The X Files: I Want To Believe

Assistant Director Walter Skinner

Walter Skinner is an Assistant Director for the FBI. Under his jurisdiction falls an investigative unit known as The X Files, which consists of Agents Mulder and Scully. Since the were assigned to him, Skinner had been their one ally, allowing them the freedom to investigate cases of their choosing, when any other assistant director would shut down the X Files.

In 1996, Walter Skinner was was sent a notice for the dissolution of his marriage at his wife’s request. He had been separated from her for 8 months and refused to sign. He said that it had waited 17 years and could wait one more day. Depressed about what was happening, he went to a bar where he met a young woman, who seemed to be of some comfort as she felt completely alone as well. That night, they went to a hotel and spent the night together, but something went wrong. Skinner woke up startled after seeing the image of an old woman in his sleep, only to discover that the young woman’s neck had been broken. Skinner was taken into questioning as he refused to take a polygraph test and the woman had no identification on her at all. After Scully examined the body, she discovered that part of her spine and neck was crushed, most likely in a vulnerable moment. Mulder managed to identify the woman as Karina Sales, a legal secretary for a criminal defence firm. Apparently she was fired for also being a prostitute, working for one of the firms clients. When Scully switched off the examining room lights, she noticed a residual phosphorescence around the woman’s mouth and nose. After talking to Karina’s boss, she explained that she had called, giving a clients credit card details as he wanted some comfort. The client’s name was Walter Skinner. The local police investigating released Skinner after questioning him. Mulder and Scully caught up with him asking some questions of their own like why there was a dead prostitute in the morgue with his finger prints all over her. Skinner claimed that he was unaware she was a prostitute. At that moment, he spotted the old woman who he had seen in his dreams wearing a red coat standing in the rain, but when he got their all he found was Sharon Skinner, his wife. Skinner left, leaving Mulder and Scully talking with his wife. Later that day, the two agents were asked to make themselves available for a formal hearing to see if he is still capable of being an Assistant Director. Scully came up with a theory that Skinner was suffering from REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder. Skinner happened to be receiving treatment for the disorder. He had been having recurring dreams in which he is confronted by an old woman who speaks to him but he is unable to hear what she is saying. In the dream the woman also tried to suffocate him. Mulder however believed what they were dealing with was a being who watches over men and sometimes if she gets too attached to a particular man is known to kill other women competing for their affection. While this was happening, Sharon paid a visit to Skinners, wanting to make sure he was okay. She wanted him to let her in, but he refused to do so. That night, Skinner woke up hearing a shrieking old woman. Moments later there was knock at the door as the police wanted to ask Skinner some questions regarding an accident his wife was in. She was ran off the road by Skinners car, but the driver was undetermined. At the police station, Mulder asked Skinner about the old woman – he first saw her when he had a near death experience in Vietnam. After inhaling some illegal substances, he saw the old woman as his body was dying. He claimed that she carried him back to life. Hours before Skinners hearing, Mulder cut off the airbag in Skinners car, running it through an FBI lab in order to determine if Skinner was the on in the drivers seat. After the analysis was completed, the results showed that Skinner wasn’t driving his car when his wife was run off the road. That night, the woman who ran the prostitute business was killed. As Mulder and Scully were having a look at the crime scene, they spotted Karina’s colleagues who identified the impression from the air bag as the man who hired Karina for Skinner. Mulder knew that Skinner was being made a pawn in order to shut down the X Files. As he visited his unconscious wife, he told her that he will never sign the divorce papers as he is only beginning to know himself and that he never stopped loving her. As he kissed her, her vital signs fluctuated and as he went to call for a doctor, he saw the old woman instead of his wife. Meanwhile, Mulder and Scully set up the man who was framing Skinner using a colleague of Karina’s. The man burst into the hotel room where the trap had been set and attacked Scully along with Karina’s colleague. As Mulder ran to Scully’s location, they heard gun shots. Upon entering the room, the found Skinner who had shot the man saving Scully’s life.

