It Takes Two for a Massacre.
Author Notes;; -gasp- People actually like the fic! I had my doubts, but every time I check my e-mail I get another review! And no flames yet! OMG! Oh and sorry I haven't updated, schools, they just don't understand the importance of ZIM!
Chapter Two;; I Hear Footsteps
Dib and Gaz Membrane were walking down the street toward Iggins's house. At first glance they appeared to be a kind older brother spending time with his cute little sister. After a closer look however one could easily see the scowl Gaz was giving the unsuspecting sidewalk, and the nerve that twitched in her head. Dib was too wrapped up in his paranormal monologue to notice the growing anger in his younger sister.
Gaz was definitely angry, although livid would be a good word to describe the emotion she was feeling. She was used to wearing heavy combat boots, not shiny Mary-Janes. The dress was too tight and she wanted to bite the fake rose off of her shoulder. On top of all of this, there was Dib. He was going on about who knows (or cares) what, right in her ear.
"And so," Dib continued his speech oblivious to the fact that his doom was close at hand, "I've decided that Zim must have somehow warned the gremlins, using advanced alien technology. If only I could figure out-"
"Dib." Gaz's voice was soft and deadly sinister as she gave her brother his first warning.
"-because obviously it would have to be highly sophisticated to penetrate all that garbage. So, next time I sneak into Zim's house I'm going to check his trash and-"
"Dib." The teenage girl growled a little bit louder.
"The only problem is if the Pirate Trash Gremlins find out about my plan. They're sneaky so I'll have to use a clever disguise. I already tried the mailman, but an Avon lady might-"
"Dib!" Gaz snapped at him, her voice was barely louder than normal but it held a note of command, "If you do not stop talking this instant you will be condemned to a pit of eternally engulfing torment and misery where you will beg, beg, for me to kill you."
The raven haired boy drifted into a fearful silence. Dib sent a timid glance toward his sister, and as he did so he noticed that there was no Gameslave in her hands. No electronic sounds drifted through the air alongside the tapping of buttons, it was like the world had suddenly come to an immediate stop. "Why…?" he ventured hesitantly.
Gaz looked up at her brother who immediately cringed expecting her to hit him. All she did however was give a small sigh and say bitterly, "Dad said I wouldn't need it. He said I'd have fun without it." Her teeth ground together angrily and she lashed out furiously at an unoffending telephone pole. There was a resounding crack and when Dib stopped to look curiously at it he saw a large imprint of broken wood where Gaz's fist had slammed into it.
"Well struck, little Gaz!" came a loud sneering voice, "Although next time try aiming for your brother's enormous head! It should be a pathetically easy target."
"Zim." Dib spat as he turned around to face his arch-enemy. The young paranormal investigator didn't have any other enemies, but 'arch-enemy' just sounded way cooler. The poorly disguised alien sauntered up to the pale boy with a crooked smirk on his face. "What are you doing here?"
Zim's zipper-toothed smile grew wider, "Foolish human," he replied in a mock sweet voice, "can you not comprehend that Zim merely wants to chat? You should be honored that the all-powerful ZIM would even consider exchanging words with such a filthy human worm-baby." Dib gave a grunt of disbelief,
"Yeah, whatever, Zim. I'm on to you though, you and your little gremlin friends won't get away with this!" The boy proclaimed triumphantly as he pointed an accusing finger at the green-skinned alien. Zim squinted one eye at him, which was the human equivalent of a raised eyebrow.
"Gre-whats?" Zim asked, genuinely confused, "Have you the brain worms, Dib-thing?"
Dib scowled at his adversary. How dumb did Zim think he was? It was painfully obvious that he and the Pirate Trash Gremlins were working together. "I've had enough of your stalling!" Dib proclaimed. With that brave and fairly stupid statement, the boy launched himself toward onto Zim. The alien was unprepared for the sudden weight and he fell backwards. The two rolled into the street, though both of them quickly regained their feet with cat-like reflexes.
Suddenly Zim extracted an odd looking ray gun from a previously concealed pocket in his Irken uniform. With a triumphant grin the alien bore down upon Dib who backed up warily. The back of Dib's foot hit something hard; glancing back he saw a rather conveniently placed fire hydrant. "Any last words Dib-monster?" Zim asked with a sinister smirk.
