Author's Note: Hopefully this one won't give you guys so much whiplash and be a little less speedy. I was just trying to get to the good part now that I can't come up with anything else. Time to get the story moving.
Invader Zim belongs to Nickelodeon and Jhonen Vasquez.
Flamers will be hunted down by Zim-ified Sherlock and Moriarty. Since, you know, they listen to me so well.
=== DOOM ===
The interior of the dock is spacious enough for four Boeing jets to fit in side-by-side, nose-to-nose. Gaz lands us near the mouth of the dock, and we all climb out and make a mad dash for the door on the far side of the floor. By the time we reach it, I'm already out of breath, but I force myself to keep going when we enter the ship.
We run along a hallway until I can't run anymore and stop for a minute to catch my breath. Dib puts a hand on my shoulder and asks if I'm all right.
The lights around us turn a bloody red and an alarm sounds out before I can answer. "Warning. Intruder alert," screams a computerized voice through the hall. It repeats itself and the three of us sprint away, searching for a place to hide until the danger is passed. I fall behind, being terribly out of shape, and Dib falls back to be at my side.
"This way!" Gaz calls from a few yards ahead. I push myself to catch up to her and we slip into a room that she holds open for us. I gawk, panting heavily, at the room before us.
It's dome-shaped, and the walls are full of screens, each one has a scene of a crowd of anxious, panicky people spread across it. A dash sits in the middle of the room. Gaz goes up to it and starts pressing buttons and lights.
The alarm is still wailing outside the room in the hallway; I can hear it from my position next to the door. Dib holds my hand and I manage to ease my lungs. "You okay?" he asks. I nod at him and try to smile.
"You?" I return. He nods back.
"Okay, this is nuts," Gaz says from the dash.
"What is it?" I ask.
"The entire ship is empty. Whoever's behind the bombings, he isn't in here," she explains. "We're the only organic beings in the whole damn thing."
"You're kidding?" Dib tries. "Then..." He looks to me, worry and fear in his golden eyes that I feel resonate in my gut. "Were we wrong?" I swallow and shrug.
The entire room shudders, making Dib and I jump. Something is pounding at the door. Dib pulls me towards the front of the room just as a robotic clawed arm comes through the metallic door and grabs Gaz. She screams and struggles fruitlessly against the arm. It pulls her out and another comes in its place.
Dib pushes me behind the dash and the arm snatches him up. I dare not breathe, and I hope the robot claw-arms aren't equipped with heat-sensors. Nothing comes for me and let myself sigh. Dread fills me as I realize that I have to save my friends as well as the world now. "Dammit," I curse as I stand up and walk out of the now ruined doorframe.
I don't know where I'm going, but upwards seems like a good idea. I follow the up-sloping tunnel-like hallway. At one point I have to crawl because the slope is so steep. It levels out and, sweaty and shaking, I stumble my way to the end of it, because there's a door that I can see.
I reach it, surprisingly without collapsing with exhaustion, and it slides open silently. I take a deep breath and enter.
The space must take up a majority of the ship. It looks like a huge power converter, with lots of odds and ends that I don't know about and honestly could not care. I look around, but I can't see Dib or Gaz. My hopes crushed, and my moral falling with every minute that goes by, I wander around the room until I find another door. It opens to another tunnel-hall, and thankfully it seems level.
I follow it in the twisting circle it seems to be making around the converter room. I check for Dib or Gaz in the rooms I pass by, but they're all empty. I'm starting to feel hopeless. I doubt the Earth has more than ten minutes left.
I almost pass by a room without checking it, but I hear a shout that makes my stomach lurch. "GET YOUR FILTHY ROBOT HANDS OFF ME!"
Gaz, I think immediately, and I peer inside.
Dib and Gaz are still being held by the robotic arms, a few feet off the ground. In front of them is a little robot with bloody eyes and a scowl that would rival Grumpy Cat. Then it speaks.
"You humans are all alike. You deserve to be enslaved and killed."
My heart drops to the pit of my stomach as I recognize the voice from a year ago. The little robot named Gir when I accidently infiltrated Zim's base is standing before me, the cause of all my frustrations and stress for the last eight days.
Gir turns to face me, and his red eyes flash brightly. "Intruder alert!" he shouts. A robotic arm falls from the ceiling and holds me in place. I'm too tired to struggle.
"Gir, let me go," I plead. "I won't hurt you. I won't even get in your way. I promise."
"Your words mean nothing," Gir snaps. "Promises are nothing. Promises are stupid."
"Not my promises," I say. "Never my promises. I keep my promises, Gir."
"She does! You should listen to her, Gir," Dib adds. Gir aims a ray gun-looking-thing at his head.
"Shut up, human! You do not tell me what to do!" he barks. He faces me again. "And anyway, I will not release you. I am going to kill you. You are too smart to be a slave. You would start a revolt."
