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Chapter Twenty-Five

Things That Matter, and Things That Don't

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The alien stepped off of the bus, bewilderingly exhausted. He'd finally arrived back in this filthy town. This horrible, wretched place where he had first landed his ship and made his base.

The place where he found meaning in his pitiful life.

Being an Invader meant less and less as time had gone on, those years when he and Gaz began their courtship. Plotting the conquest of Earth became something he told himself he would get to later. Eventually he had realized that his Tallest hadn't contacted him in over a full Earth-year, and he hadn't contacted them, either. When he'd brought it up to Gaz, she told him that his Tallest didn't care about him or the earth, and had clearly sent him here because of his incompetence as an Invader. That had hurt, and he was angry about it for ages. He'd promptly attempted to call the Tallest, but remembered that his height was blasphemous to them, and had not gone through with it.

How could he, the great, almighty Zim, be relegated to the conquest of the most disgusting planet in the galaxy? The inhabitants were sickening: bags of fluid filled with more bags of fluid. What use would they be, anyway, as slaves to the Empire? It was not a planet fitting for one such as he. He had shown his might—he had burned many ships and caused great destruction back on Irk.

It ceased to matter, and he'd put his full attention on Gaz; and then, on staying alive, once he was caught. He'd lost his way, he realized.

None of that mattered anymore.

If he survived this confrontation, this meeting with Membrane, he would end it. He would find his ship, secure his technology, and finally do the job he'd come here to do. He would conquer the earth, and if his Tallest did not want it, he would bequeath it to Gaz, and disappear from this sector forever. It didn't matter anymore that Gaz made him feel things he'd never felt before; things he knew he'd never feel again from anyone else. What did it matter that she made him feel happy? Good? Whole? Safe? What were any of these words to an Invader? They were meaningless. His purpose was to conquer and invade, and that was that. He'd wasted too much time. No more of this nonsense. No more feelings. No more Gaz.

His feet fell heavily on the sidewalk as he trekked from the bus station to where he knew the Dibstink's lab was—that place that had been his prison for five pointless years. He had had a long time to think, on that stupid bus ride across this wretched land. He would take the earth, for Gaz, for his Tallest. He would relish torturing the human who had hurt her. He would find some place to keep her safe, but he didn't care about her smeet, or the human who fathered it. He didn't care about anything at all. As he shouldn't.

He didn't blame her, either. He'd failed Gaz over and over, given her a life without safety or fun or luxury. What kind of a life was that to live, constantly on the run, or in hiding, never allowing anyone to get too close? Of course she had found solace in the arms of another.

Life moving forward without Gaz looked bleak, and dark, and empty. But that didn't matter. It was what needed to be.

That being said, he didn't honestly envision himself surviving the night.

He was still disguised as that random redhead from earlier. He removed it as he walked toward the lab. His plan was simple: find Membrane and stab him in the face with the weapons in his PAK. He would try to stab, shoot, and cut his way out, not caring this time about taking lives or not. His PAK had been rendered useless while inside that horrible tube, by some means, for anything other than basic survival needs and memories. He did not know why or how Membrane had access to such knowledge about his race. It was unnerving, and something that had haunted him for years.

Upon arrival at the lab's threshold, he glared up at a security camera. A laser pointer protruded from his PAK and sliced the camera in half.

The door was locked, so he cut his way in with his lasers. He left the lasers on as he walked, letting them cut and slice through everything they found. A few human screams sounded, and then an alarm blared. He grinned and threw out his arms.

"It is I," he cried, "ZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM!"

The old rush ran through him. His spider legs shot out and he began running through the building, down halls and into random rooms, screaming maniacally, yelling nonsense, and tearing the place apart with blasters, lasers, and sharp blades.

It had been so long since he'd last used his PAK like this. Such madness and destruction—it was who he was, what he was created to do. All of him was practically singing with glee. Fires were erupting and the lab was full of the sounds of panic. At last, a voice came over the intercom.

"Zim!"

He paused. "The Dibstink," he sneered. He pointed a finger up at an intact camera. "I WILL NOT LISTEN TO YOU, WORM! BRING ME MEMBRANE! I WILL SEE HIS STUPID FACE CUT INTO A THOUSAND TINY PIECES!"

"Zim—no! They have Amy and Val in here. If you keep blowing up the lab, they'll die, too!"

"FOOLISH Earth-squeeb! Do you think ZIM cares ONE IOTA about your HUMAN COMPANIONS?"

