Chapter Four: Pick up the Pieces

Disclaimer: Invader Zim is the property and trademark of Jhonen Vasquez and Nickelodeon. This story is for entertainment purposes only, with no profit being made from its existence. Any other properties referenced or mentioned are copyrighted to their creators and corporations.

It was the longest walk of Dib's brief life.

He didn't really pay much attention to his surroundings. In fact, he paid so little attention to anything that it was a miracle he managed to find his home at all, let alone avoid the dangers of traffic or stray dogs. Lifting his head, he saw the familiar shape of the Membrane household. Whereas other houses showed visible signs of the damage caused by Zim's weather machine, the Membrane home was as pristine as it had been before the disaster started. The anti-weather forcefield that the professor had installed some years ago might have had something to do with it.

Dib looked at the home and sighed heavily. "'Hey son, where were you? We were awfully worried'," Dib said, mimicking his father's impressive baritone. "Oh, I was at a friend's place dad. I'm alright. Thanks for asking!" he said cheerfully in response to his 'father', before snorting and shaking his head and snorting derisively. "Yeah, right."

No, what awaited him would be the usual- Gaz playing with her new Gameslave, barely acknowledging his presence and certainly not bothering to ask if he was hurt or not, and his father? Hah. That ship had sailed *years* ago.

With this in mind, Dib approached his home with the sort of fatalistic resignation normally reserved for Russian serfs, placing his hand to the doorknob and opening it. "Hey everyone," he said in a hollow tone of voice, not so much as changing his facial expression. "I'm home."

"SON!"

Dib was suddenly swept into a tight embrace, yelping in shock as he was lifted off of his feet. It took him a moment to process what was happening, before he realized that it was in fact his father holding him. "D-Dad...?" he said shakily, legitimately surprised.

"Told you he was alright," said a familiar feminine deadpan.

Looking over his father's shoulder, Dib saw Gaz, sitting on the couch as usual, Gameslave Neo in hand as she focused on reigning down doom upon her myriad digital enemies. However, he had little time to focus on his sister, his more immediate concern being the bear hug he was currently encased in.

His father released him, the tall man holding him by the shoulders, worry evident despite the goggles and the obscuring collar of his labcoat. "I was so worried son! When the storms started up and you hadn't returned home, I feared the worst. I even broke out the old Jupiter Exploration Exosuit and flew around the city looking for you! I...I was getting ready to alert the authorities..." Membrane admitted, shuddering slightly as he bowed his head, before looking to his son. "Dib, where WERE you? You didn't answer your phone!"

Dib winced. The phone had been broken during the scuffle with Zim. "I was staying at a friend's," Dib said, Gaz momentarily pausing her game to side-eye him at the word 'friend'. "My phone was broken when the winds started up, and I spent the night. Sorry if I frightened you," Dib said sheepishly. "Were you really worried about me...?"

"Very much so, son!" Membrane said, nodding vigourously. "We both were!"

"I wasn't!" Gaz shouted out.

"Yes you were!" Membrane countered gaily, prompting an annoyed grunt from his daughter. Removing his hands from Dib, Membrane stood up, looking down at his son curiously. "Tell me, which friend was it? That excitable little foreign fellow?"

"Zim? Ah, no, no it wasn't," Dib said. "I was with Tak."

"Tak?" Membrane put a hand to his chin. "Tak... Tak... oh!" He said, snapping his fingers. "The Deelishus Weenie heiress! I'll need to thank her father the next time the opportunity presents itself. I trust you were a good guest to your host?"

Dib winced slightly. "...yeah. It was fine," he said quietly. "If it's alright with you, I've had a long night and I... I just wanna lay down for a bit."

"Of course son," Membrane said jovially, patting his son on the back. "Now that I know you and your sister are both safe, I can resume work on uncovering the mystery of what caused this unnatural storm! The world demands to know, and I aim to please!" Membrane declared, pointing skyward in his usual melodramatic fashion. "Membrane, away!"

Pressing a button on his belt, a panel opened up in the wall to reveal an elevator, which the professor backed away into. The panel sealed, and Dib and Gaz both could hear the sound of the elevator heading down to the sub-basement beneath the house. Despite himself, Dib managed a small smile. Sometimes it was nice to be wrong.

"You stayed the night at Tak's?" Gaz asked, looking at Dib warily, almost accusingly.

