you doing?" "I'm spitting sunflower shells on Herman Stites's driveway." "What are you doing, Scully?" "I just got off the phone with Skinner who is furious." "This man Stites just called him saying that you've been impersonating Deputy Director Kersh and making baseless accusations." "What's he mad about me impersonating Kersh or me harassing Stites?" "Mulder, the victim had reptile venom in his eyes." "Are you now saying that 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 some kind of reptile attack is the only explanation consistent with the scientific evidence." "I don't think it's a monster that we're dealing with here." "I think it is a man." "And why do you say that?" "You regifted." "I'm sorry?" "My Apollo medallion." "You found it?" "Yeah." "I found it on the grass on Stites's estate." "Doggett must be around here somewhere." "( door opens )" "Agent Scully?" "I got to go." "What am I looking at?" "As you asked we cultured the bacteria from the hydrolytic enzymes that were sprayed into the old man's eyes." "Looks like they're breaking down the tissue." "That's exactly what they're doing." "The venom blinds its victim, then the bacteria excretes protease and collagenase throughout the victim's body." "Digestive enzymes." "Muscle, bone, all of it is slowly liquefied for easy digestion while the victim's skin is made hard and brittle forming a sack or 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." "( moist, squishy noises )" "( gunshots )" "Oh, God, Agent Doggett!" "I think it's Gary Sacks." "( ringing )" "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 that 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 dropped out of sight and never published 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!" "( pounding )" "Mr. Stites!" "Mr. Stites!" "( pounding continues )" "Mr. Stites!" "( dialing )" "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 got out last night and attacked the caretaker and his son and then it attacked my colleagues." "Now, I can have 50 men in here to comb this place within the hour." "Where are they, Mr. Stites?" "( gasps )" "It's all right." "It's just me." "Doesn't make any damn sense." "There's no exit except that door." "Maybe it does." "( pounding )" "MULDER:" "Agent Doggett?" "Right here!" "It's all right, Agent Doggett." "We're going to get you out of here." "Who's that with you?" "It's the man that lives here." "He's been protecting this thing." "He's kept us down 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 weapon." "I'm coming to get yours." "No, I'm not." "Mulder, I can't see." "Mulder, where is it?" "It's 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 shoot you!" "You're not going to shoot me." "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!" "( gunfire )" "Agent Mulder?" "Agent Mulder?" "I'm right here." "I'm right here, Agent Doggett." "SCULLY:" "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." "Doctors say she's going to be fine, physically." "Skinner said she won't be returning to the X-Files." "That was her choice." "Just going to 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." "And what do you think that was?" "Well, I don't know what it was but we didn't actually see a spaceship." "I can't believe you're saying it's not a spaceship." "It could have been a spaceship." "Of course it was a spaceship." "We don't know that it" "But you don't have a picture of it or anything." "You know it was a spaceship." "You saw it." "No, no, remember, I was unconscious." "And when I woke up there was no spaceship." "Mulder, no, no, no." "And you were frozen." "And remember, I hugged you until you were not frozen anymore"