The X-Files

A prehistoric cave painting in Texas is unearthed by construction workers — and one of them is infected by something inside: a black, oil-like substance that takes over its host. The find is immediately buried and covered up by men with government clearance.

In Dallas, a federal building is bombed. Mulder and Scully are on scene, having intercepted a tip, but their proximity to the attack becomes a liability — they are reassigned, the X-Files effectively shut down, their credibility attacked. Mulder is approached by Dr. Kurtzweil, an old contact of his father's, who tells him the bomb was designed to destroy evidence of bodies already dead before the explosion. Bodies infected with something.

The trail leads to a FEMA facility in Texas, vast fields of corn, and underground tanks housing alien-infected humans being used as incubators for a new life form. Mulder is extracted from the facility before he can expose it. The Well-Manicured Man — a senior figure in the global Syndicate managing the alien colonization agreement — breaks from the group and gives Mulder a vaccine before being killed.

Scully is stung by a bee carrying the alien virus and taken before Mulder can get to her. He tracks her to a massive alien spacecraft buried under the Antarctic ice, administers the vaccine, and gets her out as the ship tears itself free of the ice and launches into the sky.

Back in Washington, their report is dismissed. The X-Files are reopened — a consolation, or a trap to keep them contained. The conspiracy absorbs what happened, as it always does. Mulder and Scully return to the work.