While in the hospital, the doctors find implants in Duane's body just where he said they would be. While Scully takes these to check them out, Duane escapes from the hospital and finds his way to Scully's apartment where he kidnaps her in an attempt to trade her for himself. He is convinced that he will be abducted and refuses to be taken again.
he finds no Scully (just her cross necklace in the trunk of the car) and Duane who is laughing and saying that they took her instead of him. Mulder sees a bright light and is convinced it is just a helicopter but Scully is definitely gone. He tries to question Duane who tells him the same story and apologizes for giving them Scully but says he couldn't go again. He tells Mulder the government is in on it.
Mulder is allowed to re-open the X-Files due to Skinner's intervention and we see that Mulder is carrying Scully's cross necklace with him.
On a serious note, she tells him she doesn't remember anything following Duane Barry arriving at her apartmentthen tells Mulder that she survived because she had the strength of his beliefs.
Duane
Barry
Mulder and Krycek are called in on a case where a man is
holding three people hostage in a travel agency and claims
to have been abducted by aliens. They want Mulder to do the
hostage negotiations since he has some background in alien
abduction folklore. They don't believe the man, Duane Barry,
but they feel that the bond between Duane and Mulder will be
useful. The episode opens with Duane Barry experiencing an
abduction and throughout we see flashbacks to the
experimentation that supposedly occurred. During
negotiations, the power goes out and a bright, white light
fills the rooms of all the nearby buildings. Mulder says
they lost time and is convinced that Duane is telling the
truth. During the chaos, Duane fires his gun several times
and one of the hostages is critically wounded so Duane
allows medics to enter and treat the man. Mulder goes in
with the paramedic and ends up trading himself for the
injured man. He talks to and questions Duane, even revealing
the fact that his sister was taken.
During this time, Scully has used her computer to access information about Duane Barry and it is learned that he is ex-FBI and was shot in the line of duty leading to a brain injury that is known lead to delusions, violent behavior, and pathological lying. She believes that Duane is not what Mulder thinks. In the end, Duane is shot and all the hostages, including Mulder, are safe. But Mulder still believes him. While in the hospital, the doctors find implants in Duane's body just where he said they would be. While Scully takes these to check them out, Duane escapes from the hospital and finds his way to Scully's apartment where he kidnaps her in an attempt to trade her for himself. He is convinced that he will be abducted and refuses to be taken again.
Ascension
Scully had been on the phone to Mulder when she was taken by
Duane Barry, and her cries for help greet Mulder when he
arrives home minutes later. She had been telling him about
the metal implant which seemed to be stamped like a bar code
(as if they were cataloging Duane) when suddenly breaking
glass and her voice calling Mulder's name can be heard. The
FBI begins a full-scale search but take Mulder off the case
since he is too close to it. This doesn't stop him from
working on it and eventually they get a break. A highway
patrolman was shot during a routine stop and he had his
video camera on so the scene was recorded. Duane Barry is
shown on the tape stepping out of the car after shooting the
patrolman, then checking the trunk of the car where the
bound and gagged person of Dana Scully can be clearly seen.
Knowing the highway this occurred on, Mulder guesses that
Duane is taking her to Skyland Mountain which is where Duane
thinks the alien abduction will take place. Mulder and
Krycek take off to follow but Krycek is unsure if they
should go without telling Skinner. Krycek agrees to go but
calls CSM to keep him posted on their movements, unbeknownst
to Mulder. Mulder takes the tram to the top of the mountain
but makes Krycek wait below. Krycek kills the tram operator
and shuts the tram down stalling Mulder below the summit.
Mulder tries to climb out and find his way to safe ground
just as Krycek turns it back on in hopes of knocking Mulder
to his death. But he holds on safely and reaches the summit,
but it's too late and he finds no Scully (just her cross
necklace in the trunk of the car) and Duane who is laughing
and saying that they took her instead of him. Mulder sees a
bright light and is convinced it is just a helicopter but
Scully is definitely gone.
