Behind The Tube Glass

By alien freak And Xmimi89eR

story may contain gore/blood/violence/strong language

rating: T

ZaDr/ZaDf

hi again,

this is the promised next chapter :D i did my best to make it long and much interesting than the last chapter, enjoy!

English is my second language, my apologies if there are any mistakes.

disclaimer: I do not own Invader Zim.

LOADING ENTRY TWENTY-NINE...

THE FILE IS CORRUPTED.

DO YOU WANT TO DELETE THE SELECTED FILE?

Y/N

YOUR CHANGES HAVE BEEN SAVED.

999999

All night, all his dreams were about that same green alien face, and his scared look, Dib just wanted to have a restful night, just to escape reality, but it seemed that it had invaded his dreams as well,

He was tired, but the wonder of the other entries made him keep moving to his closet, he didn't feel like taking a shower, so instead, he wore his usual clothes, then went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, and fixed his hair, then went down to make himself a sandwich;

He sat at the table, eating his cheese sandwich, and drinking his coffee while scrolling on the internet, he found some messages from his new co-workers, he wondered how did they get his number. some were saying sorry for his father's death, some telling that if he needed anything he could just ask, and others told him that he'll have to fill some paperwork later; Dib liked attention, but not this kind, he placed his phone on the table and stoop up to put his plate in the sink, then he went to the fridge and drank the orange juice without bothering to get himself a cup, he wept the left juice from his lips, and closed the fridge, he sighed, and realized he'd been doing this more often in the last few days, he leaned down and got his pack, then moved to the door, but first, he checked his keys, they were in his pocket, he remembered once when he got out and forgot his keys inside, he felt like a bad kid when he waited at his doorway for his sister, since she has a spare key he didn't know she had, but was glad she did.

he stepped out and locked his door, then went to his car, it was Buick park avenue his dad brought him when he finished high school, Dib was thinking of buying a new one since this had a huge scratch on its right side, he remembered why:

"are you Dib membrane, sir?" someone called him while he was in class, he had to excuse himself and went out of the classroom to answer the woman in the other end, her knowing his name didn't bring any good news,

"yes i am, who are you?" he asked,

"i'm julie, from the hospital, your father, the professor membrane, is in the hospital, right now in the emergency room-" Dib felt his heart skip a beat,

"what?-" he said, hands shaking, his dad has been a little sick latly but it never was that bad to be in an emergency room,

"sir, calm down, we need you to come to-" the woman said, but Dib cut her,

"what hospital?!" he screamed, already started running towards his sister class,

"i sent you the location on-"

Dib cut her again, "yes- thank you-" and without waiting for a reply he ended up the call and pushed the door of his sister's class, ignoring the class professor questions and the whispers around him, he grabbed Gaz by the wrist, "we have to leave, now!" he said, voice shaking, Gaz was shocked for a moment, her brother was crazy, but not a jerk, she tried ignoring the embarrassment, and put a serious face,

"Dib, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" she snapped/whispered, but he kept dragging her out of the class,

when they were out, Gaz snapped her hand back and walked in front of her panicking brother, "hey, what's going on!?" she screamed, and felt a little panicked as well,

Dib stopped for a moment to look his sister in the eyes, then moved again, "dad's in the hospital, in the emergency room..." he said, and started walking much faster, Gaz tried keeping with his pace,

"what?" she now was really panicking, "when?" she asked,

"they just called me," he said, Gaz stayed quiet till they got to Dib's car, they sat fast, Dib started the car then looked at his phone for the location, the place was far, so he had to hurry, he tossed the phone for his sister and started the car like a mad man, and they in a second they were halfway through the street, his hands sweating, he could see his sister biting her black colored nails;

after twenty minutes of driving fast as if they were running from the police, they finally could see the hospital a few streets away, "Dib we're so close, slow down!" Gaz said, she was right, if he didn't slow down, they may end up crashing, Dib realized that but it was too late, in front of them was a fire hydrant, so Dib jerk the car steering wheel to the left, but that didn't stop the right side of the car to crash, the car finally stopped with a loud noise, he looked back at his sister, who was holding her chest where her heart was, "YOU IDIOT !, do you want to kill us?!" she screamed,

