Tom Colton

Tom Colton was an agent in the . He attended the with and the two remained friends until at least 1993, when they disagreed over the legitimacy of certain investigative methods utilized by (Scully's FBI partner) during their investigation of murders committed by . ( "")
==History==
===Early Career===
Tom Colton was born circa 1968.
Colton's class at the Academy included not only Dana Scully but also Marty Neil, whom Colton and Scully would routinely refer to as "J. Edgar, Jr.".
In or shortly before 1993, Colton wrote a psychological profile on the Washington Crossing Killer, which led the FBI straight to the suspect. News of this incident reached Brad Wilson, a mutual acquaintance of both Agents Colton and Scully. According to hearsay, Colton was – as a result of his profile having been successful – placed on the Violent Crime Section's fast-track to promotion.
On one day of 1993, Colton had a chance encounter with Marty Neil and learned that Neil had recently been promoted to Supervisory Special Agent, in Foreign Counter Intelligence at the New York City Bureau, as a result of having lucked into the World Trade Center bombing. Colton was consequently jealous of Marty Neil and thought of him as a "loser."
===Learning of the Tooms Case & Consulting with Scully===
Around the same time that Colton encountered Marty Neil, he was assigned a case that he thought was "out there", after the Baltimore Police Department called with a request for help on a serial killer profile. The case involved the murder of three unrelated victims, each of whom had been killed in a location where no point of entry had been used. Each victim had also been found with their liver having been ripped out of their body by bare hands, without the use of cutting tools.
Shortly after being assigned to this case, Colton had lunch with Scully in Washington, D.C., during which he revealed his jealousy of Marty Neil even though Scully reminded him about the success of his own profile of the Washington Crossing Killer. He was curious to know how Scully was doing and started to talk teasingly of her work and her FBI partner, Agent Mulder, whom Colton referred to as "Spooky".
Colton then slightly altered the topic of conversation from Mulder's outlandish ideas to the strange case that he had recently been assigned, mentioning that the three murders had begun six weeks ago. He also individually described two of the murders, noting that the latest of the three victims had been killed two days ago.
Although Scully remarked that the case seemed like an X-File, Colton insisted that he would solve the case, asking her merely to review the case histories and possibly visit the crime scene. Colton reluctantly permitted her to ask Mulder to become involved, if Mulder wanted to do her a favor, but warned her to make sure that her partner knew the case belonged to Colton. Generally, Colton really looked forward to working with Scully and thought she was a good agent. He hoped that solving the case would earn him a promotion and allow her to no longer have to be "Mrs. Spooky".
===Meeting Mulder===
Soon after having lunch with Colton, Scully privately responded to Mulder's confusion (while both agents were alone together, at the crime scene of the latest murder) that the case had been brought to her rather than to himself, mentioning that Colton played "by the book" while Mulder did not.
Moments later, Colton arrived at the crime scene and then apologized to Scully for being late but she replied that she and Mulder had newly arrived there, themselves. After Scully introduced him to Mulder, Colton offered his hand, so as to initiate a handshake, and Mulder hesitantly reciprocated. Colton then wondered if, to Mulder, the case seemed like the work of but Mulder responded by correcting Colton's description of aliens, demonstrating what seemed to be an intense knowledge of Reticulians. In disbelief, Colton doubted Mulder's seriousness.
Colton proceeded to consult Scully with a theory he had, regarding the case, while Mulder left to examine a nearby air-vent. Colton soon interrupted his theorizing with Scully and demandingly asked her what Mulder was doing, doubting that a Reticulian could have accessed the room via the vent because it was very small and was covered with a grille that was screwed in place.
Colton was unaware, however, that Mulder had found an elongated fingerprint on the grille; Mulder believed that this fingerprint linked the murders to an X-File that involved ten similar murders dating back to 1903, 1933 and 1963. During a private conversation between Mulder and Scully, Mulder revealed his findings to her; Scully started to argue that Colton had never mentioned any more than three murders but Mulder interrupted her, stating that Colton was probably unaware of the earlier murders. Scully firmly told Mulder, in summation of their discussion, that the case was Colton's but Mulder responded that the X-file dated back to 1903 and that their unit therefore had originally had the case first.
===Arresting Tooms===
In an FBI institution, Colton and other agents – including an Agent Fuller (Colton's superior at the FBI) – listened to an impressive profile that Scully had written about the killer they were searching for. Along with the other agents, Colton laughed in response to Agent Fuller making another mocking reference to Scully's usual work.