"Yes, actually," Dib replied with a smirk to match, "You need a bath." Zim paused for a moment trying to figure out what the boy's meaning was. Dib took a deep breath and hit the fire hydrant on one of the side valves. To his shock the cap popped off and water gushed full force at Zim who was thrown off his feet by the pressure. As Dib stared at the alien writhing in pain from the water, he marveled in the fact that he had actually been able to knock the cap off of the valve. He had gotten the idea off of a cartoon so he wasn't certain that it would work.
Zim's skin hissed loudly when the water hit him, he barrel-rolled out of the stream of the water and stood up. He made a vain endeavor to get some of the water off of him and screamed, "I'll get you for that Dib! No one douses ZIM with cursed earthen water and gets away with it!" Then he stooped and picked up the wig which had been knocked off his head. Ironically enough the wig hadn't gotten any water on it and he placed it on his head before running off down the street in a quest to find something absorbent to dry off with. Little lines of smoke streamed off of the green alien as he ran.
Dib laughed as his enemy ran off, one of those triumphant hero laughs that he had been working on. "Did you see that Gaz?" he asked still laughing, "Gaz?" he repeated when he didn't get a response. Turning around he saw her leaning against the remains of the telephone pole she had decimated. Gaz's face was blank of any kind of emotion, not even dry amusement like usual.
"Go away Dib," she commanded imperiously. Dib raised his hand in protest but Gaz cut him off, "I mean it, Dib. Your face is going to make me sick if I have to look at it anymore. I'll walk to Iggins's myself." Dib still looked like he wanted to say something but before he did Gaz took a few steps toward him and grabbed his shirt. The teenage boy winced in anticipation of a blow that never came. Instead of hitting him, Gaz twisted her wrist and ripped Dib's shirt clean off of him.
"Um…Gaz?" He asked looking disturbed.
"Go away." The purple haired girl reiterated, this time there was a glint of steel in her smooth amber eyes. Dib didn't move an inch. With a slight roll of her eyes Gaz aimed and then kicked her brother in the shin. Dib let out a yelp of surprise and grabbed his leg. "You're lucky I didn't have my boots on." His sister informed him.
"Geez, Gaz!" Dib gasped in pain as he clutched the spot where she had kicked him. A smirk played on her lips as the goth girl prepared to kick him again. Before she did Dib bolted down the sidewalk, heading for their house.
Gaz watched him until he was out of sight and said, "That's what I thought." Clutching his torn shirt in her left hand the girl began walking in the direction Zim had run.
-----
Zim had managed to steal a roll of toilet paper from a gas station bathroom and was sitting on the sidewalk curb attempting to dry himself with the flimsy paper products. It wasn't working very well as the toilet paper didn't absorb hardly any water because it was so thin. You know how cheap gas station toilet paper is.
This was how Gaz found him: smoking slightly, shivering, and making a valiant but futile attempt to get dry. Zim was too preoccupied with the pain to notice the shadow cast over him by the taller girl. Taking this advantage Gaz threw Dib's shirt at the alien's head momentarily blinding him. Assuming an evil look Gaz walked in front of Zim as he struggled to remove the navy blue smiley t-shirt. When Zim was freed of the warm, slightly smothering cotton he found himself staring straight at Gaz. "Gah!" he squeaked in surprise. "Dib-sister, why have you followed Zim?"
Gaz scowled at him in annoyance, "I have a name, it's Gaz. Use it." Then she gestured toward the t-shirt, "Dry off with that." It was about as close as she came to being nice or considerate, a terse order with a note of disdain. Zim picked up the torn fabric and examined it,
"This is the Dib-stink's shirt." He stated wrinkling his eyes in disgust since he lacked a nose.
"Yeah," Gaz replied shortly. The badly disguised alien continued to stare at the shirt, smoking slightly. "Well?" Gaz snapped after staring at him for thirty seconds.
"What is Zim supposed to do?" he asked slightly confused.
The purple haired teenager rolled her eyes, "Dry off." Zim stared at the shirt with distaste, "Yes, Zim, it's Dib's shirt. You can either burn to death or wipe off with Dib's shirt. Your choice." A frown twisted onto her face as she glared at the alien. She was beginning to have second thoughts about helping him. With deliberate slowness, Zim began to use the dark blue t-shirt to dry the water from his skin and uniform.
The shirt was fine quality cotton and quickly absorbed the water. Zim gave a sigh of relief as he gently wiped his antenna's clear of the burning liquid. "What now?" he asked hesitatingly turning toward his benefactor. Gaz let her breath out making a slight 'pfft' sound of laughter and sat down next to the alien. "How must I dispose of this filthy earth garment?" he pressed her.
