Saving Zim by Dib07

Summary:

"Zim! Listen to me! I'm not here to hurt you! Or cut you open! Please understand! I'm trying to save you!"

Warnings:

Zim Angst. Violence, language and distressing scenes.

Blocks of text in italics means that it's a flashback.

Disclaimer:

I do not own the IZ characters. However this story and this idea is mine.

A/N:

An update! Here! Now! :) To feed you all! Hahaha! This to me was a filler, but it will be the last filler for literally ages! After this you are all gonna need seatbelts or something!

Thank you all again for your loyal support, praise and love. Because I LOVE YOU ALL! And next week is gonna be super exciting for me, cuz now it's my turn to get excited and impatient to show you the chapter after this one! XDXDXD

Guest

Gir is just so mad! Dib's gonna need some running trainers or something methinks! I would be terrified! Mad Gir is scary Gir! Put him in a horror movie and I'm out!

moops

So bad! So very bad! Trust me, it gets worse!

Guest

Uh, not so much of a cliffhanger this time, but ah... you wait until next week! Because I am struggling to wait already!

GeekySkeleton

Yeah, Gir was kinda like a ticking time bomb all through that chapter, just waiting to pop out his weapons of super madness! Sadly this chapter isn't so suspenseful, I guess? I kinda go blind reading my own chapters. XD I know what happens too well, lol. But I loved writing the next chapter. Whenever Zim gets mad/stubborn/reveals the fighter in him I get so happy! Thanks for the stupendous review, GeekySkeleton! Happy reading!

RhiannonsaurusRex

(omg I cannot get enough of your reviews! Glad you have the internet back!) Yeah, it's kinda hard to predict Gir, even if, say, he wasn't going to go ape-nuts and start shooting the place up! XD Only Zim truly understood that robot inside and out, and even he was shocked by what Gir did waay back in chapter 1. That robot is just so... spontaneous! YES! You remembered that Dib left Zim's panic room door wide open! It has to be manually installed for maximum security, for the computer only does what it is told! Give yourself a pat on the back! Sometimes I write so much that I think not everyone remembers things, because there is just too much to remember!

Oh I can so imagine Zim coming out with a shotgun or something and shouting: 'Some of us are trying to SLEEP! Keep it DOWN out there! Because if I have to start shooting, I don't know if I will stop!'

Yeah, judging by Zim's great age, Dib would still be a kid to him, and so would Gir! Omg I feel so sorry for him! What have I done?

Yup! Nasty old robot thumb in nasty wound! Ah, for the septic tissue, Zim is on a giga course of antibiotics at the moment. I think the computer dispensed it last chapter? Oooh yes, you remembered those autodoc symptoms well, my friend! Give yourself another pat on the back! The detail in this story is just... immense. It is hard to keep up, I admit! And as for your question, no, that autodoc didn't fix anything. All it did was give Zim what his body needed to sustain life, i.e. oxygen, donated blood, warmth, etc. As for his heart... well... Zim's got a tough wall to climb, shall we say? Just as well he loves a challenge! (Don't worry, he has safety rope!)

You are going to get all the snuggly Zim, next chapter! ALL OF IT! You are gonna LOVE IT!

CHAPTER 21 (24): The Recording

"Urm... Gir? What are you doing?" He tried to crawl backwards, his eyes trained on the little robot who stood over him like an automated weapon that fired upon anything that moved. That cheerful sunny grin had gone, replaced with darkly red-rimmed eyes. His posture was different too. No longer slouched and at-ease, this new stance was erect, alert and aggressive.

"You are trespassing on enemy territory. All new threats must be eliminated for the good of the Irken Empire!" A pack of missiles erupted from Gir's shoulder blades and locked-on to Dib, who still sat beneath his shadow, utterly clueless. "Missiles launching! Prepare for evasive action!"

Dib threw himself to his feet and dived for the door. He had to get out! Had to get away!

