Previously on The X-Files:
You sent for me. I'm here.
We're witnessing what may be the advent of a global contagion.
- Kill everyone but the chosen. - Alien DNA mixed with our DNA.
Science given to them by an alien race.
Neither you nor I could save mankind from self-extermination.
I just changed the timetable.
Get to the hospital. Help is on its way, I promise.
That their fates were sealed since birth.
They were simply puppets.
The world will go on.
Just in my image instead of God's.
Who sent you?
You see a seemingly weak man...
but I'm the most powerful man in the world.
My name is Carl Gerhard Busch...
but I've been known by many aliases...
during my long career with the U.S. government.
It's been a humbling job, though I'm hardly known as a humble man.
I've been a witness to history, much of it violent.
Much of it an abomination of the values Americans hold dear.
I've had a privileged seat at the centers of power...
held the reins of that power, making sacrifices few are capable of.
Of which even fewer still are willing.
If people knew the truth, they'd riot in the streets.
Too much is made of the will to power, as if our will is free, our choices our own.
Our destinies are forged in our bones, made real by a raging impulse to self-destruct.
I'm not a bad man.
More a practical man.
I have taken certain gifts I was given and made good men great.
It is my greatness.
I'm a father to two men who have figured more in the future than they might ever know.
Both would end up working for the FBI...
both complex but dedicated men who sacrificed dearly.
And in their dogged pursuits would end up paying a terrible price...
searching for truths as I parceled them out.
Truths held only by the few who know the levers of power...
and the invisible hand controlling them.
Is there life out there?
Good heavens, to doubt it is a failure of more than the imagination.
It's a failure to recognize the limits of our own stupidity.
The nascency of our science, the rudiment of our tools.
We listen, we search, we hope for a sign, as if our eyes and ears are good enough...
our brains large enough...
our egos small enough.
I'm an old man now.
I will leave my own mark upon history.
More than presidents or tyrants.
I don't ask for loyalty and trust...
the fleeting bonds of men.
I ask only for the years to show my sons and their sons I was right.
What their father did had to be done.
That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
Cut!
Reset. Back to one, everybody.
- What's her heart rate? - Heart rate elevated to 186 BPM.
Ma'am, can you hear me? Can you hear me, ma'am?
I need her blood pressure. No dilation, unresponsive.
No indication of trauma. You found her where she is?
She must have fallen. It's me, Scully.
- Can you hear me? - Bit her tongue. No head trauma.
- Does she take meds? - No.
She's healthy, a doctor. She would've told me.
Hey, hey, hey. We've got a gurney coming in.
- What happened? - They said she had a seizure.
One, two, three, lift.
Gentle. Gentle. Call the hospital with our ETA.
Let's clear out.
- Coming through. - I'm going with you.
I just want someone to tell me what the hell is going on here.
- No news, good news, Mulder. - That's BS and you know it.
Why don't you go get some air? I'll text you when there's word.
I don't wanna hear it from you.
I wanna talk to Scully.
Excuse me. Is one of you Fox Mulder?
- Is she gonna be okay? - I'm Dr. Joyet, her neurologist.
- We've done a series of tests... - Answer my question.
The answer is we don't know.
What do you mean? What have you been doing?
Mulder, why don't you let her talk?
- I wanna talk to Scully. - She's still unconscious.
What I know right now is that she has extremely abnormal brain activity.
Abnormal how?
I need to show you something.
We ran her through everything we have here. CTs, fMRl.
The entire protocol.
When I say abnormal...
I don't see any damage, just gross abnormality.
The brain is a very complex organ.
A cascading series of subsets that begin and end with the prefrontal cortex...
the part that makes us human. What you're seeing now is the PFC in real time.
The reason I don't have any answers for you is I've never seen anything like this before.
- What's this here? - The hypothalamus.
The area we associate with fight or flight.
I don't know what I'm looking at, but I'm reading this part as signal.
I'm reading this flashing as code.
