I don't own Invader Zim okay? I know I have a few projects to be working on but hey, I got it going on this one. Other than that I don't have much to say here so enough of this A/N, on with the fic!
Dib headed down to the security wing to watch the video of the previous night to see what happened and to know who to fry like an egg when Gaz was done with them. He knew he was going to have to revamp the security team if they were going to be that lax in their post operation procedures, but he needed to know what happened in the meantime while he was out. Opening the door to the security department, he found a pair of scared guards who had come in to start their shift in the morning after everything happened.
"We had no part of the lapse of security. We got off at 5 last night, before the sun even went down!" One of the guards panicked as he saw Dib's furious face.
"Don't worry, as long as you help me your jobs will still be intact." Dib said as he looked at the screens. "Now, can you get into the footage of last night? I can assume that this happened in the overnight hours when it was darker as there was no moon last night." He said
"Outside or inside?" The other guard asked meekly. After seeing the explosion at the last night's guards at the entrance way, he knew Dib was one not to be messed with.
"Both. He had to get to my labs to get to Zim, which the lack of security there was my fault, but at the same time, these guards aren't paid to party." Dib said as the guards pulled up the footage for him to view.
Dib watched the screen play, speeding it up slightly at some of the slower parts, starting intently at the image of the Tallest on the screen. So, there's only one of them. Last I knew there was two Tallest. One could be dead. Or injured. "Why would the Tallest come after Zim? They hated him and if they actually cared they would have tried to get him back YEARS ago." Dib said as he watched Purple move along and head to his labs.
"Maybe because Zim was the only Irken here on Earth?" One of the guards suggested them recoiled in horror.
"Interesting." Dib said as he turned to the guard. "What makes you think that?" He said as the guard looked at him nervously but began again.
"Well there was panic and chaos when their ship went down. Many of their former crew left. I mean isn't there rumors they're further in the solar system now?" Dib nodded. "So if they need help getting out of here and getting back to Irk or wherever, they would need the help of the only other Irken on the planet?"
"Not a bad theory." Dib said to himself. "But I need to follow this to get an idea where he took Zim."
"Probably somewhere out in the desert." The other guard, inspired by the other's courage said offering some ideas. "If the Tallest's main ship crashed in the desert, they would be likely to set up camp not too far from there if they got Zim out."
"You're right!" Dib said. "I've got to get a squad together to search the desert, but don't worry, with your insight, your jobs are safe, not to mention you will be promoted too! I've got to head to my labs to see what was done."
"Thank you Dib sir." The guard said as Dib got up and left the guard station.
Purple waved the hat back and forth as the sun started to rise across the desert. Summertime meant it was going to get hot fast and Red was in no state to handle extreme weather. Zim looked at him with a sad look on his face. "I'm sorry this happened my Tallest." Zim said.
"Meh, we got bigger problems to worry about." Red said. "So what do you think?"
"About what?" Zim asked confused.
"We need you to help us fix our escape pod and get out of here and to make sure Red doesn't die." Purple said.
"And what do you have to work with? What tools?" Zim said. Being kept prisoner for as long as he was had done a lot to his usual personality. It had made him calmer and more rational with less craziness.
Purple sighed. He wasn't expecting this. Looking back, he wasn't sure what he was expecting by rescuing Zim but this was certainly not it. Now that Zim was asking questions like this, the plan they had in their mind sounded more and more foolish by the second. Half-baked and realistically not going to solve their problems. Even if they did leave Earth, what was going to happen when they got to Irk in the first place? They were sure to be doing a Measuring ceremony right now as they were stuck here. No regard for if they were actually alive or not, just replace them because the Massive went down. Purple looked over at Red and saw that he was thinking much along the same lines. "Look Zim, I get what you're saying." He winced in pain. "But even before you were locked up you had been on this planet a long time. You must have some ideas on what we can use to improvise." Red saw Zim expressionless on his face. "I mean you told us about the rain thing and the solution you came up with paste." I NEVER would have thought I would be praising Zim on anything….. But here I am…. Red thought as he looked at Zim who cracked a smile at the praise received.
