Chapter 9: -Evil will find you!
Sorry its been sooooo long and stuff. Last chapter was hard to write and all. Hard to make Zim and - stay in character. Hope I got it right. Enjoy!
"Eh? Oh uh okay…" Zim shifted on his feet looking around in the darkness. He whipped his head around as a thought popped into his head. "Heey if you're not human…then what are you? How do you know my name? Who told you I was an alien? Was it the Dib boy? Speak! I can't see!"
The red pupils rolled in their sockets. "Clearly we are not going to have a meaningful conversation now aren't we? However you amuse me with your insolent questions so I shall answer some." Zim heard a snap and immediately the lights flickered on. When his eyes adjusted he saw a human child standing before him…or at least mostly human. In front of him was by far the strangest earthinoid he'd seen.
He couldn't have been more than Dibs scary sisters age-around 8 or nine earth years of age. He had on a long sleeved black shirt that hung down to his thighs but the sleeves were grey with thin black stripes, and clung onto his frame. He wore skinny pants like Zims but in deep grey with black boots. He had chalk white skin that clung to his round head. Oh his head… yes that definitely be the most disturbing thing about him, Zim decided. The child had a shaved head except for a line of hair at the top where pieces of spiky hair stuck out and down around his face like a spider. What was it called again-a Mohawk? Where eyebrows would have been small horns protruded like that of a baby goat. All of these things were weird of course but the real showstopper was his eyes.
He had large eyes but they were disproportionate to one another. The left was considerably smaller but both eyes had black rings around them that or he was imagining it from the shadows. Irises floated in a sea of milk white. They had dark black rings lining the irises, their color trying unsuccessfully to seep into the center only to be pushed back by color changing red and orange. The earthinoid stood erect with both hands behind his back and feet together. The worm baby gave the smallest of a smile.
"Pleased?" he asked. Zim narrowed his eyes. How dare this-this…human smeet make him feel so off center. He inspected the child once again freezing at his horns. This thing was seriously irking him off, with his stupid mysterious face and stupid mysterious 'accent' and mysterious…face!
He sputtered out angrily, "Pleased? PLEASED? Zim is the opposite of pleased! Zim is underground, dirty, and with a human meat puppet! How do you think Zim is doing as of now?!"
"I don't know, grateful to have met me? Happy to have your questions answered?" The horned boy narrowed his eyes. "Do not try me alien. You may be an invasor but you are not on Irk anymore. Ugh el hombre que eres un gilipollas." The horned boy took a hand and rubbed one of his temples. Zim was very confused. The cave troll spoke two earth languages. He hardly knew this one. Which brought up another one of the questions to his mind. How was he going to get rid of him? He knew somehow he couldn't charge him. The creatures' confidence was enough to tell him that he wouldn't dare attack him.
"You live here?" Zim asked. They were in what looked like a human lab mixed with a bar. Stalactites reigned from on high on the ceiling, some even met and combined with the grey stalagmites on the floor. In between the large stalactites, bright white rectangles shown florescent light out into the darkness cutting through it like a knife. On the right side of the cavern a wall of stone curled out and around making a perfect 'J'. Metal bar stools upholstered with red leather clustered around the outer side. Steel tables were lined up the left side against the walls, their silver surfaces littered with metal instruments. Zim walked over to the closest operating table. Instruments of mass healing and destruction were laid out on trays. Zim picked up a surgical clamp. On Devastis all Irken smeet were required to watch an autopsy of an irken solider and the species of your choice. Zim set the clamp back on the table, giving an involuntary shudder.
He heard the stranger stopped rubbing and gave out a haughty, " Pssh, ya right. Me live in a dump like this? Ha I would sooner work at Chick-fil-A. Ahh, no, no, this is just where the skool invests all its money. My Dad won't tell me anything else." the boy walked over to Zim. He eyed the clamp, Zims face, then the clamp again and smiled. "Old memories of things that have long since past?"
"Old memories that have not past yet." Zim looked down at the face reflected in the clamp. He shook his head and threw down the clamp angrily at the table. He pointed his claw at the horned strangers face. Every minute spent down in this pit was another minute lost on his mission. "You promised answers!"
The horn beast seemed unfazed by the sudden claw in his face. Zim poked him a few times before the Beast boy grabbed his wrist. Zim felt rage boil up inside him making his vision tinge crimson.
"Don'tpoke me.", the horned demon released Zims hand and drew his behind his back. He eyes shifted side to side before walking over to the bar, climbing up a seat. He motioned for Zim to take the chair next to him. Keep your head, Zim, he told himself, he'll be dead soon enough. Zim took a deep breath and put on his poker face. He strut over towards the bar and used his spider legs to lift himself up on the chair. Beastie boy leaned forward on his knees, "There is a certain unspoken belief shared by all people; that this world is full of secrets. I am terrible with secrets. Ask me-"
"WHO ARE YOU!", Zim heard himself ask before he could stop himself. He felt himself flush inside but was grateful that his poker face didn't break. The worm baby raised an eyebrow and sighed.
"You really have a one track mind don't you?" worm baby asked. "You could ask me how I just spoke Irken back there, or what I'm doing down here but you want to know my name."
"I ask, you answer worm baby!" Zim said pointing to one another in turn. The beast boys' eye color changed again from orange to rose red crimson. His upturned nostrils flared as he took deep breaths. Zim watched in fascination as the boy mumbled something unintelligible then start chuckling hysterically. The anger inside him was about to explode. How dare this cave dwelling scum laugh at Zim. "What's so funny?"
