(Surgery lines are drawn on patient’s stomach.)

NURSE WAITE: Miss Holland, I’m Nurse Waite. I’ll be assisting in your procedure.

HOLLAND: Is it going to hurt?

NURSE WAITE: You won’t feel a thing. There isn’t even any blood. Dr. Lloyd’s done over a thousand lipo procedures. You’re in good hands.

ORDERLY: OK, here we go.

(NURSE WAITE and ORDERLY wheel her down the hall.)

NURSE WAITE: I’m going to give a tranquilizer now, and then right before the operation the doctor will give you injections of saline and anesthetic. And all you have to worry about is buying a new wardrobe.

DUTY NURSE: Here are your messages doctor.

BACKGROUND DOCTOR: Oh, fine thanks.

(NURSE WAITE enters scrub room.)

NURSE WAITE: Your liposuction patient is prepped and waiting in room five.

DR. LLOYD: (frantically scrubbing his hands) Fine, what else am I scheduled for?

NURSE WAITE: You’ve got a scalp reduction, and a blepharoplasty following.

DR. LLOYD: Are they prepped?

NURSE WAITE: Um, no. Would you like me...

DR. LLOYD: Get them ready please. I’d like to move right along this morning.

NURSE WAITE: Yes, doctor. (She leaves.)

(He is scrubbing his hands so hard that they bleed.)

(DR. LLOYD puts on latex gloves, bloody fingers still visible. Makes incision in patient. Inserts liposuction tool. We see fat sucked out.)

CUT TO:

NURSE WAITE: (entering HOLLAND’S pre-op room. ) How are you doing?

HOLLAND: Is the doctor going to be much longer? I think my tranquilizer’s starting to wear off.

NURSE WAITE: I’m sorry, um, I -- I don’t know where...

CUT TO:

(operating room, DR. LLOYD is violently stabbing liposuction tool into unconscious patient, who at this point we see has lines drawn on his balding head. Fat being sucked through tube turns bright red.)

CUT TO:

(NURSE WAITE exiting pre-op room. Views monitor of operating room 5 which shows the actions of DR. LLOYD. She enters the OR)

NURSE WAITE: Doctor Lloyd!!

DOCTOR LLOYD: (pulling down his mask) I think this patient is finished.

(MULDER and SCULLY interviewing DR. LLOYD. LAWYER present.)

DOCTOR LLOYD: What else do you call it? When you’re in your body and out if it at the same time? Without the ability to control your actions – to stop yourself from doing what I did to that poor young man? What else do you call it?

MULDER: Spirit possession or demon possession. While these kinds of extraordinary mental states have been well documented throughout history, they’ve been much maligned, rightly or wrongly, and haven’t held up in court well as a criminal defense.

LAWYER: I would like to reiterate that I have advised my client against speaking to you, and I would appreciate it if you would direct any legal discussion to counsel.

SCULLY: Doctor Lloyd, are you currently taking any kind of medication?

DOCTOR LLOYD: The occasional sleeping pill, and uh, uh, prescription antacid for my stomach.

SCULLY: Would you mind allowing me to check the dosage, and which ones?

DOCTOR LLOYD: No, I really... I would like to know why, because I...

LAWYER: I think you’ve gotten a clear picture of my client’s story and his willingness to go along with your investigation.

MULDER: Yes, I believe we have.

SCULLY: Doctor Lloyd, you say that you’ve taken sleeping pills. How much sleep did you get the night before?

DOCTOR LLOYD: (looks at LAWYER who shakes his head): I, uh...I can’t recall.

(MULDER and SCULLY exit elevator)

SCULLY: The sleeping pill he was taking was something called Somanil.

MULDER: I’ve heard of it.

SCULLY: It’s popular because it works directly on the central nervous system and it isn’t stored in body tissue past its intended use. But it’s also very controversial for its addictivness and its effect on long term behavior.

MULDER: What – What was the date of ah, Dr. Lloyd’s prescription?

SCULLY: (reading folder) Well, he started taking the drug five years ago, and he went through – ooh, he took a lot of it. 19 one hundred tablet refills.

MULDER: (looking at attractive nurse in the hall) Wow.

SCULLY: (still looking at folder) Yeah.

(MULDER breaks crime scene tape over operating room 3, and they enter. MULDER turns on light)

SCULLY: You know, that’s more than a pill a day.

MULDER: An addiction in other words.

