-1CHAPTER 2: A Little Stranger Than Strange

There was no Zim in the last chapter. No Dib, no Gir, no microwaved burritos of insanity. But you already knew that. They will show up, I promise. Though I AM considering moving this to the X-Files section. It's Mulder and Scully-centric, and it's taking forever to even bring the IZ characters into it. But you can't rush perfection now, can you? And so it will be that you must remain patient. Thank you all for the goodly number of reviews you sent. I'm pleased that a fic such as this has garnered such appreciation from the readers. For that, I'll continue to write it as well as I can. So, here's the next chapter, with a special cameo, a creepy government informant, some subliminal messages, and a '65 Impala. So read and review. I don't own Invader Zim or the X-Files.

Municipal Airport

Feb 12, 1:15 am

Mulder and Scully walked through the lobby of the large airport, which was sparsely populated with waiting travelers and newly arrived passengers. They passed a skinny latino-looking man with short red hair and glasses, sitting at a bench in the airport. He looked up at the agents, and smiled a bit, tapping a pencil lightly against his lips.

"Thank you!" He exclaimed. "Federal agents, your intestinal parasites are the scourge of my taco belt!" He said, and then began scribbling furiously on a pad of paper. Mulder and Scully looked at each other questioningly.

"Excuse me?" Scully asked the man. He looked up again.

"Oh, I was just working on my latest comic, and didn't know what to make Happy Noodle Boy say. Thanks for the inspiration, guys."

"Don't mention it." Mulder replied with a slight smile before giving Scully a look that said, "What the…." They walked on, looking for a car rental office. Spying one, ominously dubbed "Wrent a Reck", Scully turned to Mulder.

"I'll see about renting the car. Want anything in particular?"

"Yeah," Mulder replied dryly. "A Lamborghini. Red if they have it." Scully smiled and scoffed, and began walking toward the rental office. "Leather seats are optional, Scully!" Mulder called. He turned and made his way toward the restroom.

"Welcome to Wrent a Reck!" A youngish man called as Scully entered the office. "What do ya need?"

"Um, I need to rent a car for the duration of my stay." Scully replied.

"Oh. Ummm…er…uhhh…okay." The man said, his left eye twitching a bit. "And how…will you be paying?" Scully raised an eyebrow at the obviously troubled clerk, but simply took out her FBI identification, and a card.

"It'll be paid for by the bureau." The man looked at the ID for a moment.

"Hey, is this real?" He asked excitedly.

"Yes sir." Scully replied stoically.

"Ehhhh…errr…cool!" The clerk blurted out. "Are you here to investigate the crazy rabbit woman?"

"No. I'm not allowed to disclose any aspects of my investigation if indeed I am on one." Scully said dogmatically. "Now I would like to rent a car."

"Sure. What do you want?"

"What do you have?" Scully asked.

Thisisasubliminalmessage

Mulder stood at a sink in the restroom, washing his hands. He thought back on all of the other cases he'd been on involving a possible EBE living on Earth, and how close he'd come to learning the truth, to being able to prove it. Maybe this time, he'd finally be able to get the proof he needed.

"Use caution on this one, Mr. Mulder." A voice stated. Mulder's mind leapt from its contemplation, and he quickly turned around. An older man in a suit stood behind him. It was the same man who time and again had given him just enough information to work with, the member of "them" who actually seemed to want Mulder to go in the right direction. He smiled contentedly at Mulder.

"What?" Mulder asked. "What do you mean 'Use caution?'"

"I'm just saying, there's more to this X-File than even you have suspected. Though there are no sinister plots or insidious government cover-ups involved in this one, you may have to question exactly why that is."

"And exactly why is that?" Mulder asked.

"Good luck, Mr. Mulder. And guard your sanity, and that of Dr. Scully at all costs." With that, the older man walked out of the restroom, leaving Mulder with one more thing to ponder on.

obeyTakforsheisyourqueen

"I got our car, Mulder." Scully said as Mulder approached from across the lobby. "You ready?" She asked, looking back toward the rental car office.

"Yeah. What's wrong?"

"Nothing…I just have a feeling that this is going to be an interesting case." Scully replied.

"You too, huh?" Mulder smiled. "Well let's go get a couple rooms somewhere, and we can presume follow this interesting case down to its bare essence tomorrow, what do you say?"

The Membrane residence

Feb. 12, 10:39am

Mulder and Scully exited their rented '65 Chevrolet Impala (the only car on the rental lot that had four wheels, an engine, and body panels), that the man at the counter said the rental company had purchased from two brothers who used the car to 'hunt' a lot. The two FBI agents walked up to the house's front door, looked at each other for a moment, then knocked. A few moments later, the door was opened by a young girl in a black dress with purple hair. She played furiously at a handheld videogame controller, and hardly acknowledged the presence of the two agents.

"Excuse me, is there a Dib Membrane here?" Scully asked.

"Depends, who wants to know?" The girl asked, looking up momentarily from her game. "And who are you, Jehova's Witnesses or something?" Mulder smiled as they took out their ID wallets and showed them to the girl.

