Boy behind the glass
By: redfox and megane-chan
"I think it's just fair to warn you, I have no idea what I'm doing."
Disclaimers: Ehe… sowie Maran Zelde, didn't mean to criticize your criticism. scratches head Ehehehe. Just like to keep my facts straight, is all. Now, ONWARDS TO THE FIC!!!
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Dib clutched his laptop to his chest and pressed his back against the cold hard concrete. He felt his way across it, his footsteps barely echoing on the paved ground. His mind was racing and his heart was pounding as he reached the end where the wall and the gate met.
Membrane Laboratories looked like a behemoth bathed in darkness; a creepy sight to behold at that time in night.
This evening was particularly dark as the clouds were covering the moon; to Dib this usually meant an uneventful evening; his only subjects— the stars and the moon— would be covered and he wouldn't be able to take any notes nor to be able to observe any anomalies plaguing the evening. Despite all these reasons, tonight he was thankful for it.
The darkness helped cover his ebony hair as he peeked around the wall. His forehead emitted an unnatural white glow due to the small amount of light but other than that he was well hidden.
Dib spotted four guards patrolling the front of Membrane Laboratories. He knew from experience that there would be another four around back and two per side of the rest of the perimeter. A solitary guard would be at the front gate to operate the mechanics of the gateway and to watch out for any suspicious characters, situated just at the other side of where he himself stood.
The real problem was getting around them.
In his head Dib cursed, his plan was fool-proof, and up to the escape he knew what to do unless something went horribly wrong as what usually happens when things involve him and his large head, he understood what would happen and where to go but he had completely ignored the problem of the guards.
Dib quietly made his way to the other side of the gate, taking great care to do it only when the guards wouldn't be able to see him. He thanked his lucky stars that he reached the other side undetected, hiding behind the door to the small room
Oddly enough, there was a tiny socket at the bottom of the booth where he was able to attach some wires from his laptop to the mechanics of the door. His fingers were blurred as he typed at his lap top feverishly, glad that he had installed his own patented well, almost key board mufflers that kept the noise, he would have likely made, down. He heard the satisfying click of the metal door, hoping against all those forces that picked on him that the guard hadn't heard him.
Whatever god's out there must've had a sense of humor that evening as that was what had exactly happened. The pale boy was lucky the guard had a radio on at that moment. He cautiously opened the door a crack and typed in a few sequences on his computer; the screen blipped softly as the words, "Initiate Knock out Device? Y/N?" came out.
He pressed, Y on the keyboard and watched as a dart like object shot out and hit the guard on the neck. The man fell noiselessly to the ground and Dib dove to grab the metal chair before it fell and made enough noise to alert the other guards. That would be one chain of reactions he wouldn't want to start.
Dib pulled the chair upward to sit on it by the guard's computer. He barely noticed his hacking, being so accustomed to it, that his thoughts began to drift back to Gaz and what she had told him earlier that evening.
"Who's an alien DIB?" He yelped in surprise as his sister, looking over his shoulder and at his drawing broke the silence, "Did dad finally tell you?"
The scolding left his lips immediately, "Tell me what?"
"About that alien in dad's lab. That green thing that doesn't talk," She scowled. Gaz had a strange hate for almost everything but video games, the thought of Zim, however, always evoked a different type of hate all together, "They're supposed to get rid of him soon because the government wanted him for testing and all that."
He felt stunned and horrified, his only friend, sold to the government where he would most likely be killed after a series of disgusting tests. He couldn't deny that he himself wanted to perform such tests as a boy. He had that odd, inane bloodlust to see what exactly was under that green skin and those ruby red eyes… that is, until he felt that Zim would be more useful to him as a friend rather than an enemy or test subject.
His purple haired sister took a soda from the fridge as his shock began to die down and give way to other feelings, "Yeah, dad mentioned a date. Sometime this week…" She walked off without a care, probably to get back to her game as her brother began to bore her already.
Dib gathered his laptop and announced he'd go for a walk, a ruse that would have failed on the most oblivious idiot on the planet but his sister had merely growled at him, willing him to leave already.
So Dib left and took off down the street with his laptop under his arm, towards Membrane Laboratories. His mind worked at its full potential to come up with a plan to get the alien out…
The boy knew it was stupid to try and break in at this time of the night. The security system had been upped recently and the glaringly obvious fact that waltzing inside in broad daylight would have been far easier crossed his mind earlier that evening he only replied to himself that the chances of him getting in would also be a 50-50 chance as most of the time the guards didn't recognize him as the son of the great Professor Membrane. The other problem would have been the time they would transport Zim, Dib didn't know so naturally acting immediately would be better than waiting and taking a risk of loosing the alien without having done anything.