He tries to question Duane who tells him the same story and apologizes for giving them Scully but says he couldn't go again. He tells Mulder the government is in on it. Mulder gets a bit overzealous in his questioning of Duane and nearly strangles him then leaves the room. When he returns, he finds Krycek alone with him but he tells Mulder that Duane just wanted a drink of water. Skinner arrives to chew Mulder out just as Duane starts choking to death and nothing can be done before he lies dead on the floor. The autopsy shows no drugs in the system but was done by the military which Mulder is convinced means tampering, so Mulder looks like the guilty party. Krycek backs Mulder's story and so he's off the hook. Mulder borrows Krycek's car and finds cigarette butts in the ashtray...CSM's brand. He files a report with Skinner suggesting that Krycek is a spy for CSM and is responsible for the tram operator's death and Duane Barry's as well as indirectly responsible for Scully's disappearance. Skinner says he doesn't know Krycek's background since he didn't assign him and when he tries to locate Krycek, discovers that his phone is disconnected and he has simply disappeared.
One
Breath
In between Ascension and One Breath, there was one episode
which is unimportant in the mytharc except for two points.
Mulder is allowed to re-open the X-Files due to Skinner's
intervention and we see that Mulder is carrying Scully's
cross necklace with him. He tried to give it back to her
mother but she told him to keep it and that he could give it
back to Scully when he found her. One Breath takes place
about three months after Ascension in XF-time. The episode
opens with Mulder accompanying Mrs. Scully to purchase
Dana's headstone. Mulder tells her it's too soon to give up.
Scully then turns up mysteriously in a D.C. hospital. The
doctor's don't know who brought her in or where she was kept
during the intervening time, but she is in a coma in serious
condition. Mulder flips out and demands to know how she
arrived there but no info is available.
Frohike, one of the Lone Gunmen, visits Scully in the hospital and steals her chart. They determine that she has "branched DNA" in her system (a possible sign of experimentation or tagging) and her immune system is shot and she probably will not survive. Mulder puts a masking tape "X" in his window, his way of contacting X and asking for information. But no reply or information is forthcoming. Scully meanwhile is in a deep coma but we see her having some sort of near-death experience where she sees her father who speaks to her and she appears to be at a crossroads trying to decide to live or die. All the while a kindly nurse looks after her but nobody sees her except us...some sort of guardian angel? We meet Scully's sister Melissa for the first time. She's into new-age ideas and seems the opposite of Dana. She and Mrs. Scully are told that Dana doesn't want to prolong her life in this state and they finally decide to remove her from life support.
Mulder is at the hospital when a man steals a blood sample of Scully's and as he chases him down into the garage he encounters Mr.X who tells him to cease and desist in his investigation into who put Scully into that hospital bed. He says Mulder is putting his life in danger and he won't end up dead like his mentor (Deep Throat). Mulder continues to chase down the suspect and catches him only to end up at the wrong end of a gun barrel. Mr. X shows up and tells Mulder he'll take care of things. He kills the suspect despite Mulder's attempt to intercede and implies that Mulder would need to do likewise to know what he knows. Mulder mysteriously is provided with CSM's home address and goes to confront him at gunpoint. As he holds a gun to CSM's head, CSM tells him he's not threatened...he's watched presidents die. He tells him that if he kills him he'll never know the truth and ends by saying that he has more respect for Mulder now, that he's becoming a player. This is the final straw that drives Mulder to tender his resignation but Skinner won't accept it. Mulder realizes that Skinner was the one who gave him CSM's location.
Mr. X tells Mulder that he has designed a way for Mulder to seek his revenge since nothing will ever be done through official channels that will bring justice to the people responsible for Scully's disappearance. He has arranged for certain parties to enter Mulder's apartment in search of information they have been told is contained within, thinking that Mulder is out of town. He tells Mulder that he should be there waiting to respond with terminal intensity. While Mulder is waiting, Melissa comes by his apartment to tell him that Dana is fading fast and that if he wants to see her he should go to the hospital. He has to make a choice between vengeance and being with Scully and lending her support. He chooses Scully. When he returns to his apartment, it has been trashed and his opportunity has been lost. He breaks down in a very emotional moment of loss and hopelessness. Later that morning he receives a phonecall telling him that Scully has awoken. He visits her in the hospital giving her a gift of a video, "Superstars of the Superbowls". She says she knew there was a reason to live. On a serious note, she tells him she doesn't remember anything following Duane Barry arriving at her apartment then tells Mulder that she survived because she had the strength of his beliefs