"shut up, we don't have time for this!" he never rose his voice at his sister,

she was shocked but quickly recovered, "right.." that's all she could say, right, her brother was right, they didn't have time for this; Dib got out of the car, followed by his sister, their legs felt like noodles, but the adrenalin was what kept their legs moving,

they entered the hospital big doors, then went to the first nurse they saw, "w- we're here to see da- professor m- membrane, please..." he was panting, sweat ran through his forehead,

"where is he?" his sister said from behind,

"r- right, this way," the nurse said, she did not want to miss with the membrane family and their anger, she wants her job.

she quickly turned and started walking a little faster, they got to the elevator, they waited awkwardly till they heard a 'ding' then the door opened, they were in the emergency rooms level, they didn't see other people in there, and thought that the level was only for doctors; they reached the room, and found it of course, locked, "open that damn door!" Gaz snapped,

"i- i can't his in a surgery, you can't go inside," she said, from inside, Dib could see doctors around a bed, he could also see his robotic dad's hands, hanging from the side of the bed, his eyes then traveled to the screen beside the bed, he could see his father's heartbeat lines, they were low, so very low, then his eyes went back to the doctors, they were doing something with his chest; they were trying to keep his hear alive, one of the doctors ran to the side of the room then back to the bed holding something Dib couldn't see, he then heard a noise, it was loud, yet muffled, his head snapped and eyes went to the screen, he felt his legs failing him, his heart screamed words, but his mouth refused to spell them, he couldn't breathe, eyes wide, tears gathering in them, he felt like his heart dropped, he felt his sister stand beside after she heard the noise, he could see blurry people running panicking, he heard his sister loud scream but couldn't,t make out what she said, tears finally dropped from his eyes, the heartbeat line went flat, computers screamed from inside,

his sister fell to the floor, shaking, her eyes failed with tears, their father died in front of them, how could that just happen?

time seemed to run slow, yet fast, in a minute the doctors were running, and in the other minute, they just stood, there was no use now, they can't do more, the man was gone, gone...? gone.

they opened the door, eyes on the floor with shame, the other doctors stood behind the main doctor, all looking on the floor "I'm sorry," the doctor said, "we did our best..."

Dib ran to his father's hospital bed, machine humming around him, hearing his sister scream with pain at the doorway, he held him in his arms and cried, screaming at the doctors for not saving him, screaming at his father for leaving him, for not telling them that he was sick, for not saying goodbye to them.

it was all gone.

all.

gone.

'meow' a cat voice woke him from his deep thoughts, Dib snapped his head and saw his neighbor looking at him, holding his white and fat kitty, Dib looked back then waved his hand with a nervous smile, a lot of people thought he was weird, or crazy, he was used to it, yet it still bothered him; he got to his car, and started driving, he still have flashbacks to the event, and the big scratch in the car didn't help him to forget.

999999

he finally was in the elevator and pressed the 7th-floor button, he walked the hallway, and pressed his hand on the tablet for the thin door to open; stepping into the waiting room, he felt like it was familiar yet so new to him, he wanted to see the alien again because even for now it still feels like a dream, oh and maybe he will try and talk with little irken; he placed his pack on the table, today and for now on, he wasn't going to wear that stupid lab coat, not only because the alien feared it, but also because he hated it and felt more like himself when he wears the trench coat, he sighed, and went the big door keypad, for a second he thought he forgot the passcod, but then he got it right: 72256 and the last number will be... he looked to his watch, he was earlier than yesterday since he didn't have Gaz to eat with, the time was 6:39 AM, he entered the final number, and the door opened with a his, he could see from the corner of his eye, the computer screen saying:

'WELCOME'

Dib was lucky that his trench coat was warm or he'd have frozen like last time; he looked at the lab, even though he wasn't the kind that has a clean bedroom, he still felt like cleaning the place later, the lab was clean, but the papers and weird objects sure had a better place than the floor and the table, his eyes then traveled to the examinations room, where the alien was in, if he didn't find him he wouldn't be surprised, after all his dad died weeks ago, and the whole thing might be a trick from his mind to ease the pain; so Dib walked towards the door, he never rose his hopes up, the door slid open with a hiss, cold air ran between his legs, Dib walked in, feeling a little nervous, even though the alien was in a tube, he feared that maybe he got out, and now was waiting for the right moment to cut Dib's head from his shoulders, but the boy tried not thinking about, there was nowa the alien could get out, the glass was thick, even for him, and that 'PAK' thingy is broken so there was no need to worry.

