(A/N) Chapter two! *throws confetti* FYI, there will be four chapters to this fic, plus an epilogue. :)
... Stuff gets real in this chapter, yo.
Thanks go out to PastaLuv, leddybug, xXFemkeXx, and an unnamed but very appreciated guest for reviewing! *presents with plates of waffles* I made 'em mah self!
I do not own IZ. Sorry for ruining the hopes and dreams of any who thought I did.
Why… am I thinking like this…?
Dib lay on his bed, lighter in hand held at arm's length as he flicked it on, watched the flame splutter… and then extinguished it. His life had been rather monotonous since Zim had been collected, and he couldn't help remembering the little alien's words.
"My mission might not be as exciting without you around to annoy me…"
"Yeah…" he muttered, staring at the flickering flame and his ceiling beyond, "I don't have a mission without you around to annoy me…"
The ringing of the phone made him jump, lighter falling from his hands and flame dying abruptly. Rising slowly, all urgency was gone from him as he picked up the receiver and leaned over, bent over his desk.
"Yes? Hello?"
"I'd like to speak to Dib."
One eyebrow shooting up, Dib replied, "That's me."
"Oh, good!" There was a smile in the caller's voice. "I'm calling about that alien you handed over to us about two months back!"
Instantly the boy was at attention, clutching the edge of his desk, eyes wide with excitement. "Really? What about it?"
"Well, we'd like you- as the discoverer –to come down and take a look at our progress," the man said. "I'm the head scientist working on the project, and I don't think it's right that you should be kept out, even if you are a child. You're obviously an intelligent boy who knows exactly what he's talking about."
A grin spread across Dib's face, and suddenly he was hopping slightly. "Yes! I mean, I'd love to! Ha! When? Where?"
"Well, when would you be available?"
"A-any time!" the boy said excitedly. "I-I mean… as soon as tomorrow!"
"Alright," the scientist said, that smile back in his voice. "Tomorrow at around noon? The address is…"
"Great! I'll be there!"
… … …
Dib could hardly sleep that night, predictably. He spent an hour or two just staring at the ceiling, clutching his blankets with a silly grin painted across his face, but eventually his eyes drifted shut. When they did, however, he found himself still caught in the same flurry of excitement that ruled his waking world.
"Right this way," a man in a white coat said, and Dib padded after him eagerly. "Oh, and here's your own security pass; you're welcome to come here any time."
He accepted the badge, pinning it proudly to his chest before following the scientist into a sterile hallway. Then he was ushered into a warm room, and found himself face to face with his sworn enemy.
"Dib," the Irken greeted him, eyes narrowed. He was strapped into a chair, a collar around his neck and shackles on his hands and feet. There was a myriad of sensors connected to his head, and a bundle of tubes and the such scattered across his torso and stomach. A label on the glass wall separating them proclaimed: SUBJECT ZIM.
"Hello, Zim," Dib said. "I trust you're comfortable?"
"Foolish earth-stink," Zim spat. "I am only in here because it suits me. I felt like… taking a break from world conquest." A shock ran suddenly through him and he yelped, causing Dib to snort with suppressed laughter.
"If that's what you tell yourself," the human said with a smile, shrugging.
And Dib woke with that same smile on his face.
… … …
After a hasty breakfast, Dib found himself standing outside of an impressive, concrete building near the center of town, not all that far from his father's lab. This lab was familiar in every way- in scent, in sound, in total sterility. Their footsteps echoed in the earilly white hallway as Dib gazed around, feeling his hair stand on end for some unknown reason.
"It really is astounding, boy," his guide, the scientist he had spoken to, was saying. "A live alien- we'll be naming the charts after you, you understand?"
Dib forgot about his unease for a moment in a rush of excitement. "I knew it!" he crowed softly. "Oh, I've dreamed of this...! Humanity will know, they'll all know!"
His guide chuckled, then stopped in front of a door marked "Top Secret: Level 6 Security Clearance Only." As Dib stared up in astonishment at the sign, his guide handed him something: a name badge.
"You're welcome here any time," the scientist said warmly. "As the discoverer of this creature, you are more entitled to unrestricted access then anyone."
The boy was nearly bubbling over with glee, his eyes filled with victory. Take that, Zim! he crowed in his mind. I've done it! I've saved humanity! Oh, I can't wait to see the look on your face...!
That was the thought in his mind as the guard opened the door with a quick swipe of a similar badge. The door slid open, and the first thing Dib was aware of was the chill that rushed in around him, making him shiver involuntarily. But he didn't pay that much heed, strolling into the room and gazing around, searching for his mortal enemy with a haughty grin at the ready.
