~~~

Author's Notes: I'd like to make mention of my reviewers. I just wanted to thank you all for your constant, kind and helpful reviews. Despite the fact that this is already written, it is certainly a huge motivater towards getting it edited and up faster. Thanks once again... *hugs reviewers* ^_^

Warnings: Obviously, as you can more than likely tell by the previous parts, I wrote Dib as the antagonist in this story. This means he's presently the villian so to speak and is going to do some nasty things before things get better. I'm very sorry to all Dib fans. -_-;
*This fic is now rated a VERY strong "PG-13" leaning heavily towards "R" thanks to the violence and language content of this last bit of the story. Discretion is advised. (I feel like a TV all of a sudden... O_o)

Part 6 - Pain
~~~

There he was. Dib smiled at himself as he ducked behind yet another fence. He was so close to him now, and Zim was uncharacteristically oblivious that he was being trailed. The alien appeared lost in thought, unaware that there was a black clad Dib right behind him.

Dib ducked back out from behind the fence and rushed forwards to the next one. It was about then that he felt the first drop fall. Curious, he glanced up at the blackening sky, then looked at Zim, his eyes wide with the implication of what he had felt.

He knew the alien felt it too as he stopped suddenly, then opened a palm and turned equally wide eyes to the sky. Another drop must have hit the alien because he let out a little scream and began to run in the direction of his base.

Oh no you don't! Dib thought to himself. Not caring if he blew his cover, Dib rushed forwards. He had caught up with the fleeing alien and was within reaching distance of him when Zim finally noticed him. Wide-eyed he turned, saw an evilly grinning Dib approaching him very quickly, screamed again, and ran even faster.

He wasn't quick enough. Leaping forwards, Dib caught the alien by his shirt and tumbled him to the ground.

"Get off me!" Zim gasped, turning around and reaching out to push Dib away with frantic hands. He was too late... a sharp pain welled up in his shoulder. He whipped his head just in time to see Dib remove something from it. Letting out a howl Zim knocked Dib off of him and clambered back to his feet. He began to run again, but didn't get very far. In fact he only made it a couple of steps before he pitched forwards and collapsed onto the pavement.

Breathing slightly hard from his run, Dib ran a fist across his mouth, for the first time tasting blood. "Damn," He muttered, licking his lip. Zim must have landed a punch. Ah well.

He shrugged and approached the alien cautiously, wanting to make sure that he was completely unconscious before he got too close. He had worked on that sedative for years, trying to find the perfect formula to render the alien unharmed but unconscious for a short amount of time. He was glad he had done so... it had really come in handy today.

Dib carefully nudged him with his foot. No reaction. Zim was completely out cold. "Perfect," Dib muttered to himself. Shrugging off his backpack, he opened it and took out some rope.

Ten minutes later Dib stood in the middle of a small park. It had been just down the street from where he had captured Zim. There was no one in this park, and it was surrounded on all sides by trees, secluding the central clearing. Dib couldn't think of a more perfect location.

He stood above the alien, relishing the small drizzle of rain that was slowly making its way down from the sky. Zim's skin was already starting to smoke. Smirking, he folded his arms across his chest and waited.

He didn't have to wait very long. Zim came to with a start and a simultaneous scream several seconds later. For a moment the alien just lay there, blinking his wide red eyes at his decidedly horizontal view on the world, then he began to jerk about. Dib watched him, amused. Zim quickly discovered that he couldn't move his arms, or his legs... and he couldn't open the pod doors on his Pak either, (Dib had been sure to render that useless as well.) The alien let out an indignant howl and thrashed... which did exactly nothing.

Someone laughed. Distressed, Zim turned blood red eyes upwards and stared. Dib stood above him, grinning and holding Zim's human disguise in hand.

"Looking for this?" Dib asked, tossing the wig and contacts into the mud at his feet.

Zim stared for a long moment. Then his antennae fell back against his head. Dib was pleased to see something that resembled fear flash across the alien's face. It was gone very quickly though. "What do you want filthy stink-beast?" Zim snapped at him, the contempt in his voice very obvious.