Whatever positive feelings that had accumulated vanished in an instant, bringing Dib right back down to his funk. "I don't want to discuss it," he said tiredly. "I just wanna lay down and... decompress, alright?"

"Whatever," Gaz said with a shrug, returning to her game as Dib walked by her. "Normally you'd be bugging me about whatever you found in there."

"Well I didn't find anything, okay?" Dib snapped irritably, before stomping off to his room. Once inside, he threw off his trench coat and simply collapsed into the bed face face first. Despite his physical and emotional exhaustion, he couldn't sleep. He couldn't get Tak's words out of his head, each one of them as fresh and painful as a newly minted bruise.

He also couldn't get that look out of his head. That one moment of abject terror he had seen on her, a kind of expression he never, ever would have even dreamed Tak of having. He had seen her afraid before- rare occasions where she lost her composure around some new earth thing, or those times when her life was in danger. This though, this fear was something else. Something desperate and urgent. It was so unlike Tak.

Then of course there were the other memories. That brief moment when she'd opened to him. When they'd shared some things about themselves they'd normally never share with anyone. The physical closeness they'd experienced and... and...

Dib groaned and placed his pillow over his face as he stared up at the ceiling. "Hello world," he sighed through it. "My name is Dib Membrane. I'm eighteen years old, an amateur paranormal investigator, I've been dueling a crazy alien for the last eight years, and I have the hots for ANOTHER alien. Am I screwed up or what?"

He chuckled bitterly, lazily removing the pillow and now staring at the ceiling. What had he been thinking with all of that? Bonding over television... like he would a human friend. Yeah. That had been such a stellar move. Never mind that she was trying to subjugate his people and world. Never mind that she probably had been thinking of ways to kill him just to alleviate the boredom.

Never mind that she was able to keep up with him intellectually and engage in him like an equal. Never mind that she could make him laugh and he could do the same for her. Never mind that she was every bit as alone in the universe as he was, even if she tried so hide it. Never mind that when she wasn't actively trying to be an Invader she was actually pretty good company.

Never mind that for one brief moment she'd let him hold her and she... he... they'd...

Dib sat up, rubbing his face, a stinging sensation going through his head. "Dammit, Tak..." he muttered.

Heavy metallic footfalls were heard down the hall, and Membrane walked by in a bulky, high tech suit of some kind. "Now then children this will likely take me a while, so I just want you to know that I left money for pizza and-" Membrane paused, backing up and gazing down at his son, tilting his head slightly. "Dib? Is something the matter?"

Dib stared at the ceiling. Normally his father actually picking up on his mood and asking about it would be cause for celebration or at least a pause. Not now though. So caught up the myriad of emotions and his inability to figure out how to make things better, Dib just kept his eyes to the ceiling. "I'm fine dad," Dib said flatly.

Membrane maneuvered himself past Dib's door, closing the it behind him. "You are not fine, son. Something has upset you. What's wrong?"

This, on the other hand, gave Dib a moment to pause. He looked up at his father, who stared down at him curiously from within the confines of the odd technological marvel he'd adorned himself with. For a moment he said nothing. Then, sighing heavily, he sat up and looked up to his father. He felt like a twelve year old again. "I dunno," Dib said. "I have a... friend, and they said some stuff to me that kinda hurt," Dib lowered his head sadly, and began to rub his arm. "I... I don't think they really meant it. They've been acting strangely, but I don't know what to do."

"Ah. One of 'those' questions," Membrane muttered, lifting the visor of his helmet up and tromping towards his son. "Son... if I am being honest with you and myself, I have never really had much of a talent for deciphering 'people' problems. Oh I've always been good at capturing others attention and convincing them to see things my way, but the truth of the matter is that the finer points of social interaction have always escaped me..."

"I get the idea, dad," Dib said, smiling despite himself. The fact that his father was actually trying to talk to him about this was already helping him to feel better.

"Point of order!" Membrane declared. "My experience in this field is somewhat... lacking, compared to my otherwise stupendous and exemplary abilities in all fields of known science. But I can try! Tell me son, is this friend truly your friend?"

Dib thought it over, and after a moment he nodded. "I'd like to think so, despite everything."

"Hmm, cryptic. But I'll take it!" Membrane declared triumphantly. "Son, if your friend is having a problem that is making them act in a peculiar manner, then as their friend, you owe it to them to get to the root of the problem so that you might better understand what is causing them to act this way! Only by understanding a problem can you confront it, and solve it! It's the scientific method, son!"

