BABY BANJO BEGGAR DAVEY_JAMES GLASSES HILLBILLY_ED HUNTER JOHN JOHN_GLASSES KERSH MANS_VOICE MULDER OTHER_MARINE QUON SCULLY SERGEANT SHERIFF_STENZLER SKINNER VIETNAMESE_BOY VILLAGERS_JOHN YOUNG_WALTER_SKINNER SERGEANT For the next few hours, this crate is all that matters. You're going to protect it like your Mama is inside of it. Is that clear? JOHN GLASSES Yes sir! SERGEANT Do not drop it. Do not scratch it. Do not peek inside of it and for God's sakes you do not lose sight of it. Is that clear? JOHN GLASSES Yes sir! SERGEANT Quon will guide you to a site east of Hill 862, where you're going to deliver this crate to Bravo Company. Is that clear? JOHN GLASSES Yes sir! SERGEANT Rendezvous back at the drop site at approximately 1900 hours. Is that clear? Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! JOHN GLASSES You all right, John? JOHN I'm scared as hell, man! GLASSES Dude, look at me. Look at me. Everybody's scared. I got your back, and you got mine, okay? JOHN Okay. GLASSES Okay. JOHN Okay. QUON We go. There's a village in there. Go. JOHN Damn! GLASSES Quon! JOHN What the hell are you doing? GLASSES He's been hit! I got to go help him! JOHN No, we got to stay with the crate! Please. GLASSES Stay put. JOHN BABY GLASSES Quon. QUON GLASSES You're gonna be all right. QUON VILLAGERS JOHN GLASSES John. John. John, where are you? John? John? JOHN Monsters. GLASSES John. John, John, it's me. John, it's me. It's Skinner! MULDER Deputy Director Kersh. KERSH I'm going to ask you once and only once. Where is he? MULDER Sir? Of whom are we speaking? KERSH Cut the crap, agents. Have you ever wondered why, after 35 years in the bureau, Walter Skinner isn't sitting on this side of the desk? Or even perhaps running this whole damn agency, for that matter? SCULLY Are you looking for Skinner? KERSH Let me be unambiguous in the event that there are any questions about this in your conspiracy-addled minds Walter Skinner's stalled career has everything to do with his blind loyalty to the both of you and your misguided search for some imaginary truth. MULDER Sir, what is this about? KERSH Skinner's gone AWOL, Agent Mulder. Without warning or explanation. And frankly, I don't buy your naiveté for even a moment. He hasn't been the same since the two of you returned to the bureau. SCULLY Sir, has anyone checked his apartment? Could he have had some kind of medical emergency? KERSH The Director's asking questions about Skinner's activities that I can't answer. There's an implication that he recently started poking around in places he shouldn't be poking. MULDER What sort of places? KERSH I couldn't say. But if you truly care about his future in the FBI, I suggest you bring him back here while he still has a future to return to. SCULLY This is troubling, Mulder. What happened to the old reliable Skinner we knew and loved? MULDER Well, based on his dubious behavior the past couple months, it's safe to say the old Skinner has left the building. SCULLY Mulder, do you think his disappearance actually has to do with us? Or something to do with William or that business with the Purlieu Services? MULDER There's no way of telling what Skinner's been up to recently. But I'll keep my eyes peeled for cigarette butts. MULDER Maybe he's out meeting with an interior decorator. SCULLY No, I noticed this the last time that we were here – there’s no personal items. There's no mementos, no knickknacks, no family photographs. You know, it occurs to me, Mulder, that even after all these years we know precious little about Walter Sergei Skinner beyond the professional. MULDER It appears he may suffer from moderate to severe constipation. SCULLY I'm sorry to be a wimp, Mulder, but this just feels wrong. This feels like a real invasion of his privacy. MULDER Well, it's not like Skinner to just disappear without telling anyone. You know. And as much as I don't trust the guy right now, if he's gotten himself into a dangerous situation, he's gonna forgive us this little trespass. SCULLY Look at this, Mulder. Lance Corporal Walter Skinner, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, United States Marine Corps. That's a peculiar way to address it. There's no return address. MULDER Ugh. Is that a? SCULLY desiccated human ear. There's a note. MULDER The monsters are here. SCULLY Monsters, Mulder. Does that get your juices flowing? MULDER As much as I appreciate any reference to my juices, Scully, my only concern here is for Skinner. But now I'm worried about him. SCULLY Me too. MULDER The Mud Lick Messenger. SCULLY Mud Lick? SCULLY Well, this is