-1 CHAPTER 13: Calling the Cavalry

Well, I've finally completed chapter the 13th, for your reading pleasure. This chapter is a major turning point in the story, as you shall read, and the action really begins to pick up as Mulder, Scully and Dib learn what they're really up against. A game I like to play with my readers finds its way into this chapter as well. There is a cameo by a character from a certain anime. If anyone can tell me which anime the character is from, you win my "Need a life…bad" award. I also allude to an upcoming cameo of a character based on my best friend, so this chapter is full of twists, turns and surprises. So without further ado, submitted for your approval, I give you chapter 13.

The Impala sped down the road, running red lights, and squealing around corners as Scully screamed into a cell phone.

"I don't care about standard procedure!" She yelled. "I am special agent Dana Scully with the FBI, and I need the address of your employee Simon now! He could be in danger, do you understand that?!"

"You really think these guys would kill so many people over this?" Dib asked Mulder as he hung onto the back of the driver seat.

"I wonder how many people they have killed over the years to keep things like this secret." Mulder replied.

"Thank you." Scully said angrily, and hung up. "Knottworth Apartments." She said. "Apartment 23."

"That's over a street and down a few blocks!" Dib exclaimed. Mulder performed another high-speed turn, and then another. He locked on the brakes, stopping in front of the apartment building.

"Stay in the car!" Scully ordered as she and Mulder jumped out and ran toward the building. They flanked the front door, and drew their pistols. Mulder nodded to Scully, and the agents threw open the door, and ran in, expecting god-knows what. They were greeted by a standard run down apartment building. A long dim hall ran the length of the building, terminating in stairs at one end to allow access to the second story, where the agents needed to be. They gave each other another cautious look, and moved stealthily down the hall to the stairs, ignoring (or trying to ignore) the bizarre sounds emanating from some of the rooms. In 12, it sounded like a power drill operating. In 7, it sounded like a barnyard, and in 3, strange yet musical gurgling drifted through the hollow-core door. They reached the stairs, and quickly ascended (ascending stairs puts you at a serious tactical disadvantage, avoid them, or take them as quickly as possible), reaching the second floor landing. They rushed down the hall, to room 23. Standing on either side of the door, they looked at each other a final time, then Mulder knocked.

"Simon?" He called. "FBI, we need to speak with you." There was no answer. "Simon?! FBI, Open the door!" Nothing but silence. "Alright, I'm kicking it in." Mulder muttered. He gave the door a hard kick, sending it inward, and he and Scully rushed into the room.

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Dib sat in the car, literally twiddling his thumbs. 'Stay in the car' Scully had said. Didn't she understand that this was as much his case as it was theirs? Where were they, anyway? They were just supposed to run in, grab Simon, and come back out. What if something had happened? What if they were in trouble? Dib couldn't stand it anymore. He climbed out of the car, and ran into the building. He cautiously poked his head in the door, and looked around. Dib ran down the hall, and took the stairs two at a time. Reaching the landing, he crept along the wall until he came to an open door marked 23.

"Hello?" Dib whispered. He walked slowly into the room. He entered the main living area, and stopped. Mulder and Scully had their pistols pointed at him. "Hey, hey…guys, it's me." The agents lowered their weapons.

"Didn't we tell you to stay in the car?" Scully asked, holstering her pistol.

"I need to be here." Dib said defiantly. He looked around the room. "Where is he?"

"We don't know." Mulder sighed. "Maybe he's out."

"Mulder?" Scully called, kneeling over something. Mulder and Dib walked over, and looked down. There were several scarlet drops on the floor. Scully touched one and rubbed it between her fingers. "Blood." Mulder turned around and sighed.

"Then we're too late, Scully." Mulder muttered. Dib looked at the floor forlornly. Scully sighed and did the same. The silent reverie was broken by the ringing of a cell phone. Mulder fumbled in his pocket and retrieved the device, pressing the talk button. "Mulder." He sighed.

"Mr. Mulder…" A familiar voice said on the other end of the line.

"You son of a..." Mulder said angrily. "You lied to me."

"If you are referring to before," The older man's voice said calmly. "I did not deceive you. There was no involvement of outside agencies until you arrived. I fear this may be a clever trap for you and Dr. Scully. I would advise you to not walk into their snare."

"I'm not giving up this investigation!" Mulder exclaimed.

