SEASON 1

SEASON 2

SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

SEASON 7

SEASON 8

SEASON 9

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At a back booth, the Boys sit amidst what looks like smoke from 10 cigarettes as Sal puffs and tells his story. Aw, Krycek is drinking coffee! Well, it's in a mug, I'll assume it's coffee. He doesn't look like the type of guy to sip a nice Earl Gray. And it looks like he takes sugar or cream in it, because there's a spoon on a saucer there on the table next to him. Sal says that the doctors said that the experiment would make him feel like he was living two lifetimes, and at first that was what it was like. They'd go on 24-hour patrols, night ambushes, and they'd never get tired. They didn't need sleep, but if they felt tired they would take the serotonin. When Sal says this Krycek dutifully records it in his Handy Dandy FBI Notebook. The squad went on like that for a while until they stopped taking orders from the company commander in Saigon, and Sal confirms Krycek's question that the entire squad went AWOL (Absent Without Leave). Sal says they didn't take orders, they just made up missions as they went along. Pretty soon, Sal says, they didn't care who they were killing. Outside of Phu Bai there was a school...and Krycek seems pissed off when he asks if no one ever tried to stop the squad. Krycek kind of scoffs and runs a hand through his hair, like he can't believe what he's hearing when Sal answers in the negative. Mulder tells Sal that they suspect Cole is the murderer, and Sal tells the Boys that he knows Cole as Preacher because he was always preaching from his bible, saying that the squad would have to pay for what they were doing. Mulder wonders why Grissom was targeted if he wasn't even a member of the squad, but Sal says it was Grissom who made them what they were, along with another doctor, a Dr. Girardi. It's because of those doctors that Sal hasn't slept a night in 24 years.

Stuck in traffic on the Long Island Expressway (more commonly known as the L.I.E, each letter pronounced), Krycek wonders why Cole would go after Girardi. Mulder postulates that Cole sees himself as a kind of avenging angel and must punish those responsible for the atrocities. Why, Krycek wonders, is all this happening now? Because the anniversary of the Phu Bai massacre -- where over 300 children were slaughtered and none brought to justice -- was two days ago. Then Scully calls to tell Mulder that she thinks she found Dr. Francis Girardi, a professor of neurosurgery at Harvard, and that he's coming in to New York via Bronx Station on the 7:30 p.m. train for Grissom's funeral. Mulder asks Scully to have a photograph of Girardi waiting for the Boys when they get there. Mulder looks at his watch, which says 6:15, and the Boys rush up to the station at 7:33 p.m. And when I say rush, I mean they tear ass after getting the photo at the security desk. Krycek does pretty well keeping up with Mulder, who we know runs and swims to keep in tip-top deliciously delectable shape. They rush out to the platform, and Mulder hands Krycek a photo of the guy they're looking for. Mulder tells Krycek to stay where he is, and that he'll cover the other side of the platform. The camera pushes through on a homeless guy searching for change in the pay phones, and we see Cole standing there. Mulder's scanning the crowd, watching faces as people pass. He catches Krycek's eye and nods a question at him, but Krycek shakes his head no, he hasn't seen him yet. Krycek takes a deep breath, like he's really nervous all of a sudden, as if he's trying not to screw up. Then Mulder catches sight of a guy who looks like the man in his photo, and closes in on him, only to see Cole walk up behind Girardi and fire two shots from his gun point blank into the doctor's back. Then Cole lifts his gun and fires two more shots at Mulder, who drops to the ground. Krycek comes running (and although he has his hand on his holster he doesn't draw his weapon), to find Mulder lying there, his eyes closed.

Krycek runs to Mulder and gently rolls him over, asking if he's all right. Mulder bolts upright, asking where Girardi went, but Krycek said the doctor was never there. Krycek has his hand on Mulder's arm, and they rise together, Krycek helping him up. Krycek tells Mulder that he was shouting and waving his weapon (and Alex is holding Mulder's left arm at the bicep, in case you're interested) but that Girardi never showed. Mulder says that he saw Cole and the doctor, and that they missed them, brushing Krycek's hand away. Krycek says that Mulder is mistaken, but he isn't convinced.

They go to the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) security station, where they start reviewing closed circuit tapes of the incident. Mulder tells the cops to focus on a specific timeframe, and then Krycek comes up and pulls Mulder aside for a talk. He wants to know what really happened to Mulder out there. He tells him that he's covering for Mulder, and just wants to know the truth because he knows Mulder isn't telling him something that he needs to know. Mulder says that his ideas aren't very popular, but Krycek says, "I *told* you. I want to believe, but I need a place to start." Can you imagine what this partnership would have been if Scully hadn't been abducted? Chemistry! So Mulder takes a moment to think about it, and then lets loose with his theory: Cole may possess the ability to manipulate sounds and images to generate illusions that are convincing enough to kill. Of course, to be sure he can't be overheard Mulder has to get reaaaally close to Krycek to tell him his theory. And getting the two characters in the same camera shot means they're standing pretty damn close to each other. Just sayin'. Krycek thinks Mulder's theory is an interesting new spin on virtual reality, but now it seems to explain things. A cop pulls Mulder away from the conversation, pointing out a car on the closed-circuit feed near Track 17 -- a restricted part of the yard -- that wasn't there five minutes before. Whoo hoo, Muldy's hot on the case!