Okay, yess.. it is the 4th chapter.. I curse my working for not allowing me to stay up late and write insane stories. Parts of this chapter are sort of... gore-infested. It's brief, but horrible.. okay, so not really.. but I figured I would warn you anyway. I decided to change the label of the fic from just drama to drama/comedy, because it does have a little bit of funny stuff every now and then. You're all wonderful, by the way!
Chapter 4 - Confusion can be Maddening
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Zim's head was pounding. He could hear Dib all the way on the other side of his underground floor. He felt like he needed.. what did the humans call it? Aspirin.. oh yes, Aspirin. But no, he didn't want to kill himself by finding some and taking it. Who knew what it could do to him? He shuddered at the thought.
He tried to ignore the Dib as he sat at the keyboard of the computer that was right under one of the elevator shafts. He was determined to put the boy out of his mind so that he could actually concentrate. "Human-slug," he muttered. 'Stop calling out for me.. irritating, filthy boy... why am I trying to find a way to save your pathetic and completely useless life again?' His rantings were even loud inside his head. "Ohhh.. I could just KILL you, DIB!!!" He growled, his headache paining him greatly.
Dib bit his lower lip as he stared up at the ceiling in the room. He was still wet, and was feeling cold.. and he didn't want to die. He heard Zim saying something about killing him.. "But you are," he said softly. "Not intentionally, I know, but you are." He was talking to the ceiling, truthfully. His words were not heard by the Irken at all. "It's my own fault," he let out a frustrated sigh. "I shouldn't even be here. I should be at home, watching some stupid cartoons or something and thinking of a way to break into Zim's base.." He stopped and glared up at the ceiling. "That's what got me into this mess in the first place."
"Finally," Zim muttered. The human had grown silent, allowing him to think. He searched his mighty brain for a plan to save the pitiful dirt-child. He started typing away with his gloved fingers on the small keyboard in front of him. As an Invader, he had access to information on each pathetic planet that Planet Irk had conquered, including any medical research that had been found on the inhabitants of the filthy alien planets. He tried to find any information on the properties of Irken blood.. why did it affect the human like venom from a snake? It couldn't be as strong, because if it was, the human would be dead within mere hours.. not a few days.
After a very long, agonizing, twenty-minute search, he found what he was looking for. It was a sort of mixture of a lab report and what seemed to be a history lesson. The Irken text told the Invader that many years before Operation Impending Doom I, there had been a rebellion on the planet that was now known as Conventia, the Convention Hall planet. The planet had been inhabited by a strange, lizard-like creature that had initially been peaceful until the Irkens had arrived to conquer them. Instead of going peacefully, they had become wild, uncivilized.. they fought and raged and so many of the Irkens had died, and so many of the wretched Lizard-people had been slaughtered. The soldiers of the Armada had tried to contain the lizards, to capture them unharmed so they could be made into slaves, but all of the attempts failed.
They would attack and try to kill any Invader that was presented, but they found that they would die quickly, only minutes after exposure to the blood that was inevitably everywhere. 'So the human is stronger than those.. horrible lizard-beasts,' Zim pondered this in silence. 'or at least his immunity to.. me.. is anyway.' He shuddered at a picture of one of the beasts, shown with it's snout buried deep in the entrails of an Irken soldier. "Horror," Zim whispered aloud. The very thought of having his guts eaten while he was still alive made him feel sick. His skin turned a shade paler as he looked on.
The picture then played as a movie, complete with sound. Zim shuddered again, his insides lurching dangerously. He felt like he was going to vomit everywhere. The little Irken on his computer screamed as it was being eaten alive, then the lizard... monster fell over, releasing the dying soldier. The monster twitched and writhed, with foam dripping from it's mouth, then it stopped moving all together and it's dreadful yellow eyes slipped closed. The clip ended, much to poor Zim's relief.
"Dirty, dirty monsters!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. Dib just shook his head in the other room. He read further, the text explained that the Irkens had discovered a sort of antivenom that had been created in an effort to preserve the lives of the hostile lizards, but each time they managed to stop the effects of their blood-toxins, they would still have to kill the lizards in an effort to protect whoever was administering the serum. Eventually, all of the lizard-people were exterminated, and the Irkens had to run their own Convention Hall, rather than have a bunch of filthy lizard-slaves to do it. Zim sighed and closed his eyes, thinking.
"How am I going to get that antivenom?" He asked the question aloud, hearing it echo faintly against the metallic walls. An idea formed in his mind as he hopped down from where he had been sitting. "Hmmm.."
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"Incoming transmission from... Earth," One of the red-clad Irken soldiers in the control room of the Massive stated. He looked upon his leaders, awaiting their orders.