strange. Based on the way that package was addressed, I requested some basic information about Skinner and his platoon in Vietnam, like names of his fellow marines, et cetera, and I've just received word that I've been denied access by the bureau. That the information is classified "top secret." MULDER Well, the Sheriff here in Mud Lick says he's got a body in the morgue minus an ear. I'll bet you that that victim turns out to be one of Skinner's platoon mates from that classified list. BEGGAR You ain't gonna find no kitten. MULDER What? BEGGAR Ain't no kitten out there. MULDER No. All right. SHERIFF STENZLER Doctor Matthew Wegweiser. SCULLY The victim was a medical doctor? SHERIFF STENZLER That's correct, ma'am. Doc Wegweiser is - was - our one and only town doctor. He's a.terrific guy. Beloved. Went out for a hike Thursday last, never to return. Mrs. Wegweiser told us he hiked the same route several times a week. We found him right there on the trail - got himself snared in some kind of hunting trap. MULDER A hunting trap? How do you account for the severed ear? SHERIFF STENZLER Well I can't, honestly. SCULLY And the missing teeth? SHERIFF STENZLER Missing teeth? SCULLY Oh, the autopsy says that he was missing several upper and lower molars and a couple of bicuspids. But there's no evidence of advanced tooth decay or periodontitis. No evidence of manual extraction. MULDER That mean something to you? SHERIFF STENZLER Well, it's funny because I just happened to have lost two teeth in the past month, myself. And my wife lost one yesterday. We were puzzling over it at breakfast. SCULLY And the autopsy also says that there was wood splinters inside the wound. This hunting trap - did it have some kind of a spear or stake element? SHERIFF STENZLER Yes, ma'am. It was a primitive whip trap. It's a bent piece of bamboo held by a trip wire. There's a sharpened spear attached at the end. MULDER It's a "punji stick." SHERIFF STENZLER Pardon? MULDER It's a simple spear made of wood or bamboo. It was used in Vietnam in any one of a number of insidious traps or weapons. Was Dr. Wegweiser here by any chance a Vietnam vet? SHERIFF STENZLER I don't believe he was, no. SCULLY Are there any other Vietnam vets in town that you know of? SHERIFF STENZLER Oh sure. Yeah, there's an institution outside of town called Glazebrook – lot of guys were sent up there in the 70's after the war. Lot of them stuck around Mud Lick when they got out. MULDER I think we passed one on our way in. SHERIFF STENZLER Yeah, that's old "Trigger" Davis. He's harmless. MULDER Trigger? SCULLY Is Glazebrook a mental hospital? SHERIFF STENZLER That's right, ma'am. It's a government-run facility. SCULLY I'd like to see a list of past and current patients, if I could. Do you have access to that, sir? SHERIFF STENZLER Probably not. They run a tight ship up there. But I'll see what I can drum up. SCULLY Thank you, Sheriff. SHERIFF STENZLER Anything to dispel the craziness everyone in town is buzzing about. MULDER What kind of craziness is that? SHERIFF STENZLER People are swearing they seen some kind of monster out in the woods. MULDER Hm. HUNTER Pippet? Pippet? Pippet. What is it, girl? What is it? SHERIFF STENZLER Tell them what you told me, Ed. HILLBILLY ED Well, Banjo called me up and said he saw a damn monster out here in his woods and could I come out with him and take a look around. We was having that look around when he just straight disappeared. MULDER Did you say Banjo? SHERIFF STENZLER Ozzy Krager. Friends call him Banjo. This is his property. MULDER Did he describe this 'monster?' HILLBILLY ED Well, first he thought it was a bear.shh, shh, shh, but then he saw big old horns. And it was walking on two feet. Same as people in town was talking about. MULDER By Mr. Krager, er, I mean, uh, Banjo...was he a Vietnam veteran? HILLBILLY ED Yeah he was. MULDER This may seem like an odd question, but was he missing any teeth? HILLBILLY ED Yeah he was. He just keep losing them like he's an old man or something. Well, I can't make much fun of him because I been losing some too. SCULLY What's this? HILLBILLY ED That's that's one a them deer cams. SHERIFF STENZLER Hunters use them for game surveillance. They can send an alert to your phone when they detect movement. SCULLY Can we review what's on it? SHERIFF STENZLER Should be able to see it on a computer back at the station. SCULLY Is there something about that camera that's troubling you, sir? HILLBILLY ED Banjo don't have no deer cams. I mean, least none that I seen and I hunt with him like every week. SHERIFF STENZLER The