Dib stared at his father. "That's... actually a really good point," Dib admitted, a determined look coming over him. "You're right!" he said, smacking his fist into his open palm. "I'm not going to settle anything moping around like this! I got to figure out what's going on and try to make it right!"

"That's right, son!" Membrane proclaimed, standing tall. "Go, find out what's troubling your friend! You owe it to them, as a friend! Go forth my boy, and CONQUER!" he bellowed, pumping his fist into the air.

"YEAH!" Dib yelled, leaping to his feet and doing likewise, before doing a double take and looking at his father questioningly. "Wait, what was that last part?"

"Well son, I'm glad we had this discussion," Membrane said blithely, patting his son on the shoulder before turning on heel and opening the door to Dib's room. "Now if you will excuse me, the stratosphere awaits!" With that, he went a stomping away, flinging the door open and hurriedly making his way downstairs. Moments after, the sound of an engine starting could be heard, the whole house shaking as warning sirens went off, the smell of jet fumes wafting over for a moment as *something* took off from the house. Afterwards, a return to silence.

Without another word, Dib went racing outside his room, running to the stairs and running past his sister as he made his way into his father's laboratory. "Come on come on, I know it's here somwhere," he muttered as he rummaged about, and paused a moment to look over his shoulder. "Gaz! Do you know where dad put the stealth suit?"

"Third container away from the work bench, the blue one," Gaz said without skipping a beat or looking away from her game.

Dib raised a brow and followed her instructions, and sure enough, the stealth suit was exactly she said it was. "Alright! Thanks Gaz!" Dib called out jubilantly, before giving her a curious look. "Sooo did you help me because I needed it, or-?"

"The more you talk to Tak, the less time you spend annoying me," Gaz said nonchalantly.

"Ah, just checking," Dib said hurriedly, brow raising. "Wait, how did you know I was going to Tak's?"

"You spent the night at Tak's, came home mopey, and now you want the stealth suit," Gaz said in that same tone. "Doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on with you." She paused her game, opening an eye to look over at him. "You do know she's probably going to kill you if you go back, right?"

Dib sighed heavily. "It's a risk I have to take," Dib said softly as he looked over the stealth suit.

"To save the world?" she drawled out sardonically.

"Not this time," Dib said. "Thanks for telling me where the suit was. If I don't come home before dad, cover for me. If I don't come back ever, avenge me."

Gaz looked at him, a rare expression of surprise on her normally sullen face, before she returned to her game. "I'll... think of something," she muttered. Given Gaz's normal behavior, she might as well tossed the game aside and tightly embraced her older sibling, loudly declaring her love for him. It was as close as she could ever get to such a gesture, and Dib smiled fondly.

"Thanks, Gaz."

"Whatever."

"No, really," Dib said, looking down at her. "I...I really don't know if I'll come back from this," he said quietly, staring off into the distance.

"We've had this conversation before," Gaz pointed out dryly.

Dib blushed, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Okay yeah, I've jumped the gun a few times-"

"A 'few'?"

"Look, Gaz, the point is that I'm about to do what is probably the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life, bar none," Dib said. "I really might not come back from this. If that I don't, then... I..."

"I know, Dib," Gaz said flatly. The teenager then looked up from her game, and did something that was very rare for her- she paused the game. "I know you love me, okay?" she said, her voice unusually soft. "You don't have to remind me."

"Yeah well," Dib said with a small sigh. "We kinda suck at this stuff. I just wanted to make sure."

"To put it mildly," Gaz drawled.

"What about you, then?" Dib asked.

Gaz said nothing. She unpaused the game, resuming the epic digital battle in her hands. "You know too," she said quietly.

Dib smiled a wide smile. "Aw, Gaz, that's-"

"Don't you have something to do?" she asked coldly, her voice having officially entered into 'tread carefully from here on out' territory.

"Yep!" Dib said, happy to avoid going down THAT old and familiar path, and without another word rushed back to his room, quickly donning the stealth suit and activating it. Now little more than a mirrored out blur, he turned to his bedroom window, opening it and climbing down to the ground outside. Once on the sidewalk, he took off like a shot.

