2Shy

"2Shy" is the sixth episode of the third season of "Secret Materials." The episode refers to the type of "monster of the week" and is not related to the main "mythology" of the series, set in the first series.

At night in the car on the deserted promenade of Cleveland, a man with a strange skin irritation on his neck during a romantic date kisses his companion, after which she begins to suffocate from a thick film of some substance in his mouth. In the morning, the police find the badly decomposed body of a woman in the car.

Agents Mulder and Scully begin an investigation in conjunction with cleveland police, represented by an elderly detective Ross. Mulder has previously received information about four similar murders in Aberdeen and suggests the killer is finding his victims through dating sites. Scully cannot examine the body of Lauren McAlvey, identified from the documents, because of the strong decomposition of the remains exposed to an enzyme high in salric acid. Surprising agents also cause a small weight of remains, although during the life of McAlvey was a full woman. Mulder interviews McAlvey's girlfriend, who tells him about a man under the online pseudonym "2Shy" with whom Lauren communicated shortly before her death.

Meanwhile, 2Shy, whose real name is Virgil Incanto, hiding under another pseudonym ("Huggs"), persuades in an online chat Ellen Kaminsky, a full elderly woman, to come on a date. Ellen agrees, but, frightened of disappointment, does not come. Incanto, whose skin is again partially covered with irritation, removes a complete prostitute. When he tries to kiss her prostitute, fighting back, rips off the skin of his fingernails on the back of his palm, and pieces of skin remain under her fingernails. Incanto kills a prostitute, whose body is soon found by passers-by. Mulder and Scully conclude that the killer attacks full women and somehow removes fat from their bodies, perhaps trying to make up for their own deficit.

Re-interviewing McAlvey's girlfriend, Mulder finds out that the killer has remarkable knowledge of Latin and, most likely, is an interpreter or a university employee. Compiling a list of suspects, Mulder, Scully and Detective Ross are separated to check them all. Ellen agrees to go on a date with Incanto, when he hears a knock on the door. Detective Ross, who came to Incanto, sees his bandaged hand, but Incanto kills him and goes out in the evening on a date with Ellen. Ross's body is found by the mistress of the house Incanto, who wanted to leave him his poems for professional evaluation. Incanto, already returning from a date with Ellen, sees the light from her car in his apartment and rushes to leave, thus breaking her heart. In the apartment, he kills the mistress of the house and goes to Ellen. After a 911 call from the daughter of the missing housewife, Incanto Mulder, and Scully matched his address to one of those on Ross' list.

Breaking into the apartment to Incanto, agents find corpses. Technicians break into Incanto's online account and find out a list of possible victims. Mulder and Scully go to Ellen, where Incanto, who previously persuaded Ellen to let him in, tries to kill her. Mulder runs after the man in the street, deciding that it's Incanto, and Scully remains to help Ellen, but then she is attacked by Incanto, hiding in the bathroom. After a short fight, Incanto knocks Scully to the floor and tries to suck the fat out of her, but at that point Ellen shoots him with Scully's gun. After a while, the arrested Incanto, weakened and lost his human form due to the lack of fat in the body, confesses to agents in the murders of 47 women. When Scully in disgust throws to him that he was feeding "not only their bodies, but umami," Incanto fends off, "I gave them what they wanted. They gave me what I needed."

Incanto is a kind of vampire, absorbing not blood, and fatty tissues of their victims. This ability (which is also a vital necessity for him) is caused by a genetic mutation, as a result of which his body is completely devoid of fats, and he is forced to receive them from the outside. The second feature of the incanto organism is that the digestion of food takes place outside its body. It secretes concentrated gastric juice, which injects into the bodies of the victims, and after a while absorbs the resulting mass. The remains of the victims, deprived of fatty tissues, decompose extremely quickly.

As a result of prolonged starvation, Incanto's skin becomes dry, starts to flake and falls off the flaps.