camera is motion activated so it shouldn't take terribly long to find what we're looking for. MULDER There. SHERIFF STENZLER By God, I don't believe it. There's our killer. Why do I get the distinct feeling you two know who that man is? That how it's gonna be? I've been nothing but courteous to you all and I don't appreciate being played a fool. Excuse me. I've got to go tell my people we found their "monster." SCULLY Sheriff. That man is our boss. Assistant Director Walter Skinner of the FBI. SHERIFF STENZLER Well what in the hell was he doing at my crime scene last night? MULDER That's what we're here to find out. SHERIFF STENZLER So, you're telling me you knew that man was here in Mud Lick all along? SCULLY Walter Skinner didn't do this. He's a good man. He's a smart man. He's been at the FBI for over 30 years and this murder's sloppy. I mean, not-not that he's capable of murder, but if he was he certainly wouldn't get himself caught on camera at a crime scene. SHERIFF STENZLER So tell me, Agent Scully, what's your "good man" doing standing over a dead body in the woods in the middle of the night? A body which he neglected to call in to any law enforcement agency, including his own? MULDER Well, I know it looks bad, Sheriff, but I assure you, he's not your man. SHERIFF STENZLER You can assure me all you want, Agent Mulder. I'll decide who my man is when I get a chance to bring him in and have a conversation with them. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go put out an APB for this Walter Skinner. SCULLY What are you doing? MULDER There's more on that tape, Scully. SHERIFF STENZLER Put an APB out for a Walter Skinner right now. SCULLY Hurry up. You're gonna get us run out of town. SCULLY What did we just see, Mulder? MULDER We find that monster, we find Skinner. SCULLY Tell me you don't think that was some real, actual monster we just saw. MULDER For once, Scully, we agree. Monsters don't dig pits and set traps. That was most certainly a man in a mask. But I'm more concerned about Skinner's state of mind right now. SCULLY Maybe Skinner's experiencing a delayed form of PTSD from his time in Vietnam. It's not without precedent. And even the shock of receiving that ear in the mail is a pretty plausible trigger. What? MULDER You said 'trigger.' Trigger. Banjo. MULDER Kitten? BEGGAR I already told you. MULDER Yeah, you said I wouldn't find Kitten. But is-is Kitten a person? Is that somebody's nickname? BEGGAR I told the eagle where to find Kitten's kitten. MULDER The eagle. Is the eagle bald? SKINNER Hello? Anybody here? JOHN So I unload into this ditch, right? And they're deader than a bag of tent stakes, the whole lot of them. And I kneel down next to this little one, now he's got to be no more than 10-12 years old and I'm about to add another little adorable charm to my necklace, right? And I take out my Ka-bar, I slice this little monster's ear off like a hunk of Wisconsin cheddar. OTHER MARINE Aw man, Kitten JOHN but all of a sudden, he opens his eyes. Screams like a banshee! Takes off into the trees hollering the whole way! OTHER MARINE You're bleeding, man. JOHN Dang. That's the third one this week. Hey, they got a tooth fairy in 'Nam? YOUNG WALTER SKINNER Get down! Get down! VIETNAMESE BOY JOHN Speak of the devil. Whoo! MANS VOICE What are you doing in my house? SKINNER John, is that you? SKINNER John. DAVEY JAMES I'm not John. I'm Davey. SKINNER Davey. Well, you're John's son. DAVEY JAMES You're Walter Skinner. SKINNER That's right. DAVEY JAMES Father sure talks a lot about you. SKINNER Your father and I we went through a lot together. DAVEY JAMES Calls you baby killer. SKINNER Where is your father, Davey? DAVEY JAMES Father says it's your fault the way our life turned out. Because of your testimony against him after the war Father spent 38 years in Glazebrook. SKINNER Until I got a letter from him last week I thought he was dead. I spent years searching for him after his trial but they vanished him. His records were sealed. Even from me. DAVEY JAMES Who "vanished him?" SKINNER The same people responsible for turning him from the good man he was when I met him into. DAVEY JAMES Into what? SKINNER I only want to help him. DAVEY JAMES I'm sorry I don't believe he wants your help, Walter Skinner. Father told me all the stories about his time in Vietnam. There were monsters in that jungle. Because of his exposure to an experimental weaponized gas, Father was the only one that could see them. He told me exactly what they look like. JOHN DAVEY JAMES He wasn't crazy like you said at his court-martial. But