- You must be mistaken. - What do you mean "code"?
Six dots, two dashes: "Him."
"Find him."
This is insanity.
I wanna see her.
Can she hear us?
What she needs right now is quiet, rest.
Neurologically speaking, her brain's on fire.
I'm sure that's what she needs, but I'm gonna stay here.
Mulder, a moment outside?
- You're not helping your cause. - Are you helping my cause?
What if it was a message?
Find who? It's absurd.
Who would you be asking for?
Your son.
Why ask for him now?
She's not dying.
Maybe she's not...
but I've seen you believe far more absurd things, Agent Mulder.
Far less personal.
Hey.
I care about her too.
I'm just looking for answers here.
Then you go look for them, Skinner.
Where I'm needed is in there.
The thought is imperishable.
A fear that takes hold in the gut.
That the person you care for most in the world could be hurt by you...
by your actions...
the simple fact of knowing you.
As she lies here, so helpless...
those same thoughts and fears flood my mind with questions.
If I caused this, how then can I make it stop?
- You think you know who I am. - I thought you were dead.
- Massive contagion, alien DNA. - Spartan Virus...
You'll be dead yourself, within a week.
Mulder.
Scully.
Mulder, you have to go.
I'm not going anywhere.
To find the Smoking Man.
- Scully, I'm gonna get your doctor. - No, listen to me.
I've seen it.
You've seen what, Scully?
I know how it begins.
There's a virus.
The Spartan Virus.
It shuts down our immune systems...
- and it starts a pandemic. - Scully.
You had a seizure. You have extremely abnormal brain activity.
No. A plague is released.
But there's a cure. Mulder, I'm absolutely certain about this.
Okay. Tell me what you saw.
You're dying, Mulder...
and I can't save you.
Not without stem cells from our son.
Scully, I'm fine.
I'm here. There's no plague. You don't need to save me.
The Smoking Man is behind it.
- The Smoking Man is dead. - No. No, he's not.
He's alive.
And he's in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Mulder...
from where he unleashes hell on earth.
Scully, I don't doubt you, that you believe what you're saying...
but the doctor said that your brain is on fire.
It's me, Mulder.
I'm not an irrational person.
You have to find him and you have to stop him...
before he kills you.
I'm gonna talk to your doctor first. Okay?
Where's the boy?
All we want is the boy.
I don't doubt the visions.
It's their specific etiology.
I call them visions, but my experience of them was very real.
Real is a subjective judgment.
If you believe them to be real, they are to you.
The question is where these visions came from.
- If the seizure caused them. - Or the exact opposite.
- If the seizure was caused by the visions. - I don't understand the difference.
Let's just say we are verging on the fringes of accepted neurology.
You mean you think her visions have a source.
This is rather sensitive territory.
I don't have to tell you that we live at the nexus of certain government agencies.
CIA, DIA, NSA, DARPA...
doing experiments on the mind even before the Cold War.
We have files on all that.
I've had certain patients, products of these experiments, casualties.
I've also seen things that can only be described as superhuman.
I'm not a part of any experiments.
But you may have been.
You said there's a man behind this.
- I need to get out of here. - Scully.
- I have to get to the bottom of this, Mulder. - Scully, I'm on this.
I'm on it.
- Why is this happening? - Mulder's coming.
This is going to go down badly. We are not to be found.
It's Jeffrey Spender. Someone's looking for your son. For William.
They came after me in my home. You may all be in danger.
They will be coming for me.
Mulder will be coming for me.
If he finds me, he'll kill me.
But we are not to be found.
If Scully was a conduit...
if her abnormal brain activity was triggered by some external agency...
who or what had reason to put her through the trauma?
For what purpose and to what end was she suffering?
Scully's story would be incredible outright.
A dead man unleashing a plague on the world, my impending demise...
the desperation to find our son.
Unbelievable. If not for the fact that I've been followed since I left the hospital.
But followed by whom?