SCULLY: An addiction which very well could have altered his ability to do his job.

MULDER: How many of these procedures would you say Dr. Lloyd’s performed?

SCULLY: Judging from his schedule the day of the accident, hundreds, and probably thousands.

MULDER: And not one fatality.

SCULLY: You’re missing my point here, Mulder. This – this place is a veritable factory. Cosmetic surgery is the boom industry of the medical world. And ASU wards like this are a gold mine.

MULDER: Everybody’s doing it, so I hear.

SCULLY: And a brand new, state of the art facility like this can support an entire hospital.

MULDER: (bending down to look at marks on bloody floor) What do you suppose these are?

SCULLY: What?

MULDER: These five marks on your brand new state of the art floor?

SCULLY: Well, they look like they were made by, uh, the coasters from an OR table or some kind of equipment.

MULDER: They look to me like they were burned or scorched.

(MULDER uses tongue-depressor to connect dots with blood in shape of a pentagram.)

MULDER: In the shape of a pentagram.

SCULLY: (giving him *the look*) Mulder, if you want to connect the dots here, you should look at the facts. (MULDER rolls his eyes) Latrogenic deaths or – or deaths due to doctor error are upwards of 80,000 a year. Dr. Lloyd was pushing his limits. He was an accident waiting to happen.

MULDER: I’m not a doctor , Scully, but you’ve got to be pushing pretty hard to mistake a beer belly for a bald head – not to mention door number three.

(He indicates operating room number as he exits. SCULLY follows and they watch monitor in another OR.)

MULDER: It’s amazing that no one saw him in time to stop him.

SCULLY: Maybe they were all possessed.

MULDER: I don’t think it’s just a simple possession, Scully. I think it’s more like sorcery or black magic or something like that.

(NURSE WAITE comes out of OR 5.)

MULDER: (to NURSE WAITE) Excuse me, what kind of procedure is that up there?
(indicates OR 5)

NURSE WAITE: It’s a rhinoplasty. I’m sorry, who are you?

SCULLY: Uh, we’re with the FBI. I’m Agent Scully, and this is Agent Mulder. We’re investigating a patient’s death here.

NURSE WAITE: Oh, uh ...yes. (hangs her head)

SCULLY: (looking at NURSE WAITE’S name tag) You’re Rebecca Waite. You were the attending nurse at the time. Am I correct?

NURSE WAITE: Yes.

SCULLY: Could you explain to me what happened to Dr. Lloyd. How - how a mistake like this could happen?

NURSE WAITE: No - no I-I can’t really, um, I wasn’t in the OR at the time and ... it’s, uh, difficult for me in my position.

SCULLY: Did you observe Dr. Lloyd at all before the accident?

NURSE WAITE: I helped prep the patient. I was supposed to assist. I did my job as a nurse.

MULDER: Are you aware that Dr. Lloyd is claiming he was possessed during the incident?

NURSE WAITE: (pause, smiles) I guess it’s cheaper than malpractice insurance.

MULDER: Uh huh. (smiles)

(DR. SHANNON comes out of OR 5)

DR.SHANNON: (to NURSE WAITE) Give him 500 c.c.s of ringers wide open before he goes to recovery. I need you to keep up with me here.

NURSE WAITE: (leaving) Right away, Dr. Shannon.

SCULLY: (holding badge) Uh, Dr. Shannon, can we have a word with you, please?

DR. SHANNON: I’m sorry. I’ve got a patient who can’t wait. (She closes door of another room.)

SCULLY: Yeah, there’s magic going on here, Mulder, only it’s being done with silicone, collagen, and a well placed scalpel.

(SCULLY looks at monitor with disgust, MULDER looks with interest.)

(Wood table has pentagram.)

DR. KAPLAN: What we have to do here is keep calm and do nothing out of the ordinary. The appearance here of any dissembling or impropriety will only deepen the FBI’s probe on top of Dr. Lloyd’s insurance investigation.

DR. ILAQUA: Dr. Lloyd has made us a target.

DR. SHANNON: The last thing we need is to be caught up in an expose.

DR. KAPLAN: Then they start looking at our books again. I mean it’s bad enough we have to explain why buttock lipostructures cost 4,000 a pop.

DR. ILAQUA: We look greedy, therefore we look guilty.

DR. FRANKLYN: We haven’t done anything wrong, Dr. Ilaqua.

