I lied about posting this chapter in a week. It's here now to make up for last one's lateness. I LIED. HA.
...Actually, I just forgot to change the update time in the last chapter to 'RIGHT NOW'.
But anyway.
Surely from the chapter title you can all guess what's going to happen. ...But here's hoping you're surprised, anyway! (You won't be.)
Chapter Ten – In which squealy larva is rescued
As they maneuvered their way through the wreckage of the grocery store, Zim was the first to hear the noise – ghastly, piercing, and simply grating on his poor antennae. What worried him wasn't that it was a droid – no, far from it. What worried him was that the Dib would want to investigate. There was no doubt – none at all.
And, of course… "STOP!" Dib exclaimed, throwing an arm out and almost catching his Irken companion in the face – he would have, too, if Zim hadn't been expecting it. There was no way the teen could ignore such a noise. "Do you hear that?!"
"My senses are probably a gashmillion times better than yours, of course Zim can hear it! Its noise started to offend my auditory organs long ago! Too long ago!" Zim snapped, shoving Dib's arm out of his way and continuing on, glaring back over his shoulder. "Now come on! We don't have time for this!" He made an obvious motion to the fire, somehow managing to look both unimpressed and aggravated at the same time.
"But – ZIM! We can't just leave it here!" Dib protested, turning on his heel and running towards the horrid sound. "There's no way I'll let it die, not after I failed everyone else!"
The alien gave a frustrated shriek, pulling at his antennae and stomping one foot indignantly – why did the boy have to be so Irk-damned stubborn?! For a moment, Zim wavered about indecisively, glancing between the spreading fire – they'd be lucky if the entire store wasn't ablaze in the next few minutes – and the exit – blessedly close, but the Dib just HAD to be a hero, and the Irken wasn't about to let all his hard work saving the stupid monkey go to waste.
It was kind of an unfair advantage that the boy had going for him, really.
With another frustrated noise, Zim stormed after his temporary ally, growling curses and insults just loud enough for the other to know he was following, and that he wasn't at all pleased about it. "If we die because of a stupid screamy larva, I will never forgive you," he informed Dib sourly, hands pressing antennae close to his scalp in an attempt to block out the wails – they were very close, something that the Irken wasn't sure whether to be relieved or irritated by; the little thing had quite a set of lungs.
"If we die, you won't be alive to never forgive me, anyway. Look – we've got enough time to grab the kid and go. Don't freak out, okay?" Dib sighed exasperatedly, though there was a noticeable increase in his pace.
"Says the stupid human who was freaking out earlier," Zim retorted, kicking irritably at scattered merchandise and grumbling some more to clearly show his displeasure at being corrected by the teen.
There was no reply, sarcastic or otherwise, as the human broke into a run (he nearly tripped over a fallen bargain sign) to the source of the noise – a small pram, not at all tucked out of sight and simply sitting in the center of an aisle. "Oh, man – it's a wonder they left her alive!" Carefully lifting the infant from her pile of blankets, Dib gave her a quick once-over for any injuries – none, so far as he could tell.
As the teen took to wrapping her gently in one blanket, Zim shuffled over and directed a disinterested look at the child, wincing when she emitted a particularly high-pitched screech. "The noise probably scared them off," he stated dully.
Dib raised an eyebrow, resting the sobbing infant back in her pram in order to take a small duffel bag strapped to the back of it – a quick check confirmed that it contained diapers, bottles, and a myriad of other such baby supplies. After he'd secured the bag over one shoulder, he lifted the child again, cautiously cradling her against his chest, something which unfortunately left her tiny face right by his ear so he could suffer the full assault of her lung-capacity. He gave a heavy grimace, something that had his Irken companion chuckling. "Maybe so," Dib admitted. "Anyway, see? It didn't take much time at all – let's get going."
"Yes, yes. Zim is way ahead of you." And indeed, the alien was already two aisle-lengths away, smirking back at him. The teen rolled his eyes and jogged to catch up, though he was significantly slower – he didn't want to jostle the infant too much. Once he was side-to-side with his companion, the Irken cast an anxious glance back at the fire, then frowned up at him. "We could've been out of this place by now."
Dib gave an exasperated grumble, barely even heard over the veritable roar of the fire and the baby's wail. "I know, okay? I just…couldn't leave her there." He glanced to Zim, a hesitant grin on his face. "If you're allowed to save someone, why can't I? I'm the one with the hero complex."
The Irken paused for just a second before giving a loud, derisive giggle, shaking his head incredulously. "That was a terrible joke."
"I…wasn't joking."