Dib stopped in front of the big tube, looking at the irken, who seemed that he was sleeping and just woke up, his father words about the rare times the alien 'slept' echoed in his head, and when thought about it, the alien did look tired or even sick, his chest rose high and held like that for a few seconds then rose down, his long tongue hanging from his libs, it was the first time Dib saw his tongue, it was slender and long, and had a shard end, it was almost red like his eyes,

when he saw Dib, his eyes snapped open, and like yesterday, he pushed himself to the far end of the tube, hugging himself tightly, but it didn't last long, and he started coughing, Dib wondered how he could cough if he's inside the goo? but the question didn't last long, as he watched the silent coughs, Dib got closer, he didn't know what was happening, but eventually, the irken stopped, and took deep breathes, then his eyes locked with Dib, his antennae flat on the back of his head, then he looked away, eyes half close, he looked like he was thinking, his expression changed from fear and suffocation to slight anger,

he pushed himself towards the glass in front of Dib, and started banging at the glass, Dib took a step back, he didn't know what made the alien that angry all of the sadden, he banged the glass for a moment then went coughing again, Dib was confused but afraid, what was wrong with him? after he was done coughing he pointed to his mouth, when Dib didn't seem to understand, he leaned a little down and started drawing letters,

'oxygen'

Dib's eyes went wide, oxygen? that didn't make sense- then it hit him, one time his dad said something these tubes, they hold power and oxygen to the thing in them, the power however needs to be replaced manually after months or weeks, it depends on the thing inside the tube, and since his father hasn't been in the lab for weeks, the power must have drained and so is the oxygen, another bang on the glass, this time much harder, Dib's head snapped and he went running towards the computer, he turned it on for the first time, a screen popped and showed a state of the active tube, the power was at a dangerous level, Dib's memory of his dad words danced in his head, he remembers seeing other scientists replacing the power core, it should be beside the tube, Dib ran again back to the tube, and spotted the big machine, he gave a quick look towards the alien, his eyes closed, he can't lose him now.

he looked at the machine, it had a screen on it, Dib tried seeing which one he had to choose, then he spotted 'oxygen' and pressed it, two drawers opened, one to the left and the other to right,

In the left big drawer was a round looking gas bottle, written on it 'oxygen' the small dot glowed red, pointing that it was empty, Dib shut it down then polled the wire off of it top, and tried taking it out, it was too heavy, Dib wanted to thank the designer for making the thing with wheels, or else his thin body will never be able to move it, he tossed it aside, then went to get the full big bottle, it was much heavier and it dot glowed green;

Dib tried his best to remember how to hook it up, his gaze went for a second to the still irken, he snapped back to the task in hand, and pulled the whole thing out and towards the other drawer, finally getting the whole bottle inside, he hooked up the wires and pressed few buttons on the screen, activating it, he could hear the gas travel through wires, making his eyes travel back to the irken, he got up and ran to him, slightly putting his hands in the glass, waiting for any reaction from the alien, but got nothing,

his panic coming back to him, he ran to the computer, fast paces echoed the cold room, in the screen, he saw the oxygen level rise up, from 4% to 16% then 25% after a few seconds it stopped at 50%, Dib looked at it, why didn't rose up more? Was that the maximum?

He then looked at the power level, it didn't change much, still on 34% Dib thought he may need to replace- but then remembered that the power doesn't get replaced, this must be the maximum his father had put the alien on, was he afraid that high power may make the alien stronger? Was low power is more like a sleeping drug, like low oxygen?

