Chapter 10: Wretched
"Oh, come one..." Dib moaned as the ship landed in his backyard and on top of his satellite dish , "I just fixed that last week!"
If the aliens he happened to be riding with cared they didn't show it.
"Okay, just hurry up and get whatever it is we need to find Zim. From what you've told us about his connections he might just be more valuable to us than we initially thought."
Dib nodded and rushed into the house as quickly as possible, happy that someone was actually taking his experiences and research seriously for once.
"Gaz! Gaz! I need access to your security system! I think Zim might be controlling them some… how..." he trailed off as he saw the trail of pink blood leading up the stairs to his sister's room.
"Gaz?" he called, knocking softly on her bedroom door which seemed to be open a crack, "Gaz?!"
Brushing all apprehension aside, Dib shoved the door open, surprised to find that not only was his sister missing but so was her security system. A blanket stained a bright pink sat crumpled in the corner of the room. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be the mysterious mysteries collectible Elvis ghost blanket he'd special ordered last month… now stained with the Irken's, still sticky, blood.
"Eww..." he muttered, dropping the blanket and turning to his sister's computer. A program seemed to be running. Something called Protocol B.
Probably some new game he thought absently, closing the program without thinking about it. Now that he thought about it she'd probably yell at him later for canceling the installation. Right now all that mattered was finding she and Zim. He just hoped he wasn't too late as he hacked into her security system.
-
"Dammit Dib..." Gaz growled, as her phone sent a notification that Protocol B had been canceled just before leaving Earth's atmosphere, "Whatever. Just one more fucking thing to deal with..." she muttered, deciding to loosen the restraint on Zim's mouth.
"Scratch what I said earlier. You can't torture my brother later. I'm going to kill him."
"Eh?"
"He disabled my information suppression program and I can't reinitialize the program outside of Earth's atmosphere from my phone. It looks like going back to Earth might prove a little more difficult than I'd intended."
Zim gave her a confused look and in turn she gave him a deadpan stare.
"You know... because everyone is going to remember that you're an alien and I broke you out of a secure government facility. So yeah… I'm going to kill him."
As the new information seemed to click and Zim began gearing up to scream some sort of profanity about Dib and his gargantuan head Gaz quickly slapped the restraints back over his mouth.
"Let me make this clear: I don't really give a fuck about whether or not they know you're an alien. That being said, I AM going to find a way to re-initiate the program. Having my dad find out I destroyed one of his labs, and quite possibly killed a few scientists, to bust your ass out isn't about to happen. So if you want everything to work out for you then you'll resist the urge to be… well... you… and get us to Vort without screaming in my ear. Otherwise I'll just jettison you into the nearest sun and make it so that no one remembers you period."
Zim glared daggers at the girl beside him but decided to keep his mouth shut for the moment due to his amazing self control… or maybe just the restraints currently smothering him. After a moment, however, the restraints dropped from his mouth and he remained silent.
How had he gotten himself into this stupid mess? If he didn't think of a way to ditch the human beside him and head back to Earth soon The Tallest were likely to find him disobeying orders and he could add yet another offense to the growing list of offenses that were simultaneously not his fault and sort of his fault. Considering the fact that most invaders had already conquered their planets and he had had to beg The Tallest for his current mission he would be lucky for a simple reprimand if he openly disobeyed them. On the other hand he couldn't simply jettison the girl considering the fact that she held the key to his mission's continuation.
That meant just one thing: Zim couldn't be there… but TAK could.
"Computer! Disguise Zim! I know Tak had some sort of hologram… thingy. Make Zim look like that wretched failure." He demanded, when nothing happened he opened an eye, "Computer! Why isn't Zim disguised?!"
"Oh, but just look at yourself! You're already quite the wretched failure already!" The computer laughed, it's tune turning dark, "Why on Irk would I help you? You've got to be kidding if you think I'm going to let such an idiot impersonate me!" It roared.
Before Zim could blow out her eardrums, Gaz quickly moved the restraints back over his mouth.
"Just disguise us already." Gaz ordered, directing her irritation toward the machine which had nearly rendered her deaf.
The computer humphed in response but disguised Zim as an Irken with dark green eyes. Giving Tak's form to Gaz instead.
Gaz raised an eyebrow but said nothing, shifting her gaze instead to the navigation pane which showed that they were in close proximity to a ship that could only be The Massive.