"However you want to." she responded with a shrug. Zim gave a wicked grin and sliced his sharp claws through the fabric as though he was cutting through his enemy. He shredded the t-shirt until it was nothing more than a few scraps. Gaz raised an eyebrow at his ferocious annihilation of the shirt. Zim was as absorbed with clawing the shirt into tiny pieces as she got with her Gameslave.
"Where is your dim-witted sibling unit?" Zim asked curiously, Gaz shrugged in answer, "How did you rid yourself of the Dib-monster?" The Irken leaned forward anxious to hear of any weakness Dib might have.
"I kicked him into submission after I stole his shirt."
Zim laughed in a way that could only be described as maniacal. Then he made a mental note to invest in a pair of steel toed boots. "Why did you steal his shirt?" he questioned.
Gaz rolled her eyes once more, "So you could use it, stupid." Zim nodded and the two sat quietly next to each other for a few minutes. Gaz crossed her ankles together and tapped the heel of her left shoe on the asphalt. Iggins's birthday party started in five minutes, but she'd much rather stay with Zim, or anyone else for that matter. Truthfully though Zim wasn't too bad when he wasn't spasmodically trying to prove his normalcy or take over the world. He also seemed to recognize her need for silence which was something her brother never could seem to manage. "Zim?"
"Eh?" he jumped slightly obviously absorbed in his own thoughts when she had spoken. The little alien turned to look at Gaz.
"You probably have some destructive alien weaponry right?" she asked him making a vague gesture toward his Irken uniform.
Zim's eyes went wide with suspicion, "I am normal!" he proclaimed, "Why would I have weapons?"
Gaz laughed a little, "No, seriously, you just pulled out a laser a few minutes ago. Got anything else?"
"Maaaaaybe…" Zim replied drawing the word comically. "Why?"
The teenage girl ignored his question and instead countered with one of her own, "Wanna have some fun?"
Zim's brow furrowed in obvious confusion and his bottom lip poked out slightly, "Do you mock Zim?" he demanded with an angry edge in his voice.
Gaz gave an irritated sigh and said, "No stupid. Look, I'm mad. You're mad too. You have weapons, and I know a place we can use them. If we work together it could be good for both of us." Zim stared at the ground and considered Gaz's offer. When he looked up he was smiling and he announced,
"Your proposal has much promise, Gaz-human. We shall be a dangerous team of…danger…bringing…um, doom. Yes, DOOM!" Zim declared triumphantly and stood up. After a moment's pause he extended a hand toward Gaz.
"What are you doing?" she asked staring at the gloved hand with skeptical disbelief.
Zim leaned forward a bit more and gestured his hand pointedly. "I have noticed that the male of your species frequently offers assistance to what are termed 'ladies.' I am merely making an attempt at politeness."
The purple haired girl merely sat on the sidewalk and stared at the hand that was dangling in front of her. Zim gazed at her expectantly. Gaz's left eyebrow raised ever so slightly. Was he serious? He seemed sincere, but it was just such a ridiculous concept for Gaz to wrap her mind around. Zim was trying to be a gentleman? For a split second she wondered if she should look toward the sky for flying pigs. Two silent minutes had passed and Zim was starting to look a bit frightened.
Then Gaz reached up her hand, and Zim's clawed fingers closed around her own small white ones. The alien began to pull up to help her to her feet when Gaz jerked on his arm pulling herself up and simultaneously throwing him onto the ground. Putting a hand on her hip she glared at him, "I am not a lady. Don't let the dress fool you."
Zim got to his feet rubbing his elbow which he had used to break the fall, "Understood." he replied cautiously. Without a backwards glance Gaz began walking down the sidewalk toward Iggins's house. Zim hesitated.
"C'mon, we're already late." Her voice drifted back to him as he stood in the middle of the empty sidewalk. Zim hurried forward until he was walking alongside Gaz.
"Now, Gaz-human, what is this place of carnage you mentioned?"
Author's Notes;; Ok, so tell me if there was too much OOC. Zim is a hard little alien dude to write for! I just get a little 'awwwww' moment thinking of him trying to help Gaz to her feet, then I get an 'omfg lol!' moment when she kicks his butt. Anyway...next chapter will hopefully be out Wednesday. R&R or um...Zim and Gaz will bring danger...um...DOOM! To you that is.