Dib smirked and crouched down next to the alien. "Ah," He said almost playfully. "That's a bit more like the Irken Invader I know." He reached out and patted Zim on the head, which caused the alien to cringe away ever so slightly. "I want you dead." Dib said seriously, his smile fading. He glanced up at the sky and then back again. "I imagine that will happen soon enough, though."

Zim stared at him incredulously, then screamed a couple of times as rain continued to patter down on him. When he was done screaming he turned a withering glare up at the eldest Membrane child. "I've done nothing to you human!" He snarled.

Dib glared at him. "Yeah RIGHT Zim," He returned. "What about all those times you tried to kill me, huh?" He began to list, checking off on his fingers as he went. "Humiliated me in front of the class? Experimented upon me?" He stopped checking off and waved his arms about angrily. "Tried to feed me to your robot?!"

Zim looked at him, a rather disbelieving look etched across his alien face. "That was years ago Dib!" He protested.

"That was two months ago!" Dib returned.

"You broke into my base!"

"You were trying to blow up the planet! Again!"

"I wasn't--" Zim shook his head slightly. This argument was pointless and it was getting him no closer to being free. "Let Me GO Dib." Zim ordered darkly after a moment. His teeth clenched and he began to breathe funny as the sky continued to rain corrosive H2O down upon him. At least he wasn't screaming anymore, Dib thought to himself.

Dib shook his head at the alien. "Not until you answer some of my questions." He replied.

"What questions could you possibly want from ZIM?" Zim was beginning to grow impatient and the pain was only getting worse. "Stinking human, you already KNOW..." Zim gasped, the pain suddenly becoming unbearable. "AHHH!!!" He screamed, twitching compulsively. "It burns! It burns!"

So much for him not screaming any longer. "Shut up," Dib snapped, kicking the alien in the gut.

Zim recoiled, gasping. He did as he was told, coughing painfully instead.

"Now," Dib continued, crouching back down next to the smoking alien. "Tell me Zim," He hissed. "What have you DONE to my sister?"

Zim looked shocked. "Your sister?" He returned. "Gaz?" When Dib nodded, Zim shook his head vigorously. "FOOL!" He ranted. "I have done nothing to her!"

"Bull Zim!" Dib snapped. Reaching out he grasped the hem of the alien's shirt. "Tell me what you did to my sister!" he shouted over the rain. He cocked his fist.

The shocked look returned, this time it was full of confusion and pleading as the blood red eyes shot from Dib's fist and to his face again. "I did nothing to her, Dib-human..." Zim said, sounding very confused.

For a moment-- a very tiny moment-- Dib wondered if Zim was perhaps telling the truth. He just seemed so lost...

No. No, he wouldn't be fooled. Instead of punching the helpless alien, Dib grabbed his shirt with the other hand and yanked him even closer. "Uh-huh," He scoffed. "Yeah. Sure. All of a sudden my sister decides that you are the sexist... THING on the face of the planet." He drawled dryly. His eyes narrowed. "Why Zim? No reason?"

Zim nodded. "Yes. No. I don't know!" He threw his head back, gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes against the agony of the biting corrosive rain. He had no time for this. "Pleeeeasseee...." He finally begged. "Let me gooooooo...."

Dib let out a short bark of laughter and shook the small alien slightly. "No Zim. I'm NOT going to let you go." His eyes gleamed... he actually quite enjoyed watching the alien in misery. He brought his face down really close to Zim's again and waited until the red eyes opened again and stared at him. "No Zim," He hissed. "I've waited too long for this." With that he really did punch the alien, putting years of frustration and pent up rage behind the blow. He rocked back on his heels as Zim fell back into the mud with an odd squishing sound.

Ow. Dib stood and massaged his sore hand. After a moment he leaned forwards again. "You messed up Zim," He continued as he emotionlessly watched as the alien gasped and twisted about on the ground, fighting for breath and in obvious pain. "What did you do?" He continued to question, "Drag her into your labs and perform experiments upon her? Are you using hypnosis? Did you put something in her food?"