no one believed him. Not even mother. No one except me. SKINNER Listen to me, Davey - I know what he saw out there. I got a glimpse of it myself. But it wasn't real. It was the gas using his own fear against him. Your dad was exposed to a lot more of it than I was, and it changed him. I watched it happen. DAVEY JAMES And yet, you said nothing about that gas at his trial...did you? They'd let me visit him sometimes up at Glazebrook. I had to sign all manner of non-disclosure documents. Do you realize how painful it was for me to see my father wasting away at that sanitarium? They kept him behind glass the whole time. I couldn't even touch him. I couldn't touch my own father. How could you let that happen to your friend? SKINNER I was forbidden to speak about the gas at his court-martial. I was following orders. Doing what my superiors commanded me to do. I'm not saying it's right. It's not. And I have lived with the guilt of that decision every moment since. I think about him every day. But you got to understand - your dad murdered innocent people. And I know it was because of the gas, I knew who he was before. But the man it changed him into.he was dangerous, Davey. People are getting hurt again and we can stop it. But you got to believe that I am here to help him. I only want to make things right. Please - take me to him, Davey. DAVEY JAMES Okay I'll take you to him. SCULLY His name is John "Kitten" James. He is or was in fact a patient at Glazebrook Hospital. But his military files, like the other files I've tried to access, are classified. MULDER You think it's true, Scully? What Kersh said? SCULLY What's that? MULDER That we're the sole reason Skinner's career hasn't advanced in 30-some years? SCULLY I hope not. I'd like to believe that his choice to stay loyal to us was exactly that - a choice. But, if there's one thing I know about Walter Skinner is, he's a man ruled by his moral compass above all else. MULDER There was a time I would have agreed with that unequivocally. SCULLY I realize that his conduct has been strange, but don't you think that we should give him the benefit of the doubt after everything we've been through with him? I mean, especially in light of what we now understand he may have sacrificed for us. Let's just hope we find him before somebody else does. SKINNER Where are we going, Davey? DAVEY JAMES It's not far now. This is what they drove him to. SKINNER Oh, God no.John, what have you done? John. DAVEY JAMES Now who sees monsters? SKINNER Help me! Is somebody out there? Help! Why? No! DAVEY JAMES Can I help you? MULDER Special Agent Mulder. SCULLY Special Agent Dana Scully. Are you related to John James? DAVEY JAMES I'm his son. Davey. MULDER We're looking for a man who we have reason to believe may be in the area and may have served with your father in Vietnam. Walter Skinner. DAVEY JAMES Uh, I don't believe I've ever heard that name before, no. MULDER Is your father home? DAVEY JAMES No, I'm sorry, I.I haven't a clue where he is. I haven't seen him in weeks. SCULLY Is it okay if we come inside for a brief moment? We'd like to get some insight on a few things. DAVEY JAMES By all means. Right this way. MULDER wtf. SKINNER Help! DAVEY JAMES I've never met real-life FBI agents before. Please. Father said there's two refuges in life from sorrow music and cats. But I think cats are creepy. Can I offer you some tea or something? MULDER No, no, I'm good. SCULLY No, thank you. Um, Mr. James, we understand that your father was a patient at Glazebrook? DAVEY JAMES Yes, that's right. For many years. SCULLY And when was he released? DAVEY JAMES He was released one month ago. SCULLY On what grounds? DAVEY JAMES Sorry? SCULLY Why was he released after he had been confined for so many years? DAVEY JAMES They determined that he was no longer a danger to himself or anyone else. Not that he ever was. Well, uh, I guess he was a threat to someone. MULDER Is this your mother? DAVEY JAMES My mother died many years ago. Father's incarceration was very hard on her. MULDER Do you mind if I ask how she died? DAVEY JAMES Yes. SCULLY Mr. James, a minute ago you said that your father was a threat to someone. What did you mean? DAVEY JAMES Father had secrets. SCULLY Secrets? DAVEY JAMES About the government. Father was poisoned by an experimental weaponized gas in Vietnam. Because of his exposure, they continued to do tests on him and other soldiers like him for many years at Glazebrook. MULDER What kind of tests? DAVEY JAMES Chemical and biological. They were trying to learn how to control human behavior. Harnessing