Dib could see a fast heartbeat, it was actually slow for the alien, as his father pointed in one of his entries, the boy ran back to the alien, he was still, not moving at all, but then, he saw his eyelids rise, as he began to wake again,

"Zim?" Asked Dib, he didn't know why, but the name sounded weird at his tongue, and familiar somehow; the alien antenna rose up, his eyes snapped open at his name, and he quickly looked at Dib, then noticed that he had oxygen and started panting a little, then he calmed,

The alien looked worst than yesterday, hell, Dib can swear he's paler compared to the record his father took, expressions hard to read, yet he looked sick, crawling in a little ball in the far 'corner' of the tube, Dib sighed, when is he going trust him?

"I'm not going to hurt you," he sounded like he was talking to a child, "i'm not a scientist," his hands pointing to his trench coat, the alien looked at him then at his coat, he blinked, trying to understand what it all meant, he shifted his hand and drawn: 'not a lab man?'

"No, i'm not, I don't really like science," Dib shrugged, his panic slowly leaving him,

'Free me then' he drew, then locked his gaze with the human boy, Dib didn't know how to respond, what could he tell him? That he didn't trust him from not telling on earth? That he was happy just knowing that the alien was his now, that he liked him, or that he was afraid?

After the alien didn't get a response, he jerked back, looking at Dib with a hard glare like saying: you're not a scientist but you're gonna hurt me.

Dib just felt trapped, he was being torn between letting the poor alien free and the sake of earth, "i can't," he finally found his voice, "i can't trust you," maybe that wasn't the best thing to say, but he said it, it just jumped out of his mouth, 'me too' the alien drew, leaning back, only his big and red eyes showing behind his knees, if Dib put himself in the alien's shoes, he won't trust the other side as well, hell, he'd want to die if he ever got captured by aliens, aliens that wanted him open, open without showing any mercy, he'd be alone, just like the irken was right now, he would have a broken heavy weapon, he'd be suffocating by the lack of oxygen, floating naked in front of a heartless race, knowing well that he'll be dead no matter what he says, but he'll have to wait for his day to come, maybe die because of the oxygen, lack of power, or being cut open on a table, bleeding to death after they get what they want from him.

Dib felt scared, so very scared at the thought, he wanted to help the alien, he wanted to free him, but he also wanted earth to be safe, maybe if he got close enough, he would trust him, and stick to the truce, maybe they'd even become friends, maybe, just maybe.

Thinking of it, he wanted to be friends, he wanted to talk to him, wanted to ask about his own personality, not some stupid questions his dad asked before, and he really wanted to get the alien dressed up since it feels weird and wrong looking at anything but his face, Thinking about the whole clothing thing, he remembered the question his dad never got an answer for: is it a male or a female?, Dib looked back at the alien, eyes for the first time traveling down, he couldn't see much, and didn't like doing so, the alien did look like a female, at less, a human female, since he knows nothing about aliens sexualities, but the alien did say he was male, and his voice did sound like one;

Dib blinked, then snapped his head away from the alien, face turning slightly red, why was he thinking that now!? Maybe the panic damaged his not-a-big head, he pit his lips, another bad habit he does when he's anxious, it never was for affection, not like what other guys used it for, and everyone understood him wrong whenever he does it, a weird and awkward memory flashed in his head, in high school, he could remember being accused by flirting to some girls, their boyfriends came to him, saying that he needs to find his own girl, Dib was not flirting, not at all, he was just anxious to talk to girls, and he never seemed to like it, at all. The only girl that he talks to is his sister, so he tried his best to stop his teeth from biting his lips, and that only lead to the habit of playing with his hands, at less no one accused him of flirting,

He squeezed his eyes shut, that wasn't the time for a stupid memory, he'll try to talk to the irken, but first he'll have to find a way to unmute the tube, if it's even muted, maybe the alien just didn't want to talk, and instead drew his words, or maybe he can't talk inside the goo, Dib thought of searching the main computer for it, he wants to know everything about these tubes now, so he won't put the alien in danger like a few minutes ago,

looking back at the alien, he was still in the same position, maybe if Dib watched everything that happened from the entries, he would understand what the alien was afraid of exactly, with this thought in mind, Dib got back to the main computer, and pressed 'PLAY'