After Mulder had discovered what he believed was a corpse of an alien killed during the ice age, which would prove everything he had been saying from the beginning, he killed himself with a gunshot to the face. As Scully left his apartment after confirming the body’s identity, Skinner also stopped by asking her was it true. Considering the nature of Agent Mulders work, Skinner was reluctant to believe his death – especially knowing that Scully identified the body as his. He knew she would do anything to protect him. As he was about to let her go, he realised that if Mulder had in fact shot himself in the face, it would be difficult, almost impossible, to identify him by simply looking at him. When he asked Scully how she identified him, she claimed that she had saw Mulder earlier and those were the clothes he was wearing. Skinner instantly knew something wasn’t right. At a panel which was assembled in order to confirm the death of Agent Mulder, Scully announced that there was an insider in the FBI – Mulder had discovered someone in the apartment above him spying on him. After examining the mans phone records, Mulder discovered that he was regularly checking in with someone at the FBI – after going through the FBI communications centre, she discovered that the contact may have been Skinner, as he had the necessary executive branch for the phone calls. What increased her suspicions was the fact that she caught him snooping around her hospital and that he had data proving that the man in Mulders apartment, the man Scully identified as Mulder wasn’t Mulder at all. At the panel, she was ready to announce Skinner as the insider when she collapsed as a result of her cancer. At the hospital, Skinner caught Mulder coming to visit her, and even when Mulder attacked him, refused to arrest Mulder. Since Mulder wasn’t dead, he would be brought before the same panel Scully was to explain who killed the man, an employee of the Department of Defence, who was in Mulders apartment. At the panel, Skinner feared he would be named as the insider, but to his surprise, Mulder named Section Chief Blevins. Later, after the panel, Skinner visited Scully at the hospital, only to find out that her cancer was gone. His loyalty to Mulder and Scully has never wavered. Walter Skinner continually puts himself at risk and allows them a unique freedom to investigate X Files. They are more than just his subordinates, the are his friends.

Mulder and Scully were briefly transferred off the X Files and assigned to Assistant Director Kersh. While under Kersh’s command, Skinner was taken into hospital with an unidentifiable illness from an unknown origin. He had always been a fan of boxing, and attended a club where he could compete against other members. During one game, his vision became blurred, causing him to lose the match. The next thing he knew he was in hospital. After a brief examination, Skinner was released, but the doctor advised that he go easy on the boxing and ice the bruise on his ribs. That night, Skinner went to his office as he didn’t think it would be safe for him to drive home. Mulder immediately believed that it was an attack against The X Files. Reluctantly, Skinner walked Mulder and Scully through his day, explaining what he had done. He remembered a man grabbing his wrist and asking him for the time. After viewing the CCTV footage, Scully managed to identify the man as a renowned physicist named Dr Orgell. They immediately checked the records and discovered that he had signed in as a visitor to Assistant Director Skinner. Mulder and Skinner headed over to the physicists home to ask him some questions while Scully went to the hospital Skinner was taken to in order to examine the blood samples taken from him. Once inside the physicist’s house, Skinner was jumped, knocking him to the floor as Mulder chased after one of the men involved. Back in the house, Skinners neck veins began swelling and causing a great deal of pain. After checking the ID of the one who attacked Skinner, they discovered he had diplomatic immunity. In the waste paper basket of Dr Orgell, Mulder discovered a picture of him with a Senator. Meanwhile in the hospital, Scully discovered that Skinners blood was filled with pure cotton. Under the microscope, she discovered microscopic machinery which appeared to be multiplying. Mulder paid a visit to the Senators home asking him about something called SR819. The Senator asked Mulder to leave, stating the he wants to save lives, but he cannot save Skinners. While this was happening, Skinner spent his time following the man they were forced to release who then attempted to shoot him once he was spotted. As Skinner began a search for the man in the middle of a car park, his vision became blurred again, but as the man stepped out of hiding to kill Skinner, someone hit him with a car. Skinner then collapsed. While Scully was studying the machines in his blood system, she noticed that what they were doing was creating damns in the blood system, in essence, it was creating a heart attack. Moments later, a nurse rushed in telling them that Skinner was on his way in via ambulance. Scully arrived at the operating room just in time to stop the doctors from cutting off his arms, which they believed was the only way to save him. Mulder ransacked Skinners office, discovering a letter which stated that Skinner was involved in a check of a bill related to new technological development – SR819. He headed to the hospital to tell Sully what he had found, and as they were talking, Skinners cell phone rang. On the other end was a computer generated voice. However was responsible knew Skinner was in the hospital. As Scully continued her search for a cure, Mulder checked the corridors around Skinners room. He spotted a suspicious looking character who ran at the sight of him. The man made it into the car park and escaped. Luckily, Mulder managed to secure the vehicle which he had used, and an FBI forensics team discovered some sort of clay which was filled with a substance which only found in old buildings, such as old power plants. Scully suggested to Skinner that he undergo a procedure which involves filtering the blood. Skinner agreed, apologising to Scully as he believed that his life had been meaningless and that their quest should have been his. Afterwards, he realised that he had seen the man responsible on several occasions including when Orgell first approached him in the FBI building. Checking out old buildings, Mulder discovered the Senator who confirmed that SR819 was nano technology. Technology which the world believed was only theoretical. In the hospital, Skinner died on the table, but then miraculously he returned to life moments later. Three weeks later, whatever Skinner was infected with was confirmed as dormant. After a meeting with Mulder and Scully, Skinner was approached by the man responsible in the car park – Alex Krychek who told Skinner that he would know what everything had been about in good time.