There was no reply from the alien. Dib watched in pretend disinterest as boils began to appear on the alien's smoking skin along his bare arms and face. Zim whimpered, twisting and wiggling in the dirt, his face contorted in obvious and considerable pain and suffering. After a moment Dib realized that Zim had not answered him.

He kicked him, HARD, enticing another gasp from the alien. "TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO HER!" He screamed down at him.

"Nothing..." was the stuttered reply. "I did nothing..."

"BULLshit ZIM!" He kicked him twice more in rapid succession.

No reply except for strained gasps for breath as Zim continued to writhe. The drops continued to fall on the shaking alien. Zim twitched, his entire body taut and trembling with agony. Dib found he could only watch, fascinated, as the alien began to go into convulsions. Somewhere in the back of his mind a voice told him that Zim couldn't take much more of this. Another, much more sadistic voice wanted to know how much longer it would take until the alien was unconscious. Dead? Didn't he want him dead?

Didn't he?

Unsure of himself suddenly, he crouched back down beside him quickly. Putting a hand on his shoulder, he shook him roughly. "Tell me Zim!" Dib snapped. Despite himself, a faint hint of desperation had crept into his voice. He heard it and winced slightly.

Zim froze. He heard it too.

The alien's eyes opened a crack and he turned his head a slight bit to glare up at Dib. "Stupid-- foolish-- human..." The alien spat. "This isn't about your sister, is it?" he stated, glaring all of his hatred up at Gaz's brother. "This is about you..."

Dib's brow creased suddenly. "No," he replied. "Its..."

Zim shut his eyes and shook his head ever so slightly. "No-- Dib," He said with disdain between ragged gasps for breath. "No. This is about you and me. It was never about Gaz. I won't hurt your sister... I HAVEN'T hurt your sister, and you KNOW that. Don'tcha Dib?" He sneered. "Don't you? You pathetic WASTE of a human, you just want an excuse to kill ZIM..." He drew in a shuddering breath, and looked down at himself, at his blackening skin and sopping state. He let out a pained keening sound in the back of his alien throat and his mouth and eyes fell closed for a moment. It was only after a weary looking struggle that he managed to reopen them. He coughed, a fine trickle of deep green blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. After a moment or so, when he spoke again, his voice was quiet and defeated sounding. Which was about as far as removed as any other tone of voice Dib had ever heard the egotistical alien use. "I was dying if you must know," He said impassively. "I was dying and..." A sudden rattling coughing fit interrupted the alien's words and Zim had to pause a moment to regain his breath again, swallowing back the Irken blood that threatened to pour from his mouth. "... and then your sister-- Gaz, decided to come a long and... SAVE me..." He ruby colored eyes slid closed for a lingering moment then re-opened, turning to glare at Dib full force. "I wanted to die!" Zim suddenly hissed at him. He foamed and sputtered, but the menace in Zim's eyes did not change and Dib rocked back on his heels at the absolute venom in them. "Stuck here, on this FILTHY ball of rock, forced to live among you DISGUSTING earth-creatures..." He sputtered to a halt, his eyes rolling back and gasping several times before he continued. "Well human? Are you proud of yourself?" Zim reopened his eyes and spat his words up at him, the contempt in his voice clear. "Are you happy? You got your wish... looks like I really am going to die, filthy creature. Congratulations DIB, you WON..."

The alien blinked and suddenly his eyes looked more sad than anything else. For a long moment the alien just sat there in the mud... his skin sizzling black with every drop from the sky. Dib looked at him soundlessly, speechless for once in the wake of Zim's outburst.

Eyes flicking from his own skin to Dib's eyes, Zim's pleading red eyes searched his. His antennae fell back against his head again in a defeated, frightened gesture. He drew in a shuddering breath. And then another. "I don't want to die..." the alien finally whispered in a low voice. He gasped for air, his breathing becoming more and more difficult in the wake of his liquid filling lungs. "Tell... your sister... that I... I'm..." he could not finish his sentence past the dark green blood that had filled his mouth to over flowing. Zim let out one last choking gargle, then finally his body gave out, his eyes falling closed again and his head fell back into the mud.