Left alone in the house, Gaz allowed herself to gaze up the stairs towards where Dib's bedroom was, raising a brow for a moment before letting out a snort and resuming her game in earnest.

"Man he's got it bad."

"Okay, note to self," Dib said, panting as he rested outside of the gates of the walled off community Tak lived in. "When trying to rush off into the midst of potential peril, do NOT do it by foot. Definitely not my brightest move," he murmured to himself.

Catching his breath, he easily managed to climb the gate and make his way through the collection of mansions contained within. Spotting the familiar sight of Tak's cover base. He paused a moment and pressed a button on his goggles, giving a quick cursory scan of the place looking for any weak spots. He didn't have to look far- his sensor picked up a broken window, a casualty of the previous day's nonstop storms. Precarious, but workable.

Walking over to the window sill and climbing up, he very carefully maneuvered himself around the broken glass before leaping inside, landing with a soft thud and looking around for any signs of trouble. He just prayed that this thing worked better than it did that time he tried to tail GIR...

So far so good. If the mansion had any human staff then either they weren't in for the day or simply hadn't arrived yet. Either way, no signs of life inside the mansion. With light tread built from years of managing to sneak in and out of Zim's base (to say nothing of developing a fine habit of going places where he wasn't supposed to in general), Dib made his way through the halls of the mansion, retracing his original steps from when he had left, until at last he reached the guest room.

Pausing for a moment, he looked around carefully. Adjusting the scanner built into his goggles, he carefully surveyed the floor hoping to pick up on a change in the structural integrity. It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for- the location of the elevator under the floor. It was the only way down to Tak's real base that he knew of, so it would have to do. As he knelt down near the spot, he smiled ruefully to himself. There was once a time he would have given anything to find this, anything to be able to infiltrate the depths of Tak's lair. Now he was finally doing it, but for the last reason anyone could have expected.

Shaking his head and refocusing his attentions, he got to work. Feeling around the circumference of the hidden elevator top, he paused when he felt something disrupt the otherwise perfectly smooth surface. Reaching into his boot he pulled out a small pocket knife, and began to cut through the expensive carpeting, peeling it away to reveal his prize- an emergency escape hatch, one accessible from the inside and the outside.

Dib smirked in triumph under the obscuring mask of his suit. "Jackpot," he murmured to himself. Carefully working the outside latch open, he hopped down inside the elevator car. Locating the control panel, he pressed the 'down' button, and prayed that whatever Tak was working on would take up enough of her attention that she wouldn't notice that this platform was heading down without her in it. The elevator hummed to life, and began to head downward, each second passing like an eternity as Dib anxiously awaited the end.

Finally it would stop and open, and cautiously Dib made his way out, looking around carefully. In many ways it reminded him of Zim's own base- highly advanced technology lacing the walls at every level, technology well beyond anything on Earth. Only his father's laboratory could begin to approach what was seen here. Whereas Zim's base tended towards a pinkish hue and in general had bulky, somewhat clunky looking aesthetic, Tak's was different. Her base was a dark, brooding place of various dark shades of purple, smooth and streamlined at every level. It reminded Dib of a spider's web, in a lot of ways. Whether this was a personal statement about Tak's tastes or proof that Zim's own technology was oud of date, Dib couldn't tell. All he could do was creep carefully through the ill lit halls.

All around him he could hear sounds. Small, odd noises that came from everywhere. He tried to focus on something else. Like the fact that he was now infiltrating the depths of Tak's lair, with absolutely no backup or means of getting back home if she found out, and the fact she would likely kill him if she found him. On the plus side, the stealth suit was working rather nicely.

Earth Technology:1, Irken Invader: 0.

Suddenly there was the sudden, loud sound of something crashing followed by a series of muffled yells, and Dib very nearly jumped out of his skin in fright. Calming his nerves he further infiltrated the depths of the base, following the sounds. Up ahead he saw an open door with light pouring out, and now he could make out words and identify the yells properly as belonging to Tak.

She wasn't finished yelling.

-ailure! Another Tallest-Damned failure!" Her normally cool voice ranted out, followed by the sound of glass breaking. "Why is this happening? Why won't the problem be corrected?!"

Dib was given pause. The twin instincts of curiosity and self-preservation were locked in mortal combat. He hesitated a moment and trudged forward, creeping towards the entrance of her lab, pausing to peek around the corner. Tak was there, as was Mimi holding a tray. Strewn about the floor was broken glass along with machine parts. Tak was pacing frantically, visibly agitated. She even tugged down on her antenna as she let out a frustrated growl.