Instinctively he raced for the open world, where humans frolicked, and life was that much more normal. Behind him a battalion of missiles exploded from the pack and chased after him. Dib opened the door, causing one rocket to explode on the doorframe on impact. Zim's installed shield took the force, saving the base from damage.

Now Dib was outside, racing down the gnome-lawn and towards the road. Several more missiles swept towards him, chasing his coattails with deadly intent.

He leapt behind a car and another exploded into it, showering the car to bits. Dib was thrown across the road, his Irken-blood-soaked coat now smouldering with flames. He wrenched it off his shoulders and left it to burn as he raced for new cover. The rest of the missiles scattered, leaving craters in the road as they imploded.

By now Dib was hiding behind a tree in the neighbour's front lawn. He was shaking all over, heavy sweat running down his armpits.

What the fuck just happened?

He was breathing hard and fast, his blood thick with adrenaline.

Gir had just attacked him, for no reason!

The robot stood without a disguise on Zim's front lawn, scanning for him. His red eyes surveyed the area like searchlights. He did this for some time, and when a bird hooted on a tree branch, he shot that with his eyes. The red laser fire was instantaneous. The bird flopped dead from the tree, its body shot clean through.

Dib slapped a hand over his mouth to keep from screaming.

Not happening!

This is NOT happening!

His heart was racing. His shirt was soaked with cold, nervous sweat.

Gir scanned the lawn one final time, and looked in Dib's direction last, even though Dib was perfectly concealed behind a tree some two houses down. Then the robot did a quick military U turn, Zim-fashion, and walked back into the base, closing the door aggressively behind him.

In the distance, Dib could hear the sirens of the emergency services on their way.

I gotta get out of here!

He was so lucky he had escaped. So lucky he was alive! He even looked down at his body, ticking off his limbs to find that none had holes in.

Dib ducked low along the neighbour's hedges, and then ran out towards the sidewalk. When he had passed several houses while running down the path towards his car, he stopped abruptly and then turned towards the alien's house with horror clear on his face.

Zim was still in there.

Unprotected. Unguarded.

Had he left the resting chamber open? He was pretty sure he had.

There was nothing to stop Gir from waltzing in there, and going ape-shit crazy.

And Zim was intoxicated with medication. He wouldn't stand a chance.

I can't go back in there!

To do was so insane, even for him.

But Zim's treatment wasn't yet over. He needed to be nursed through his recovery, if he'd recover at all.

And Gir... Gir had broken out of the containment room! What was he supposed to do now?

How come the robot's gone crazy? Did Zim make it happen? Was it unplanned? Why did Zim NEVER say anything? Surely this has gone on for some time? And he's been suffering quietly?

Oh, why me?

He stood on the sidewalk while the sirens grew louder. No doubt the cops would peer at the miniature craters and exploded car and just assume this area had been struck by little meteorites. Staying around to be questioned would be counter-productive.

But going back in there?

Against his greater instinct, he started running back towards the Irken's house. It was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do.

xxx

He rushed back inside, and there Gir was again to greet him with a platoon of weapons. Plasma guns and automatic weapons had risen out of his head compartment and swivelled round to target Dib.

"Re-engaging intruder! Locked on!"

"Gir!" He shouted, wondering if this was even worth trying. "Listen to me! You've gone... more crazy than usual! Please, stop what you are doing!"

"Must kill!"

"What... what is your directive?"

"Eliminate all hostiles! That is all!"

Gir had no purpose. No sense. He was following no orders, only random coding in his programming.

Then Dib's pink necklace swung forwards as he had no jacket to hide it, and Gir seemed to spot it at once. His eyes melted to their cyan counterparts and his plethora of weapons held fast. And he did not attack.

"Master... Master's medicine... Why do yous have it?"

"Wait? What?"

His confusion only seemed to re-engage Gir again, and his lethal aggression.

Those mad red eyes returned, and the robot bent forwards, his back riddled with every Irken gun imaginable.