Colton later led a group of agents during a stakeout of the latest crime scene and answered a call for backup from Scully, who was in a parking lot inside the building and had been notified by Mulder – who was also in the area – of Tooms' presence inside an air duct. Upon arriving at Scully's position, Colton ordered for his detachment of agents to arrest Tooms – who had clambered out of the duct, moments earlier.
While an examiner later conducted a polygraph test on Tooms at the FBI Bureau in Baltimore, Colton watched from an anteroom in which Scully, Mulder and Agent Fuller were also observing the procedure. Colton commented on the examiner asking Tooms if he was more than a hundred years old, telling Agent Fuller that the query must have been a control question, but Mulder announced that he had been responsible for the examiner asking it. In reaction to the examiner then asking Tooms if he had visited Powhattan Mill in 1933, Colton sighed and glared in frustration at Agent Fuller.
In the room where the polygraph test had been conducted, Colton accepted news that Agent Fuller brought – specifically, that Tooms, a member of the Baltimore Municipal Animal Control, had been responding to a call regarding a bad smell coming from a dead cat in the ventilation ducts of the crime scene building. Even though Scully did not seem to believe this theory, Colton reminded her that Tooms had passed the polygraph test and cited the confirmation of his alibi as proof that he was not the killer. Colton was still willing to admit, however, that Scully's profile was not necessarily wrong.
After Mulder revealed his belief that Tooms had lied when answering the questions regarding Powhattan Mill in 1933 and Agent Fuller stormed out of the room, Colton bluntly asked Scully if she was coming with him but she replied by thanking him for allowing her to work with the Violent Crimes Section, adding that her official assignment was to the X-files. Colton reacted as if he was planning to change this situation but Scully assured him that she could take care of herself. Colton informed her that he believed Mulder was not only "out there" but "insane", before glaring at Mulder as he rushed out of the room.
===Dispute with Scully===
Shortly after Tooms killed Thomas Werner, Colton attended the crime scene with other investigators. He instructed the investigators to check on liver transplants in the following twenty-four hours, suggesting that the most recently removed liver could have been intended for the black market, but this theory was ridiculed by Detective Johnson, who had been taking measurements in the room where Mr. Werner had been murdered. Glancing back at the detective while facing the building's front door, Colton then shouted (in frustration) that he was, by this point, willing to give any theory a shot. Upon seeing Mulder and Scully enter through the front door, however, Colton revised his statement to say he was willing to consider any 'sane' theory.
Colton initially tried to bar Mulder's access into the building but let him pass after Scully notified him that both she and Mulder had been granted authorization to enter the crime scene, adding that a report of Colton obstructing another officer's investigation might make a bad impression on his personnel file. Colton demanded to know her allegiances, but she replied that she was only on the victim's side. He, nevertheless, then hurriedly exited the crime scene.
Colton was later angered to learn that Scully had arranged for two of the men under his command – Agents Kennedy and Kramer – to conduct a stakeout on a dilapidated, condemned building at 66 Exeter Street. Although Colton himself was unable to call off the stakeout, he notified his Regional ASAC about what he himself considered to be an "irresponsible waste of man-hours" and his regional supervisor then dismissed Agents Kennedy and Kramer.
Colton approached Scully while she was alone in a room of the FBI Bureau in Baltimore and insisted that they talk, even though she was preparing to leave and meet with Mulder. Without revealing that he had called off the stakeout, Colton voiced his frustration regarding this issue but Scully answered that it was not interfering (in any way) with his own investigation. Colton recalled: "When we first had lunch, I really looked forward to working with you. You were a good agent. But now, after seeing the way you've been brainwashed by Mulder...I couldn't have you far enough away."
By this point, Scully had heard enough. Colton was behaving like a spoiled three-year old. Without looking at him, she started out of the office, but Colton stopped her with a parting shot, informing her about the dismissal of the two stakeout agents and insisted that he, rather than Scully, phone Mulder with the news. When Scully asked if his actions were what was required to ascend the ranks of the FBI, Colton defiantly replied by implying that he believed his behavior would take him right to the top of the FBI heirarchy. Scully stormed out of the room, wishing him bad luck with his career, but he still called Mulder after her departure and was about to leave a message on Mulder's answering machine.
Scully herself left a message on the answering service of Mulder's apartment; she, during the message, imagined that Mulder had gone out because Colton had given them the night off and suggested that they file a complaint against him, adding that she was furious.
Following Tooms' arrest after his failed attack on Agent Scully, Colton actually tried to worm in on Mulder's case, but his superiors quickly caught on and he was fired from the Violent Crimes Section. Shortly thereafter he was reassigned to the White-Collar Crime section at the Sioux Falls Bureau. ( "")
:Tom Colton was played by Donal Logue.
Colton, Tom
Category:The X-Files characters