For a short moment that seemed to last an eternity Dib stared down at the alien. It was finally after that moment that something clicked inside of his head. Zim wasn't moving. He wasn't sure, but he didn't think Zim was breathing anymore either.

I killed him, a smug voice said somewhere in the back of his mind. When something inside of Dib recoiled in horror at the thought, another voice inside of him spoke up in defense. Whop-tee do. It's no big loss. One less alien bent on world domination. You've been wanting to do this since Grade Skool. Wasn't that exhilarating? Makes you feel just like a kid again... And then yet another chimed in-- Your sister may never speak to you again, but who cares, right? Right? Zim was never HERS to begin with. Just because he claimed that she saved his life, doesn't mean...

And finally a last voice decided to add its thoughts. This voice sounded suspiciously like Gaz. You *bastard*... it said in Gaz's grating voice. He didn't want to die! You killed him and he didn't want to die! You *killed* him...!!

Dib finally reacted. "I can't do this..." he muttered out loud. He made up his mind. Throwing off his backpack, he reached inside and fumbled for his pocket knife. He was going on negative time, he realized as he began to saw through the rope that bound Zim's hands. Swearing again he swiftly pocketed the knife and reached down. Grabbing Zim by his waist he hoisted him up and slung the small and relatively light body across his shoulders. Then he was off, running as fast as he could towards the street.

~~~

Gaz moaned softly as she slowly came too. For a moment or so she stared at the living room ceiling, wondering where she was and how she got there. Then she remembered someone... or rather someone's face.

It was Dib's face. Dib... what did he have to do with anything? She frowned, momentarily puzzled... her brain foggy with the slowly retreating effects of the drug. She vaguely remembered coming home and walking in the door. Then she remembered calling out to him, wondering where he was.

Her eyes widened as more and more of her last memories came back to her. She also remembered the shape pain in her arm and the glimpse of him she had gotten before she had blanked out. She remembered the look on his face too... that jaw set in determination and the fact that he was dressed in all black. He was geared up... obviously with the intentions of going somewhere...

She struggled to sit up, and finally managed to do so, much more slowly then she would have liked. She cursed softly under her breath. She rubbed at her arms as sharp pins and needles decided to crawl up them as they slowly regained feeling.

As she sat, she thought about it more. Dib was going somewhere. But where? Where at 3:30 in the afternoon?

And then a blinding flash a lit the room. She listened as the thunder rolled. As she listened she realized that she was also hearing the sound of falling rain as it pattered against the windows.

Rain. Why was that significant?

It occurred to her with horrific clarity. "Zim." She whispered out loud. Dib was after Zim. That's why he had knocked her out. And if Zim out in this rain...

She looked up at the Membrane clock on the wall and took in the time.

4:05. On a good day her and Dib usually got home around 3:30. Her and Zim HAD walked slowly home today, but she couldn't hope for it to have been any later than about 3:40 when she walked in the door.

25 minutes. Even though she was glad that the effects of the sedative had only worked for half of an hour, she was horrified at the thought of what Dib might have done in that amount of time.

She leapt to her feet, only to pitch forwards again, nearly kneeling over. After a moment most of the numbness passed and Gaz was able to push away from the couch.

He wouldn't kill him... would he?

Would he??

"Damn you Dib, I'd better find him alive when I find you... and then I'm going to make you PAY for what you did to me...." The determined girl cursed her brother left right and center as she dragged her partly unresponsive body across the room. She stopped briefly in the kitchen and reached underneath the counter, extracting a little box. She removed a key from it and headed towards the back door.

By the time she had reached the garage most of the feeling had returned to all of her limbs... which was good... because she needed them. Grumbling she trekked to the back of the garage and yanked the tarp off of her father's old car. Nobody ever used the old car... partly because it was a relic and worth a lot of money, and partly because, well. Her family suffered from extreme apathy and her dad preferred the more modern and extremely hazardous methods of travel... like instant teliportation.

She still wasn't old enough to drive however. Gaz didn't care though, all that mattered to her was getting to Zim before her brother could do any serious or permanent damage. She could get in trouble for stealing the car later.

With a squealing screech of tires on slick pavement she was gone.

