A/N 1: To those who have me on alert, sorry about the double announcement. I accidentally put up the wrong chapter, so I had to take it down, and post the right one. Sorry for any confusion.
A/N 2: Okay, I know you all probably want to lynch me for not updating in over a month, but I have very good reasons. First of all, I've had several big projects for school all due around the same time; meanwhile, I'm Beta-ing a Transformers story, and I've found an incredibly well-written (and long) Fairly OddParents/Danny Phantom crossover over on DeviantArt that I've gotten hooked on.
But enough of my excuses - I'm back now, and I can only hope that this chapter is worth the wait.
Disclaimer: I own the plot and all original concepts. Everything else is copyrighted to Jhonen Vasquez.
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Space Station Bridge
Zim sat in his command chair, Minimoose floating beside him and several holograms displayed on the console before him. The main screen showed a view of the Earth from the EMP Cannon, while others showed various graphs and data that would have gone over the heads of even the smartest of Earth's scientists. As he read through this data, Zim's lips curled up into a smirk.
"Excellent," he mused, "Fifteen minutes and my destiny shall be assured. I need to remember to record this for future reference. Maybe I'll have a holo-movie made about this day. Of course, I should probably leave out the stuff about the time-travel…"
"Squeak!" Minimoose interjected. Zim looked up at his hovering servant and frowned.
"No, I'm not worried," he replied, "Why should I be?"
"Squeak!"
Zim snorted. "Dib? You think I should be worried about Dib? Ha! He's probably dead by now anyway."
It was at this point that the computer got involved. "Uh, actually, he's kinda not."
Zim lifted his antennae in confusion. "Jana hasn't killed him yet? What, is she trying to enjoy herself or something?"
"Somehow I don't think she's enjoying herself, sir."
The Invader merely glared at his cryptic computer and activated his communicator. "Jana," he said, "Report."
After a few moments of silence, the sound of heavy breathing came over the communicator, and the time-displaced assassin responded.
"Yes, milord?" Jana asked, her voice sounding strained.
Zim's antennae returned to their confused position at the sound of his servant's voice. "Are you alright?" he asked, slightly surprised when he realized there was actual concern in his voice.
"Just some… minor injuries… master," Jana panted, "I… underestimated the… human. It won't… happen again. I am still… in pursuit. He will… not escape. Jana out."
The line went dead, and Zim blinked in confusion, before looking up at the console. "Computer, what exactly happened?"
Instead of responding with words, the computer pushed aside the data and the view from the Cannon, and pulled up security footage of Dib and Jana's fight. Zim watched in fascination, rather enjoying the parts where Jana nearly killed the human, and cringing when she nearly had her arm taken off by the destruction of her dart launcher. Suddenly, a thought hit him, and his eyes narrowed in anger.
"Computer," he growled, "If you saw all of this happening, why didn't you tell me?!"
"You didn't ask."
Muttering obscenities, Zim clenched his fists tight enough that they almost drew blood. He then took a deep breath, and then coldly ordered, "Begin powering up the Cannon."
When nothing happened, Zim glared at the computer again. "Problem?" he asked.
"Well," the computer started slowly, "I was thinking that maybe we should postpone firing the Cannon temporarily. At least until-"
"Postpone?" Zim echoed, "You want Zim to postpone his destiny?!"
"Master, all I'm saying is that given the fact that the human is still on the loose - and that he has a tendency to ruin your plans - perhaps it would be wise to focus our attention on eliminating him before we continue on."
"No," Zim snapped, "I will not give Dib the satisfaction of delaying my conquest. Jana will deal with him; we stay on schedule."
"But, master-"
"No!" Zim roared, slamming a fist onto the console, "I have seen the way my future is meant to play out, and it will be done. Now, began firing procedures, or I will shut down your A.I. programming and do it myself. Understood?"
The computer was silent for a moment, but then answered, "Yes, master."
Zim smirked as he heard the fear underlining the computer's voice, and that smirk widened as a new graph appeared on the screen. A red bar representing the EMP Cannon's firing power slowly started filling up, moving in sync with the timer in the upper corner of the screen.
14:00
13:59
13:58
13:57
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Escape Pod Corridor, Same Time
Dib panted for breath as he reached the hallway containing the station's escape pods. A sharp pain shot through his chest, and he clutched a hand to the burn wound he had received from Jana's energy sword. Steadying himself against the wall with his other hand, Dib took several deep breaths, once again willing himself to stay conscious.