When Mulder was contacted by Billy Miles, a boy who had previously experienced alien abduction, Skinner was also contacted by Alex Krychek, who had just been released from a Penal Colony in Tunisia. Skinner was well aware that Krychek couldn’t be trusted, and he knew what Mulders reaction to him would be. Skinner stood outside Mulders office asking about Oregon and the evaluation which was being performed on The X Files department. Mulder tried to get Skinner to stay away, as his career was in jeopardy by supporting The X Files. Luckily, the FBI Board of Directors still believed that Walter Skinner make a contribution to the Bureau. He also tells Mulder that even if he found a UFO, and have an alien shake hands with the President, this evaluation would still occur – Skinner believed that the Directors simply didn’t like Mulder. When Skinner entered the office, he was followed by Krychek and Marita Cabarubious. A woman who once worked for The Cigarette Smoking Man. Skinner managed to prevent Mulder from attacking Krychek. After a meeting, Skinner headed to Oregon with Mulder while Scully stayed with the Lone Gunmen, and Alex and Marita stopped the Smoking Man once and for all. In Oregon, Mulder and Skinner utilized the FBI budget in acquiring some equipment which would assist in their discovery of the UFO which had crashed in the forest. Skinner laid out dozens of lasers which spread through the woods until they hit the point concealing the UFO – the light would simply end in mid air. Mulder discovered the UFO and was drawn in, coming face to face with all the abductees from Oregon and the Alien Bounty Hunter. Moments later, the UFO emerged from its cloaking field and left the planet. Skinner watched as one of his closest friends left the solar system. Later, he returned to the hospital to tell Scully what had happened. There, he blamed himself for what happened, but Scully needed him – she explained that she considered him a close friend and needed his friendship now more than ever – she was pregnant. Skinner vowed that he wouldn’t tell anyone about the child and that he would do everything in his power to find Mulder.