Dib shook himself to concentrate on breaking his father's security code. It was an almost impossible feat and he felt he would have stayed there all night trying to figure it out. By then the lack of activity from the napping guard would have roused suspicion and he would have been caught, sent to jail as his father seemed to feel no mercy towards his kids.
It was just his luck that he noticed the piece of paper sticking out from under the bag of donuts by the computer.
"What's this?" He picked up and bit into a jelly donut as he read the paper. On it, written in a messy scrawl was the password to the security system, a dubious Mysonisaninsaneperson. It could have been a new security precaution, for those who wanted easy access into the laboratory. All they had to do was look around a bit to find the paper and use it, triggering another alarm. Ah, well. It was worth a shot.
Dib licked his fingers clean of the white sugary power and the jelly substance that fell off the pastry, typing in the password and rewarded with a smiley face declaring, "You have just typed the correct password. Good for you!"
He then continued to disable the cameras and the lasers, even the ones connected to certain doors in the building. Dib slipped out unnoticed, giving himself a pat on the back for a job well done considering he had to play that part by ear.
Now for those four up front…
Dib looked around a bit and decided to take his chances by sneaking around by the bushes. It was an obvious hiding place, so dark and enclosed by the wall, that he found it was more than a bit careless for the guards to ignore that area.
The angry vines poked into his sides but he presumed it was better than attempting to quietly knock out four guards wielding large versions of cattle prods. He winced at those, he was one of the many and frequent victims the shocking and bothersome weapons enjoyed to touch, sending him to the point of collapsing more than once on a daily basis; especially on those days his father forgot who he was and what he might be doing in the Lab.
A few successions of fancy rolls and timed jumps, Dib reached the nearest and equally sharp, pointy bush that stood quite near the foot of one of the four guards. The door was only a few meters away, so close that the stench of lab rats and experimental concoctions sifted through and tortured his sharp senses.
No matter how close he was to the door, the fact that the nearest guard noticed the rustling leaves made him stay still, sweating all the earlier night's soft drink away. The man looked down at the bush and, unknown to his goggled eyes, straight at Dib. He was about to stick his large cattle prod in to check for any unusual creature that may have jumped in but one of the other guards called to him by the gate, urgently waving his hands about.
The young boy allowed himself the luxury of air as soon as he heard the previous guard run to his cohort, inquiring about the sudden summons. He wasted no time running towards the heavy steel doors, opening it and shutting it silently behind him as his heart thumped wildly at the exchange of words between the two guards.
"There's an intruder!"
--
Indeed, the guards didn't wait for the so-called intruder to get far before pursuing him, nor did they waste precious moments realizing that the security system was out. It was a good thing Dib thought of leaving a little present for them to find; a 24 hour virus that would keep the security system from being switched on. Even if they managed to get a programmer into the building to reboot the system, Dib would be into Zim's room and out within the next fifteen minutes; the same amount of time it would take the said programmer to get there, let alone find and delete the slightly harmless bug.
But that also didn't mean that they were helpless enough to just stand around idly as they waited.
Trailing behind Dib were some seven men, all wielding different versions of the large cattle prod that seemed mandatory to security around the building. Many were thrusting it at the poor boy, trying to clip him and shock him into making a mistake that would most likely lead to his arrest. Dib, dodging and running, felt the slight stings of the edges of the cattle prods.
After a close call at one of the corners which left the bottom of his trench coat slightly frizzled and brownish Dib's hand furiously rummaged through one of his trench coat pockets, finally pulling forth a water gun. He stared at it incredulously, wondering when the item appeared in his pocket.
"… I could swear I placed one of dad's small explodey bomb things in my pocket," He stared at the water gun once more, it being the only item in his pocket, "Oh well, beggars can't be choosers."
With a burst of speed he normally used when attempting to out run bullies at school, Dib stopped by a corner. He was far enough from the guards to spin around and face them, yet having only a second to aim and pull the trigger on the unlikely weapon.
It may have been his personal preference for those water guns that you didn't have to pump to keep the pressure running that saved him, or it may have been the stupidity of a guard that set off his cattle prod while being soaked by the natural chemical compound that was H2O. Either reason, Dib's water gun let loose all that it held while the guards electrocuted themselves over and over again with their own large weapons.
The pale boy stopped for a moment to observe the flashing human lights before continuing his mad dash towards the stairs, getting to the seventh floor unheeded.
--
"ZIM!"
The green and red ball, curled up like a creepy, floating human fetus slowly lifted its head in recognition. Large red eyes blinked and stared hard at the boy in front of him, asking himself if he was having one of those "Dream" things Dib spoke of.
But no, the said boy was real alright, real frantic.
