9. MR. X

Mr. X worked for the Majestic Consortium, specifically as one of the Cigarrette Smoking Man's henchmen, perhaps even his right hand. All speculation on this point was removed at the end of the episode WETWIRED when we saw Mr. X and CSM meeting in secret. But before that meeting, there was plenty of other evidence to suggest Mr. X's associations. There's no other way he could know about Scully's abduction in ASCENSION and ONE BREATH, the attempt to intercept the Alien Assassin's UFO in END GAME, or be on the scene to save Mulder's life in ONE BREATH and 731. In ONE BREATH, when asked about Scully's abduction, Mr. X tells Mulder "I can't tell you why she was taken. It's too close to me." This indicates to me that Mr. X won't give Mulder the information because if anyone from Majestic found out what information had been leaked to Mulder, the list of possible sources for the leak would be topped by Mr. X. It also indicates that Mr. X may have had a hand in Scully's abduction. How else would he know the men who abducted Scully?

Other strong hints that Mr. X worked for Majestic include his presence in the parking garage in ONE BREATH. How else could he have been there and why did he try to discourage Mulder from chasing the thief who had stolen a sample of Scully's blood (the thief is listed in the script as Overcoat Man) unless Mr. X was the Overcoat Man's backup for the blood sample heist.

But why would Mr. X kill the Overcoat Man if he was working with him? I would suggest that Mr. X and the Overcoat Man were assigned by the Cigarette Smoking Man to get a sample of Scully's blood to determine why the experiments that were performed on her were not fatal. The Overcoat Man grabbed the blood while Mr. X ran interference. Mr. X tried to buy the Overcoat Man enough time to get away by doing his "This high capacity compact Sig-Sauer .40 caliber weapon is pointed at your head to stress my insistence that your search for who put your partner under that respirator desist immediately!" routine. When that failed to discourage Mulder, Mr. X had a choice. Mr. X could let Mulder capture the Overcoat Man and get the blood back (not a good idea), he could let the Overcoat Man kill Mulder (a valuable tool that Mr. X was not through using yet) or he could choose option C: Kill the overcoat man and return Scully's blood to CSM for analysis. That way he stays in the good graces of both Mulder and CSM. When Mr. X returns with the blood sample, he simply reports that Mulder killed the Overcoat Man. Certainly that's what CSM thought had happened when he later confronted Skinner. Altogether, option "C" is the best deal for Mr. X.

The events in NESEI and 731 also pointed to Mr. X as an agent of the Majestic Consortium. First, he knew about the train from which the Red Haired Man and the other agents of Majestic were trying to retrieve the human-alien hybrid. Second, Mr. X was right there to shoot the Red Haired Man and rescue Mulder when the railcar door is opened. In my opinion, Mr. X was sent by CSM to retrieve the Alien-human hybrid. Knowing Mulder was on the train, Mr. X knew he'd have to kill whoever was with Mulder to preserve his anonymity, maybe even kill Mulder if Mulder tried to stop him from removing the Hybrid. CSM didn't have the door-code, otherwise the Red Haired Man wouldn't have needed to get it from Dr. Zama/Ishimauru. So Mr. X just waited to see if anyone came out before the rail car blew up. When the door code was broken, Mr. X shot the Red Haired Man, checked Mulder, the bomb's timer and the lock on the Alien-human hybrid's cell. He knew he couldn't get the Alien-human hybrid out in 59 seconds, so he figured, as long as he was there, he might as well (once again) preserve Mulder, his "tool," for another day.

Mr. X had no compunction about using Mulder. In ONE BREATH he tells Mulder "You're my tool, d'you understand? I come to you when I need you." Later Mr. X uses Mulder to apprehend Dr. Chester Banton, the quantum physicist with the "dark matter" shadow, and confines Dr. Barton to a lab where he will live out the rest of his life as a human lab-rat.

Mr. X was probably not above disposing of Mulder if he thougth it was in his best interests to do so. I have advanced the theory that (in the episode ANASAZI) when Scully is shot at through the window in Mulder's apartment, the shooter thought she was Mulder. I also think the shooter may have been Mr. X. Why? Mulder was messing around the MJ Documents and then tried to get in touch Mr. X, thus putting Mr. X in grave danger. Mr. X may have tried to kill Mulder so Mulder couldn't lead the goons from GARNET back to him. It just doesn't seem likely that CSM and company would try for such a clumsy assassination attempt on Mulder when they were already dumping behavior altering drugs in his water to destroy his credibility and career and setting him up for the murder of his father.

The information Mr. X provided wasn't exactly been the crown jewels of secret intelligence. Frankly I think it was mostly chicken feed.

In THE HOST, Mr. X may be the one who sends the newspaper to Scully (although it could also have been Skinner), but beyond that, his role in that episode was just to act as a cheerleader from the sidelines, reminding Mulder "You have a friend in the FBI." Regarless, there's no information that affects the Majestic Consortium.