DR. KAPLAN: If we give any credence or credibility to Dr. Lloyd’s story, they’re going to burn us at the stake.

DR. SHANNON: What about the other personnel. They were talking to the nurse .. Waite?

DR. FRANKLYN: She can’t tell them anything. ... because she doesn’t know anything.

FEMALE PATIENT: I can’t feel my feet. I’m having a skin peel, but I can’t feel my feet.

NURSE WAITE: It’s okay, it’s okay. Your feet are still there. They aren’t going anywhere.

FEMALE PATIENT: I ... it’s just .. I’m afraid to be put to sleep. What if I don’t wake up?

NURSE WAITE: Not to worry, not to worry. I want you to relax and think about your beautiful new face.

(NURSE WAITE is pulling leeches off the FEMALE PATIENT’S belly. They have left five marks that form a pentagram.)

NURSE WAITE: You’re in good hands. We’re going to protect you.

(He is looking in mirror, scrunching his nose. Knock at the door. MULDER lets SCULLY in.)

SCULLY: You wanted to show me something?

MULDER: Yeah. A videotape. (Puts tape in VCR.) This videotape of the operation shows that the five marks delineating the pentagram were in evidence prior to the patient’s death.

SCULLY: Stop it a second. (Tape show Lloyd stabbing with liposuction tool.) My god, Mulder. He basically stabbed the man to death in his sleep.

MULDER: Which only underscores the strangeness. A sane man acting under his own volition could never perform such an act. Look. (points out marks) There.

SCULLY: Well, presuming that has anything to do with this, who would have put them there?

MULDER: I don’t know. A pentagram is supposed to be a symbol of protection and positive power used to control the elemental forces.

SCULLY: Well, then it doesn’t even make sense.

MULDER: Yeah, but it does make sense that - that witchcraft or black magic would find a theatre in a place like this, preying on the weak and vainglorious.

SCULLY: But there’s no other evidence of anything like witchcraft taking place here.

MULDER: Maybe there is. What was that, uh, prescription that Dr. Lloyd was taking?

SCULLY: The sleeping pills?

MULDER: No, the stomach antacid. Read me what it’s made from.

SCULLY: "An anti-spasmodic whose active ingredients include belladonna alkaloids –"

MULDER: Belladonna. It’s also known as Witch’s Berry – that’s an herb used in hexing rituals.

SCULLY: Mulder, do you know how many pharmaceuticals listed in the PDR contain belladonna?

MULDER: Yeah, just one – the one Dr. Lloyd was taking.

SCULLY: Well, if it’s that simple, why don’t you put out an APB for someone riding a broom and wearing a tall black hat?

MULDER: (smiles sarcastically, wounded) You jest, Scully, but there’s a good chance that this hex or ritual or whatever it is, may not be finished.

(DR. SHANNON enters scrub room. DR. ILAQUA is scrubbing.)

DR. SHANNON: Well, the FBI seemed to have backed off at least for the time being.

DR. ILAQUA: Yes.

DR. SHANNON: Are you finished for the day?

DR. ILAQUA: Yes.

DR. SHANNON: I’ve got a laser peel. Then I’m out of here. We’re going to get through this, Eric. All we have to do is keep our heads on straight.

NURSE WAITE: (entering) The patient is prepped, Dr. Shannon. Is there anything you need me to do?

DR. SHANNON: Yes, I’m going to need a clean pair of scrubs from the laundry. I forgot to pick some up.

NURSE WAITE: I’ll get them now. Is there anything you need, Dr. Ilaqua?

DR. ILAQUA: No, thank you. (exits the room as if in a trance)

(Later, DR. SHANNON in scrubs and NURSE WAITE try to enter locked OR room #2.)

DR.SHANNON: Am I prepped in another room?

NURSE WAITE: No, your patient’s in OR 2. (looks at monitor) Who’s that?

DR. SHANNON: That’s Dr. Ilaqua. What the hell is he doing with my patient?

(Inside OR 2, DR. ILAQUA with a maniacal gleam in his eyes is operating a laser.)

DR. SHANNON: (through door) Dr. Ilaqua! Open this door! (DR. ILAQUA is drilling through unconscious FEMALE PATIENT’S neck.) Eric! Open this door immediately! Dr. Ilaqua, do you hear me? You’ve got to stop this now!

(NURSE WAITE watches monitor, then takes off running down hall.)