'Can't stop now,' he said to himself, 'Got to keep going.'
Pulling himself together, Dib quickly limped over to the control panel next to one of the escape pods. Praying that everything was the way he remembered it from the first time he'd been on this ship, he punched in the command to open the doorway to one of the pods. As the hatch hissed open, Dib let out a small sigh.
"So far, so good," he muttered.
"Human!"
"Aw, damn it!" Dib cursed as he turned around to find Jana standing at the entrance to the corridor, her left arm hanging limply at her side, and the energy sword burning brightly as she held it in her good hand.
"Going somewhere?" she asked.
Dib quickly looked her over, taking in the wounds and the exhausted look in her eyes, and then said the first thing that popped into his head, "Geez, you look like you're about as ready to collapse as I am."
"I am a Shadow, I do not allow pain to slow me," Jana sneered, although her voice wavered slightly, "Now, be a good little monkey and hold still so I can kill you."
"Yeah, I'd love to," Dib said sarcastically, "but I've got to go blow up your boss's toy. Bye."
Dib gave a small wave, and turned to enter the pod – but then one of Jana's spider legs extended and fired a blast of energy. Dib instinctively jumped to the side, gasping in pain as the sudden movement agitated his wounds. Jana chuckled slightly, watching as Dib struggled to get back to his feet.
"Once again, you demonstrate the inferiority of your species," she said, shuffling forward, "An Irken wouldn't let such a lesser wound slow them down. And yet, you still think you can deny my master what is rightfully his. You really are pathetic."
"I'm pathetic?" Dib asked, "I'm not the one with fantasies about getting into Zim's pants."
Jana's eyes went wider than what was normal for an Irken, and then they narrowed to slits while her face turned practically black with rage and indignation. "How dare you?!" she snarled.
With a wild shriek, Jana threw her energy sword, which flew through the air straight at Dib. The young human yelped and jumped out of the way, once again causing his wounds to practically scream in protest, as the blade of the energy sword hit the wall and sank in. Before Dib could reorient himself, Jana ran up and grabbed him by the collar.
Practically foaming at the mouth, Jana slammed Dib into the wall, then pulled back and slammed him into the wall again. As Dib's vision blurred, his mind raced to try and find a way out of this situation.
'I don't have time for this.'
A thought hit him just then, and as Jana pulled him towards her again, Dib threw all the strength he could muster into a kick, which he aimed directly at the exposed charred flesh on her chest. As his boot made contact with the damaged skin, Jana screeched in agony and dropped him. Dib hit the floor, and quickly scrambled back to his feet as Jana doubled over in pain. Taking full advantage of the situation, Dib quickly punched Jana in the jaw, knocking her to the ground.
"Love to stay and chat," he mumbled, as he hobbled into the open escape pod, "But I've got to go piss off Zim."
Snarling obscenities in a combination of English and Irken, Jana used her good arm to push herself back onto her feet, and then thrust her spider legs forward. Unfortunately for her however, Dib had already managed to close the pod. Seconds later, it ejected.
"Oh no," Jana hissed, "You're not escaping me that easily, Earth-monkey."
She then yanked her energy sword out of the wall, deactivated and pocketed it, and then made her way to the next available pod.
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Space Station Bridge, Same Time
"Escape Pod 1 launched," the computer announced.
Zim looked up from writing the speech he was planning in preparation for his coronation as Tallest, and raised his antennae in confusion. "Was GIR messing with those things again?" he asked.
"Nope," the computer said, "He's still in the holding cell. See?"
One of the side monitors on the console switched to security footage of the holding cell, showing GIR still floating in the energy field. He was also apparently enjoying himself, as he was laughing while spinning himself around and around in midair. Zim sighed.
"Minimoose, go let him out," he ordered.
"Squeak!" Minimoose replied, as he turned and floated out of the room.
Meanwhile, Zim turned his attention to the escape pod, which was now visible from the bridge's main viewscreen. His lips pulled back in a sneer as it suddenly occurred to him who must be onboard.
"Dib. Trying to run away are you? You must have been more afraid of Jana than I thought."
"Uh, sir?" the computer interrupted Zim's gloating, "He's not heading towards Earth."
Zim blinked in surprise. "What do you mean he's not…" he trailed off in thought, and then jumped to his feet as realization hit him. "No, no, no! He wouldn't dare!"