Gir opened fire, and bullets and lasers creamed the walls, delivering overkill to all he targeted. The installed shield struggled to take it all, and it faltered, allowing the wall to sag with damage and the couch to pepper with bullets. Dib slid past him and into the kitchen, but not without injury. A bullet creased his arm, turning it red instantly.

Without Zim to maintain his base's defences, there was only so much it could take until it crumbled beneath Gir's duress.

Zim's roboparents, barely able to function now, emerged from their designated storage rooms with open arms.

"Welcome home, son!"

Gir blitzed them all to burning metal bits. Then he stood over the corpses, victorious. "Must kill!" He repeated, even though what he stood over was quite clearly dead.

Dib fell headlong into the bin and awkwardly crash-landed onto the floor of the conduit. While he lay in a heap, he yelled frantically: "Computer! Take me to level 7! And then lock down the elevator! Let no one else come down here!"

"Request denied. You do not have authority to employ the defences."

"But the base is in jeopardy! Please accept my request!" He righted himself slowly and looked to his arm. Funnily enough, it was his right arm again, right above his old scar. Blood was leaking down freshly torn flesh. He slipped off his belt to try and professionally tourniquet the wound without panicking. The sight of red blood was enough to cause any human to lose their mind and faint. Green blood never seemed to present the same effect to him.

He was lucky. The bullet had skimmed his flesh deeply, but it had run through, leaving him the moment it had entered.

"Awaiting further instructions from Master Zim." The computer returned after a four-second hesitation, which was unusual. The computer rarely ever hesitated. Its answers were usually point-blank in their bluntness and instance.

"You won't get any instructions from him!" Dib shouted, applying pressure to his upper arm as he continued to bleed out. "I am the only one able to issue commands! Zim gave me access!"

"Master Zim gave you limited access to most basic internal functions. But that is where your privilege ends. Besides which, more complex systems require Irken command only."

"But Gir will destroy us all! Can't you just stop him instead?"

"Unable to comply. Only the containment chamber could hold him."

Dib couldn't believe he was forced to say this. "Then... then destroy him!" It made him sick just saying it. Destroy Gir? Zim's only companion? But he felt that he had been pushed too far. The walls were crumbling in his mindscape, and there was fire burning all around. He had to do something, or the fire would consume him.

"Unable to comply. Master Zim will not allow it."

"What?"

"Protection code 111. The highest priority code. Anyone under this code cannot be harmed under any circumstances."

"Even if Zim's mission is threatened?"

"That is correct. Zim has stated that even in the event of his death, he wants Gir protected."

Dib leaned against the wall of the conduit, ready to give up.

Why is Gir like this?

What changed so suddenly?

Why did you never tell me, Zim?

You... you'd rather protect him, than your own goals?

"I can't stop Gir... and I can't destroy him." He whispered to himself. Zim's arrogance had sealed his fate, and his mission. The Irken was absolutely insane.

Still, Dib's passion remained, and though he was hurting and his arm was bloody, he awkwardly rose to his feet and stood, defiant as the conduit came to rest at level 7.

Luckily there appeared to be no sign of any disturbances. Gir had not yet made it down here, at all.

He ran to the resting chamber and hit the button on the inside of the door that was at about waist-height. Even though he did not know what it did, its function had to mean only one thing. After pushing it, various reinforced doors behind him slid shut, sealing him from the rest of the level. This at least gave Dib a sense of safety. If this was the last stronghold left, so be it.

Zim lay where he had left him; wearily breathing in recycled air from the apparatus. His skin was still a septic-whitish green and his eyes were closed in deep sleep.

Dib yanked open the side-wall medi-unit and tossed out from gauze for himself. Droplets of red blood from his arm began to dot the floor copiously.

It hurt! It bloody hurt!

How come Gir was all right before? He was fine! Better than fine! Did I trigger something? Did I do something by mistake that he didn't like? And the necklace? What the hell?