"Nothing works, nothing!" she wailed out in despair, pausing a moment to give an almost pained groan as she gripped her head. "I shouldn't have let him in," she said quietly. "I shouldn't have allowed him to get close. What was I thinking, Mimi? What was I thinking?" she asked, looking over to her Sir.

Mimi tilted her head, giving an electric chirp in response. Tak whirled on her, her face going dark green as she looked ready to break out into yells. In an instant she deflated, a pitiful shadow of the normally confident, controlled Irken (Pseudo) Invader that Dib knew. "...you're right. I couldn't stop myself. I... I let emotions override logic. I invited weakness into myself through him, and that weakness is now festering in me, changing me..." she looked into her open palm, frowning sadly before snarling. "Prepare the next batch!" she barked to Mimi. "We do not finish until we have exhausted *every* option, do you hear me?"

Mimi saluted and began to trot away, leaving Tak alone. With Mimi gone, she hugged her arms around herself and let out a small, uncharacteristic whimper. "There has to be a way to stop it," she said quietly. "There has to be."

Oh, Tak... Dib thought to himself, face falling. He looked up at the screens in the lab. One screen depicted a diagram of the Irken physiology, focusing on various parts. Others were chemical strands and compositions, formulas and hypothetical combinations and reactions. He stared at the screens, and then at her. He bit his lower lip nervously as a thought came to him. A dangerous, reckless thought that, if he proved wrong, could very well mean his end.

Taking in a breath, Dib stood up and slowly made his way into the lab.

"Tak," he said aloud, keeping his voice soft so as not to startle her too badly.

Tak whipped around immediately, looking around rapidly while her eyes twitched. When she saw nothing she calmed down, groaning and rubbing the bridge of where her nose might have been if she was human. "And now I'm hearing voices, how delightful," she drawled out.

"You're not hearing things, Tak," Dib said again, and reaching to the mask of the stealth suit, peeling it off and rendering himself visible.

Tak recoiled in shock and horror. For a second she just stood there, for all intents and purposes she looked like a deer caught in headlights, a trapped animal cornered by a hunter. Then, just as quickly, her face twisted into a fierce, almost feral looking snarl as she rounded upon Dib, pointing at him with a hand shaking in fury. "YOU!"

Dib had approximately one split-second to consider that he may have just made a very bad decision before Tak's Pak-legs extended out of the device and flew towards him, lifting him up and painfully shoving him against the wall, pinning him there. "This is your fault!" Tak snarled. "You are the cause of this!" One of the dagger-like legs hovered dangerously close to Dib's neck. "I warned you not to come back, human," she hissed out. "Even YOU should have known better than that."

Dib swallowed down the panic that was coursing through him, grabbing at the metal appendage threatening to puncture his neck and holding it tight as he squiremed. "Y-Yeah, you'd think so," he said shakily.

"You'll regret not listening to me, Dib," Tak said, rearing back one of the legs. "Why did you come? Why didn't you just *listen* to me, you stupid monkey?!"

"B-Because I was worried!" Dib gasped out. "Alright? I was *worried*!"

Tak's eye twitched. "You...were worried?" she said haltingly. "You're lying. You're just here to finally get intel on me! That's all it was, wasn't?!"

"Would you listen to yourself?! You're talking crazy, Tak! This isn't like you!" Dib shouted angrily, indignation overriding whatever instinct for self-preservation that yet remained in him. "Seriously, if I was trying to spy on you, why would I blow my cover just to talk?!"

Suddenly, she went calm. Eerily calm. "I don't know. I don't care," Tak said, voice flat and robotic. "Whatever you are up to Dib, I am putting an end to it. I should have done this long ago," she continued, the mechanical leg leaning black further, glinting in the soft glow of the lab. Dib suddenly found himself terrifyingly aware of just how sharp the ends of those legs were.

Dib's already wide eyes expanded further, a cold sweat beading over his brow as his heart began to thump against his chest at rapidfire pace.

"You... you are becoming a liability I can no longer tolerate," her voice cracked for a moment as she spoke. "Invaders need no one." One of the razor-like legs reared back. "Irkens need no one."

"Tak...please..."

"Goodbye, Dib."

The leg plunged forward.