With rifles drawn and flashlight beams cutting through the dark warehouse, they hear the sounds of someone moaning. Lifting a cardboard box, they find a naked, moaning, babbling Mulder. He repeats the same phrase over and over, "They're here. They're here." John Fitzgerald Byers is in attendance, representing the FCC. Melvin Frohike is manning a booth with a sign that says Frohike Electronics Corporation and seems to be in direct competition with Ringo Langly of Langly Vision. Holly tells him a sad story of her 3 year old daughter being kidnapped by a former boyfriend; the child's father. She describes the boyfriend as someone dark and mysterious who turned out to be psychotic. As they print out the file, Holly pulls Byers behind a curtain in a state of panic. She has spotted her ex-boyfriend in the crowd and figures he must have tracked her to the convention. Looking out from a gap in the curtain, we see a trenchcoat-wearing, sideburned version of Mulder. Being less than skilled at tailing a suspect unseen, they are spotted and cornered by Mulder. He tells them he's an FBI agent and that he's looking for a woman, showing them a picture of Holly. Now, more interested than ever in the mystery that's developing, Frohike thinks the best way to find out who Holly is and what exactly is going on, is to hack into the FBI mainframe. He thinks Langly is just the guy for the job. Looking up Holly Modeski in the active case files they draw a blank. Byers suggests looking up the daughter's name and, when they type in Susanne Modeski they find a picture of "Holly". She was an organic chemist for the weapons facility but she never bombed the lab or killed anyone; she only tried to quit. She tells them the file contains information about the United States government plot against its own people which she unwittingly helped by developing an ergotamine-histamine gas. The file states, "The timetable remains unchanged. The first EBO will occur in the Baltimore-Washington corridor in one week's time." An EBO, she says, is an Engineered Biological Operation. Breaking into the warehouse, they locate the boxes marked with the lot number they deciphered from the DOD file. The EH gas is in asthma inhalers; their method of distribution for a random test. At this point, Mulder joins the party announcing his federal agent status. He points his weapon at Susanne and informs her that she's under arrest. Backing away from Mulder, she is surprised by two men in suits who approach from behind. Mulder dives behind the box of asthma inhalers and the bullets miss him but rip through the boxes, spraying a fine mist of the EH gas over Mulder and the nearby area. The two men in suits approach him and take aim but, before they can shoot, Susanne Modeski shoots them from behind, saving Mulder's life. A group of men in biohazard gear and gas masks enter. Giving the all clear, the men are joined by a man who appears to be in charge. It's Mr. X! X walks directly to Mulder and, looking down at him, intones the order, "Sanitize it." As Mulder watches in his drug-induced state, he doesn't see the men; rather, he thinks he's seeing little, gray aliens. He begins his "They're here" mantra. Kneeling down and looking intently at Mulder, X answers, "No one touches this man." Byers demands an answer from X, "Why are you doing this?" X takes a gun and, walking up behind Byers, points the gun at the back of his head. He cocks the gun and pulls the trigger. The hammer clicks on an empty chamber. Upset at the whole scene and the intimidation, Byers claims that everything Susanne said must be true. Kennedy. Dallas. X looks back calmly and says, "I heard it was a lone gunman." Frohike announces that this whole mess is over a woman and Langly agrees, saying Byers' "molar-pulling girlfriend" got them into this. Byers disagrees, saying he wanted to learn the truth and Susanne just opened his eyes to it. Susanne says, "No matter how paranoid you are, you're not paranoid enough." She says they should tell the truth and try to reach as many people as they can. Two men jump from one of the cars and grab Susanne, shoving her into the back seat. The Gunmen rush to help but the cars pull away with her inside. As the cars pass, we see X in the back seat of the lead car. "What I need from you guys is to tell me what the hell happened last night." Byers asks Mulder if he wants the truth and Mulder say, "Yeah, I want the truth."