- This is going to go down badly. - Certainly you've taken precautions.
Of course. I've been at this too long not to have my alternatives.
You know Mulder. He's determined.
Determined to what? Stop me?
He can't stop what's already begun.
William, our son.
- Your child is part alien. - They'll take him from us.
Scully.
Agent Scully.
What are you doing here?
- I've taken a risk coming here. - What is it, Spender?
- Someone came at me. - What do you mean?
- Trying to find your son. - What did you tell them?
I didn't tell them anything. But they'll be coming at me again.
I need to know where he is.
You made me promise to hide your son. To never to tell you or anyone where he was.
Your son was never to be found.
- I'm asking you to break that promise. - What if they come at you?
You don't understand. Mulder's life may depend on it.
I only have a name of the adoptive parents. Van de Kamp.
- Help me find him. - I've already broken a promise.
No. The Smoking Man, your father, he's the one that's looking for them.
- My father's dead. - He's alive.
Dana.
- You've gotta calm down. - I wanna get out of here.
- Nurse, help me. - Miss Scully. Security.
Where are my things?
- You can't keep me here. - I fear you may seize.
Just tell me where my things are, I'm leaving.
I'm concerned for Scully.
If she were to fear her boy was in danger, like Mulder, she'd stop at nothing.
The boy is in danger. You said so.
But I don't understand from whom.
- You've always had your enemies. - Yes, but why go after the boy now?
Maybe they know he's your weakness.
- They couldn't possibly know that. - But suddenly everyone knows everything...
of you and your plans.
My plans are airtight. And even if they were to get out...
they would be dismissed as so much fake news.
That's the world we live in, Monica. Every day a new disaster.
But the one thing no one is prepared for will wipe the slate clean.
We refuse to imagine our impending extinction.
The acceleration of the cataclysms.
We've thrown science out the window in favor of scandal and opinion.
Cant and all manner of ridiculous untruths.
Civilization a joke...
and my plan merely the punch line.
Were Scully's visions a prophecy playing out in real time?
Just as she foretold, the driver I had dropped had driven me seven hours...
through three states and across the border into South Carolina.
- Scully, what's wrong? - Nothing. Nothing's wrong.
- Then stay off the phone. - It's okay, Mulder. I'm okay.
No, Scully, you're not.
Just listen to me, Mulder. Jeffrey Spender came to me.
- What are you talking about? - He gave me a name. How to find our son.
- Something to start on. - You can't be doing this now.
I need to, Mulder. I've seen how it happens and how it ends.
- Where are you? - I don't want you to worry.
Scully, where are you?
Standing at your desk.
No. It's not worth it.
- Mulder, I know what I'm doing. - Damn it. Scully.
Where are you?
Passing into South Carolina. I'm following a guy.
This is what I saw, Mulder.
How it begins.
A confrontation between you and the Smoking Man.
All right, look.
- I want you to listen to me. - No.
This is why you need William.
- Why I need to find him. - I'm gonna call Skinner.
- I need you to just stay put, okay? - I have to find our son.
You need him...
and I need you.
Scully?
- Find the boy. - What does he want with my son?
He's a very special child.
The threat is that you'll never see your son again.
What is happening?
- You think Scully will forgive you? - She'll come to see the beauty of it.
The beauty of a planet returned to its savage state.
Living as we were intended.
- These are people you're killing. - I'm just cleaning the mess that they made.
Doesn't mean we won't hate you.
I've endured more hatred than you'll ever know.
My enemies are legion.
What price was Scully now paying for her visions and her certainties?
What price would I pay for not turning back to help her?
All I could do was heed her admonitions.
Scully and her boy have a bond beyond you.
Beyond science.
She's completely unaware of that.
- Really? What makes you so certain? - It's a secret only you and I know.
I was running on only adrenaline and Scully's premonitions.
But was it hope I should be feeling, or fear that Scully was right...
and a man I had come to despise, my own father, was alive?
And if he were, he'd become mad with power.