He wrapped the gauze tight around his bloody wound using his teeth, and then tied the frayed ends into a firm knot. He untied the belt and dumped it to the floor, about ready to cry from the shock of Gir's open hostility.

This sucked.

He approached the little sleeping alien and gently nudged his shoulder. "Zim? Hey, Zim. I need you. Gir's acting all crazy and stuff! Wake up! Please!"

Zim stirred, and he moaned feebly. It was clear that he was still too unwell, still too drugged to be of much use to anyone. He coughed and choked, and his harder breathing turned into difficult wheezes.

"Zim!" He spoke a little louder to his right antenna to overcome the Irken's deafness, "The base has been breached! You need to lay down some fortification before he destroys this whole place! I need help! I can't do this on my own!"

Zim cranked open one eye, and its deep, fuchsia colour was now tinged whitish grey. Feebly he lifted an arm from the blanket and shakily rose a clawed hand out of its depths. Dib waited, hoping Zim would deliver some wisdom, or at least provide a kind of solution. The Irken pointed at something across the little room – at a tiny metal unit. Dib looked at him and frowned. "You want something? I... I don't get it."

Still, he walked towards this little metal storage unit and he glanced back over at Zim for confirmation. But Zim had sunken back down again and had passed out, his claw swinging lifelessly from his blankets.

Dib wrenched open the top drawer and found a small metal disc.

He took it out and inspected it with doubt and disinterest. What the hell was this? Another riddle? Or was Zim just out of his mind?

While he stared at it, truly feeling out of his depth, a computer console unfolded out from beneath the metal unit.

"Insert disc into the memory drive." Spoke the computer somewhere above him, as if frustrated at his confusion.

"All right. What's the worst that can happen?"

He inserted the little disc into a side compartment that looked like the right size and shape to accept it. The little screen started off showing him nothing but bad static and Dib was worried he'd inserted it in the wrong way, or just wasn't doing it right when the fuzz dissipated and he was looking at his arch nemesis. It was a video recording of Zim. He stood before the camera, smiling cunningly, as he always used to before he got really old.

Dib held his arm, feeling the blood leak into the gauze.

"Hiya there stink beast. Congratulations on finding this disk, I guess." But then his smile fell away. Dib could not help noticing how croaky and tired his voice sounded. "You watching me, is bad I suppose. It means something's been breached, or I myself am dead." He smiled wistfully again as if he wasn't discussing the darkest possibilities of fate. "I hope you and your smelly kind weren't involved. I really do. Anyway!" His grin died this time, and he never smiled again for the rest of the video. "Another reason you may be watching this is because I couldn't fix Gir."

Fix Gir?

Dib watched the video in harrowing dismay. When had Zim recorded this? And what gave him the insight to even do this? It was clear in the video that Zim was much healthier. He was back in his full invader attire, and his skin was that wholesome lime-green tone. But the human could still discern a swelling in Zim's tummy under his uniform, and there were pronounced wrinkles under the Irken's bright, fuchsia eyes.

"You see, I've tried. That damnable S.I.R unit needs a new modulator and modifier chip. But the Tallest could not give me what I requested. This all started with..." He fell to coughing, and the video suddenly skipped. Zim had obviously made various edits in the video. After the break in the sequencing, Zim was back again, picking up where he had left off. "But, to my recollection, Gir's unusual behaviour started with an E.M.P blast. This affected my PAK too." He paused suddenly in the video as if all thought had escaped him. The video was cut again, and this time Zim was standing slightly off to the centre, rubbing on his side. "You see, Dib worm, it is my problem to fix. Invaders must be reliable and resourceful. I am also worried your pathetically DUMB interference will lead to your STUPID demise. The reason I never told you? I do not want you to destroy Gir. He is stupid, he is useless. He is garbage. But you see, he is also my only child. He is my family. You taught me that very word. And as such, he is the only family I shall ever have."