In SLEEPLESS, Mr. X sends a 911 tape to Mulder and later gives him a file on the Vietnam-era experiments in removing the part of the human brain which regulates sleep. A nasty government experiment, but one which didn't really affect the Majestic Consortium.

In ASCENSION, Mr. X warns Mulder that Senator Matheson cannot help Mulder find out who abducted Scully because the Senator is compromised in some way. Here Mr. X actually steers Mulder away from answers about the Majestic Consortium.

In ONE BREATH, Mr. X discourages Mulder from continuing his investigation to find out who abducted Scully, saves Mulder's life, then returns to "give" the men responsible to Mulder so that Mulder can murder them. This does nothing to advance Mulder's cause, and in fact, if Mulder had killed Scully's abductors, there would have been no way for him to get any answers out of them.

In FRESH BONES, Mr. X appears to tell Mulder next to nothing about the intentions of Col. Warton towards the Haitian refugees, except to imply that the Military thinks Col. Warton is getting revenge for the men he lost in Haiti to Voodoo Magic. This later turns out to be false, but perhaps even Mr. X was unaware that Col. Warton was a Voodoo shaman.

In END GAME, Mr. X finally coughs up some decent information: the location of the disabled nuclear sub that the alien assassin (known as "the Pilot" or "the Bounty Hunter") is heading towards. He also passes the same information on the Assistant Director Skinner after Skinner "reasons" with him.

In SOFT LIGHT, Mr X flim-flams Mulder and uses the information he gets from Mulder to kidnap Dr. Chester Banton for use in experiments in how to harness the dark matter that permeates Dr. Banton's atomic structure.

In NESEI, Mr. X warns Scully to keep Mulder off the train transporting the Alien-human hybrid. Once again trying to keep Mulder away from the affairs of the Majestic Consortium.

In 731, Mr. X tells Scully that the chip from her neck is the key to unraveling the mystery of her abduction. Mr. X later pulls Mulder out of the rail car before it explodes.

In WETWIRED, Mr. X indirectly assists Mulder in uncovering a mind control project which appears to be very similar to the mind contol program in BLOOD. Mr. X was also assigned by CSM to "sanitize" the project and it's personnel in order to remove all evidence. Mr. X sends Mulder a "cutout" or go-between known as The Plain Clothes Man (PCM) who provides Mulder with his first leads. Later Mr. X, after successfully eliminating all the witnesses and evidence, reports to CSM that "informant" who contacted Mulder had been eliminated. Once again Mr. X's extreme ruthlessness is demontrated. He sent the PCM to Mulder and then murdered the PCM to cover his own ass.

In TALITHA CUMI, Mr. X starts the ball rolling by showing Mulder the pictures of CSM and Mrs. Mulder. He sets Mulder to looking for an item his father, Bill Mulder, may have been holding onto. That item turns out to be one of the alien "ice-pick" weapons last seen in COLONY and ENDGAME. Once again, Mr. X is not there to give Mulder any answers, he just wants the weapon. Why he wants it, and for whom, it never explained but he very nearly kills Mulder to get it.

In HERRENVOLK, Mr. X meets his untimely demise. He comes to Scully with information (false information planted by the First Elder to smoke out the traitor) that Mrs. Mulder is in danger from the Majestic Consortium. Then he is lured back to Mulder's appartment with a false "X" in the window and gunned down by The Gray Haired Man. But, even in death Mr. X has one last peice of information to impart: "SRSG" scrawled in his own blood. This last scrap of information may be the most valuable information Mr. X ever imparted since it leads Mulder to a new informant. Marita Covarrubias, the Assistant to the Special Representatice to the Secretary General of the United Nations.

Taken together, Mr. X delivered less useful information to Mulder than Deep Throat. He never intervened to save Mulder and Scully from official sanctions, but has twice saved Mulder's life. This could indicate that Mr. X is lower in the Majestic chain of command than Deep Throat, but it could also mean that Mr. has an agenda different than Deep Throat's. Despite what Mr. X said about having "loyalty to my predacessor" (i.e. Deep Throat), I don't think Mr. X had loyalty to anyone but himself and his purpose, whatever that is. Part of that purpose seems to be using Mulder to undermine the Majestic Consortium and other secret government projects. But apparently Mr. X was not interested in undermining them enough to allow the truth to come out. Mr. X also seems to want to get his hands on information and resources that will increase his power and influence in Majestic (the kidnapping of Dr. Chester Banton, aquiring the alien "ice-pick" weapon that Bill Mulder had secreted away).

So perhaps, what Mr. X really wanted was The Cigarette Smoking Man's job. Perhaps what we saw was not a civil war between two different groups in the government, but instead a "palace coup" within Majestic Consortium. It's a pet theory of mine that Mr. X was using Mulder to unseat CSM and purge him from Majestic.

But that doesn't explain Mr. X sending Mulder to Marita Covarrubias. If he interest was solely personal advancement, why was it so important to Mr. X to connect Mulder with someone who would assist him in his quest? Was Mr. X part of a counter-conspiracy? A double agent working within the Majestic Consortium to bring them down? It seems possible, but then again, anything is possible.

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