"Well maybe I have forgotten who I really am. I am ZIM after all." Zim said as he stretched out his fingers, cracking his knuckles when he heard a POP! From his back. "OW! Sitting in that tube for 20 years didn't do me any good!"
"Great, now I got two injured Irkens to look after." Purple said as he took the guard's shirt off and tossed it aside.
"Nah. I'm fine, it's nothing a little work won't solve." Zim said. "So where was the escape pod?" Zim said as Purple pointed towards a pinkish red spherical pod about 300 yards away. "I took Red here so he wouldn't be in the sun and affected so much and he'd have a place to rest without wildlife attacking him."
"Good." Zim said. "I'll go over and look at how damaged it is. Just stay here and keep Red safe."
"I was planning on it!" Purple sassed as he stuck his tongue out at Zim who stuck his back right at him.
Zim strolled along in the desert, feeling free for the first time in two decades. He could do whatever he wanted now, go wherever he wanted and was free to just move more than a few feet. It was magical. He saw pieces of the Massive all over the place, not knowing what part was what and noticed a few snack bags. Zim picked up a bag of cheese curls from Irk and put them in his mouth, savoring a taste he had not had for so long. While he looked at the wreckage along the way to see if he could indeed salvage anything, he felt a breeze blow by his face. Before he was captured and thrown in a laboratory, his base was in more temperate area than the desert but the movement of natural wind felt better on his skin than forced air conditioning ever did. Who are the real monsters? Us Irkens or the humans who kept me in captivity for so long. Kept to be tormented and questioned and just as a thing of mockery with nothing but old magazines to read. A fate worse than death! And that Dib human had the nerve to say those things about me. Well I am free now and I can bet his labs are in total chaos. He deserves nothing less. And his sense of accomplishment and all this hoorah he's getting will fade. Zim thought as he bent down to look at a motor that had crashed nearby mostly in tact
Dib looked in his lab and found everything pretty much in order, except for the obvious fact that Zim was gone. "I knew I should have put some sort of extra security in there so that I am the only one who can open it." Dib said as he bashed his head on the table in front of him. "I let the fact I had caught Zim blind sight me on actually keeping him in the place in the first place. "I'm such an idiot." Dib moaned.
"Yeah, you are. But Zim can't have gotten far." Gaz said as she walked into his lab.
"Gaz?" Dib asked.
"Yeah, me. Look I took care of the guards and handled everything with them. Let's just say reemployment is going to be a bitch if they can even get unemployment after that." She smiled. "But there is no way that Zim is gone entirely. The Massive is destroyed. If the Tallests are on Earth, they're hurt and not going anywhere fast. They seemed to be a team from what you said so one is not going to abandon another. Besides, even if they could, how in the hell would they get there? I am guessing the rescue of Zim is to get something together to leave. I don't know how long that will take but if you get the team together and stop giving yourself brain damage then you will be able to get Zim back and maybe 2 injured Tallests as well."
"You're so wise Gaz." Dib said as he hugged his sister, who pushed him back.
"You do remember the CIA and SOG wanted me for my tactical skills, which I only gained by playing so many games." Gaz said. "And since when did you get all huggy on me?" She asked repulsed.
"Since you made me think of things in better ways that I had before." Dib said "And since when did you know how the Irken society worked?"
"Because you would never shut up about it growing up." Gaz said. "I learned it despite not wanting to."
"Fair enough. Get me a squad, we're heading out into the desert." Dib said.
"Two. I'll lead one, you the other." Gaz said as Dib looked annoyed. "Cover more ground you idiot! There have been sightings of debris of the Massive hundreds of miles from here!"
"Thanks Gaz." Dib said as he headed upstairs, Gaz behind him rolling her eyes and shutting the door to his labs.
So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I always figured that Gaz would be a voice of reason because she sees through everyone's BS and doesn't put up with it. So if she was working with her brother more, she'd be that role. I don't have much else to say on that one here. I will try to update more but life can be nice or be busy. So remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now
Otherrealmwriter
Aka
Realm