Season 8: Without (8X02)

Written by: Chris Carter
Directed by: Kim Manners

The FBI Task force continues is investigate Mulder's disappearance, following Scully's belief that Gibson Praise will be the abducted next, he is traced to a school for the hearing impaired. But when Agent Doggett goes to Arizona, he finds Gibson in the company of agent Mulder. Drawing his weapon Doggett orders Mulder to release Gibson threatening to shoot, in an attempt to escape Mulder leaps off a cliff.

When Scully arrives Doggett is unable to explain how Mulder got away. Scully tells Doggett that the Mulder he saw was really the alien bounty hunter assuming Mulder's form. When they return to the school to help evacuate the other children, in all the commotion Scully notices a girl, Thea cycling away, Scully follows her to a cave where Gibson is hiding.

He tells Scully that the alien bounty hunter has come for him, he knows that they have already taken Mulder and the others, that they are systematically removing the proof of the existence of extra terrestrial life. Scully continues her search for the UFO in the Arizona desert while Assistant Director Skinner takes Gibson to hospital.

However the alien bounty hunter incapacitates AD Skinner and abducts Gibson. Scully is tipped of by Gibson that the AD Skinner he is with is really the alien bounty hunter and she shots him in the base of the neck. Later Doggett visits Scully to let her know AD Skinner and Gibson are both recovering well and that Deputy Director Kersh has assigned him to the X-files.

Notes:
This episode marks the last appearance of the Alien Bounty Hunter. He is later seen in flashbacks during the series finale in Season 9.

Quotes:
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?

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.

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: 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.

Scully: Who are you?

Skinner: Who am I?

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! 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? I don't like pointing guns at pregnant women any more than I like them pointing guns at me. 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.

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.

Episode Number: 163

Season Number: 8
First Aired: Sunday, November 12, 2000
Prod Code: 8X02