"Ohh.. don't answer it!" Tallest Red groaned loudly, massaging his temples. He could feel a Zim-induced headache coming on, and he hadn't even seen Zim's face yet.
"Put it through," Tallest Purple said, sighing at his counterpart. He was also not too thrilled to hear from Zim, but he would only keep calling back if they ignored him. Zim's face appeared on the large screen. "Yes, Zim?"
"Greetings my Tallests," Zim saluted gravely. "The mission goes well," he lied. His skin had blanched to a very pale green.. probably both from remembering that Irken being disemboweled and also from actually being worried about the Dib-monster.
"Yes, yes, we're glad to hear that," Red said irritably, his eyes narrowing. "Now what do you want?"
"Sirs," Zim began, "I have a request to make."
"Whatever it is, no," Red glared. Zim's antennae drooped.
"But, but.. my Tallests," Zim whimpered. Surely they could grant him this little request, just this one. Almighty Tallest Purple shook his head at the pitiful little Irken.
"What is your request, Zim?" He inquired, earning another groan of frustration from Red.
"Well, I need to get the formula for-" Zim was interrupted suddenly by the loud shouting of Dib.
"ZIM!!! Get back in here, Zim! I won't let you win, you can't just let me die tied to this table!!!" Dib shouted, it was magnified by the walls deep in Zim's base. Apparently, the human's pain and weakness had subsided for the moment, and he was determined to get the alien's attention. Zim cringed and snarled, looking in the direction of the door.
"Who was that?" Purple asked curiously, placing his long fingers together in front of him and tilting his head to the side.
"Filthy worm! SHUT YOUR MOUTH, EARTH-STINK!!!" Zim ranted, shaking his mighty fist. He then looked back at his leaders. "Ummm.. that is one of my human-slaves! Yesss.." He smiled a vicious looking smile. The Tallests eyed him doubtfully. "I captured him and he is being disciplined for his.. rudeness," he lied again. Dib would pay for embarassing him in front of his leaders.
"Very good," Purple humored him as Tallest Red shot Purple an angry glare. "As you were saying?"
"I was saying.. yes! I was asking if I could have the formula for the serum that was made for those horrible lizard-beasts that used to live on Conventia," Zim said loudly, regaining his train of thought.
"Release me NOW, Zim!" Dib yelled again in the cold room, pushing his body up against the cables that were holding him down. He was determined to get the Irken to come back, to know that he hadn't been abandoned. He also truly loved the sound of irritation in the alien's voice. Zim cringed again, fuming. His amazing patience was running very thin with the human boy.
"Could you hold on a moment?" Zim asked the two tall Irkens politely. Red looked like he was about to say no, but Purple waved dismissively at Zim, who ran offscreen quickly.
"What the heck is he talking about?" Red asked Purple softly. Tallest Purple just shrugged and got himself a donut.
"Don't ask me, you know Zim, usually babbling about some kind of insane nonsense."
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"For the love of me, what do you want?!" Zim was standing in the doorway, looking so irritated that Dib could have sworn that he saw a vein throbbing in the alien's green forehead. He did look much paler than usual, however.. but why?
"I want to be off of this table," Dib glared at his arch enemy. Zim chuckled darkly and shook his head.
"I am afraid that that is out of the question... for the moment," Zim taunted him. "I am doing something exceedingly important and I need as little disruptions as Earthly possible, Dib-monkey. Now, if you would be so kind as to not annoy me further I would greatly appreciate it."
"Exceedingly important?" Dib repeated, becoming annoyed. "So my dying is not important to you?"
"If only you used half of the brain-mass that is contained in your gigantic head.." Zim felt a small twinge of pity for the Earth-creature... and something else.. it was a hurt feeling, though he never would have admitted it.
"My head is not gigantic," Dib protested. "Zim, eventually someone will come looking for me, and when they do find me they'll perform an autopsy and find out exactly how I died.. then they'll know the truth, and do you know who will be on the autopsy table next?" Dib stared right into the Irken's eyes, and those red orbs narrowed in anger at his words.
"There is no reason to threaten me, foolish Dib," Zim said with a tone that was as cold as ice. He leaned down closer to the human's face, his stare unwavering as he spoke. The color had still not yet fully returned to his skin. "Yesss," he hissed, causing Dib to feel very uncomfortable. "I do have a very strong desire to be rid of you forever sometimes, Dib, but now is not the time for such things. Now.. please, cease your endless barrage of irritating screams, and let me finish what I am doing. I will release you from here in due time." Dib was shocked that Zim had asked him nicely to leave him alone, and he was confused again. Before he could ask more questions or make any accusations, Zim was gone from the room again, racing back to his Tallests as fast as his spider-legs could carry him. He couldn't keep them waiting...