That's not true, Zim.

"I am in the process of making a containment chamber to keep him in. Yes, yes, it is brilliant! I designed it myself! And it shall hold Gir inside for all of time, if necessary. In due course, my body will be taken to the Fall, and the base will be destroyed. But not Gir. The base above will be blown to bits, and all the debris will bury my robot. I suppose the reason I wanted to make this stupid recording was because I wanted to say... uh...goodbye."

He held his chest as he squeaked up another few coughs. But this time the video did not break with any edits.

"Invaders do not say such melodramatic irrelevances. It's disgusting. Real disgusting and pointless. But! You have done well to be my enemy, Dib. You are a worthy foe. I only wish you had been an Irken. BUT! Better to die quick, than to succumb to a slow, nasty death by age. I suppose being killed by you or by Gir is a thankless mercy. I hope I shall fight. And uh... I... I want to say that I... pardon you. You are a cunning creature, Dib and you showed me mercy on that... insolent day. Mercy is a great weakness however, human. Do not do it again. And you have my jewel, don't you? The one I dropped? I keep... I keep FORGETTING things!"

And his calm demeanour broke for just a moment before he picked up the threads of his patience again which he had mastered for the recording.

"If I happen to be... uh... dead, throw it away. It is useless. Oh what am I saying? It's no big DEAL!" Another edit was pasted on the end of the last one. "Anyway, this is Zim..." And he even saluted. Saluted to Dib with all the muster he showed to his Tallest. But this time, one clawed hand was on his heart in a rare show of great respect. "...Signing off."

The recording ended, leaving Dib with nothing but a black screen with that last image of Zim saluting, hand on his chest.

Dib didn't know why, but emotion overcame him out of nowhere all at once. He had just been pardoned, and an incredible weight lifted from his shoulders.

Clara had mentioned it, but now it had been confirmed.

'I couldn't fix Gir.'

'... started with an E.M.P blast.'

'I do not want you to destroy Gir.'

'And uh... I... I want to say that I... pardon you.'

'I hope I shall fight.'

This just keeps getting worse. He thought dourly.

'So what are you gonna do? Sit back and cry about it?' Zim was there, beside him, claws on his shoulders. Or, at least, Dib imagined it that way. It's what he would have said, had he been young and healthy, his mind full of playful yearning and conquest. There was very little that ever set Zim back. That Irken had been like a yo-yo: always bouncing into it again.

Back then, Zim didn't care about anything.

Now he cared too much about everything.

"No. I'm going to do something about it." Dib said aloud to the ghost, to himself, to the computer. "My only way out of this horrible mess is you, Zim. Both of us are going to make it. I'm not turning my back on you."

'Uh? I don't like the idea of 'teams.'' Besides, I've pardoned you, deaf-child. Go on. Walk. You know where the fucking door is. Don't make me shove you out.' Zim stood back a little, arms folded across his chest.

Dib pushed through the images and looked to the Irken – the real Irken lying in the incubation pod.

His arm hurt, but it only strengthened his resolve. He was tired of mopping up the mess, tired of running, tired of having the computer turn him round in circles. He was going to take action.

Clara had done the hard part.

Now Dib would take care of the rest.

"I can still save you yet, Zim."

The ghost of his nemesis laughed at his back.

Dib07: Okay, now that is out of the way, I just want to say this: I CANNOT WAIT to upload next week's chapter. It is going to be ALL the Zim! And there is going to be a lot of emotional scenes, more so than of late, and there's going to be another flashback, which will shed light on how Zim learned to walk again, and I know Weevmo has been looking forward to that for a reeeeal long time. One more week, Weevmo. One more week! Plus the chapter's gonna be merged into 2 chapters to make it engaging, and longer without any splits! It's gonna be so, so good! And, and it's going to get super crazy, and super fun! This was the last chapter without any proper Zim in it. The rest is just... ugh! So good! We all need take-no-shit Irkens!