But Zim denying it didn't change facts – Dib was heading straight towards the Cannon. Zim was about two seconds away from heading down to the hanger, jumping into the Voot, and dealing with Dib himself, when the computer made another announcement.
"Escape Pod 2 launched."
Confusion once again replaced Zim's anger, but then a smirk graced his face. "Jana," he chuckled, "Good girl. Do me proud." He paused, then said, "Computer, I'm letting Jana handle this. But if at any point it looks like she's losing control of the situation, lock onto Dib's pod with the station's ion cannons and blow him to hell."
"Yes master," the computer said, beginning to power up the weapons installed on the station's outer hull. As it did so, Zim sat back down in his chair and steeped his fingers together. Images flashed through his mind of Dib's pod being destroyed, either by Jana's pod or the ion cannons, and the human exploding from decompression. This brought on a series of laughs, as Zim leaned back in his chair and once again turned his attention to the firing clock.
10:15
10:14
10:13
10:12
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Escape Pod 1, A Few Moments Later
As Dib neared the Cannon, he quickly checked the control board. "Come on, come on, where is it," he muttered angrily, before smirking, "Ha! Gotcha!"
Just as he remembered from the first time he'd been held captive on Zim's space station, and Gaz had had to save him, the escape pod was equipped with a weapon system. Gripping the joystick that controlled the laser turrets attached to the sides of the pod, Dib increased the pod's speed, accelerating towards the Cannon and quickly going over the plan in his head.
'Get inside the superstructure and blow up everything that looks even slightly important. Shouldn't be too hard.'
It wasn't the best plan in the world, but he didn't exactly have time to come up with something better. He had less than ten minutes before the Cannon powered up and fired, and if that happened, then Zim would win. He had to do whatever it took to prevent that.
A warning alarm suddenly rang through the cockpit, pulling Dib out of his thoughts. He looked out through the viewscreen and cursed when he saw what set it off. The construction drones, either on a signal from Zim or from a preprogrammed response, were breaking away from the Cannon and heading right towards him.
Flipping the cover off of the joystick's firing trigger, Dib quickly moved the holographic targeting reticule over the nearest drone. As soon as it flashed from red to purple to indicate that the laser turrets were locked onto the drone, he pressed down on the trigger. Multiple bolts of energy fired from the turrets, streaking in flashes of violet light towards the drone. Before the drone could move, the laser blasts reduced it to ash and smoldering pieces of debris.
Giving a small cheer, Dib moved his attention to the other drones and fired as fast as he could. The drones, being designed primarily for construction and not for actual combat, were quickly wiped out. With a small sigh of relief, Dib angled the pod so that he was gliding over the surface of the Cannon, and began looking for a breach in its metal skin, someplace where he could reach its vulnerable components.
But his priorities immediately changed when something hit the side of the pod, sending it spinning. Dib managed to stop the spin, but then the pod was hit again, and was sent skittering across the surface of the Cannon. Red emergency lights filled the cockpit, and what sounded like a million different alarms started going off. Dib waved away the smoke coming from the sparking console, and grimaced when he read the monitor.
MAIN POWER TO WEAPONS AND ENGINES OFFLINE. ATTEMPTING TO REROUTE EMERGENCY POWER.
"What the Hell hit me?" Dib practically shouted to the console, not caring that it wouldn't answer. Then he looked out the viewscreen, and felt the blood drain from his face. Another pod was floating a few yards away from his, its laser turrets still glowing with excess energy. And Dib had a pretty good idea who had pulled their trigger.
His suspicions were, to his further panic, confirmed when a holo-screen popped up on the viewscreen, and Jana's smirking visage glared down at him.
"Hello, Dib," she said, a low growl accompanying her words, "And goodbye."
With that said, the holo-screen closed, and then the laser turrets started glowing with energy. And after the few seconds necessary to gather the proper charge, they then fired, sending plasma-based doom straight towards Dib's immobilized pod…
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A/N: I'm actually rather proud of that ending – I usually can't set up cliffhangers like that.
I was planning on this being the last chapter (not counting the epilogue), but it seemed more dramatic to me to split it in half. This chapter had Dib and Jana's last physical fight of the story, while next chapter will have their space fight. Plus, this part sets up the countdown until it's too late for Dib to stop Zim from firing the Cannon.
Anyway, I once again apologize for the late update, and hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
Read and review!