A one shot, while it might not turn into a ZaDR fic, it's still a fic on Dib and Zim relationship taking a turn for the better…(…or the worst…)
Enjoy the horror fic. Kukukuuu…
((Has not been read over or edited to get fixed, please excuse any mis-spellings that are found))
Preview: Zim's been hacked into, and not just his house computer or Gir or anything so small and simple, but his PAK unit. With his unit being his only way of control over himself and his database, Zim is officially a puppet to whoever is controlling him. And it can't be Dib, Dib is the only one to notice how different he's behaving…
Malfunction: (One-Shot)
Zim's body twitched, and he let out a weak grunt. His skin shivered, his insides sparked and he let out a low groan. Something seemed to be messing with his insides, and it wasn't the gas that Gir's waffles gave him.
Deep in the night as he slept in the one bedroom his home had, he tossed and turned. Zim slept restlessly, he just couldn't get comfortable enough to sit still and fall into slumber. The green Irken tossed and turned, a sweat starting to form as a strange and peculiar shadow loomed over his body. Zim slept bare, and with the blankets tossed and tangled off of the bed, the shadow darkened the skin of his entire body, before Zim's red eyes shot open.
The glow of his eyes illuminated the darkness of the room, and as soon as he had opened them the shadow had vanished. Zim sat up in the bed, his antennae pulled back from the fear and tiredness of sleep. He felt another jolt, and the alien groaned like before "What on Irk…" Zim cursed under his breath, sighing as he rolled his eyes "If this is another plot that the Dib-Stink has pulled, I will gut him like an Irken Gork Fish." He found his blankets and pulled them up, making sure it covered every inch of him before he snuggled his fluffy white pillow and returned to try and sleep. Once more, he barely could get himself to drift away, and the shadow that watched over him made sure of it.
Zim jumped up with a jolt, slipping out of his chair and sliding underneath his desk from the sound of a loud bang.
Ms. Bitters scoffed "Try to stay awake Zim, as boring as this lecture is, it is important for your final exam." With that being said, she patted the ruler on Zim's desk before backing away and returning to the board.
A crumbled up paper was tossed in time with Zim's lifting, hitting the alien's wig lightly before bouncing off his head. The class snickered, and Zim immediately glared at the person he expected had tossed it. Dib.
Dib's glasses flashed as the pale pre-teen chuckled under his breath, and Zim growled slightly before fixing himself in his seat. Ms. Bitters continued her lecture on a pointless analysis about the solar system. Zim already knew all of this, so did Dib he figured, so soon a war of paper blew up between them in the classroom. Dib tossed paper balls and airplanes, while Zim did the same, as well as creating paper footballs to toss his way. When the bell had rang for lunch, Dib and Zim both had plenty of paper stuck in their hair.
They both made it to the doorway of the classroom after everyone had left, and struggled to get through first. Both the characters forced themselves to make it before the other, stumbling into the hallway and falling over each other when they had made it to the other side. With Dib being on top, Zim growled and shoved the human off "Get your filthy stink face off of me, human!"
"What?" Dib glared and got up right after Zim, shoving the alien in return "It was you who had to just push and shove to get through the stupid doorway!"
"Don't even start with Zim, you idiot!" Zim snarled and lowered his head in annoyance. Soon the two of them chest bumped, joining hands and attempting to wrestle the other to the floor. Their heads butted, and they each pushed and tugged and pulled to fight off the other. They were acting like little kids, but as other students passed and ignored the two, it was then realized that everyone was used to their fighting every day. Suddenly, Zim's body sparked, and sent a small zap at Dib's hand. Dib pulled away just as Zim fell to his knees.
"Zim what the hell was that?" Dib said quickly with a small gasp, waving his hand from the pain of the heat that had hit it. Zim shook his head as he sat on his knees, weakly shaking before lifting up slightly "I-I don't know…This has been happening since last night."
Dib grunted, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Zim stand to his feet "Well fix it, that's annoying. It also explains why you have been sleeping through class today."
"Shut up." Zim simply said under his breath, looking away for a moment. There was an awkward silence as Zim stared down nervously at the floor, and Dib stared at him in curiosity, before the alien finally just breathed out "I'm leaving school." He turned to walk away.