Skinner never stopped searching for Mulder – even when the events leading to Mulders disappearance were called into question, he continued to work unofficially with the Lone Gunmen, who were making progress in tracking what they believed was the UFO Mulder was on. At the FBI, Scully and Skinner were asked a series of questions relating to Mulders disappearance. Deputy Director Kersh demanded that under no circumstances should aliens be mentioned at all. That night, Scully head to Mulders apartment hoping to find some answers, but instead she fell asleep on his bed. While she was sleeping, Skinner contacted the Lone Gunmen, asking them if they could help him gain some information relating to current UFO sightings. Skinner believed that Mulder was still onboard the UFO and that if they could find it, they could find Mulder. The next day, Skinner entered the room with the task force in search of Agent Mulder and was questioned about the removal of some files. The pass card which was used to gain entry was that of Agent Mulder. Agent Crane asked some questions regarding to Mulder’s state of mind prior to his disappearance. Skinner told him that all Mulder was interested in was the truth. Kersh told Skinner that that was exactly what they were after. Crane showed Skinner some phone logs which showed that Skinner was in the FBI building until after ten o’clock. While he was being questioned, a tombstone was brought in which was engraved with Mulder’s name on it. That evening, as Scully sat gazing at the tombstone, Skinner told her that nothing was making any sense when Doggett came over, claiming that he had found something. Apparently, Mulder’s medical condition over the past year was deteriorating. His condition had been deteriorating since his contact with the alien artefact which was discovered in Africa. Doggett suggested that Mulder had taken one last chance to prove that aliens exist before he died. Skinner was disgusted at the idea and continued to claim that he saw a UFO abduct Mulder. Scully quickly realised what Skinner had said and requested that Doggett doesn’t report what he had just said. Skinner then had a meeting with at Scully’s apartment with her and the Lone Gunmen where he showed her UFO activity since his abduction. He believed that if Mulder was on the space craft, then he would be right over the Arizona desert. Langly suggested that perhaps the aliens are looking for their next abductee. Scully suddenly realised that the aliens were removing evidence of their existence before it becomes proof. Mulder hadn’t been removing the computers, it was them. And their next evidence was in the form of a boy – Gibson Praise, who Mulder believed had active alien genes. Scully and Skinner then headed to Arizona in hopes of finding Gibson. According to a map of the area, the place where the UFO was spotted in had virtually nothing in all directions. At a service station, Skinner discovered that there was a school nearby which Gibson may be attending. As Doggett landed, Scully and Skinner arrived at the school. Doggett entered the building, and the principle told him that Gibson was in his office. Doggett rushed in only to discover that he had left through the window. He rushed back out of the office and discovered Scully and Skinner on the scene. As the task force arrived, they began searching for Mulder, who Doggett believed he found. Skinner questioned Doggett on what had happened, Doggett explained that it would be impossible for a man to fall from a cliff the size of the one Doggett said he did and walk away. Doggett then showed Skinner a set of track leading into the middle of the desert. Scully knew exactly what had happened – the Alien Bounty Hunter. As Doggett left, Skinner expressed his concern about what the Bounty Hunter was capable of. When they reached the school, Skinner spotted a young girl leaving and someone following him. Skinner dealt with whoever it was that was following them while Scully went after the girl. She followed her to the middle of the Arizona desert where she discovered Gibson Praise hiding underground. Skinner believed that Doggett was made “a pawn in a rigged game”, that he was set up to fail before he made it to the directors chair. He attempted to explain this to him and told him that the only thing he could do to find Mulder is to listen to Scully, but if he puts anything about alien bounty hunters in a report, Kersh will ruin him. Moments later, Doggett went on the radio with an agent who said he was with Scully in the dorm room just as she came back from the desert. She immediately knew what was going on – the Bounty Hunter had assumed her identity. He attacked the agent who was with her just as the real Scully burst in the door, chasing the Bounty Hunter. Unfortunately, the Bounty Hunter eluded her grasp taking the form of Agent Crane. She knew that whoever the Bounty Hunter was now was in the dorm room. As the agent whom the Bounty Hunter attacked was carried into an ambulance, Scully got in her car causing Skinner to rush over. He ordered her out of the car, and as she did so, she pointed her weapon at him. Skinner instantly pulled his own weapon on her. She believed he was the Bounty Hunter and visa versa. Skinner took a gamble and lowered his weapon, telling her that he knows her secret which no one else knows – her pregnancy. Scully demanded that he tells her, as that would prove that he is in fact Skinner. He turned around, and as she got closer, Skinner spun around, taking her gun from her – he doesn’t like pointing guns at pregnant woman any more than he likes them pointing guns at him. He handed her gun back telling her that its gone too far, but Scully believed the opposite – it hasn’t gone far enough. Skinner tried to explain that she had told him that Mulder didn’t want him to ruin his career for him, but Scully was ruining hers even as they spoke. She told him she cant take the chance that she’ll never see him again and that Gibson was their best chance at getting Mulder back. Reluctantly, Skinner agreed and they headed out to Gibson’s location together. But when they arrived, Gibson was gone. After looking around, the found him staring at the sky, claiming he could hear Mulder’s thoughts and that he was in the desert. Skinner then lifted Gibson and took him to the hospital to get proper treatment for his leg while Scully stayed in the desert, hoping to find Mulder. At the hospital, Skinner stood watching over the boy until he awoke with his friend standing in the doorway – The Alien Bounty Hunter. Skinner was attacked and dragged through the ceiling panels. The Bounty Hunter took on the form of Skinner, who then asked for Scully’s help in protecting the boy. As Scully walked through the door, she noticed Gibson’s reflection shaking his head telling her no. The Bounty Hunter attacked her, and then went after Gibson and Scully shot him in the back of the neck killing him. Skinner made a full recovery and was back at work in no time.

As Scully entered the final stages of her pregnancy, Skinner investigated the death of Duffy Hascal, a man who had come to The X Files claiming that his wife had given birth to an alien baby. What peaked his interest was the fact that Hascals head had been decapitated in a way which could not be explained. What was almost as interesting as how he was killed was where – an illegal medical facility dedicated to human cloning. After sifting through the records discovered at the scene, Skinner discovered that Hascal was monitoring Scully’s pregnancy. As Mulder and Doggett arrived, Skinner demanded to know about Scully’s baby, in particular, who the father is. Mulder refused to tell him – the fathers identity is Scully’s business. What Skinner did say was that he had his suspicions about his identity – he believed Mulder was the father. After exposing Lizzie, Scully’s baby nurse as an associate of Hascals, Mulder and Scully were attacked by Billy Miles, who was now an alien replicant. Luckily, Alex Krychek showed up, saving them. The headed to the FBI building where the knew they would be safe, at least for a short time. Once there, Skinner done everything he could helping Scully to escape with Agent Monica Rayes when Billy Miles once again attacked. He was after Scully’s child. Krychek explained that the alien replicants like Billy Miles feared the child’s implications – a child born from a barren womb. The miracle of its birth proved that there was a higher power – something greater than themselves. However, Skinner continually protested Krycheks involvement. As Scully gave birth in the ‘safety’ of Democrat Springs – the birth place of John Doggett, Doggett hunted Knoel Roare, a replicant while Mulder watched Krychek. However, Krychekl managed to get the better of Mulder, and prepared to shot him when Skinner stopped him. A wounded Krychek encouraged Skinner to kill Mulder, unable to do that, Skinner killed Alex Krychek.

Skinner has proven time and time again that he is an asset to not only the FBI, but to The X Files as well.

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