A
man, later identified as Howard Salt, walks along the iron fence
along the street outside the White House. He puts on gloves and
climbs the fence, running toward the building. Secret Service agents
intercept him as he calls out "He needs to know," and
"Aliens are taking over the United States, he needs to
know." Salt pulls a gun out of his belt, and as the agents
wrestle for control of the arm, the gun fires into Salt's abdomen.
As Salt passes out, he hands a CD-ROM to an agent, asking him to
give it to the President. On the CD-ROM is written, "Fight the
Future."
Mulder is in his
hospital room, gently touching the wounds on his face and
remembering what was done to him during his abduction. Scully and a
doctor enter. They have important news. In addition to Mulder's
incredible recovery, Mulder's terminal disease is no longer
detectible. The virus is gone, after the treatment with antiviral
drugs and blood transfusions. The scars on his face and body are
repairing themselves. He is in perfect health. Mulder says he feels
like Austin Powers.
Later, Scully takes
Mulder home to his apartment. Upon entering, Mulder looks around and
tells Scully that something looks different. She tells him that his
apartment is clean and he laughs. He looks around and notices that
one of his fish, Mollie, is missing. Scully tells him that she
wasn't as lucky as he was. She tells Mulder he can't understand what
it was like -- learning of his abduction, searching for him, finding
him dead and now having him back. Her prayers have been answered.
Mulder says that her pregnancy is also an answer to her prayers, and
he is happy for her. He, however, has no idea where he fits in now.
He is having trouble processing what has happened to him.
At the federal
prison in Perkey, WV, a trustee is circulating library books to
prisoners in a common area. He has the new Harry Potter book. He
hands Absalom a book, "The Coming Apocalypse." Inside the
front cover is a newspaper clipping about a census worker shot on
the White House lawn. Deputy Director Kersh is watching a TV report
about the census worker when Doggett and Skinner enter his office.
People are so rarely what they seem, comments Kersh. Scully has
submitted an application to reinstate Mulder on The X-Files. Kersh
intends to deny the application. The success rate on the X-Files
since Doggett was assigned is much higher than during the time when
Scully and Mulder worked together, he says. The FBI is no place for
a personal crusade, Kersh says, and directs Doggett to tell Mulder
that he will not be reinstated. Kersh says the alternative is
closing the X-Files completely.
Skinner and Scully
actually tell Mulder about Kersh's decision - Kersh wants to hurt
and punish Mulder and he wants to punish Skinner and Scully as well
for putting him in the position they are in and for not giving up on
Mulder. It was a bullet fired eight years ago and they've finally
got it right. Mulder looks to Scully and tells her that she is going
to give birth in a couple months. She can talk as tough as she
wants, but they know that soon there will be more important things
going on in her life rather than whether or not the X-Files stays
open. Skinner tells him that Kersh is not shutting down the X-Files,
but rather keeping Doggett running them.
For the first time,
Mulder is told that Scully has had a partner for the last several
months to help her find him, to which he says "Mission
Accomplished". Doggett doesn't know much about the paranormal,
but Scully says he is above reproach and is also being maneuvered.
Mulder tells her that its good - atleast he's maneuverable. Mulder
intends to go back to work anyway.
In Bassett County,
WV, a prison work crew, including Absalom, is working on a road. In
the dirt, Absalom finds a board with a nail sticking out and slips
it into the sleeve of his orange jumpsuit. As the prisoners are
loaded into a van, he uses the board to strike a guard and runs. He
is pursued, but he eludes the guards by running in front of a
passing train, which blocks pursuit. [He doesn't even look at the
train when he's running, just keeps running .. a classic scene!]
Later, Doggett
returns home to find Absalom waiting for him. Absalom grabs
Doggett's gun and holds it on him. Doggett is ordered to put his
hands behind him and lean forward so Absalom can check the back of
his neck. He has to make sure that Doggett is still Doggett, he
says. Doggett is shown the newspaper clipping. Absalom claims
"they" killed Salt for what he knew, just as Absalom's
life is threatened. He vows to show Doggett after which Doggett will
spread the word. The invasion has begun. They are already here. As
Absalom utters Biblical phrases, the phone rings but Doggett is not
allowed to answer. It is Scully calling. She is with Skinner in a
briefing about Absalom's escape. The words "Fight the
Future" were found on the wall of Absalom's cell. The agents in
the room are skeptical about reports that Absalom made claims about
alien abduction, healing and alien invasion. Skinner stresses that
while the claims are not substantiated, neither have they been
refuted. The evidence of torture was real. Skinner tells Scully that
this is obviously an X-File and he wants Doggett to be running it.
Scully answers that she is "all over it." As they talk,
Scully's cell phone pager beeps with a message from Mulder,
"Where is everybody, come on down."
They find Mulder in
his office, feet up on his desk. By being there, he could be
endangering the X-Files, but he brushes off such warnings by saying
"Hey, I’m just down here visiting my buds" Mulder
already knows about Absalom and has noticed that Salt is seen in a
photograph taken of people at Absalom's compound. Mulder doesn't
know any more than that, but has a big hunch. Salt, he says, was a
multiple abductee, was trying to get word to the President and was
killed for what he knew. Scully and Mulder visit the FBI evidence
room. Mulder locates Howard Salt's personal effects, including
Salt's laptop. The entire hard drive is taken up with a ten gigabyte
encrypted file. He removes the hard drive and they leave the
evidence room.