DR. SHANNON: (still through door) This is wrong! What are you doing? Stop this right now! Eric open this door immediately! (DR. ILAQUA continues to drill.) This is Dr. Shannon! I said stop this now! STOP!!!!!

(SCULLY is examining DR. ILAQUA with a pen light.)

SCULLY: You don’t remember anything, Dr. Ilaqua? How you got in the room, or what compelled you to do such a thing?

DR. ILAQUA: No, I was on my way home.

SCULLY: Do you realize what you’ve done now?

DR. ILAQUA: Yes.

SCULLY: (seeing prescription bottle in DR. ILAQUA’S pocket.) May I? (removes bottle, and reads it) I’ll be right back. (Exits, leaving him with a guard.)

(MULDER is in an office playing with rhinoplasty (nose) software. He looks at nose he has created, places a pencil on his own nose, makes a face, shakes his head and tries again. SCULLY enters.)

MULDER: Did you examine the victim?

SCULLY: No, just Dr. Ilaqua, why?

MULDER: I found something else on the videotape. (SCULLY glances at the computer screen, then follows MULDER to VCR. He pauses the tape.) Right there.

(Video is of NURSE WAITE removing leeches from female patient.)

SCULLY: What are they? Bruises?

MULDER: I don’t know, but the orientation of the points describes a pentagram again. See.

SCULLY: Well, I found something, too. (Hands MULDER prescription bottle.)

MULDER: That’s the same prescription Dr. Lloyd was taking.

SCULLY: You think it’s just a coincidence?

(They share a disbelieving look.)

DR. SHANNON: Any change in scheduling or workload is going to give the appearance of covering guilt. We can’t compromise our position on this.

(MULDER and SCULLY enter.)

SCULLY: Sorry to barge in, but this is a matter of some urgency.

DR. FRANKLYN: Uh, no, please. Dr. Jack Franklyn. May we ask that you sit down?

MULDER: It appears we’ve interrupted a *gathering.*

DR. FRANKLYN: Gathering? Sir .. can you imagine this group’s concern about what’s happened, and our urgency to resolve this? And to finally bring the person responsible to justice.

SCULLY: Finally.

DR. FRANKLYN: (rises) I don’t know how much of this you know, but uh, ten years ago there were several deaths at this hospital here in the ASU and like uh, the recent deaths they were all ruled accidental.

MULDER: Were any of you here at the time?

DR. FRANKLYN: A few of us, yes, but .. more importantly ... there’s a nurse, Rebecca Waite. She was on the ward during those incidents. Six weeks ago, she transferred back here to the ASU.

SCULLY: Do you have any other reasons to suspect her?

DR. FRANKLYN: Well, she’s the only person on the ward who had some contact with each of the victims and the doctors involved.

MULDER: Have you spoken with her?

DR. FRANKLYN: No, she left the uh, hospital early, and no one’s been able to find her.

(MULDER and SCULLY look at each other.)

Night. We hear her speaking foreign language. She sits naked before a candle at an altar burning pieces of hair in some sort of ritual.)

(MULDER and SCULLY arrive and walk up to house. They hear a cat meow. SCULLY knocks. No answer. MULDER points to a broom outside the door.)

MULDER: Probable cause.

SCULLY: On the suspicion of being a witch?

(MULDER smiles and opens screen door. He points to a pentagram drawn near top of door. SCULLY looks resigned to the fact that MULDER *will* get into this house. They draw their guns and flashlights, nod at each other, and MULDER kicks in the door. They enter. SCULLY finds altar with candles burning.)

SCULLY: What could she have been doing in here?

MULDER: Probably not tax returns.

(Night. Car, a Jaguar, pulls up. DR. FRANKLYN gets out and enters house *which looks a lot like Kristin’s house in 3*. He tries to turn on the lights, but they don’t work. Cautiously he goes upstairs into a bathroom. Bathtub is full of dark liquid. Written on the mirror is *VANITAS VANITATORUM*. Suddenly, NURSE WAITE jumps out of tub and attacks DR. FRANKLYN, they fight, then she disappears. DR. FRANKLYN stands, goes downstairs and dials 911.)

911 RECORDING: You have reached the 911 emergency line. Please stay on the line ...

(NURSE WAITE attacks him from behind, he knocks her out.)

(Later, MULDER and SCULLY arrive. MULDER shows his badge and they pass the ambulance to where NURSE WAITE is being restrained outside DR. FRANKLYN’S house.)