Unusual Suspects 1989 - The episode starts with a bang as a SWAT team pours out of a black van and storms a warehouse in Baltimore, Maryland. Before heading in, an officer informs the team leader that the door to the warehouse has been jimmied and shots were fired, but nobody has emerged. They head in to determine who the intruders are and what's happened. With rifles drawn and flashlight beams cutting through the dark, crate-filled warehouse, they hear the sounds of someone moaning. Lifting a cardboard box, they find a naked, moaning, babbling Mulder. Nearly incoherent, he repeats the same phrase over and over, "They're here. They're here." Further into the warehouse, the SWAT team finds the remaining occupants. Three mismatched gentlemen we've come to know as the Lone Gunmen. "Don't shoot. We didn't do it," one of them says. "Do what?" a SWAT member inquires. "Whatever," they reply. Meanwhile, a naked Mulder continues his mantra of "They're here." Once in custody, we see the events that transpired to this point in flashback as Byers relates his story to a skeptical detective while Frohike and Langly wait in a cell. The story opens at a Computer and Electronics show at the Baltimore Convention Center. John Fitzgerald Byers is in attendance, representing the FCC. Melvin Frohike is manning a booth with a sign that says Frohike Electronics Corporation and seems to be in direct competition with Ringo Langly of Langly Vision. They both are hawking equipment to bootleg cable and consider Byers to be a government narc. Byers spots a mysterious woman making her way past the display booths and, acting out of character, he follows her. In his attempt to be stealthy, he literally runs into her, knocking her purse from her hands and spilling the contents on the floor. As he bends to help her pick up the items, he notices a picture of a small child. The woman thanks him and starts to walk off when he stops her. She looks back inquisitively, and he says, "You just look like someone who could use some help." Sitting down for a cup of coffee, she introduces herself as Holly and tells him a sad story of her 3 year old daughter being kidnapped by a former boyfriend; the child's father. She describes the boyfriend as someone dark and mysterious who turned out to be psychotic. She has a couple of leads on him, one of which brought her to Baltimore, but she says he now knows she's looking for him. Her only real lead is an address to a location on the Arpanet. She says it means something to her ex-boyfriend and she hopes it might be a means to finding her daughter. Byers offers to help her and when they gain online access, they find it's the Defense Data Network - DOD eyes only. Byers says he can't go any further, being a straight-laced government employee. Looking at him with regret, Holly thanks him and turns to leave but Byers can't just let her go. He agrees to try helping her further. Accessing the network, Holly tells him to look up Susanne Modeski, the child's name. To Byers' surprise, an encrypted file begins to download. As they print out a copy, Holly suddenly pulls Byers behind a curtain in a state of panic. She has spotted her ex-boyfriend in the crowd and figures he must have tracked her to the convention. Looking out from a gap in the curtain, we see a trenchcoat-wearing, sideburned version of Mulder. In order to decipher the encrypted file, Byers seeks out help from Frohike. The self-proclaimed computer hacker is more than happy to see Holly, drooling over her initially. But Frohike can't see why they should even waste their time with decryption when they could simply find this boyfriend of hers and beat the information out of him. Holly protests but they decide to at least follow him so leave Holly behind in Frohike's booth. Being less than skilled at tailing a suspect unseen, they are spotted and cornered by Mulder. He tells them he's an FBI agent and that he's looking for a woman, showing them a picture of Holly. With neither side willing to exchange information, Byers and Frohike head back to find Holly missing. Worse yet, they see camouflaged MP's leading Byers' co-worker off for hacking into a secure computer system. They have mistaken him for the one who broke into the DOD network when in fact it was Byers. Now, more interested than ever in the mystery that's developing, Frohike thinks the best way to find out who Holly is and what exactly is going on, is to hack into the FBI mainframe. He thinks Langly is just the guy for the job. After gaining access to the FBI network with unbelievable ease, they look up Mulder's file. Reading his brief bio and noting the "commendations out the yin-yang", they decide he's the genuine article and not a threat. Looking up Holly Modeski in the active case files they draw a blank. Byers suggests looking up the daughter's name and, when they type in Susanne Modeski they find a picture of "Holly". According to her file, Susanne