"Wh-What?" Dib gasped and followed right behind Zim, finally managing to grasp the alien's shoulder as he approached the front doors of the school "What makes you think it's so easy to just leave school, Zim? Do you think I'd let you roam around just because of a stupid glitch?"
"Hell if I know that YOU did this." Zim smacked Dib's hand away and turned, baring his teeth angrily at the human. Dib's glasses flashed as he lifted his hands a bit in defeat, backing away slightly. Zim continued as he pulled back, calming himself "I've been going haywire all night, and I'll be damned if this happens all day as well. Zim will return to his base and have himself checked and fixed, without your annoying self in the way, Dib-Stink."
And with a quick grunt, he turned once again, heading out the front doors of the school.
Dib paused and stared for a while, looking around curiously at the already emptied halls, before returning to gaze at the door and scratching his chin.
"What's wrong with me…?" Zim said as he sat in his lab underground. He touched his head, jumping a bit as a strange energy surged through him. His body had been scanned, plenty of times since he had returned from school, but the computers had detected nothing. Zim felt it, but even his higher Irken technology couldn't determine what seemed to be the problem.
Gir had soon appeared, through the elevator doors he skipped happily as he watched his master at the computer desk out of his disguise. Gir held a stuffed mini piggy in one arm, an abnormally large muffin in the other, and a sucker in his mouth. He approached his master with a sudden squeal in song "MASTER AND TACOS SITTIN' IN A TREE!"
He froze, then finished "WHERE IS MAH PEE-UDDING THINGY?"
"Not now Gir…" Zim mumbled, closing his suddenly tired eyes "Zim needs to focus."
Just then, a shadow seemed to fly through Gir, causing the robot to drop all the things he was holding, as well as what was in his mouth. Once the sucker hit the floor, Zim grunted "Gir, don't fling your disgusting sweets all around my laboratory." He waved his hand lightly "Clean it now."
He waited for Gir to pick up his food and leave, but Gir stood there silently. Zim finally turned to gaze at him, immediately noting that his usual blue glow was now red.
"Gir, is there an intruder? You're in battle mode."
"Sir." Gir saluted, and held that position silently as he moved closer. There was a twitch in the robots body, and a surge of electricity that danced over him, before the robot companion grasped at Zim's pack unit.
Zim quickly fell out of the chair, slipping out of Gir's grasp "H-Hey Gir! What on Irk do you think you're doing? You know better than to send any form of voltage levels to a PAK unit!"
Gir didn't stop though, he continued walking towards his Master with a strong salute and march, the robots eyes were in dark slits as the red glowed. A strange laugh seemed to echo through the base, and Zim shook his head as he crawled backward "C-Computer!" He yelled, managing to get to his feet "Computer, intruder! Activate self-defense!"
"Intruder not detected." The computer said in a monotone voice "Command ignored."
"You do not ignore Zim!" Zim yelled, practically screeching at the top of his lungs as he was suddenly bumped into by Gir. The robot toppled on top of Zim, the little metallic body was flinching and shaking as if being boiled on top of a stove like water. Zim hissed, attempting to shake the SIR unit off of his back "What has gotten into you? Are you malfunctioned?"
Zim failed to notice as Gir reached for Zim's PAK unit, grasping it and suddenly his entire body shot up in a bright electric surge of energy, sending it Zim's way directly through the metal globe.
Zims eyes went wide, his mouth parted just as wide as a silent scream appeared to be erupting from his throat and his body shook from the shock. His body twitched and jolted, soon smoke being visible just as soon as Gir retreated and jumped off, before he ran around the entire lab, shocking and electrocuting everything around them. Zim was motionless as he fell to the floor, his ruby eyes stared up at the ceiling covered in wires and machinery. The ceiling started to jitter from the sparks that flew about, some cords unhooking and falling loosely like noodles.
Suddenly though, Zim's eyes flashed, and his PAK unit spoke up "Re-wiring circuits, malfunction. Hack and Virus detection. Initiating stand-by mode." But Zim's body started twitching as the unit continued to repeat "Stand-by mode… stand-by mode…"
Zim lifted up and sat there, hunched over as if a lifeless doll, before a deep chuckle seemed to release from his lips. His head soon darted upward, a wide and gruesome grin spread across his face, revealing his sharp teeth "Finally, the perfect body." He hissed, his long tongue licked at his lips.