'Dib human?'
Dib nodded and shot a paranoid look over his shoulder. He sat by the opened pneumatic doors and, after connecting another wire to the base of it, began typing; within seconds he had the doors shut behind him, a loud "CLICK" indicating that the inner locking mechanism had been set.
"I'm gonna get you outta here Zim,"
The Irken looked at him, a mixture of curiosity and skepticism flickered on his features periodically, 'Why?'
Dib relayed to Zim all he heard from Gaz. By the time he finished with his theories on what might happen to the alien n an autopsy table, Zim was more than eager to leave his cell, more of frightened really.
'How will you get me out of here?' He mouthed. Both froze as the sounds of heavy boots clanked loudly somewhere not far enough outside to make them feel comfortable.
"I'm gonna hack into your security with my new program." Dib explained, keeping his voice low unless he wanted to be heard by the guards outside, "Just be ready to fall when I drain the liquid…"
With a steady nod, Zim watched as the other plugged his lap top into one of the containers lower outlets, typing as viciously, if not more, than when he locked the door. The liquid slowly drained, almost painfully so to the alien and his rescuer but luckily the process was made sound proof by Professor Membrane when it was proved to be a little too loud for his "sensitive ears."
Dazed, Zim blinked for a while as the last drops of the liquid fell off his body and into the metal tubes. It being his first time to be out in Earth's elements in almost seven years, it took a bit of standing still and mental preparation to get his bearings back.
Dib looked up from his lap top as the container opened with a slow hiss. He acknowledged Zim as he cautiously stepped from his seven year prison. The little green man looked around with narrowed eyes for but a moment before he opened his lips and let a long breath out.
"Ah," The alien's voice was a bit of a high scratchy noise that rose before it died down. It may not have been like that in the past but the years of silence may have severed whatever it was Irken's used as vocal chords, "The great sound of Zim's voice is good to hear."
Dib smiled at the sound of the voice he longed to hear, speak to him for the first time in years. It was strange at first but he easily got used to the sound, it was as if he heard it somewhere before… as if that voice was an eerie part of his life that he'd never really forget. In a way it made him uncomfortable but the sense of acuity and certainty that reverberated from it was enough for him to forget his discomfort for a moment.
That feeling of joy immediately dissipated, almost as quickly replaced by dread as he heard the guards approaching in the not-so-far distance. One had even managed to get to the doors only to find it shut tight. They had to get out. Fast.
"Zim, we need to get out of here!" For the first time since the green alien began exercising his many other functions, he looked at the boy who had freed him, blinking owlishly, "We can go through the ventilation that leads to the roof. From there we can go down the stairs to escape!"
"Why don't we just go downstairs to begin with?"
"I don't know." Dib shrugged, "It just seems cooler if we go to the roof first before escaping."
The alien didn't bother arguing, instead, resigning himself to shrugging as the statement seemed to make sense to him anyway. He watched as the big headed boy began scanning the area; he mimicked his companion and searched the room for anything he might've missed… and he was thankful he did so.
On a table, behind the glass container he had just recently been in, there sat a cluster of metal objects and strangely shaped metals with red, blue and green wire protruding from their sides. To a normal person, it would have looked like ordinary junk that gathered like dust in your attic or garage but to Zim, they were thing's he thought he'd never see again… they were pieces of his SIR Unit.
"By The Tallest…" He ran to it and began collecting the pieces, shaky and slightly uncontrolled metal arms emerging from his Pak to gather them into the small Irken life line.
"What are tho—" Zim just felt the questions about to shoot off from the young teen. He quickly silenced him with a look that spoke of guards and refusal of capture.
"We need to get out of here… Dib," He spoke his words slowly yet as quickly as he could under the given circumstances, "And hurry with what plan you have at this moment, I have not seen the whole of this place."
"If only we could get up there!" Dib pointed up ten feet towards the tallest point in the high ceiling room, looking frantic as he turned to face his companion. Surprisingly, the alien merely smirked at him and shoved him aside.
"Move aside human," Out of Zim's pak, metal spider-like legs emerged and boosted him up at least four feet high. The alien took a few moments to compose himself; the long time spent locked up barely dithering his perfect control over his extra limbs, "Come Dib."
All Dib could do was gape as Zim hoisted both of them up and climbed the wall as if it had deep purchases instead of straight and flawless sides. Hoo boy, he certainly knew how to get himself into these things.
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Redfox: … geez. That took long. Sorry guys but I'll try to get the next one up soon… although these sad, pathetic and horrible excuses are nothing to go by. Just ask the monkey!!!! points in the other direction
... no monkey eh? um... well, ok then. Thanks anyway... looks down at feet