is wanted for murder and sabotage. It says that she bombed the labs at the Army Advanced Weapons Facility in New Mexico, killing four people including a guard who tried to stop her escape. She is listed as psychotic, paranoid, armed and dangerous. As they stare at the screen they suddenly hear the lock turning and the door opens to reveal Susanne Modeski. She enters the room, locking the door behind her, as Byers, Langly, and Frohike back into a corner uneasily. Of course, the story she tells them is quite different than the one in the FBI case file. She was an organic chemist for the weapons facility but the rest is a lie. She never bombed the lab or killed anyone; she only tried to quit. Not the sort of job you just quit. She says she lied because she needed help to get the file and she still needs it deciphered. She tells them the file contains information about the United States government plot against its own people which she unwittingly helped by developing an ergotamine-histamine gas. EH is an aerosolized gas which, in small doses, causes anxiety and paranoia. She herself sounds so paranoid at this point that they find it hard to believe her story. Susanne tells them there are secret forces in the government that plan to test the gas on the American people right there in Baltimore. The Gunmen still aren't convinced and her agitation increases. She says they just don't get it. Nobody is safe. She rants on about how the government was involved in the assassination of JFK in Dallas and on and on. Leaping across the hotel room bed, she pulls the bible out of the nightstand drawer and, waving it in their faces, tells them it's a great place to hide electronic surveillance. One in every hotel room and nobody even thinks to wonder why. If they help her to decipher the file, she can prove it to them. Since she has a gun, they decide they don't have much choice. Sneaking back into the convention hall to access better equipment, they find the file contains info about her defection. It also states, "The timetable remains unchanged. The first EBO will occur in the Baltimore-Washington corridor in one week's time." An EBO, she says, is an Engineered Biological Operation. The file proves not only that her story is true, but that the toxic agent she developed is scheduled for release unless they can find a way to stop it. The document contains the location of the warehouse where the EH gas is being stored. Unfortunately, the file also has one other interesting tidbit of information. It notes that Susanne is being monitored around the clock by a surveillance device installed by a doctor whose name she recognizes as her dentist. Leaving the Gunmen, Modeski picks up a pair of pliers and disappears into the public restroom down the hall. Putting two and two together, the three race down the hall and open the restroom door to find Modeski holding a bloody molar in the pliers. The tiny wires of the listening device can be seen protruding from the tooth. With the definitive proof of the listening device, the Gunmen are sold. Breaking into the warehouse, they locate the boxes marked with the lot number they deciphered from the DOD file. (That file was just chock full of information!) The EH gas is in asthma inhalers; their method of distribution for a random test. Modeski claims she now has her proof. At this point, Mulder joins the party announcing his federal agent status. He points his weapon at Susanne and informs her that she's under arrest. Langly, Frohike, and Byers form a protective barricade in front of her and tell Mulder he's got it all wrong; there's more going on than he knows. Mulder orders them to the ground and they comply, except for Modeski. Backing away from Mulder, she is surprised by two men in suits who approach from behind. It would seem that Mulder isn't the only one eager to take Modeski into custody. As the two men demand that Susanne come with them, Mulder requests their identity. Instead of a verbal reply, his question is met with gunfire from both men. Mulder dives behind the box of asthma inhalers and the bullets miss him but rip through the boxes, spraying a fine mist of the EH gas over Mulder and the nearby area. In the ensuing chaos, Modeski breaks away from the men, the Gunmen roll for cover, and Mulder is covered in the spray of toxic substance. In a panic, Mulder begins ripping the contaminated clothes from his body. The two men in suits approach him and take aim but, before they can shoot, Susanne Modeski shoots them from behind, saving Mulder's life. Dropping her weapon, she runs from the warehouse. Langly, Byers, and Frohike cautiously approach the muttering figure of Mulder. With the