NURSE WAITE: You don’t know what you’re doing! Let me go, now! (to MULDER) They don’t understand. You have to tell them!

MULDER: I want to speak to her.;

NURSE WAITE: Tell them!

MULDER: I need to speak to her ...

SCULLY: Mulder, don’t ...

NURSE WAITE: I tried to stop him, but it’s too powerful. (wheezes) Someone has to stop .... (Painful wheezing and gagging)

SCULLY: Get the paramedics over here! Get the paramedic over here now!

(NURSE WAITE vomits up straight pins and blood, then collapses.)

EMT: Watch it. (with stretcher) Come on. (lifts NURSE WAITE onto stretcher.)

SCULLY: She’s swallowed straight pins and is bleeding internally. You’ve got to get her into surgery immediately.

EMT: There we go.

SCULLY: (to MULDER) I’m going with her to the ER.

(SCULLY leaves with ambulance. MULDER looks at regurgitated pins and shakes his head.)

(DR. SHANNON is sewing a cut on his head.)

DR. FRANKLYN: I would have done it myself, but I’m still a little shaky.

DR. SHANNON: Jack, you’re a lot cooler than I’d be if it’d been me.

DR. FRANKLYN: Ah, well, the important thing is it’s over now.

MULDER: (knocks) Dr, Franklyn?

DR.FRANKLYN: Ah, Agent Mulder.

MULDER: I came by to see if you were okay.

DR. FRANKLYN: Yes. I - I’m fine. Thank you.

DR. SHANNON: That woman broke in here. She was in here waiting for him.

MULDER: Looks like she took a pretty good shot at you.

DR. FRANKLYN: Yes, apparently.

MULDER: (big friendly smile) Nothing that a little plastic surgery won’t fix up though, huh? (DR. FRANKLYN looks at MULDER) Do you have any uh, idea why she might have attacked you?

DR. FRANKLYN: Well, I’m the one who voiced suspicion about her.

MULDER: She wouldn’t have known that.

DR. SHANNON: Could have been any one of us – she’s obviously quite mad.

MULDER: Ah, we have reason to believe that she’s a practitioner of ritual magic.

DR. FRANKLYN: Ritual magic?

MULDER: A practicing witch.

DR. SHANNON: You’re saying she’s who’s responsible for Dr. Lloyd and Dr. Ilaqua? That witchcraft caused them to kill those patients?

MULDER: I think a lot remains to be proven.

DR. FRANKLYN: Hem, I’m sorry. Ah, This evening has been a bit much, and I really need to get some rest.

DR. SHANNON: (to MULDER, very direct) I think all of us would like to get some rest... (puts on coat) get back to work and put this behind us.

(DR. FRANKLYN lies down on bed. MULDER follows DR. SHANNON out, closing the door behind him. DR. FRANKLYN slowly rises to hover two feet off the bed. His eyes are open and he smiles, then closes his eyes.)

Book on table - The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. MULDER is looking at his face critically in the mirror. Knock at the door.)

SCULLY: (voice) Mulder, it’s me.

MULDER: (turning from mirror) Come in, it’s open.

(SCULLY enters.)

MULDER: God, you look tired.

SCULLY: I do? (She crosses to look at herself in the mirror and sighs) I was just at the hospital. Our suspect, Rebecca Waite was just pronounced 20 minutes ago.

MULDER: Cause of death?

SCULLY: Massive blood loss due to esophageal hemorrhaging caused by the expulsion of hundreds of straight pins.

MULDER: You ever seen anything like that?

SCULLY: Well ... in med school I saw some weird stuff. (MULDER crosses over to witchcraft book.) Uh, there’s a - a psychiatric disorder called pica which is characterized by the craving for non-food objects like clay, rocks, glue, but if she swallowed ...

MULDER: She would have died long before she yacked them up on the driveway. Unless, of course she didn’t ingest them at all, which would fit with the phenomenon called allotriophagy.

SCULLY: (sitting beside MULDER on bed) Allotriophagy?

MULDER: (showing her book) Yeah, the spontaneous vomiting or disgorgement of foul or strange objects usually associated with someone possessed.

SCULLY: Mulder, I - I won’t refute that this woman may have been practicing the occult, but ... what comes out must first go in.

MULDER: Well, according to this book people throughout history have coughed up all kinds of things from cue balls to butcher’s knives without any explanation of how they got there.