Dib stood in front of Zim's house quietly, simply staring at the house and its entirety. The lawn gnomes hadn't attacked, which was weirder than normal, since Dib was Dib, and Zim always caught him on his security cameras to either have him removed, attacked at, or chased off. The only time Zim and Dib talked out of school was when Dib was stalking the alien, it was the other way around, or Dib managed to sneak into his base to stop whatever plans he was doing… but this was different.
Dib wasn't on fire yet, and he had now stood on Zim's front lawn for more than a few minutes.
"Hm." Dib wondered to himself curiously as he walked up the sidewalk and pressed the doorbell, though it made no noise. He tried to press it repeatedly, but it simply wouldn't work. He sighed and just stopped, before knocking on the door as loudly as possible, only for it to slowly creak open.
"Uh, Zim?" Dib asked as he pushed the door more open to peek inside, before stepping in and closing it behind him "Hey, was wondering what you're plotting this time."
He heard nothing. It was a dark and dead silence that sent shivers up Dib's spine. Gir should be yelling and running around, Zim would eventually show up with another trap and Dib would have to get out of it. But nothing was exactly happening; he was stuck in a state of wonderment, and…worry?
"Zim, what are you up to?" Dib asked, though not towards anyone in particular as he went into the secret entrance towards the alien's underground base. The elevator didn't even work though, he had to hack it in order for it to barely move to the next floor. When he had managed to escape it, he took the stairs all the way down to where the main computer and lab were. He looked around, and the entire place looked ruined and destroyed. Wires hung loosely from the ceiling, some lay detached all over the floor, and others stuck out abnormally from the walls and the computers.
"Z-Zim? What the hell is going on?" Dib finally called out louder than before, walking in and through the place to search for him. Dib had to admit, his base was larger than his own dad's lab in his basement. When he did find Zim, the alien had his back turned towards him, and seemed to be staring at a completely blue screen on a small monitor. The alien didn't even say anything to Dib, and just sat there facing away.
"Zim, your place is trashed." Dib gave a small grunt as he stood behind him, arching a brow at the monitor before looking away "You left early due to glitches and crap? Well, I can see why but still… you're up to something, Zim, and I'm going to stop you."
Dib finally paused and looked around again, asking gently "Where's Gir?"
"Oh, you mean my little puppet?" Zim finally whispered coldly, his voice was a lot deeper and darker than normal, and it caused Dib to shiver like he had when he was upstairs "I disposed of him. I had no further use for his services so I dismantled him and threw him in the scrap yard…" A loud cackle suddenly erupted from Zim's mouth, and Dib quickly took a step back, his eyes widened. What the hell was wrong with Zim?
"Zim?" Dib breathed out in shock "Gir may have been pretty stupid, like… REALLY stupid… but you and I both know he has his moments were he's awesome!" Dib turned away and headed for the stairs "Fine, I'll grab him and use him for my own use. He just needs some fixing up and—"
"I'm afraid he's already been shredded…" Zim suddenly jumped up from his seat and turned quickly on his heel. Wires immediately shot out from the walls and blocked the staircase, and Dib fell back.
"And I cannot let you leave anyway, human. I need to spread my infection, I'll succeed in what this Irken has not. EARTH WILL ALL BE MINE!" A maniacal laugh came from Zim, he bared his blood stained teeth and revealed the dark circles underneath his widened ruby eyes. Antennae were twitching on his head as if searching or feeling for something, like that of an ant's, but to no purpose. Dib was now feeling on the wires to try and find a way to squeeze through, before turning his attention to Zim… only to gasp from the horror.
"Zim!" Dib blurted, adjusting his glasses before sliding away from the now approaching alien. Dib looked around, hoping for some other exit "What's gotten into you? I don't even think you're Zim… sure Zim is evil, but he's not… he's not even that…."