I owe it to Scully now to find out the truth.
I fear only for Scully and the boy.
And the harm my enemies may bring on them.
I think you're in love with her.
I worry for her.
I always had Mulder to protect her. But now he's going to force my hand.
- You won't shed a tear for Mulder. - Of course I will. He's my son.
What if Scully finds the boy first?
You and I won't let that happen.
Federal agent! I'm armed!
Please point the gun away.
Hands! Hands in the air where I can see them.
For heaven's sake, Mr. Mulder.
All you had to do was knock.
Agent Scully?
Both hands on the wheel.
- What the hell is this, Monica? - Me with a gun to your head.
Mind if I smoke?
Oh, my God!
- Ma'am? Are you all right? - Call 911!
- Ma'am, are you all right? - Be careful.
- Ma'am, you okay? - Stand back, stand back.
- Be careful of her head. - Here we go. I got you.
- You've driven a long way. - Where's the Smoking Man?
- We had hoped you'd show us. - Answer me!
- We don't know where he is. - Then who the hell are you?
My name? I don't think it really matters at this point, do you, Mr. Mulder?
And certainly I think I must apologize for the imposition.
We can tell you this.
He was here not long ago.
We smoked too much and we drank too much in the foreign service.
- Your erstwhile father led the way. - Answer my question.
We were all part of a syndicate involved in alien colonization.
- Surely you knew about this business. - You're conspirators.
Not at all. Quite the opposite. Go.
It's okay, Mr. Mulder.
Our man here won't be troubling you any longer.
This is my associate.
- I see. Nobody has a name. - We've all had many names.
You wanna see me snap?
I don't think you're gonna fire that gun, Mr. Mulder.
- You haven't heard what I have to say. - Let me cut to the point.
The man we're both looking for is bent...
- Hell-bent is what he is. - On exterminating humanity.
You'll be pleased to know, Mr. Skinner, I'm here to offer you a deal.
- I don't make deals. - This is a waste of time.
You're still a fairly young man. Years to live, by my estimation.
Try me, you son of a bitch. I'm the one with the gun.
Not so long ago, mankind's greatest threats were war, famine, and plague.
We've all but conquered them with hard science.
This faith in technology, our new religion...
when a simple pathogen would kill billions and billions.
Your immune system will go first, but this is what will finally kill you.
Are you a party to this?
His plan is already in motion.
The aliens are not coming, Mr. Mulder, just so you understand.
No interest in a warming planet with vanishing resources.
So just unleash a plague?
This is no ordinary contagion. This is an alien pathogen.
- The end of history, Mr. Mulder. - And why you have to kill him.
The threat is that you'll never see your son again.
What are you offering me?
Immunity to it.
In return for what?
Find me the boy, Mr. Skinner.
- He needs the boy, Mr. Mulder. - He'll never find him.
You doubt his determination? He'll use those closest to you.
- What does he want with my son? - That's the question, isn't it?
He's clearly a Very special child.
- Why the hell do you care? - We want to save humanity.
He used to want the same.
The aliens came to study us...
were prepared to work with us.
He was to be the man to lead us.
But he became destructive, he took only his own counsel.
Understand, I protected mankind as long as I could, Mr. Skinner.
- I see. So you're the hero. - No one would listen.
The aliens brought not only technology...
they brought the seeds of our destruction.
It's what our government would never grasp.
And while they were adventuring in Cuba and Vietnam and Central America...
I was busy in the Nevada desert dissecting, reverse engineering...
playing God with life forms, the stuff of science fiction.
I had the time, the money, and the freedom to plan for a day I knew would come.
You have no idea this man's need to control our fate...
how effective and bold his plots and ambitions.
Oh, my gosh, we did it.
- That's really the moon? - Yes. That's really the moon, Jeffrey.
That's how heroes are made.
Roger. How does it look?
Roger.
It's the fourth turning, Mr. Skinner. Civilization is in its final stages.
Alliances are crumbling.