999999

after a few hours he finished two entries, they were weird somehow, and inhuman... one of them showed his father putting high electricity through the irken PAK, the alien looked like some criminal on an electric chair; Dib lowed the value as the alien screamed, he saw weird things coming out of the irken, they looked like weapons, one that looked like a gun, and about two or even three long weird-looking sharp legs, they never got out full, they get out then the irken scream in pain, as if the whole thing was a part of his body, then they shut back in again, Dib thought that his dad was lucky, if only that PAK weapon wasn't broken, he'd be dead where he stands, and maybe earth will be a slavery for the 'irken empire'

Dib pressed 'NEXT' and entry number thirty started loading, the boy was about to watch it when he paused, he looked again at the entry number,

"thirty?" wait a second... he just finished entry number twenty-eight, "where's number twenty-nine?" he thought and went looking for it in the entries file, and realized that was only two entries to watch besides the missing file,

Dib then searched the main files, and typed the entry name, but got nothing, he then tried typing the time he assumed the file was recorded at, but also got nothing, exiting the file explorer, he decided to search the recycling bin, inside was some files, some were notes, and an old security system program, then his eyes landed on his target, it was the file, the missing entry, "found you," Dib said to himself, then clicked the file,

'LOADING...'

it took much longer than the other files, then:

'ERROR: FILE IS CORRUPTED'

Dib frowned, maybe it was just another weird test, and somehow it got corrupted, this once happened to him while trying to film a real big-foot child, then he got an idea, the boy typed some hack codes he learned in his childhood, they weren't a big thing, just codes to make the computer sho his the undamaged parts of the video;

now that he's the heir of the biggest science company in the world, he would upgrade the computers to these small tasks that he finds stupid.

the file opened in the hacking window, it didn't have the high quality as the others, his father was staring at the camera; Dib stared back.

'in this entry, I will...' he looked unsure, then stepped aside, the irken was flat on the table as always, but something was off, the lights were low, and the irken was wearing something this time, it was a blue surgical gown,

'these records will be shown mostly only for my son, I know that if you ever were in my place you'd do the same, I've seen some of your drawings, was it a dream to you? or you never thought it would come to so you drew what you wanted?, if you wanted it, but not anymore as you watch right now, I would like to say sorry, I have to, I HAD to, even if i didn't believe in aliens; finding one is a dream, and knowing what's inside of them is another dream...' he stepped back, Dib now saw what he was wearing, it was a scrub, wearing atop his white coat, he was holding a surgical knife, it shined in the darkroom, Dib could see the alien gaze following the professor's hand, he swore the lab became much colder,

'in this entry, i will see what is inside' his voice was somehow cold, "you won't dare get that thing c-c-c closer to me!" the alien snapped,

'i would have put you on painkillers, but i don't know if they help or melt your body like the water does' that sounded sweet, yet terrifying, "you're just wishing for your people to get killed! release me!" the professor put the small knife on the top line that was drawn on the alien exposed chest, the irken anger turned to fear, he pit his lips, drawing blood from them, eyes squeezed shut, and sweat running through his forehead; the lab man didn't reply, so 'Zim' spoke again, "y- you don't have to d-d- do this... i can give you a- a- all the information you w- w- want..." his voice not only glitching because of the damaged PAK, but also because o fear,

'i'm sorry...' Dib heard his father whisper, the alien gaze locked with the professor for a second "please..." the alien said, his words shacking,

a pause of silence, then he saw the knife dag in flesh, pink blood coming out, the alien's eyes went wide then squeezed shut, a scream echoed in the room, as the professor kept cutting, more and more blood came out, and screams never ended; a sick feeling ran in Dib's body, his hands holding the chair arm tight, eyes wide with fear and disgust; the scream cracked as blood ran down the alien's mouth, making cough with pain, Dib swore he saw his PAK open then close, like if he was trying to defend himself,

the knife drew much much deeper, till it was in the middle o his chest, right where a stomach might be, if he had one, that part of the alien made him scream again despite the blood in his mouth, the professor's hand was shaking now, then sparkles came out the irken's PAK, it made loud noises before a terrifying long metal leg came out, it looked like it was burned and somehow broken, then another one came out,