SCULLY: (indicating book) Where’d you get this from?

MULDER: Rebecca Waite’s house. It’s the same place I got this. (crosses to desk and picks up a calendar) This calendar was open to April. The 30th was marked by a symbol that you’re familiar with by now? (marked with a pentagram and word "Roodmas")

SCULLY: What’s the significance of the 30th?

MULDER: It’s one of the four Greater Witches' Sabbaths, there seasonal high holy days – according to that book over there, it’s also known as "Roodmas." It’s also the birth date of the first victim. (thumbs through calendar) Now July 31st, is also marked with a pentagram. This coincides with "Lammas", another one of the Witches' Sabbaths. It’s also the birth date of the second victim.

SCULLY: So you think she was choosing her victims based on their birthdays.

MULDER: No, no, remember, I said the pentagram is a - is a protective symbol. I think Rebecca Waite was trying to save those patients. I think she knew that they were in danger.

SCULLY: Which made her attack Dr. Franklyn.

MULDER: I think she knew something about him and I think we should find out what that is before he goes back to work.

(SCULLY considers.)

(DR. SHANNON enters scrub room where DR. FRANKLYN and DOCTOR 2 are scrubbing up.)

DR. SHANNON: I just got a very disturbing call.

DR. KAPLAN: From whom?

DR. SHANNON: The FBI. They were asking about patients’ birth dates. (DR. FRANKLYN looks uncomfortable.) They’re on their way over here right now.

DR. KAPLAN: I thought this was over.

DR. SHANNON: Apparently not. (leaves)

DR. KAPLAN: You had a good thing going, you can bet somebody will try and take it away. I’m beginning to understand why a man becomes a conservative - he’s got something to conserve. (notices DR. FRANKLYN in pain as he puts on robe.) Are you all right, Jack?

DR. FRANKLYN: Yeah, I just didn’t get much sleep last night.

DR. KAPLAN: No, of course you didn’t.

DR. FRANKLYN: I’ll be fine.

DR. KAPLAN: (into wall intercom) Gail, push my ostoplasty back half an hour.

GAIL: (voice) Yes, doctor.

DR. KAPLAN: (to DR. FRANKLYN) I’m taking your chem peel. You’re going home.

DR. FRANKLYN: I said I’ll be fine.

DR. KAPLAN: Take a look at yourself. (DR. FRANKLYN looks in mirror.) You look like hell, Jack.

DR. FRANKLYN: Look, I appreciate the offer ...

DR. KAPLAN: Don’t get me wrong. I am not being magnanimous, here. We just can’t afford to make any more mistakes right now. (leaves, DR. FRANKLYN removes his hat)

(SCULLY on phone.)

SCULLY: (on phone) Yes. Thank you. (hangs up) Dr. Franklyn’s already left, but his office confirms that one of his patients has a birth date which corresponds with one of the Sabbaths.

MULDER: When is that patient scheduled?

SCULLY: This morning – she’s already in pre-op, and one of the other doctors is filling in.

(MULDER and SCULLY look at each other.)

PATIENT: (under influence of sedative) Is Doctor Franklyn okay?

DR. KAPLAN: He’s just not feeling very well.

PATIENT: Oh. I-I suppose this is one of those procedures that all doctors here could deal with, is-isn’t it?

DR. KAPLAN: Yes.

PATIENT: Yes. Dr. Franklyn said that a c-chemical skin peel is safe ... almost ... risk ... free.

(DR. KAPLAN picks up chemical bottle.)

(MULDER and SCULLY enter hallway. They speak to a nurse.)

MULDER: We’re looking for Dr. Shannon.

(At end of hall, Dr. Shannon begins screaming. MULDER and SCULLY run to her. They see in OR that PATIENT’S face has been dissolved by the chemical. DR. KAPLAN looks on in horror at what he has done.)

DR. SHANNON: Oh! (begins crying)

DR. SHANNON: Our practice has been affiliated with Greenwood for thirteen years. Now the ASU accounts for over 50% of this hospital’s revenue. Do you understand what that means?

SCULLY: It means that while doctors in other fields have seen their earnings fall because of managed health care, you’ve all managed to become wealthy.

DR. SHANNON: We fill a need. We didn’t create it. Everyone wants to be beautiful. (SCULLY looks at MULDER) But our success made us arrogant. I’m willing to accept responsibility for certain of our ... mistakes.