Truth is fluid and alterable.
The only truth left is to survive it.
And who chooses? You?
- There are people with immunity. - Agent Scully has it, and her son.
They'll survive with a select few.
What about Agent Mulder?
Kill him...
before he kills us all.
- You're his son, Mr. Mulder. - He won't be expecting you.
You know what I think?
That's only half the story. He wants to exterminate humanity...
- what's your budding enterprise? - The colonization of space.
We're closer than you think.
Building Dyson Spheres and magnificent habitable structures.
Oh.
That's the plan.
A secret space program?
I don't think so.
I think this is a power play.
You want me to kill him so you can implement your own plan.
You wanna see blood in the streets. The colonization of space?
How do you plan to do that? Transport all humanity off planet?
Seven billion people? That's not possible. Only a chosen few.
And you call him evil?
We can take you with us, Mr. Mulder. You and your boy.
You're a liar. You're all liars.
Then no one can save us.
I know someone who can save us.
And I think you know her too.
Now, get out of my way.
I think we're finished here.
Get your ass back in the car. I'm not finished.
Come on, pick up the phone.
Why do you want the boy?
- He's very important to me. - You're asking me to betray them...
- to betray people that I care about. - Ha, ha. No, no, no.
I'm asking you to turn your back on the whole human race.
Come on.
Are you the FBI agents? I came as quickly as I could.
From what I understand, Agent Einstein may have saved her life.
How did you find her?
We were pulling into the FBI and we saw her car get hit.
- You knew to bring her here? - From her medical bracelet.
Well, she's lucky you found her when you did.
- Hello? - I just wanted to tell you she's here...
in case you were worried.
- Where is here? - The hospital.
She had an accident and we're monitoring her.
The horror I had felt.
The gut wrench of seeing Scully fighting against the storm in her head...
now only doubled.
Had I come full circle to find the truth?
Or only to uncover greater lies?
Not one conspiracy but two.
They threaten not only Scully, but our son.
A drum beats in my heart.
That man they just wheeled out on a gurney...
I know that man.
The Smoking Man didn't send him.
How do you know that?
Because the Smoking Man won't harm me.
He's held my life in his hands.
That...
was something else.
Your visions, Scully...
they're not wrong.
My visions...
are from William.
I don't know how...
but I know that he's guiding me...
and you.
- They're looking for him. - The Smoking Man can't act without William.
I know that in my bones.
And William knows it.
They won't find him...
but he will find us.
So we just wait?
Do nothing?
We do our work.
The truth still lies in the X-Files, Mulder.
They said you were attacked.
I was calling you.
- I didn't get your call. - Where have you been, Skinner?
Where have you been?
- Leave it alone, Mulder. - I asked you to look for her.
- I looked for her. - Where did you look?
I said leave it alone.
You smell like smoke.
Mulder.
Break it up! Break it up!
Come on.
Whose side are you on?
I said leave it alone, Mulder.
What are you hiding?
What could possibly make you think that I would ever take your deal?
You're not betraying Scully.
- She'll be with us. She's immune. - You get off on this, don't you?
- Ha, ha. Manufacturing destiny? - Then why kill Mulder?
- Mulder would kill me. - Scully will never take your offer.
- She'll take it. - Not without Mulder, she won't.
I'll present her with a simple choice.
Mulder or her only son.
So this is just vengeance.
Oh, it's more than that.
Dana and I have a history.
A very important history that goes back 17 years.
I'm glad you came.
We'll need to take a trip.
I'm here.
It will require a few days.
You drugged me.
Ha, ha. I did nothing of the sort.
- How did I get out of my clothes and into bed? - We carried you, my housekeeper and I.
You'd been up for over 30 hours. You were delirious. You can ask her.
I don't know what you're up to.
You impregnated her?
With science, Mr. Skinner.
Alien science.
To create the first superhuman child.
Mulder's not the father?
I'm asking, who's the father?
I am.
William is my son.