Mulder paced around the school office, waiting on Scully's call, but knowing it would take some time. The police were interrogating Casey again, while Byers and the principal stood by. Mulder just hoped they could find the answers before anything was filed against her.

Byers left the conference room and walked over to Mulder. "They said the boy, Bill, is going to be okay. He's in the hospital overnight...nothing too serious, they just want to make sure there's no brain damage."

Mulder nodded. "That's good to hear, that he'll be okay."

Byers shook his head. "Well, his parents haven't determined yet if they'll press charges. Either way, we're still in a lot of trouble...she and I both."

Mulder didn't meet his friend's eye. "I'm working on it."

In the conference room the principal stood to leave, and on his way out caught Mulder's wandering gaze. "You're with the FBI, I hear?"

"I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder," he replied, shaking the older man's hand.

"Jim Nichols," the principal replied. "Do you have any idea what's going on here? We've had five acts of serious violence in the past three weeks. And from outstanding students, no less!"

Mulder nodded. "So I've heard. This isn't an official FBI case, but I'm looking into it as a personal favor for my friend here," he nodded towards Byers. "I was wondering if I could ask you some questions on the water you've been having shipped in."

"Of course," said Nichols. "After the mono outbreak we had last year, we thought it'd be better to be 'safe than sorry' and ship in chemically purified water from now on."

"That must be pretty costly for a public school," Mulder noted.

Nichols smiled. "Fortunately, we have wonderful parental support, as well as government sponsors to help make it possible. And it's been worth it-the sick rate has gone down drastically!"

Mulder eyed him grimly. "And your violence rate...how's that?"

Nichols' smile faded. "I...I have some work that needs to be done, if you'll excuse me."

Mulder headed out the office and into the hall, on a mission to find the mysterious water tank he had seen the day before.

FBI Headquarters

5:14 p.m.

Scully looked at the results on the overhead in shock. The lab scientist Agent Bois pointed out the key factors to her.

"As you can see, there's a low to medium level of a type of hallucinogen. I can't make out what it is offhand; it doesn't look like anything I've ever seen before."

Scully frowned. "Its make-up looks similar..."

Bois nodded. "Actually, look at this." He added another sheet to the overhead. "The make-up of this is the complete opposite."

Scully took a closer step to the screen hung from the wall. "What is it?"

"It's an antidote used in violent crimes centers," answered Bois. "It's used to sedate patients with aggressive behavior. It works well; the only problem is it's a new drug and only lasts for a couple of hours. The interesting thing about this is that it leaves no trace of being in the patient's body after being normally passed."

Scully's eyes grew wider. "Would it be possible to create a drug on the other end of the spectrum, one that induces violent behavior for a temporary time and is untraceable?"

Boise thought a moment. "I'd say it is. It would take a crack team to create it...one with unlimited money and resources."

Scully shook the young man's hand. "Thank you, Agent Bois," she said, and headed out the door to call Mulder.

Cedar Grove High School

5:38 p.m.

Mulder opened every door he found, went down every hallway until he finally came across it-the school's utility room. Shoving open the door, he looked around frantically until he saw the main plumbing system. He ran over to it, but the unmarked water tank was nowhere to be found. The only thing he could find was the normal pump system hooked up to the normal tanks of tap water.

Mulder sighed, frustrated. Where had it gone? Just then, a shadow from outside fell across the floor of the underground utility room through a window. Mulder stood on tiptoe and peered out a small ground-level window, just in time to see three Men in Black hauling the water tank into a black, unmarked van.

"HEY!" Mulder yelled, and beat against the window. It was no use. If the unknown men heard him, they didn't pay him any attention. Mulder ran up the stairs and out the side door, but they were already gone, leaving no trace.

Mulder cursed silently, knowing he had let his evidence slip away. Before he could make it back into the building, his cell phone rang.

"Mulder, you were right," Scully said as soon as he picked up. "There are low traces of a new type of hallucinogen in the water: one that causes unexplainable violent behavior for a short time, and is untraceable once passed normally. For the drug to take effect, one would have to drink a large amount of the water, which is why not everyone in the school would have been affected. Now, if we check into it, I'd bet those six kids consumed a good amount of the water a few hours prior to their fights. We already know that's true for Casey."

Mulder's reply was dejected. "No matter what, I just lost our only proof."