~~~

"Damnit, damnit!" Dib cursed under his breath, finally stopping in his mad dash for shelter. He had found a large enough over hang in front of a building across the street from the park. Even so, he didn't think he had been nearly quick enough. He swung Zim's body off of his shoulders, placing him down against the side of the building with an unhealthy wet thump. Ignoring the fact that the alien looked more than a little dead, he crouched down beside him and reached out, slapping the alien's face, which made a sickly squishy noise upon contact with the burnt cheek. "Zim!" He shouted above the sound of the driving rain behind him. "Wake up! ... oh shit..." Dib stared at his hand. His hand had come away with a good deal of skin with it. Disgusted and horrified he rubbed his hand off on his pants and quickly pulled out his pocket knife again. Working as fast as he could, he began to saw through Zim's restraints. "Come on Zim, come on," He chanted as he did so. He tossed the skin layered rope aside as they fell away, leaving deep indentations in the Irken's wrists. He then rocked back on his heels, wiping at his brow wearily. It was then that he saw the twitch. Dib froze. Zim's antennae, he could have sworn they had just moved...

"Zim?" He questioned, eager hope in his voice. There was no reply, nor movement from the rest of Zim's relaxed body, but the antennae twitched ever so slightly again. Relief flooded through Dib. Wondering what else he could do, he noticed that the alien's chest was still smoldering under his sopping shirt. Crouching down Dib grasped the neckline of the shirt and began to saw through that as well, surprised at how hard it was to cut through the odd Irken fabric.

He was nearly done cutting through the shirt when the alien came too with an odd shuddering gasp of pain.

Zim's first conscious thought was that he hurt. He hurt more than he had ever hurt before in his very long life. It felt like thousands of little knives were cutting into his skin all over. Then the alien looked down. He took one look down at Dib, who appeared to be earnestly cutting at something, with a knife, down where his BARE abdomen was and panicked.

"Stop!" He rasped hoarsely, bring unrestrained hands forwards to push weakly at Dib's shoulders.

Dib's head snapped up, surprised and more than a little bit relieved-- only to find that Zim looked utterly terrified.

"Stop it, I'm still alive!" The alien screeched, continuing to push at him weakly. He had no strength left, but he was alive... and he was afraid.

Dib looked confused for a half a second, then he realized what had caused the half conscious alien to panic. "This?" He asked, holding his knife up slightly.

The alien twisted in his grasp desperately, his eyes tightly shut. "Don't!" He cried out again.

"Hey!" Dib reached up, grasping the cut sides of Zim's shirt. He shook him until the red eyes reopened and stared at him fearfully. "Stop that!" Dib reprimanded. "I'm trying to help you Zim!" With that Dib dropped the alien and went back to sawing the rest of the shirt off of him.

After a moment Dib had cut through the rest and pulled it off of Zim, revealing the rest of the raw, pale green skin of a sexless alien chest beneath. He got to his feet and tossed the shirt aside, watching as it fell to the pavement in a wet squelchy thump several feet away. He turned back and visually inspected Zim's pants before realizing that they were no longer smoking, then returned his attention to Zim's face.

The alien was studying him silently. His arms were hugging himself as he huddled as close to the building as possible. He looked positively naked without his shirt, and his gloves had been removed earlier when Dib had tied the rope into place. Thin Irken fingers curled around his upper arms and he shivered ever so slightly in the cool moist air.

At least he wasn't smoldering any longer. And, Dib noticed upon closer inspection, the blackened and burnt skin on Zim's arms and face appeared to be slowly regaining the green color they had been before Dib had decided to let him get wet.