Doors opened behind him, revealing security with guns. They began to fire immediately, but he leaped onto the ceiling and sent multiple lasers through them all. Once, he might've settled for simply destroying their guns. Now?

He dove through the open door, laughing, knowing he sounded insane and loving every minute.

He forced his way deeper and deeper into the lab, descending into its seedy underbelly with explosions and screams following behind him. No one could touch him now. He was holding nothing back. Why had he not done this nine years ago, when it was he who was the hunted, and Membrane the hunter?

Liabilities. That's all she was.

The words filled his mind, but they were heavy and disgusting to him. They stank of lies. He clenched his teeth together and pressed onward. He couldn't think about Gaz now; it would only distract him, fill him with doubt, make him lose control. What they'd had… it was over, and there was no future for them together. There was no future for anyone.

—

"Dad, you have to go out there. Look what he's doing to your lab!"

Membrane raised an eyebrow at his son. "You would have me surrender? He is a menace to the world. No. I think I will let him tire, and when he is at his weakest, we will strike."

Dib let out a feral scream of frustration. "What is WRONG with you? WHO ARE YOU? Are you even human, or a machine?"

The professor chuckled, infuriating Dib even more. "I am more human than you, Son," he said playfully. "What kind of creature has such backward priorities? It is the earth's protection I am securing, you see."

"But your methods are madness!" Dib knew he was grasping at straws, but he was desperate. His wife and daughter's faces flew before his eyes.

"My methods were not nearly so mad as some of your own," Membrane snapped. "Trading in your sister to capture the alien? Then, keeping him alive so you could sell your sister off to him yet again? And where have they been? You're lucky I even heard word that she's alive, or you wouldn't be able to say the same about your own family."

Dib blinked back the hot tears and forced his panic away. "How… how is what I did even close to what you've done? Your employees are dying! Selling my sister is bad, but you're threatening your daughter-in-law and granddaughter! How do you not care? How are you this evil?"

"Evil, my boy?" Membrane turned away, looking back at the monitors. Only a fraction remained functional. "What I do, I do for humanity. Do you understand what sort of race your Zim comes from? He is Irken. They are an insane, uncontrollable species of world-destroyers and enslavers. They turn entire planets into shopping malls, parking lots, food courts. And for what? There is no end goal. They do it for conquest's and chaos's sake. Your Zim came to Earth with the same purpose. Had he been any level of competent, your attempts of stopping him when you were a child would have failed miserably and resulted in your death. It is pure luck that he is so insane and unstable that his employers sent him here, to a planet they don't care about, so he would stop ruining their plans. For you see, Son… he is what they call defective. He was causing destruction on his own planet, among his own people. He is more than their might, more than their programming. He does this"—he swept his arm out to indicate the monitors—"of his own free will. He will kill everyone if he is not stopped."

Dib let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. He'd hung on to every word more tightly than the last. Finally, he said, "Then… why are you doing all this, now? Your motives don't make any sense. If he is defective… if he truly was just a waste of time… why all this? Why not just let him and Gaz live?"

"Because your sister made a mistake!" Membrane shouted, angrier than Dib had ever heard him. Dib flinched. The professor's gloves squeaked as he tightened his hands into fists. "I thought she was being used, at first, after you told me what was happening. Then, after your wedding, she vanished, and so had the alien, whom you claimed to have killed. It wasn't until I discovered that he was not only still alive, but that they were living together, that I realized the full extent of her error—of MY error."

"Your… error?" Dib shuddered. Did he dare ask?

Membrane stepped back from the monitors. "He'll be here any moment." He pushed several buttons, and a door opened behind them. "Take your family and run, if you like. If he kills me, he will destroy the earth next. There won't be anywhere for Amy and Val. They'll be dead, and so will you, and so will Gaz."

"You…" Dib frowned. His hand went to his heart. "You said their names."

"Make your decision," Membrane growled. "Protect me, and talk some sense into this maniac, or flee, and damn this entire galaxy to destruction. The Irkens will not stop until they have made a husk of the universe. What is it that truly matters to you, Son?"

It was not an easy choice. He bent over, gripping his hair in his hands. His father was finally supporting him—finally echoing the things he himself had said for so long. And where did his father obtain all this information? There were too many questions he was dying to ask and get the answers to, after all this time. Yet… Zim had changed, hadn't he? Gaz loved him, and he loved her, and they only wanted to be together. Dib watched the lab fall apart on what few monitors remained working. He's only doing this because we pushed him to it. Right?

"Make. Your. Choice!" called Membrane again. "Dib!"

Dib stood up straight. He'd decided.