the professor took a step back, the knife fell from his hand, the metallic legs cut through the cuffs letting the alien free to try and stand on his own legs, "s- s- stay away...!" voice shaking as well as the body, the legs moved uncontrollably, even the alien didn't seem to be able to control them, he stepped back as well, the PAK made more loud noises, and then two more metal legs came out, making him look like a spider, the alien squeezed his chest tighter, as pain ran through him,

the spider legs held him high, he screamed as it seemed to be hurting him, it was about ten feet tall in the air; it held him high then threw him back against the floor, more blood fell the floor, metallic sounds coming from the PAK and legs, the irken didn't move for a while, making the professor get closer to him, it was a mistake, as one of the legs twitched then moved fast against the man's leg, he screamed and fell, red blood drawing at his white coat, mixed with pink blood, they looked like watercolors; he held his leg in his hands trying to make the bleeding stop, then started getting away from the alien, crawling.

the spider legs held up again but not as high, he looked at the edge of losing conciseness, his chest bleeding heavily, computers around him showing his state, the heartbeat lines kept getting lower, his eyes losing their light, spider legs retracted to their place in a blink, heartbeat became lower and lower, he then fell to his side, making a wet splash noise as he sank in his blood lifeless; computers screaming around him as his heart stopped, the professor was shocked, and didn't know what to do,

a few seconds passed, then both Dib and his dad heard it, it was a muffled voice coming from the irke- no it was coming from the PAK itself,

'REACTIVATING'

The PAK lights turned red,

an immense electric jolt ran through the alien's body, making his chest rise up, and twitching his muscles, more sparkles came out the PAK, it lasted for ten seconds, then it stopped; the alien now was still, never moving, wet blood running in the floor beside him, the heartbeat line was still flat, making a horrible noise that echoed in the cold room, seconds passed, then nothing.

they waited.

More breathtaking silence.

The PAK suddenly hummed, antenna twitched.

then a very low heartbeat was caught by the computer, the alien's chest rose up again, sucking for air, but he didn't wake up, and the blood never stopped, the man sighed in relief, the alien was alive, he didn't kill him, that is good, or is it?

but then the PAK let out a much bigger electric shock, humming and started smoking, lights exploding, then the whole lab went dark, and the camera feed glitched at the high electricity, damaging the file, and stop recording.

Dib watched in horror, that wasn't his dad, no; it wasn't, it can't be. His nails dug deeper in the chair arm, eyes wide, he didn't move, he was shocked, he wasn't ready to see this, he wasn't ready to see the alien die then come back to life, he wasn't ready to see that terrifying spider legs, or the sound of the wet pink blood, he was never ready to see his father hurting a living being.

He knew his dad had done something similar, to animals of course, but they were for making cures, and medicine, not just for curiosity.

Flashing screen telling him that it was the end of the record, it was black, the screen was black, reflecting the boy's scared face, he felt sick, he wanted to vomit, he wanted to yell at such a thing, but he knew he had no voice now, and no one to tell, and of course, now one will believe.

His mussels hurt as he stayed still, headache, and sickness; finally, after what felt like hours staring at the black screen, he blinked, eyes dry, mouth still hanging open, he let the sickness pain take over, and he leaned back at the chair, his eyes still wide, and mind full of thoughts, he couldn't understand them, but they were loud, making the headache much worst, his gaze now was on his lab, he couldn't feel his legs, he could still hear the scream that came from the irken.

Why?

That was the only question he had, why would his father do this? Could he even call him a father? Or maybe a lab man, now he knew what happened, there were still two entries, and he was scared to watch them, what will his dad do more to the alien? Maybe he'd try again? Since he didn't get what he wanted? Was that why Zim was afraid of him? Because his father said he'd want to do the same? The thoughts didn't make him angry but rather disappointed, maybe his dad wasn't that nice.

That was never his dad, it can't be his dad.

Alien freak: well well well, it was nice writing this chapter, the first part of it when Dib and Gaz go to see their father, and the whole doctors and story had actually happened to me, so it was nice writing from experience, heh. Guess my life is a drama movie lol,

anyhow, like I promised, this chapter is long, i hope you liked it.

Oh and please review, I guess there is something good about these reviews that writers seek in here, so please do, it'll mean a lot :D

This was alien freak signing off.