For a long moment alien and human looked at each other. Then slowly Dib flicked his switchblade closed and casually stuffed it into his jeans pocket. Walking over to the alien, Dib began to gather up the remnants of rope and other things, stuffing them in his backpack. He was very aware of Zim's suspicious, questioning eyes on him the entire time.

He shouldered the pack and stood back up. He looked down at his adversary. He was about to open his mouth to say... something... when a sudden screeching of wet tires on the road interrupted him. Surprised both he and Zim looked up as a car barreled to a stop in front of them, half on the curb and half off of it.

It was Gaz. The girl was out of their father's antique car in an instant and had slammed the door shut after herself. "Dib!" She shouted above the rain. "What the HELL were you thinking?!" Her hands balled into little fists as she marched over to him, coming out of the driving rain and into the shelter the overhang offered. "You better have a reasonable explanation for doing that, you shit," The girl growled, "Or I--" Gaz trailed off with a gasp, her eyes widening as she caught sight of the alien huddled against the building behind Dib. One look at his blackened discolored skin and the fact that he wasn't wearing his shirt and gloves clued her in that something was dreadfully wrong. That and the fact that he looked almost as sickly as he had the time a little over a week previous when she had found him in his lair. "Zim!" She cried out, shouldering past her brother and running to him.

Dib watched with a bit of fond sadness as his sister ran and crouched beside the alien, concerned... her arms reaching out and around him. "Zim!" She exclaimed. "Zim, what happened? Are you okay? Did Dib do something to you?" A half a glance at her brother out of the corner of her eye, and the expression on her face told Dib everything that he needed to know about the hell he would pay if she found out that he had done something to Zim. In fact he was already more than dead for drugging her. Dying one more time won't hurt, He reflected ruefully.

"Zim??" Gaz shook the alien slightly when no reply was to be found. "Zim, talk to me!" She ordered.

The alien recoiled slightly at the barrage of questions. Then he glanced at Dib as well, the expression on his face unreadable before the gaze returned to Gaz. "I'm fine," The alien said smoothly, a hint of the old vigor returning to his voice. "Just got caught in some PIT-I-FUL earth rain, that's all." He smiled winningly at the Dib-sister. "Dib-human helped me out a little." He made a vague motion with a clawed hand at his soiled cut up shirt.

Dib watched as the most relieved expression he had ever seen flash across his sister's face. It lasted only a second or so, but it told Dib all he needed to know. She really did care for the extraterrestrial. A lot. Shit. This time he managed to keep the revulsion, which was already much less than that morning, down. Shaking his head he turned away.

Gaz's voice followed him. "Good," The girl said, "But he is still going to PAY for what he did to me..."

Dib made a vague motion behind himself in his sister's general direction. "Later Gaz," He called back at her. "I'll see you at home-- you can kill me then." He added after a moment.

He hesitated suddenly, then paused and turned back. Both Gaz and Zim were staring at him. Gaz still looked as mad as hell... but Zim looked uncertain. Of course how was he to react to the boy who tortured him, nearly killed him, then decided to save him? For a moment Dib thought, then shrugged, then turned and walked back over to the couple. As he walked he took off his bag and trench coat and shook the latter off. It was water proof and the inside was still dry. He approached the still crouching alien and with a little bit of gentle prodding, managed to get him to lean away from the wall and carefully swung the coat over his bare shoulders.

Zim blinked at him, looking utterly confused as clawed hands came out and cautiously pulled the fabric to himself. Dib only shrugged and stood upright again after a moment.

"I'm done, Zim." He said finally. He shrugged again and turned to go, but not before waving a hand in the general direction of the car that Gaz had jacked. "You'd better get that back in one piece Gaz, or there's going to be hell to pay when dad gets home."

He ignored his sister's sharp-tongued retort as he continued to walk away. Instead he trudged on in a homewardly direction with his head bowed as he thought, the cool rain pounding against his back. He didn't mind that he was getting wet... at least the rain couldn't hurt him.