MULDER: "Mistakes?" Like those patient deaths ten years ago?

DR. SHANNON: That any of us could be capable of such gross negligence was inconceivable.

SCULLY: So you covered it up.

DR. SHANNON: If we did it was with the hospital’s blessing. They conducted an internal investigation. We have become too valuable an asset, something to protect. Even at the cost of five people’s lives.

MULDER: There were five deaths?

DR. SHANNON: Yes. Four patients. The fifth was a colleague of ours who ... for all intents and purposes, worked himself to death. He died of a drug overdose.

MULDER: What was his name?

DR. SHANNON: Dr. Cox. Clifford Cox.

MULDER: Do you have a file on him?

DR. SHANNON: Probably in the computer.

MULDER: All right, I’m going to need that and the files on those patient deaths ten years ago.

SCULLY: Why, Mulder? What are you thinking?

(MULDER looking at COX’S file.)

APPLICATION FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE MEDICAL STAFF

Dr. Clifford Cox
July 7, 1939
1671-7377-2
Mountview Medical Arts Bldg.
2050 Nelson St., Chicago, Ill
312/555-0107
312/555-0169 312/555-9102
1728 Alhermi St. Apt. 415
Chicago, Ill
Single M American

MULDER: Dr. Clifford Cox, birth date July 7th 1939, now can you take that photo and run it through the cosmetic surgery program I saw on this computer?

DR. SHANNON: It’ll take me a few seconds to load up the software.

SCULLY: Mulder, I’m still not sure where you’re going with this.

MULDER: Ten years ago, four patients died. Like the recent victims, their birth dates all match the Witches' Sabbaths. Except Dr. Cox.

SCULLY: But Cox was a doctor. Nothing about his death matches up except its coincidence.

MULDER: Maybe, maybe not.

DR. SHANNON: I’m on line here.

(Picture of Cox appears.)

MULDER: Okay, now this software was created to give patients an idea of their projected result, right?

DR. SHANNON: Within the limits of what the patient comes in with, we try to approach that aesthetic ideal. The computer runs a program based upon a matrix of relative proportions.

MULDER: Vanity. (Looks at SCULLY.) Vanity, ... all is vanity.

DR. SHANNON: Here it is.

MULDER: Now, can you move the eyes further apart and strengthen the forehead?

DR. SHANNON: That is beyond our surgical capabilities.

MULDER: I know. (DR. SHANNON and SCULLY look confused. DR. SHANNON types, looks more confused.)

DR. SHANNON: I don’t understand. It looks like Jack Franklyn.

(Heavy breathing. We see DR. FRANKLYN sweating, carving a word on a hard surface - SH ----)

SCULLY: Where else do you think he would be?

DR. SHANNON: I don’t know. I’ll check the OR. Maybe he’s there.

(DR. SHANNON leaves. MULDER approaches.)

SCULLY: He’s not answering his pages.

MULDER: Did you try his home?

SCULLY: Answering machine. What are you thinking, Mulder? That Dr. Cox murdered these patients ten years ago then became Dr. Franklyn?

MULDER: No, Scully. I think he murdered those patients so he could become Dr. Franklyn. (Hands her pictures of COX and FRANKLYN.)

SCULLY: This kind of transformation is medically impossible.

MULDER: It’s not medicine, Scully. It’s blood sacrifice.

SCULLY: (The Look) Blood sacrifice?

MULDER: The most potent offering in black magic. What if this man, having reached the limits of medical miracles, decided to stage a miracle all his own?

SCULLY: So this man committed these murders in order to make himself beautiful?

MULDER: Everybody wants to be beautiful, Scully.

(DR. FRANKLYN alone in an OR selects scalpels and other sharp instruments and lays them out on cart. DR. SHANNON enters.)

DR. SHANNON: Jack. What are you doing?

DR. FRANKLYN: I’m so glad that you’re here. (folds his arms)

DR. SHANNON: Jack, stay right where you are.

(DR. FRANKLYN nods his head. Instruments that he had laid out on cart disappear, DR. SHANNON gasps in pain and falls against the wall, then to floor. DR. FRANKLYN leans over her.)

DR. FRANKLYN: I hope those instruments were properly sterilized. (Kisses her on forehead, then leaves.)

(MULDER and SCULLY enter DR. FRANKLYN’S house. It’s raining outside.)

MULDER: Dr. Franklyn?