The meat sack looked up at Zim smirking, "I have a million names, pequeño extraterrestre perdido. But never has anyone dared to call me a worm baby and still stand before me alive. As for who I am…well I am many."
"I have played your game long enough!" Zim leaped onto the bar counter. He grabbed one of the small hanging light bobbles and shone it into this meat sacks filthy face. The meat sack shielded his eyes with his hand. Zim scowled at the inferior creature below him. "Answer me! Who are YOU and how do you know my secret?"
The earthinoid lowered his hands giving him an irritating look, "Like I said I have many names. The Nail, the Branch of the Terrible Ones, the Angel of the Bottomless Pit. However," the angel of the bottomless pit leaned in closer lowering the lamp with a pale hand so they were eye to eye, "you my friend may call me The Antichrist…but my mom calls me Pepito."
They stood like that for a while. Zim felt the annoyance give way to relief. He wiped his brow with his glove, "Oh thank Irk, and for a moment I thought you were someone important!"
He reached forward and tousled the antichrists black Mohawk before hopping of the counter. He looked up to see the antichrist staring down with him in anger and disbelief.
"Not important?" the Antichrist asked him. "You think that I, The Antichrist, am not important?"
Zim shook his head almost sympathizing with the poor creature, "I know the shock of finding out how insignificant you are compared to me is hard to process but I assure you, life without you would be wonderful."
The antichrists brow furrowed, "Do you even know who the Antichrist is?"
"Nope and I don't care." Zim responded honestly.
"You should care. You really should. You don't know it yet, but the world is going to go through three apocalypses. Each one is going to be like one of those horrible dystopian teen novels that people like so much. Very soon as a matter of fact." The antichrists red irises seemed to swirl and glow like embers in the night. It was then that he felt it. The pressure in the cavern increased dramatically, making his body tense. Zim took a step back in modest surprise. He wasn't an expert on humans but he was pretty sure they couldn't do that.
No, he corrected himself; no one should be able to do that. The antichrist slid off the stool and walked away from Zim, arms held neatly behind his back. He paid no attention to Zim, which was exactly what he needed. "I know everything and yet even I can't see the outcome. But I do know this Invasor Zim. One day you will need me. You will desperately need me, and I will turn my back and laugh as you die in the dirt. Then a new age will come-MY age and NO ONE will stop me."
"YOU LIE!" Zim felt his spider legs expel themselves from his PAK and with a slight whir lift him into the air. His spider leg shot forward, hooked itself into the antichrists shirt and flung him down over the bar. The boy slid off the edge of the counter and rolled off onto, what sounded like, a box of bottles. With a war cry he shot himself over the counter to reengage with his new foe. The leg had missed the Antichrists chest by mere centimeters and was currently pinning him to the floor. Broken glass made a pleasant tickle sound as Zim adjusted his legs in the small space. He lowered himself down close enough to feel the breath of the little snot nosed punk on the floor and grabbed antichrists collar raising him up into the air. Zim spat, "Listen branch boy, and try and get it through that horny head of yours. The earth is mine, it has always been mine, and I am never going to grovel to some delusional, bigheaded, evolutionary garbage slop like you. If you have anything to say I suggest you say it now. Because you won't have another chance." Man I'm good!
He raised a sharp spider point to the antichrists eyeball. Instead of begging or pleading like the sniveling weasel he expected of this…antichrist, he calmly looked down at him in amusement. "It's been a pleasure meeting you Invasor Zim. I come here looking for answers and a friend…and instead I make a new alliance. Don't worry your secret's safe with me. And by the way," he smirked down at the suspicious alien, "you don't have to think of me as the antichrist. Just Pepito will do. Goodbye, Invasor Zim." He snapped his fingers, and then he wasn't there anymore. He simply wasn't there anymore. Empty space floated where his body should have been, leaving the Irken completely and utterly alone. Zim shook down to the core as he collapsed to the ground muttering random curses.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid," he muttered as he began kicking and smashing pieces of glass in frustration. Zim had let him get away. He had let another human being know his secret. This was ridiculous, this was horrendous, this was inexcusable. The Tallests were gonna kill him! Zim slipped on a piece of glass and fell forward on the glittering floor. There was a sharp crack followed by a burning sensation from his wrist as Zim tried to break his fall. When he was sure of his footing he stood pulling his hand away, nursing the burned wrist. Zim looked down at the floor at a broken bracelet on the floor. He had forgotten about it due to the whole 'antichrist' episode. One of his many strokes of brilliance hit him and he picked up the bracelet. He pushed up the small cover and began playing with the blue and green circuit board. The small blinking red light started flashing again while the small cuff emitted a few sparks from the side. Zim closed the cover over his new GPS and began to work his way through the dark to home.
Authors note: I'm not gonna lie to you guys… I ran outta steam halfway. Hopefully since Wednesday is the first day of spring break I'll be able to finish my other chapter and it'll be a lot better than this one. Post script: I love grapes. They give you lots of options. If you pick up an apple and it's crappy, you are stuck with a crappy apple. However if you get grapes you usually get a bunch of grapes. So if you get a sucky grape no worries my friend you will most likely get a non-sucky grape next time. And that's all I have to say about grapes. Later everyone, you're all awesome-sauce! ;)