"Jokes aside-" ('I wasn't joking,' Dib reiterated here, only to be thoroughly ignored.) "-you shouldn't let my incredible act of generosity get to your fat head," Zim stated bluntly.
Dib frowned. "I always thought I'd grown into my head…"
"STOP INTERRUPTING! Zim wasn't FINISHED!" the Irken shrieked, one eye twitching irritably.
"Okay, okay…"
"SILENCE!" Zim snapped at him, then continued on as though there'd never been an interruption in the first place. "I only saved you to make getting revenge on these disgusting Krakewhatevers easier!"
The teen raised an eyebrow at this declaration. "You went through a disturbing amount of trouble just to get my help, then. You sure you weren't just worried, oh Superior Irken Soldier?" Dib teased.
Zim opened his mouth to screech about how he shouldn't be interrupted, paused for a double-take, and ended up just making a severely offended noise. "The almighty Zim? Worried about you? Don't flatter yourself, pig-smelly! ZIM just has a use for your pitiful self – what use have you for a drooly worm-smeet?"
"Er…no use, really. But I was…worried about her safety. Unlike you, though, I can admit that," Dib responded, rolling his eyes again.
"It's-" ('She,' Dib corrected here.) "-yes, fine, she's probably going to die, anyway," the Irken stated blandly, completely uncaring. "Too much smoke in the air is bad enough for a human of your stature – I can only imagine it would be twice as bad for a child. Perhaps three times as bad for this tiny little meat-lump." As his human companion looked quickly to the child in his arms, alarmed, Zim only gave it one small disparaging glance. "Even if it – she – does survive, she'd probably be incredibly short. So tiny already…she might as well just die." He shrugged; either way, it didn't matter to him.
Dib scowled at him and sped up his pace, stalking past the Irken and towards a doorway at the very back – it was cooler here, near the dairy storage and warehouse-like shipping areas (and the outside, where they could finally – finally – be safe from the fire) just beyond the thick clear strips covering the exit as a makeshift door. The cooler air was almost icy against his skin, so used now to the sweltering heat from the blaze behind him.
Ducking past the clear strips of the 'door' with some difficulty – they were slightly heavy, and his arms were tied up with the child – he paused; partly to let Zim catch up, but mostly to do something to help the child. Shifting the infant to hold her carefully against him with one arm, his free hand pulled off the atmospheric mask; the air was somewhat clearer here, though not by much. Either way, the baby needed the pure, filtered air more than he did.
The Irken marched in imperiously hardly a moment later, all glares and scowls at being left behind, even if only by a little. "Zim was only stating the truth," he huffed. "No need to get all emotional about it." He was clear to stress the 'emotional' bit, as though it was some sort of horrible disease. (Which, to him, it probably was.)
"She's not going to die," Dib snapped at him, holding the filtering mask against the baby's face – she fussed at the sensation, but her wails began to diminish, soon becoming nothing more than whimpers and the occasional hiccup.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," the Irken replied dully, shrugging again and shuffling towards the various shipping doors, several of them open to admit a range of vehicles, from eighteen-wheelers to smaller vans, all of which were silent and empty. The droids hadn't failed to give this area a run-through, either, he noted with distaste, stepping around each dark puddle and unnamed corpse to squint up at the open door nearest to them – his far superior eyes were quick to adjust to the sudden onslaught of sunlight, of course.
Hearing his companion following after him, Zim glanced back, one antenna flicking in some unclear gesture. "She'll still be short, though," he added, if only for the sake of being difficult.
Initially, the teen only raised an eyebrow, a clear downturn to one side of his mouth. Then, Dib simply shook his head. "One would think you've never seen a baby before," he muttered, falling into step with the Irken once more. "She's tiny now, but she'll grow."
Zim was silent for a rare moment, the dark look on his face just daring the other boy to add what he figured he was going to add – and he did add it.
"She'll probably be taller than you before she even turns twelve."
It was by sheer luck alone that Dib managed to not drop the infant when the Irken punched him in the arm as hard as he possibly could.
Which, to Dib's great amusement, really wasn't that hard at all.
I've always found it strange when other authors write Zim (and other such Irkens) as being incredibly powerful physically. Sure, they're soldiers (or at least, most of them are), but they're just so reliant on their technology. Not to mention that most of them are just plain tiny. I honestly think they wouldn't be all that physically strong. In fact...I can't really recall any specific point in the show where an Irken showed any great sign of physical prowess. ...So...yeah. There's my two cents on that.
(Irken minus technology equals weak and pathetic midget?)
...Er...anyway, next chapter will probably be up in about a week or so. Just have to add a few slight modifications to take into account something I forgot because I'm ST00PID. 8D