(MULDER goes upstairs, SCULLY stays down.)

MULDER: Scully, come over here. (She walks back to stairs.) Stop right there. Look what you’re standing on. (It is a pentagram on the tile floor. MULDER comes back down. ) This one’s different. It’s been inverted. See these two upright points here? They represent the God of Lust, attacking heaven with its horns.

SCULLY: Look, he’s inscribed all the names of the patients who were killed.
(They see "Shannon" carved at one of the points.)

(MULDER and SCULLY look at each other, then run out the door.)

(DR. SHANNON is being wheeled on a gurney.)

DOCTOR: Clear the way. Moving through! (to DR. SHANNON) What did you swallow?

DR. SHANNON: (No answer)

DOCTOR: What did you swallow?

ORDERLY: She didn’t say.

DOTOR: I’m going in to do an exploratory laparotomy.

DR. SHANNON: Please ... don’t.

DOCTOR: Give her two units blood, stat. Someone get a 16 gauge IV in and open it wide.

NURSE: I’ll get the IV, Doctor.

DR. SHANNON: (in OR, now, blood on her lips. They transfer her to OR table) No ... please no, .... no....no, please, don’t ... (Mask comes down over her face.)

(Hand with scalpel. DR. FRANKLYN. He begins to cut along his own hair line.)

(MULDER and SCULLY enter hospital.)

MULDER: Where’s Dr. Shannon? They said she was brought in here in an emergency?

NURSE: Dr. Shannon?

(MULDER and SCULLY walk down hall, looking in OR rooms.)

SCULLY: Mulder, in here.

MULDER: Don’t let them operate on her. (Runs down hall.) Hold them off until you hear from me!

SCULLY: Where are you going?

MULDER: To find Dr. Franklyn. (he is gone)

(Pool of blood at DR. FRANKLYN’S feet. He takes small fork and begins to peel the skin off his face. It looks uncomfortable.)

(OR with DR. SHANNON.)

DOCTOR: Forceps.

NURSE: Here you go.

DOCTOR: Sponge it. Suction.

NURSE: Suction.

DOCTOR: Saline.

NURSE: Saline.

DOCTOR: More sponge.

SCULLY: (entering) You have to stop this procedure immediately.

DOCTOR: Whoever that person is, get her out of here, now!

SCULLY: I’m Special Agent Dana Scully. I’m an FBI agent. (Shows badge.)

NURSE: Get out here, now!

SCULLY: Listen to me! I’m a doctor.

DOCTOR 2: (entering) What the hell’s going on here?

SCULLY: I’m a federal agent.

DOCTOR 2: I don’t care who you are. You can’t interrupt a surgery in progress. This woman could die.

SCULLY: That’s exactly what I’m trying to prevent.

(MULDER enter ASU OR ward.)

INTERCOM: Dr. Hallender, please call obstretics. Dr. Hallender, please call obstetrics.

(MULDER sees OR monitor with bloody scalpel. He enters OR, and sees DR. FRANKLYN’S face lying on the floor. MULDER looks a little nauseated.)

(DR. SHANNON’S OR. They are unstrapping her, surgery finished. MULDER enters.)

MULDER: What happened?

SCULLY: Well, they saved her life. They just pulled a whole whack of surgical instruments out of-of her intestinal tract. God only knows how they got there.

MULDER: Then it failed.

(Alarm begins blaring, people yelling and crying. MULDER and SCULLY go to another OR.)

HYSTERICAL NURSE: I tried to stop him! He just went crazy!

DOCTOR: We’re losing her, fast!

MULDER: What is this patient’s birth date?

SCULLY: (grabs chart) October 31. Halloween.

MULDER: On Samhain ... the Fourth Witches’ Sabbath.

(Nice car pulls up to City of Angels Medical Center. Attractive man gets out.)

(Inside)

FEMALE DOCTOR: I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’ve decided to join us, Doctor Hartman.

DR. HARTMAN: (DR. FRANKLYN’S voice) Well, I like what I’ve seen so far. The truth is, I’ve always been drawn to Los Angeles.

FEMALE DOCTOR: With your credentials, I’m sure you had plenty of options. I’ve been reviewing your patient portfolio. Your work is among the most impressive I’ve ever seen.

DR. HARTMAN: I like to say whoever God didn’t get around to creating in his own image, it’s our job to recreate in ours.

(They share a smile.)

[THE END]