But then all his arrogance evaporated; his smile withered.
For he spotted Zim. And it was with half-numb legs that he walked forward until a glass wall physically stopped him. And there, behind that glass, lay Zim.
SUBJECT 001, proclaimed the label.
The Irken was shivering, curled naked upon the hard metal table. His green skin- far paler, it seemed to Dib, then it had been, although there was an odd patchwork of dark green present as well -was stretched taught over his unfamiliar skeletal system, bones threatening to tear through what meager flesh clung to them. Dib's gaze lingered on the countless tubes and wires hooked up to the limp form- one plunging into his belly, two attached to his chest, three on his head, one at his throat and many more, twining around his limbs and snaking into unmentionable places. The alien's eyes were closed, sunken slightly in their sockets, and his mouth was open as he panted for breath, narrow chest rising and falling rapidly; unsteadily.
"Splendid, isn't it?" the scientist asked with a content sigh, and Dib rounded on him.
"What is this?" he demanded. "That's a sentient being! What are you doing?"
The scientist shook his head. "Sentient, perhaps, but inferior. This is the only appropriate way to proceed."
Zim isn't inferior! Dib almost screamed, but bit his tongue just in time. As it was, he ended up saying, "Regardless, it's starving! You'll kill it at this rate!"
Again the guide shook his head. "It's being fed through a tube."
"Fed what?" the boy snapped. "The standard human regimen? That isn't sufficient! Even if starvation doesn't kill him, he'll freeze to death at this rate!"
The guide raised an eyebrow. "'Him?'"
Realizing his mistake, Dib cursed himself. "It! The subject! There's nothing to be learned from a dead subject!"
A hitch in Zim's breathing made Dib whirl- what greeted him were twin slivers of crimson, glaring weakly at him from the confines of that horrible table. Hatred; resentment; agony... they all washed through the human with surprising force, sweeping him up and out of his body in a colorful, painful wave.
"Oh!" The scientist patted him on the shoulder, seeming to forget about their conversation. "You'll like this: it has so many weaknesses, and they're all so common. Watch!"
"I already-" Dib began to say, but was cut off by a sickening sound. The spray of water splattered across Zim's body and those ruby eyes closed tightly, his face contorting in a silent scream as his skin fizzled. That was when Dib put two and two together- the darker green splotches he had noticed earlier were scar tissue.
Scars.
Swallowing nervously, the boy glanced up at his guide, who grinned in reply. The man was obviously enjoying the writhing alien's pain, as Dib knew he should have. And he did want Zim to suffer, but... there was something deeply wrong that made his stomach twist.
As the water stopped, Zim went limp once again, panting and trembling all the harder; his eyes found Dib again, and the small human gulped.
"You... crossed... a... line..." The little alien mouthed the words, then spat in the humans' general direction. The scientist whistled.
"Impressive!" he exclaimed. "We haven't gotten that good a response out of it for weeks!"
Dib was beyond being shocked. "Weeks...? Elaborate."
"Well, it's been almost three weeks since its responded to anything but pain stimuli; sometimes it'll open it's eyes, but otherwise it only responds to pain."
The boy felt his heart twist, a thousand and one images of a vibrant, active Zim flashing across his mind, memories of the alien's shrieking and gloating ringing in his ears. He felt the Irken boy's weight as they tumbled, clawing wildly in an attempt to hurt one another, felt his hair pulled and heard Zim's triumphant shout.
It all contradicted so violently with the tiny, still shape on the bench that Dib was physically sickened, his gut clenching. Suddenly he regretted eating, feeling a burning mixture of food and stomach acid work it's way into his throat; he swallowed the vomit with an effort, wincing at how the acid scalded his already tear-sore throat.
"Let me show you another thing," the scientist urged unknowingly, taking Dib by the shoulder and leading him to a computer screen situated in front of the glass chamber. He pointed to the images and the boy was nearly sick again.
"We've attached sensors to it's midsection," the scientist explained, though Dib already knew exactly what he he was looking at. "See this graph? It's body is metabolizing itself, just like an earth creature's body would, except it's deterioration is on a whole other level! Look at the change in BMI over just these short weeks. It gives us a fabulous opportunity to study its skeletal system as the bones become more pronounced."
"... What about the muscular system?" Dib asked weakly, the only objection he could muster. The scientist shrugged. The ache in Dib's throat intensified as he spotted a heart monitor- amid all the alien anatomy, the pulsing organ was eerily familiar, pumping blood through deteriorating veins in an effort to keep it's owner alive. It had a hiccup to its rhythm- like it had cracked but was still trying to function.
