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Cover.
Writers: Joe Harris with Chris Carter
Artist: Michael Walsh
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Series: The X-Files: Season 10 #1
Published: 19 June 2013

Summary[]

Teaser

At night, a panicked woman named Doctor Blake is running through a back alley with a bloody arm, pursued by a cloaked figure. She is trying to call for help but is struggling with automatic messaging systems. More cloaked figures appear. The woman is actually Dana Scully, former agent for the FBI, who claims she has been targeted and needs to send a warning. She is attacked by the cloaked figures and is unable to finish her sentence.

Spotsylvania County,
Virginia
Earlier That Day

Dana Scully, working under the name Dr. Blake, is taking a blood sample from a young girl named Emily Van De Kamp at an Associated Medical Professionals clinic in Virginia. Scully gives recommendations regarding the girl's health to the child's mother and Emily herself, before both leave together. Scully is then approached by Walter Skinner, who wishes to speak to her.

3:05 p.m.

A red-haired boy is playing baseball with his friends in the street. The ball is caught – with such skill it amazes the boys – by a man who is wearing a black leather jacket and who takes the ball away. The man is Fox Mulder, who warns the boys about breaking their neighbours’ windows. Mulder sees a car parked in front of his house and walks in to find Scully and now-Deputy Director Skinner in the living room. Mulder mentions to Skinner he is using the alias Anthony Blake, which Mulder took from The Magician, a television series he used to watch in his youth. Skinner wordily warns him that, in the previous week, the FBI network was hacked into by an outside entity. The targeted search possibly included the X-Files and sensitive information regarding personnel assigned to those files. Tossing the baseball to Skinner, Mulder doesn't think much of the threat and wonders what could be taken from them, since they lost everything already. Scully is worried this outside entity is after William, the son she had to anonymously give up for adoption for his own protection. Skinner offers the FBI's assistance in security precaution and leaves, taking the baseball with him and pondering Mulder's reference to The Magician. Mulder tries to reassure Scully, who has a feeling that gnaws at her about her son being in danger. She tearfully stands up, saying she has lab work to finish at the office.

9:27 p.m.

Mulder is working on a memoir titled 'I Want to Believe', but scores out several statements with a black felt-tip pen. He receives a strange phone call and recognizes Walter Skinner's voice. As Skinner drops the phone in his hotel room, Mulder plans to use the information from his phone's caller ID and promises to rush there as soon as he can. Skinner is surrounded by a group of cloaked figures while his nose begins to bleed.

10:06 p.m.

As Scully exits the clinic, she is called by name by Emily Van De Kamp. Scully is puzzled at the girl's knowledge of her real identity and asks how she obtained this information. The child points to a row of cloaked figures. Scully tries to protect the girl from the group but is shocked to realize they include Emily's mother. Emily quickly steals Scully's gun, with which she shoots Scully in the arm, asking, "Can't you help us all?" Scully instructs Emily to surrender the gun but the cloaked figures are closing in on Scully. She gets back on her feet and starts running from them.

Outside Fredericksburg,
Virginia
10:15 p.m.

Mulder enters Skinner's hotel room to find him hanging by the neck near a window. Mulder frees the Deputy Director in time, thinking Skinner has tried to commit suicide. Skinner responds he was compromised and that "they" were in his head, but he can't quite remember who.

Spotsylvania County,
Virginia
Now

Dana Scully is running through a back alley and trying to call FBI Headquarters to send a warning. On the ground, Emily Van De Kamp's shadow apparently extends as she shape-shifts into a powerful, cloaked figure from whom a blinding burst of light emits, frightening the impressive individual's kin. In the hotel room, Skinner speculates their mysterious opponents waited until they were all together. The mighty cloaked figure nears Scully, who has collapsed on the ground whereas the others of the hooded group have scampered away. Mulder asks Skinner to have manpower summoned from FBI Headquarters. Scully collapses on the pavement, weakly requesting help. Mulder concludes the outside entity doesn't want them at all. Meanwhile, the remaining cloaked figure towers over Scully as she lies unconscious in the alley.

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