The X-Files Fight The Future

SCULLY: Mulder, move away from the door, we're coming through it.

(Scully and the bomb team cut through the door with a torch.

The door is kicked open and everyone piles into the room.)

MULDER: (to Michaud, as he points at the bomb) Tell me that's

just soda pop in those canisters.

MICHAUD: (looking at bomb) It's just what it looks like. A big I.E.D.

(pauses) Ten gallons of astrolight. Okay, get everybody out of here,

clear the area.

FBI GUY: Come on, let's go.

(Everyone leaves except Michaud, Mulder and Scully)

MULDER: Somebody's got to stay with you.

MICHAUD: (irritated) I just gave you a direct order.

Now get the hell out of here and evacuate the building!

SCULLY: Can you defuse it?

MICHAUD: Yes I can.

MULDER: We got less than four minutes to find out if you're right.

MICHAUD: Did you hear what I said? (Mulder nods) Get out.

SCULLY: Come on, Mulder.

(She starts to leave, Mulder hesitates, looking at Michaud, then turns

to follow her out. Cut to outside the building as people pour out onto

the street. Cut back to Michaud sitting passively in the chair in front

of the bomb. Cut to Mulder and Scully running out of the building.

Mulder slows down and looks back.)

SCULLY: Mulder, what are you doing?

MULDER: Something's wrong.

SCULLY: Mulder ...

(Scully grabs Mulder by his arm.)

MULDER: Something's not right.

SCULLY: Mulder, get in the car, there's no time!

POLICEMAN BY CAR: Go on, get in the car!

(They get into the waiting police car. Shot of inside the building with

Michaud sitting waiting for the bomb to go off, his face in his hands.

Cut to the cop car as it drives off, Mulder turning in his seat to look at

the building. The bomb explodes, sending Michaud flying backwards.

The building is destroyed, cars are sent flying, Mulder and Scully's

police car's windows explode as the car rocks from the blast, mucho

Big Screen Destruction. Mulder and Scully slowly get out of the car

and look at the damage.)

MULDER: Next time, you're buying.

FBI HEADQUARTERS

WASHINGTON, DC

OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL REVIEW

(Scully is sitting in the office before a review board. Assistant Director

Jana Cassidy is speaking to her. Assistant Director Walter Skinner is

seated on the panel as well.)

CASSIDY: In light of Waco and Ruby Ridge, there is a heightened

need at the Attorney General's office to place responsibility as early

as possible for the catastrophic destruction of public property and

loss of life due to terrorist activities. Many details are still unclear,

but we're under some pressure from the Attorney General to give an

accurate picture of what happened so that she can issue a public

statement. We know now that five people died, in the explosion.

Special ...

(Mulder enters the room, late, and Cassidy pauses, looking up at him,

as do Scully and Skinner.)

CASSIDY: .. Special Agent In Charge Darius Michaud, who was trying

to defuse the bomb, three firemen from Dallas and a young boy.

I'd like to begin this interview ...

MULDER: Excuse me, excuse me, the firemen and the young boy,

they were found in the building?

CASSIDY: Agent Mulder, since you weren't able to be on time for this

hearing, I'd like you to step outside so that we can hear Agent Scully's

version of the facts so that she will not be paid the same disrespect.

MULDER: We'd been told the building was clear.

CASSIDY: You'll get your turn, Agent Mulder, please step outside.

(Mulder looks at Scully, then leaves the room. He is now seated on a

bench in the hallway, eating sunflower seeds, husks and all. Skinner

leaves the hearing room and joins him in the hallway. Mulder stands up.)

SKINNER: Sit down, they're still talking to Agent Scully.

MULDER: About what? (he sits back down)

SKINNER: They're asking her for a narrative, they want to know why she

was in the wrong building.

MULDER: She was with me.

SKINNER: You don't see what's going on here, do you? There's

forty-five million dollars worth of damage to the city of Dallas. Lives

have been lost. No suspects have been named. So the story that's

being shaped ... is that this could have been prevented.

MULDER: They want to blame us?

(Skinner sits down next to him.)

SKINNER: Agent Mulder, you and I both know that if it looks bad,

it's bad for the FBI. Blame has to be assigned somewhere

(Mulder looks down at the ground, then looks up at Skinner.)

MULDER: If they want somebody to blame, they can blame me,

Agent Scully doesn't deserve this.

SKINNER: She's in there right now saying the same thing about you.

MULDER: I breached protocol. I broke contact with the SAC.

I ignored a primary tactical rule and left him alone with the device.

SKINNER: Agent Scully says it was she who ordered you out of the

building, that you wanted to go back in.

MULDER: No.

(Both men stand as Scully leaves the hearing room and walks over

to them.)

SCULLY: (to Skinner) They're asking for you, sir.

SKINNER: Thank you. (he leaves)

MULDER: Whatever you told them in there, Scully, you don't have to

protect me.

SCULLY: All I told them was the truth.

MULDER: They're trying to divide us on this and we can't let them.

SCULLY: Mulder, they have divided us. They're splitting us up.

MULDER: What? What are you talking about?

SCULLY: I have a meeting with OPR day after tomorrow for remediation

and reassignment.

MULDER: But they're the ones who put us together.

SCULLY: Because they wanted me to invalidate your investigations

into the paranormal. But I think this goes deeper than that now.

MULDER: This is not about you, Scully. They're doing this to me.

SCULLY: They're not doing this. (pause as she collects her thoughts)

Mulder, I left behind a career in medicine because I thought that I could

make a difference at the FBI. But it hasn't turned out that way. And now

if they were to transfer me to Omaha or Cleveland, or some field office,

it just doesn't hold the interest for me that it once did. Not after what

I've seen and done.