their fears to manipulate us into violence. BANJO SCULLY Using this weaponized gas? DAVEY JAMES The gas in the war was still in the experimental stage, and they still haven't perfected it. But after years of testing it and honing it, they are getting close. SCULLY To what end? DAVEY JAMES Imagine the power of a government that could literally control the minds of millions and millions of its citizens. Influence every choice and decision they made simply by exposing them to this poison. SCULLY You'll have to forgive me, Mr. James, but this sounds like.like a dystopian novel. DAVEY JAMES It's happening right now. In the United States of America. Do you honestly believe that 30 after years of research and development and decades of experimenting on American heroes like my father, they would just be thrown in the trash? Never to be utilized? MULDER Unlikely. The DoD and the CIA have been working on various incarnations of mind control projects since the 50s. Project Bluebird, MK-ULTRA, MK-DELTA. SCULLY Well, those programs were supposedly ended in the early 1980s. MULDER Supposedly. DAVEY JAMES My father believed he was part of the program MK-NAOMI, which was a successor to MK-ULTRA. We don't know how they're using this chemical now, but we know for certain that they are. Maybe they're poisoning our water.or the food supply. Maybe they're putting it in those chemtrails behind all those commercial jets that fly over our country every single day. MULDER Thank you, sir. SCULLY Thank you, Mr. James. MULDER You drive. SCULLY What's going on, Mulder? MULDER Let's just get into the car and drive away. SCULLY Mulder, you want to tell me what's going on? MULDER He claims not to know who Skinner is, but in that photo album I was looking at, there were all these photos of his dad and Skinner like they were BFFs. And did you check out that shiny new SUV parked beside the cabin? SCULLY Yeah, that definitely wasn't his. MULDER Skinner could be back there somewhere. SCULLY Then why the hell are we driving away? MULDER Just pull over here. Get somewhere you can get cell reception. Call the sheriff and have him get every available officer down here as soon as he can. SCULLY What are you going to do? MULDER I'm gonna try and do for Skinner what I would hope he would do for either of us. SCULLY Mulder. SKINNER Help! Help! SCULLY Come on.damn it. SKINNER Is somebody out there? Hello? Mulder? MULDER Skinner. SKINNER Get me the hell out of here. MULDER SKINNER I'll boost you up. I'll boost you, you're good. Davey. Davey, please. Let us out. MULDER Let's do this quickly. SKINNER Come on gas. Davey. You don't have to do this. MULDER Scully. Where's Davey? SKINNER Go go! MULDER Thank you. Ambulance is on its way. I would call Kersh as soon as you get cell reception. SKINNER Something you want to share? SCULLY Kersh indicated to us that we were responsible for your lack of upward mobility in the bureau. SKINNER If it wasn't for you two, I wouldn't be here right now. And I'm not talking about the fact that you showed up here today. I enlisted in the Marine Corps the day that I turned 18. I was a kid. Full of callow self-confidence and faith and this.this kind of uncorrupted belief that I was doing the right thing. But John James, he didn't enlist. He.he was drafted. And his whole life was completely upended by a war that he really, truly didn't even understand. And he was so afraid all the time. I felt like I had to protect him. But I didn't. I couldn't. The gas changed him into something terrible. That experience in Vietnam with John- it put a dent in that blind faith that I had in my government. It.it planted seeds of mistrust. I tried for years to suppress that mistrust but it gnawed at me. Then you two. You two came along and you taught me not to hide from it, but to have the guts to shine a light directly into the darkest corners. And if given the choice between advancing my career by being blindly loyal to some faceless puppeteers pulling strings from the shadows, or to throw in with you two, make no mistake about it, I'd make the same decision every single damn time. So I'm going to go back, I'm going to kiss the ring, but I intend to do right by this man and that means finding the truth of what the hell it was they used him for. No matter the cost. I owe him that. I owe myself that. MULDER Skinner. We're with you. DAVEY JAMES Imagine the power of a government that can literally control the minds of millions and millions of its citizens, simply by exposing them to this poison. It's happening right now in the United States of America.