Chapter 4: Cat and Mouse

            It was an Irken. That was the first thing Dib thought when he saw Zim's "Manslayer". It wore a uniform similar to Zim's save for the color. In place of Zim's pink (that the alien constantly insisted was red) was dull gunmetal. The monster stood maybe three inches taller than Zim. Other than that, the two could have been twins, at least in Dib's eyes. Dib realized a few seconds later that there was one other difference. The eyes. Not the color, so much, but what was in them. Zim's were clearly alive, burning with life and energy. Even if that energy was directed at destroying everything Dib held dear. But these eyes seemed… dead. There was no other word Dib could find to describe them. They were like two bottomless pits you could fall into. If eyes were truly the window to the soul…

            Dib was cut from his thoughts by Zim's screamed orders.

            "SEIZE HIM! SEIZE THE DIB HUMAN!"

            The Manslayer turned his head to the right, the rest of his body perfectly still. Slowly, his head panned to the left, searching the lab. Once his neck had craned as far left as it would go, it returned to its previous position, staring directly at Dib. The creature opened its mouth, and in a voice that sounded oddly like Zim's robot servant in "Duty" mode, it said

            "Dib-Human is not in the laboratory."

            Both Zim and Dib stood still for several moments; shock overcoming Zim and confusion overcoming Dib. More out of habit than conscious thought, Dib checked his the readout on his Camo. It was flashing a low battery warning. Still on... Dib's glance shot back up to the Manslayer. It was staring right through him. The revelation hit Dib like a cement truck. It was a robot! Or, at least, it was partially a robot. Dib wasn't sure how advanced Irken Bio-Engineering was, but he from what he'd seen of Zim's capabilities, it seemed they would be able to-

            "What are you talking about? He's right there!"

            Zim pointed towards the pathetic stink baby, a pained expression on his face. This could not go wrong. He'd put too much work into rebuilding this thing for something to go wrong now.

            "My sensors detect no human within the base. Would you like me to increase my scanning radius?" The Manslayers reply was cold and monotone.

            "BUT HE'S RIGHT THERE!" Zim waved his outstretched arm to indicate the human filth. Dib realized he'd have to move before his battery ran out. It would have been bad before, but now… he had no data on this… weapon at all. Best thing to do would be a tactical withdrawal until he had time to study the Manslayer and devise a plan of action. There was no telling what it was capable of. It could be equipped with nerve gas, or nuke launchers, or… Hell, the damned thing could travel through time for all Dib knew.

 Dib flipped backwards onto the machine behind him, landing deftly on one hand.  He used it to launch him further upwards as his left hand caught a line of silver tubing running out from Zim's central computer. Swinging up onto the steel line, he could make out the Irken below, pointing at him and screaming orders at the Manslayer. Dib ran along the upward slanting tube, arms spread out to help him balance. Below him, the Manslayer had begun to advance in Dib's general direction, apparently taking Zim's word that there was, indeed, an enemy over there. Dib dropped down from the tubing and onto a mechanical column of some kind.

            "There! He's on top of the Memory Banks!"

            Dib looked down and saw the Manslayer at the very base of the cylindrical construct, glaring up at him. Dib checked the battery on his Camo.

            It had switch to "Very, very low".

            Slowly, the Manslayer placed two hands on the towering memory bank, his claw like fingers cutting easily into the steel. With a single upward thrust from his right leg, he began crawling swiftly up the side, eyes still glaring into a Dib he supposedly could not see.

Dib wasn't sure what he expected to happen next, but it certainly wasn't this. It was like something out of Spider-Man. Or, more accurately, Aliens. Dib leapt off of the first memory bank and onto the second out of a group of six that lined the wall. He deftly jumped a second gap, landing on the third bank. He swiveled back to check on the progress of the robot.

It wasn't there.

In panic, Dib twisted around to see the Manslayer standing right in front of him, dead, empty eyes piercing into his own. Dib glanced down at the battery level for his stealth camo.

It was dead.