Absalom and Doggett
arrive at the Federal Statistics Center in Crystal City, VA. Absalom
has taped a gun to Doggett's back so that it would fire into
Doggett's skull. Absalom has his hand on the gun. Doggett's FBI
credentials get them through the guard post, but a hidden x-ray
locates the gun. Absalom wants access to the place they compile the
data from the current census. He thinks there's proof in the census
data that the aliens are already among us. As the two are about to
enter the computer room, guards appear with guns. Doggett calls to
them to back off and lower their weapons, but one guard shoots
Absalom through the forehead, killing him instantly.
Doggett is in
Skinner's office. Skinner asks about Absalom's claim that the census
records contain proof. Mulder enters Skinner’s office. He asks if
he is Agent Doggett. Doggett stands up to shake Mulder’s hand, but
to his surprise, Mulder pushes him back into his seat. Mulder yells
to Skinner that he hopes he’s not commending him as a hero for
what he did—he got Absalom killed because of what he knew and what
he was going to expose. Doggett points to the big scratch on his
face and asks if Mulder sees it. Mulder tells him that he sees him
sitting there, and that is enough for him. Once Mulder has left the
office, Skinner tells Doggett that he has to think about what
Mulder’s been through, and now he finds him there. Doggett gets up
and leaves before Skinner can finish.
Later, Frohike
greets Mulder at the door to Scully's apartment. It's not fair,
Frohike says, that Mulder has been dead for six months and still
looks better than Frohike. He hugs Mulder adding "but not by
much". Mulder laughs and jokingly tells him that he would be a
lot happier if he would take his hands off his ass. Frohike quickly
apologises and backs away. Byers and Langly are also happy to see
him, although Langly implies, motioning toward's Scully, that Mulder
may have been involved in a "certain blessed event." The
Gunmen were able to partially decrypt the file on Salt's hard drive.
The data was downloaded from the Federal Statistics Center (FSC) the
day Salt died. Fifteen minutes after Salt was shot, firewalls went
up on the databanks of the FSC. Mulder thinks that means he's right
and that they would kill to protect what is in the files. Unless
Mulder can find a password, there is no way to get into the data.
What is on the hard drive is apparently just a directory structure.
Scully has gotten the Gunmen to try to convince Mulder to let this
one go, but Mulder remarks that this is America - just because you
get more votes doesn't mean you win.
Doggett approaches
his friend, Knowle as Knowle is jogging. Knowle compliments Doggett
for dodging a bullet. Doggett wants to know if he is being used.
Knowle can't tell him that, but he can tell him three words. Later,
Doggett stops Scully outside her apartment building. He can't go
upstairs because Mulder doesn't trust him. Doggett tells her that
Salt had a computer diskette that he was trying to get to the
President, according to Doggett's source. The password for the data
is "fight the future." Scully goes inside, where Mulder is
waiting. She hesitates, but tells him of Doggett's information.
Someone knocks on
Doggett's door - it is Skinner. Scully called, beside herself.
Mulder somehow got access to a password to a federal database filled
with names of people of a certain genetic profile being tracked
using the US Census. Doggett confesses that he gave Scully the
password, but now he doesn't know which side he is helping. He
declined to tell Skinner more. At the FSC, Scully is parked outside
in a car when Doggett knocks on her window. Mulder wouldn't listen
to her. Doggett tells her to leave. She thinks she can't do that to
Mulder, but Doggett tells her to do it for herself. He thinks he may
have set Mulder up. Doggett runs into the FSC. Mulder and the Gunmen
are inside, working to penetrate the FSC security.
With the Gunmen's
help, Mulder gets inside without the security guards noticing.
Doggett finds the guard's office empty. Mulder arrives at the
computer room and the Gunmen remotely open the locks. He uses a
workstation to access the data and prepares to e-mail the data.
Doggett pounds on the door, which is now locked again, calling that
Mulder's life is in danger and to get out of the room. Mulder
ignores him. Doggett fires his gun through the glass door, jumps
through the door and again warns Mulder of the danger. Mulder thinks
Doggett is trying to protect the data, which Mulder says proves that
aliens are targeting certain people based on their genetic profile
for abduction and replacement by alien facsimiles. He begins to send
a copy to the Washington Post. Guards drive up in military vehicles.
Scully sees them arrive and uses her cell phone to warn the Gunmen
that Mulder has to get out. Mulder again thinks Doggett has set him
up, but Doggett says they've both been set up and they will both be
killed. Langly radios to Mulder that the data has been trapped and
can't be uploaded for transmission. Byers has a long shot idea for
how they can get out. The guards storm into the computer room and
Doggett and Mulder are not there. They are hiding above the
suspended ceiling.
Knowle is jogging
again. As he stops at a drinking fountain, Doggett approaches him.
Why shouldn't Doggett expose Knowle? Skinner is walking toward them
across the park. If Knowle walks, Skinner will see to it that
Knowle's name goes in lights. Knowle asks if Doggett exposes him,
where will he get his answers? Doggett is standing on the tip of an
iceberg, he says. It's not about Mulder, Knowle says, it's about the
truth. Doggett has it all right in front of him in the X-Files.
Knowle says he is just trying to point Doggett in the right
direction. As Doggett walks away, we see that Knowle has a lump on
the back of his neck.