"Then I cannot help you." The man said. "Only to say that you can't win this alone, you and Scully, and if you wish to continue, I'd try to capture the flag before the opposition. I hope to see you later, Mr. Mulder." With that, the line clicked. Mulder slowly lowered it.

"What?" Scully asked. "What was it?" Mulder turned off the phone and stuck it in his pocket.

"A friendly warning." Mulder replied. "From an actual friend for once."

"What did they say?" Scully asked.

"Well," Mulder began. "It's entirely possible that this entire investigation was a clever trap to simultaneously destroy the greatest evidence of extraterrestrial life on Earth, and those who would seek to uncover it."

"What do we do now?" Scully asked. "I mean if all of the evidence is gone, and our lives are in danger, then don't you think it's a good idea if we…I don't know, leave the investigation, I mean…"

"I'm not giving up, Scully." Mulder stated. "Not when we're this close to the truth."

"Then let's call Skinner." Scully said. "We can get some extra support here. We'll tell him that we're in danger and…"

"And what?" Mulder asked. "One, Skinner would just tell us to cut bait and run, and 2, we don't even know what we're up against. These people probably control the Bureau."

"So…what?" Scully asked." Mulder looked at her despairingly.

"Checkmate." He said. Dib sighed. He felt so useless at this moment. He looked around the room, and spied the computer on the small desk beside the bed.

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3:05 am

Inside a motel room, a man stepped from the shadows, putting out a cigarette in a nearly full ashtray. He looked at three other men in dark suits in the room.

"The agents are more tenacious than I had hoped." He said. "They are unfortunately closing in on us." He looked at one man in particular. "Contact our man in CPS. We won't be needing him there any longer. We move in on the creature in thirty minutes.

"Yes, sir." The man replied, and left the room.

Preparenowformultipleanimereferences

"What about Zim?" Scully asked.

"He's no doubt their next target." Mulder replied. "He's the trump card in all of this." He fell silent for a moment. "We can't allow them to capture him."

"Mulder, it's not bravery to walk right into a known trap." Scully argued. Mulder shook his head and sighed. Dib moved closer to the computer as the agents argued.

"Ummmm…" He said. "I may be able to help. Mulder and Scully looked at him. Dib grinned nervously.

"What are you talking about?" Scully asked, a little annoyed.

"Well," Dib began. "If you can't rely on the FBI for backup, maybe there's another way…that is if you don't care to probably break a few rules." Mulder smiled a little.

"We excel at that." He said. Dib smiled. The boy hopped into the computer chair, adjusted his glasses and cracked his knuckles. "Okay…" He sighed. "I hope this works." He turned on the webcam, and began typing away on the keyboard. A dark figure appeared on the screen.

"Agent Darkbooty." The figure stated.

"Agent Darkbooty," Dib said. "I know it sounds crazy, but I need some serious help here."

"Mothman," Darkbooty sighed. "This had better be good." Mulder thought for a minute.

"Dib." He whispered. Dib turned around. "Ask to speak to Agent Tuna Ghost."

"Agent…Tuna Ghost?" Scully whispered to Mulder. He just smiled a little and shrugged.

"Can you patch me through to Agent Tuna Ghost?" Dib asked. "Please, it's an emergency." Darkbooty sighed.

"Very well, Mothman." He said. "But as I said, this had better be good." The screen blinked, and a new figure appeared, definitely female in appearance.

"Tuna Ghost." She said. Mulder stepped into the Webcam's view. The figure leaned in for a second, as if looking at her screen. "Fox Mulder…I didn't expect to be seeing you so soon." Dib looked between Mulder and the screen, then wheeled the chair aside.

"Unfortunately, it's not under the best of circumstances." Mulder said. Tuna Ghost sighed.

"What can I do?" She asked.

"I don't know, unless you can give us some major backup here." Mulder replied.

"You like baseball?" Tuna Ghost asked.

"Only when the Yankees are having a good season." Mulder smiled.

"Well what's the score?" Tuna Ghost asked with a sly grin.

"Zero to three." Mulder said. "And it's the last inning."

"That's no good at all." Tuna Ghost stated. Dib looked at the floor.

"And there's only a few moments left in the game." Mulder added.

"There is someone who can help." Tuna Ghost said. Dib looked up. "She can be there soon enough if…"

"If what?" Mulder asked.