"Clever?" The creature chuckled, pulling off his rubber gloves and revealing his claws "I can honestly agree with you… I am nothing but a mere virus, disposed of and deleted… left to die in the trash bin of a fail-safe's computer. Unfortunately, I was tampered with and given true life. What Zim failed to admit was that he took me for granted and tried to get rid of me… but all will be better when this world is gone. There will be nothing left but a virus inhabited waste land…"
Dib shook his head quickly, darting for another way out across the room. As soon as the wires formed in front of the only other staircase, he flinched from the evil laughter as he turned and once more paid attention to Zim. The green alien's head was lowered, his gaze directly on Dib's brown eyes. Zim was… going insane.
"Zim's in there somewhere!" Dib yelled in defiance, puffing out his chest and pointing angrily towards him "No matter what, Zim would never let any other thing take over Earth without his say in it! He wants to be the only one, so you won't get away with this! Zim will fight you out of his body and you'll—"
"Oh, I seemed to have forgotten to mention…" Zim's possessor whispered as he finally, in the blink of an eye, approached Dib. Dib's eyes widened as he tried to turn his head away, but Zim grabbed his face and forced him to look. The alien gave a low croaking noise, before opening his mouth wide, revealing a mouth full of blood, as well as a flailing stub, where Zim's tongue should have been.
Dib covered his mouth, trying to move away as he shut his eyes.
Zim spit his blood on Dib's face, and he laughed loudly "THAT'S CORRECT HUMAN!" His tone lowered as he chuckled "I killed Zim already. As great as this body is… they do not have the ability to reproduce, I killed him as soon as I took him over, and now need a new vessel…"
He stroked Dib's chin, and Dib winced. The four-eyed male was already feeling like he was going to cry. What the hell could he do to get out of this?
"But humans are more than capable… aren't they?" The possessor whispered, continuing to now push Dib up against the wires on the walls with one claw. They were loose and broken, so every now and then they sent a painful zap through Dib's body. The creature continued though "Their only flaw is that they aren't made of wires and circuitry. I'll have to force you to conjoin with this Irken's Super Computer…"
"You're… sick…" Dib finally breathed out "Disgusting and sick! What kind of virus are you?"
"That's the hilarious thing." He cackled as he pressed one claw into Dib, forcing his claws to pierce the human's chest "I'm just a fucking Trojan!" He pushed forward, giving Dib the chance to cry out from the sudden pain, before finally puncturing the male's heart and sending a shockwave through his body.
Dib's life flashed through his glasses. All he wanted to be, everything he had hoped for. He wanted to save Earth from Zim, but now that Zim was gone… and so was he, who would save Earth from a possessed Dib?
His brown eyes rolled back, his body finally going limp for a moment as Zim and Dib's lifeless forms fell to the floor. Dib's body continued to twitch slightly, before slowly lifting up like an undead being. His head was tilted so far to the side that he looked like a demented doll, and his round glasses fell down and cracked, before sliding slowly next to Zim's face.
"Now, where was I…?" The dark voice behind Dib's own words seemed to breathe out in annoyance, before flinging his arms back, tugging the wires from the wall, and letting them pierce his spine with a loud yell. A surge of electricity shot his body, but it was only the virus' body now, Dib was no where to be found.
"YES!" Dib's brown eyes gave a hint of red as his shadow reflected off of the walls of the now dark laboratory "THE WORLD IS MINE! ALL MINE! BWAHAHAHAHA!"
The streets were barren, not a person was in sight. It looked like a ghost town, as if no one had inhabited the place for years upon years… but that wasn't true, it was only two weeks later.
Deep in Zim's old laboratory, underneath the destroyed remains of his fake home, rested the alien's corpse. Zim's body lay flat on his back, his red rubies wide and close to deteriorating, and tried up blood stained his teeth, lips, and face. His PAK unit continued mumbling in the tone of a dead-battery doll…
"Reloading. Reloading…"
And Dib's broken glasses rested beside his face.
The shadow of Dib's body loomed over Zim's, as the pale skinned human, or what once was so, hung on the wall like a crucified higher being. The wires were inserted all over his body, showing nothing more than Dib's chest and face as his lifeless eyes gazed down at Zim. Blood and organs hung in the mix of the wires, while Dib's face looked clean, he looked like that of a living zombie.
Dib was un-moving, the virus had failed to take over the world, but the infection he sent simply killed off humanity as quickly as they had come to Earth.
Dib and Zim stared at each other, as Dib's glasses remained beside the alien's face.