"We're with the FBI, and we need to talk to Dib Membrane." Scully said.

"Whatever." The girl sighed. "Dib!" She called. "There's some FBI agents here, hopefully to arrest you for being weird!"

"FBI?!" A young male voice called from upstairs. "Hold on, I'll be right down!" A minute later, a boy dressed in black pants, tall boots, a blue tee shirt with a grey emotionless face on it, and a black trench coat came running down the stairs. He stumbled to a stop at the door, eliciting an angry growl from the girl, whom the agents deduced to be his sister. She turned, and disappeared back into the house. The boy smiled at the FBI agents.

"You're here about Zim, right?" He asked happily.

"Your reports are the reason we're here." Mulder replied.

"Yes!" Dib softly exclaimed. "I knew you'd have to believe me one day! All of my work, observing Zim, the months of collecting evidence, trying to find someone that would listen…" Mulder and Scully looked at each other as Dib carried on giddily "…finally…finally a way to prove that Zim is really an alien bent on world destruction…"

"Dib?" Mulder interrupted.

"What? Oh…sorry. Come in!" Dib said, stepping aside. Mulder and Scully stepped into the house. "Come up to my room. We can talk there."

10:52am

"So, agent Mulder," Did asked, sitting on his bed. "What do you think about the alien autopsy video?"

"It was a fake." Mulder answered, sitting across from the boy in Dib's computer chair. Dib's face fell a little.

"Are..are you sure?" Dib asked, a little disheartened.

"It was a clever hoax, perpetrated by the government to cover up the real alien autopsy that took place after the Roswell New Mexico crash of…"

"1947!" Dib finished. "What about the chupacabra?" Scully sighed, and shook her head a little. Having these two together was like pouring gasoline on a fire, she could already tell.

"A classified experiment to breed humans with a race of reptilian extraterrestrials. A pair escaped into the Brazilian rainforest, and began breeding."

"I knew it!" Dib beamed. Scully looked at all of the pictures Dib had taped and tacked to his wall of aliens, ghosts, and monsters, and ran her hand along the collection of books he had on the paranormal and the occult. This kid was definitely knowledgeable about the supernatural, but that did little to prove anything.

"The Stephenville mass UFO sighting." Dib stated with a small smile.

"Authentic mass sighting, and biggest Air Force coverup up of the decade." Mulder said.

"Sorry to interrupt, but can we talk a little more about the case?" Scully finally interjected.

"Oh, sorry." Dib said. "Right. Zim is an alien. He claims to be a normal human kid who happens to have green skin, and also happens to have no ears or nose.

"Methemoglobinemia, maybe." Scully said, looking at Mulder.

"Like the Blue People of Kentucky?" Dib asked. "Nuh-uh. That was one of the first things I disproved. Besides, his skin is lime green, not dark blue. And he has an alien base. I've been in it."

"Well, do you have any physical evidence?" Scully asked. "Photographs, film footage maybe?" Dib looked at the floor disappointedly.

"No." He said. "I've never been able to keep proof for very long. It always ends up getting destroyed somehow."

"Well, is there anyone else that we can contact who may be able to substantiate your claims?" Scully asked.

"There's the Swollen Eyeball Network. They're an organization of paranormal investigators I belong to. I can set up a meeting between you and one of the agents if you'd like. I'll call you with the details."

"That would be excellent." Mulder said. He stood and picked up his trench coat. "It's been good meeting you, Dib. We'll be back if we have any more questions."

"It's been good meeting you too, agent Mulder." Dib replied. "Stop by anytime."

"When you set up the meeting," Mulder pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it to Dib. "This is to my cell. And if you can think of anything else that may help with the investigation, give me a call."

"Gotcha." Dib said. "Good luck with the investigation. I can't wait to uncover the truth about Zim."

"We'll see," Mulder said, letting Scully out of the room. "but if you're telling the truth, you'll be bigger than Bob Lazar." He said with a smile. Dib grinned. "Catch you later, Dib." He walked out of the room.

Aliensarehereforourcorn

"Did Dib remind you of anyone?" Scully asked with a slight smile as they walked back to the car.

"He sort of reminded me of Max Fenig." Mulder replied with a smile. "A little overzealous, probably a little crazy, but maybe on the right path. Mulder paused by the driver side door as Scully gave him a grin from the opposite side of the car.

"Personally, I think he was like a young version of you."

"What?" Mulder laughed. "You know, I didn't even believe in aliens when I was younger." They got into the Impala, and Mulder started the car's engine. "I guess it was an acquired taste. Now we have another person to visit."

"Who?" Scully asked.

"I looked up paranormal experts in this town, and one name kept popping up…Bill."

Whoooo, this was a long one. But worth the read, eh? What's going to happen next? Will Mulder be able to help Dib finally prove that Zim is an alien? Will Scully finally learn to believe in the paranormal? Will you ever get to see Zim in this story? Have patience, Chapter 3 will be up soon. Until then, reviews please. Cheerio.