"If you're willing to deal with what she might do." At this, Dib's eyes got larger.

"Is it any worse than what they could do?" Mulder asked. Tuna Ghost smiled again.

"You have no idea, Mulder." She said. "Go. Do what you have to do. She'll be there in good time."

"I owe you one." Mulder said.

"For this…" Tuna Ghost replied. "I'd say you owe me dinner sometime." Mulder gave a small laugh.

"It's a deal." He nodded.

"Go." She ordered. "You have work to do. Good luck." With that, the screen went black. Mulder looked over to Dib, who was staring as if he'd just seen a ghost…or rather as most people would after seeing a ghost.

"What?" He asked.

"It can't be." Dib muttered.

"What?" Scully asked.

"She's not dead." Dib said to himself.

"Who?" Mulder asked.

"We have to go." Dib said, changing the subject. "I never thought Id be saying this, but we have to save Zim."

"Yeah." Mulder agreed, letting the topic go for the moment. "Let's go."

The Impala raced down the road, the 350 small block roaring like a beast preparing to make a kill. Inside, Dib sat strangely silent, staring out the window. Mulder periodically looked at him in the rearview mirror, his analytical mind at work. Finally he spoke.

"Dib," He began, "If there's anything we should know, tell us. We're on the same team." Dib sighed and shook his head.

"It's crazy." He muttered.

"After everything I've seen," Scully said. "I'm willing to go on a little faith." Dib sighed again.

"I thought it was a legend…a story …" He began, "A few years ago, a highly trained SEN agent…one of the best supposedly, went up against a demon. She slayed the demon, but she was killed." Dib stuck his head between the agents. "They say she was never found, so they assumed that she was killed, you know?"

"Aannnd?" Mulder goaded.

"Well Konata, an online friend of mine who is also in the network says that she heard that the agent came back…"

"She pulled a Lazarus?" Mulder joked.

"You asked." Dib pouted, falling back into the seat.

"Sorry." Mulder apologized. "Why did this agent come back?" He asked, taking a curve that almost made Dib fly to the other side of the car.

"Well…from what Konata says," Dib replied, "This agent was actually sent back by somebody, and now she's some kind of…I don't know…supernatural assassin or something that only the highest ranking members of the Swollen Eyeball Network know about."

"What do others have to say?" Scully asked.

"That she's just good." Dib replied. He inhaled deeply as the car came to a stop outside of Zim's house, which was eerily dark. Mulder, Scully and Dib leapt from the car, and ran to Zim's front door. Scully pulled Dib behind her, as the agents took their places on either side of the door, drawing their pistols. Mulder knocked hard on the door.

"Zim?" He called. "It's the FBI, you may be in danger. Open up!" The house remained silent. "Déjà vu." Mulder muttered to Scully. "Zim! We're coming in!" He tried the doorknob, and the door swung open.

"Wait." Dib said. "This isn't right. Zim has all kinds of electronic defenses and surveillance equipment. Something is wrong." Mulder nodded, and pulling a small flashlight, entered the house cautiously. Scully entered next, turning on her own flashlight, followed by Dib, who not to be left out produced a flashlight of his own. The house was dark and silent. "I've got a bad feeling about this." Dib said. He shined his flashlight around the room. "There should be…wait!" He exclaimed, running toward the kitchen area. "Look!" He said, shining his flashlight onto the wall. A darkened area like a blast mark was burned into the wall.

"And here." Scully said, shining her flashlight on another similar mark on the living room wall.

"It looks like some kind of battle." Mulder stated, looking around the room. "And I don't see any bodies, so I'm assuming that…"

"They got Zim." Dib finished. The trio stood in silent contemplation of their failure. Suddenly, Mulder perked up.

"Dib," He began. "You said Zim's house had defenses."

"Yeah." The boy replied.

"How many men would it take to do this?"

"Ummm…a dozen, I guess." Dib answered.

"And to shut down his defenses?"

"An EMP gun or something." Dib replied. "They would have to knock out…"

"In short they would have to have a small army and a lot of hardware." Mulder interrupted. "And probably a containment unit of some kind. Which means they wouldn't exactly be driving around in a couple sedans."

"They would need a bus or a truck." Scully added. "It would be somewhat high profile."

"We have to find that truck, Scully." Mulder said stoically.