 In Costa Mesa , California , a young man named Donald Pankow approaches the drive @-@ thru of a Lucky Boy fast food restaurant . Despite the restaurant being closed , Pankow angrily demands service . The sheepish fast food attendant tells the man to drive to the next window , where he is attacked and violently pulled out of his car . Pankow 's body is later discovered with the brain removed from the skull . Fox Mulder ( David Duchovny ) and Dana Scully ( Gillian Anderson ) are assigned to assist the local police in their investigation . 