A beeping interrupts him. A screen falls from the ceiling and static disappates. There's an image of Professor Membrane standing at a podium. "Yes, it is I, Professor Membrane, giving a public announcement to the world. I implore you not to surrender. The threat is being neutralized as we speak."
"How?" shouts a voice from a crowd he must be addressing.
"I will be honest with you. My children and their friend, all of whom are very intelligent and ablebodied, are stopping the threat at its source," Membrane answers.
There's a murmuring that I can hear but not see. Gir presses a button and the screen goes blank.
"So you will all die," he said with an air of finality. He pulls out a remote from his head and his thumb hovers over a button. "I have given them enough time."
I head spins for a moment, trying to think of a way to distract Gir long enough for either Dib or Gaz to get out of their arms' grips. "Gir, why did you kill Zim?"
The robot stops moving completely. "Was he being a bad master? Is that why you killed him? To get revenge?" I continue.
"Zim was an idiot. He was getting in the way of the mission. He had to be terminated," was Gir's reply.
"But I bet there was something else. I bet Zim wasn't being fair to you. Making you pick up after his messes?" I offer.
Gir's face contorts into a mask of thought and something along the lines of anger. "He was an imbecile. He deserved to die."
"No one deserves to die, Gir."
"DO NOT TELL ME THAT!" Gir shrieks at me, making me flinch.
"I think you were mad and you went to tell Zim that you weren't happy with how he was treating you." I lick my lips. It's working, for now. I keep my eyes away from Dib and Gaz, or else Gir might notice.
"No, shut up!" Gir says. He seems to be fighting an internal battle now.
"He took it the wrong way, though, and things got a little out of control. He started hitting you, and you had to defend yourself." I hope I'm not pushing my luck. "You pulled on his antennae and bashed his head into the floor. And then you stole his pack so he wouldn't recover and hurt you some more."
"YOU LIE! SHUT UP! SHUT UP YOU FILTHY NO-GOOD LIAR!"
"But it's not right to kill someone, even in self-defense. So you thought you would make it up to him by taking over the Earth for him."
There's a gun barrel against my forehead. Gir looks absolutely furious. "I said shut up!" he growls.
"You can't make me," I respond calmly. My eyes flash to Dib, who had worked himself out of his binding while I was talking to Gir. The robot looks behind him, and Dib bashes him in the head, catching his eye. I hear a shattering sound as Gir falls to the floor.
Dib pries open the robot fingers and embraces me as I fall into his arms. Gaz is by our side now, Gir's remote in her hand, and for a moment, just a moment, I feel safe.
Gir snaps up to his feet and glowers at us wildly. One of his eyes dangles from its socket, thoroughly broken and hanging by a couple of wires. Dib pushes me away just as Gir tackles him. They roll around on the floor, wrestling. I hear something metallic snap as Dib lands on top of Gir.
The little robot lifts him up in the air and tosses him away as if he were made of styrofoam. He lands with an 'oof' and rolls on the floor. "DIB!" I scream, and I bolt after him. He looks hurt but Gir grabs me by the waist and throws me into the ground.
Pain spikes through my spine, and I think I cracked a couple of ribs with the impact. I give a scream of pain but nothing more. Gir sits on my chest and takes my arm. He breaks it like it's a toothpick. I had never broken a bone in my life, so I'm very unprepared for that kind of pain. I shriek again.
Gir is lifted off me, but I barely see it through my tears of agony. Gaz is at my side, helping me into a sitting position. I cradle my broken arm close. The pain makes me want to throw up.
Dib is thrown again without my seeing and he skids to a halt next to me. He groans and peers his eyes open at me, our eyes meeting for a split second before he's dragged away by Gir.
"Wait!" Gaz shouts. She holds up the remote to Gir's view. "Drop him, Gir, or I crush it."
"You would not," Gir dares after a moment. Gaz raises an eyebrow and her hand tightens around the remote. I hear the metal creak with the pressure.
"Just do it anyway, Gaz," I urge, my voice weak. Gaz's grip tightens once more.
Gir drops Dib and lunges at Gaz, knocking her to the ground. The remote flies out of her hand and into my lap. I grab it with my good hand and with all my strength, I smash it to the floor repeatedly until it shatters and breaks.
"NOOO!" Gir screams. He releases Gaz, who he was punching in the face, and hits me in the head so hard that everything flashes white, and then fades to black. I'm vaguely aware of Dib calling my name as I go unconscious.
=== DOOM ===
Again, not professional at this so don't kill me.
And there's your killer and major plot twist. Don't worry, it's not the end. I got a couple more chapters in mind, not to mention an epilogue, and a bonus chapter if you guys are good.
Can I have a review or two, please?