chaos at an end, they are surprised as a huge bay door rolls open behind them in the warehouse and a group of men in biohazard gear and gas masks enter. Giving the all clear, the men are joined by a man who appears to be in charge. It's Mr. X! X walks directly to Mulder and, looking down at him, intones the order, "Sanitize it." While the naked, babbling Mulder lays curled behind some boxes in the fetal position, the crew of men proceed to clean-up the area. They remove the boxes of asthma inhalers and haul out the two men in suits, placing them in body bags even though one of them isn't dead yet. As Mulder watches in his drug-induced state, he doesn't see the men; rather, he thinks he's seeing little, gray aliens. He begins his "They're here" mantra. Langly, Frohike, and Byers want to know who these men are and what authority they're acting under. Their questions go unanswered. Finally, X and one of his lackeys walk back to where Mulder is laying in a heap and X's sidekick inquires whether he should bag Mulder. Kneeling down and looking intently at Mulder, X answers, "No one touches this man." Byers demands an answer from X, "Why are you doing this?" He wants to know why they framed Susanne and why they're planning to test the drug. Forcing all three to their knees, X takes a gun and, walking up behind Byers, points the gun at the back of his head. As Frohike and Langly look on, he cocks the gun and pulls the trigger. The hammer clicks on an empty chamber. "Behave yourselves," X tells the three as he prepares to walk away. But Byers can't leave it alone, much to the consternation of his two compatriots who try to get him to shut up. "That's it?!" Byers asks as he jumps to his feet. Upset at the whole scene and the intimidation, he claims that everything Susanne said must be true. Kennedy. Dallas. X looks back calmly and says, "I heard it was a lone gunman." As X and his crew drive away, police sirens can be heard approaching and this is how the SWAT team comes to find only Mulder, Langly, Byers, and Frohike in the warehouse at the top of the episode. With Byers' interrogation complete, the detective doesn't believe a word of his story. Back in their jail cell, Frohike announces that this whole mess is over a woman and Langly agrees, saying Byers' "molar-pulling girlfriend" got them into this. Byers disagrees, saying he wanted to learn the truth and Susanne just opened his eyes to it. When Mulder emerges from his drug-induced state, he verifies Byers' story (at least the parts he can remember) and they are released. Byers thinks they might find Susanne at the local newspaper office since she wanted her story to go public. His guess is correct and they catch up to her as she emerges from the building. She says the paper didn't believe a word of her story but she won't give up. She'll try to find another newspaper or a TV station that will listen. Byers says they still want to help but she says they already have. At that moment a payphone on the street behind them begins to ring. As the ringing continues, Susanne says, "No matter how paranoid you are, you're not paranoid enough." She says they should tell the truth and try to reach as many people as they can. "That's your weapon." With that said, she turns to depart. As she runs to the corner, two black sedans screech to a halt at the intersection, blocking her way. Two men jump from one of the cars and grab her, shoving her into the back seat. The Gunmen rush to try to help but the cars pull away with Susanne inside. As the cars pass, we see X in the back seat of the lead car with Susanne. Back at the convention center, the three would-be rescuers sit dejectedly as the show clean up goes on around them. A door opens and footsteps approach as Mulder joins them, wearing decidedly more clothes than the last time we saw him. Walking up to the three men, he says, "I just, ummm... I have these weird ideas in my head that I can't seem to shake." "What kind of ideas?" they ask. "Weird ones," is the best Mulder can do for an answer. Langly asks if Mulder is going to bust them and he says he's not sure yet. He spoke to his ASAC and was told that Modeski is still missing but is no longer wanted by the FBI. The case is suddenly closed. They all exchange looks. "What I need from you guys is to tell me what the hell happened last night." Byers asks Mulder if he wants the truth and Mulder say, "Yeah, I want the truth." He's told he might want to sit down because it's going to take awhile. Byers begins, "The truth is, none of us is safe. Secret elements within the United States government seek to surveille and control our lives." Mulder's response is "What!?!" And so it begins...