"We were thinking of doing biopsies on its organs tomorrow," the excited tour guide said. "Would you like to come back and watch?"
For a moment, Dib was certain that he couldn't. He was certain that he would die if he spent another second staring into Zim's empty eyes, which he seemed unable to stop. This... is what I dreamed of...! I shouldn't... be...!
"I'll be here." I'll be here... for Zim.
To... watch him suffer...?
... ... ...
Staring down at the food on his plate, the small human couldn't being himself to eat a bite. All he saw, over and over again, was Zim's skeletal body; all he heard were the scientist's cold words.
"It's body is metabolizing itself, just like an earth creature's would."
Just like mine will tonight, Dib thought sourly, pushing the plate away.
... ... ...
Dib almost couldn't bring himself to return to the lab the next day; facing Zim was not something he relished. He knew he should be excited, and so forced a bright smile as he pulled on his clothes and slipped out the door into the chilly drizzle.
The clouds mirrored his mood as he slunk into the lab, head down as he swiped his own security pass to enter. The scientist had yet to arrive; Dib entered the chilled room alone, his attention instantly captured by the pathetic green bundle of bones, shivering unceasingly with cold. Walking stiffly over, he placed his hands against the glass.
"Zim..." he whispered to the sleeping alien, "what line did I cross...? Wasn't this... our game...? You try to kill me, I try to catch you, winner take all...? So why is this so... wrong...?"
The door slid open with a hiss and Dib jumped back, turning to see the scientist grinning at him.
"Early, boy?" he asked. "I don't blame you. This'll be exciting."
Dib nodded, swallowing around the lump in his throat and forcing a smile. The scientist, fooled by this display, turned to his computer.
"We'll be biopsying several of its foreign organs and tissues," the scientist explained, pulling on a pair of tight, latex gloves and passing two to Dib. Then he picked up a tray of rather frightening tools, running his hands deftly along a seem in the glass wall to open it. Then he motioned Dib inside, and the boy found himself standing not a foot from where Zim lay.
Close up, Dib could clearly see the signs of torture etched in the alien's skin- blue blood oozed from half-closed sutures and around various tubes and needles imbedded in his bruised skin. His scaly tongue hung slight from his mouth, thin lips cracked and bleeding. His frail fingers grasped weakly at the table, although there was nothing on the smooth metal to cling to.
"Take a step back, boy," the scientist advised, but Dib shook his head.
"I'd like to be close."
The scientist shrugged, pulling out a glinting scalpel. Dib winced at the sight of it, momentarily distracted from Zim's face by the blade slipping neatly into the concave green abdomen.
The Irken convulsed suddenly, a rough cry dragged from him that made Dib shriek with surprise, jumping back. The subject writhed against the restraints that held him as thick blue blood flowed from the wound, and the human saw pain and fear in those scarlet eyes, fixed unseeing on some point in the distance.
"The anesthetic isn't working!" he shouted at the scientist, struggling to be heard over the alien's thrashing and cries. The scientist glanced over questioningly.
"We didn't use any anesthetic; why would we?"
Dib felt his stomach, despite it's emptiness, convulse. In that instant he was forced to flee from the room, barely making it to the sink in time to vomit raw stomach acid.
Zim's screams were still echoing in his ears as he raced down the hall, pelting out into the rain with little heed for anything at all- skidding in the mud, he stumbled and fell, jarring his whole body and soaking himself to the skin. Shivering violently, he dragged himself to the bushes, huddling there beneath the dripping leaves.
"Why?!" he wailed up at the sky, his voice camouflaged by the howling wind. "Why is this so wrong?! Why do I feel like this?!"
Receiving no reply, he clawed momentarily at the muddy ground, fighting not to see the answer that his own mind had already given him. Tears streamed down his face faster than they ever had before, and all the while Zim's screaming wreathed around him, mingled in some sick symphony with the Irken's laughter; he gloating; his smile.
"I crossed a line," Dib whispered, clutching his shoulders with muddied hands. "I crossed a line, Zim... when I gave you to them."
And that was the answer. Had it been him performing those biopsies, he would have delighted in them; if it was him in control, Zim wouldn't harbor such hatred, nor would Dib be plagued by guilt. For it should have been them, just the two of them together...
For that was the agreement between enemies... between rivals.
(A/N) :'( It hurt to write this.
And that's all I've got to say.
Please review! Reviewers are loved and (as if that weren't enough) get the know where the majority of the next chapter takes place. ;)