Dib. Earth. Zim's Base. Sometime after lunch.
Day Two.
Dib hid behind a neatly stacked pile of unopened boxes of stuff. He had managed to follow Zim back to his 'home' and sneak his way inside. Surprisingly, it hadn't been very difficult. Something had scared Zim, something that affected him as well. Something definitely not good, and as a result, Zim had been more careless than his usual paranoid self. When he ran home, screaming and ranting all the way, he didn't even glance around to see if he had been followed. Dib was less than 10 feet behind him the entire way. Zim didn't even seem to notice as Dib followed him straight to his house and partially up his walkway. Equally unaware, Zim hurriedly opened the front door, ran inside and slammed the door shut. Dib had been watching the gnomes cautiously when he reached Zim's small front yard and started up the pathway. The dreaded gnomes watched Dib with glowing red eyes as he followed Zim, but made no move to attack him until Zim had shut the door. Then they converged behind Dib, blocking his path to the safety of the road. Having no real choice in the matter, Dib held his breath and tried the door handle. Surprisingly, the door wasn't locked and opened with almost to much ease, causing Dib to fall inside of Zim's garish front room. Zim was nowhere to be seen. GIR, however, was sitting on the couch watching 'The Scary Monkey Show." When he saw Dib, lying undignified on the foyer, his eyes took on a red glow and he took on a threatening posture, towering over Dib, pointing a collection of various guns and lasers at him. Dib, although slightly panicked at first, knew GIR better than most and pulled out a pack of old and half forgotten gum from one of his many pocket and presented it to the small droid. "I'll give you this if you tell me where Zim is ", was all it took to win his freedom and find Zim. Mere moments latter, Dib found himself deep within the depths of the lab hiding behind a neatly stacked pile of unopened boxes of stuff, watching Zim intently.
From his vantage point he could see Zim standing in front of a large monitor. Zim murmured to himself as images flashed rapidly in front of him. Dib couldn't quite make out what Zim was saying, as he searched for something, but from the tone of Zim's mutterings, it wasn't pleasant. After almost 10 minutes his search ended. The screen displayed a picture of a triangle inside of a larger circle, the tips of the triangle just touching the circle. There was a circle inside the triangle touching the triangles three sides. This circle had what looked like a mini starburst in the center of it. Irken writing was spread around the symbol like some type of bizarre frame. Dib would have given anything to be able to know what those words said. Dib quietly moved closer to the monitor, mesmerized by the odd symbol. He knew he had seen it before but he couldn't quite place it. Zim changed the screen, snapping Dib back into reality. He realized he was fully exposed now and had Zim turned around, he would have seen him. Cautiously he made his way back to his hiding spot. Luckily Zim didn't notice, he was to busy pulling his antennae, squeezing his eyes tightly shut and screaming "HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN! WHY MUST THIS BE!"
Dib watched as Zim sent a hurried transmission to his leaders. Dib was still amazed at the fact that the only reason they were rulers were because of their height, but then, he mused, whose to say Earth's ways of choosing leaders were any better. Zim's culture's way of doing things couldn't be that bad if they are able to invade other planets and stuff.
Dib's thoughts were cut short as the link was established, and two extremely tall, extremely irritated looking Irkens eating nacho's came into view. He had to bite back a sudden desire to laugh as he saw the two, nacho cheese was smeared wide around their faces and dripping down their chins. Chips, chives and tomatoes were plastered here and there in the gooey mess. It looked as if Zim had interrupted a rather serious food fight. Zim, however, didn't seem to notice.
"My Tallests" Zim spoke with urgent politeness, his glove clad hand unconsciously going to the spot where his 'ear' would have been. "I have some very distressing news."
One of his leaders leaned close to the screen, a cheese drenched chip threatening to slide onto one of his large half-closed purple eyes.
"Look Zim," he muttered threateningly, "You're interrupting a very important discussion."
He glanced at his red-eyed partner who nodded enthusiastically.
"Yah, Zim. Very important discussion." He sputtered, half chewed chips flying from his mouth as he spoke.
The purple-eyed leader rolled his eyes at his partner before returning his focus on Zim. "Tell me, Zim, what is so important that you would interrupt this meeting. You know you're not scheduled to call in for another four days."
"My Tallests, this is VERY IMPORTANT." Zim said with an ever-increasing tone. He turned his head to the side and pointed a finger to the spot where his hand had been. "LOOK!" he nearly screamed with fear. "I'VE BEEN MARKED! THE MIGHTY ZIM HAS BEEN DEFILED! THEY SHOULD'NT EVEN EXIST! HOW CAN THIS BE!"
The purple-eyed alien pulled back from the screen and turned towards the red-eyed one.
"Well, it looks like we've been found out." He said with a shrug to his partner.
Turning towards Zim he gave a fake smile. "Look, Zim." He said in a soothing voice. "You have done the Irken Empire proud with your uh, devoted and um, enthusiastic services, and now, uh, because of your unwavering, eh, devotion, yeah, well, you are going to be an, a."
The red-eyed leader glanced at his partner for a moment before pushing him to the side. He cleared his throat and said in a blunt voice." Look, Zim. You're a pathetic invader."
Dib watched as Zim's whole body posture changed from dignity and pride to confusion and defeat. His shoulders slumped and his hands hung forgotten by his sides. His antennae were pressed lower to his skull. His head hung low.
"Red", the purple-eyed leader said, trying to interrupt his partner.
The red eyed one pushed him way. "No Purple," he muttered. "Zim needs to know. It was fun at first, but I'm tired of his constant interruptions and stuff. He has caused nothing but trouble."
He turned his attention back to Zim. "Purple doesn't want you to know, but I think its time we told you. You're not really an Invader. You were exiled to Foodcourtia. You weren't invited to 'Impending Doom II'. I don't know how you even passed the Invader test in the first place. You're short, Zim. Never has an Invader been so short. You are not much of an Irken, really. You're defective, Zim, a genetic mistake. Since we couldn't kill you outright without a plausible reason, we sent you on a fake mission to die. You weren't even supposed to make it to this backwards dirtball planet known as 'Earth'. You were supposed to die. We didn't even know this 'Earth' existed until you showed up there. It's outside of the known universe. It wasn't supposed to be there. I don't know how you made it this far without the control brains noticing how defective you really are. Your history speaks for itself. You blacked out half the planet, twice. You killed Two Tallest, albeit inadvertently. You can cause more destruction and mayhem than any Irken alive. Yet, even when we finally were able to put you on trial for all of your defectiveness back on Judgementia, you passed. You should have died, Zim. You would have saved us a lot of trouble."
Red took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead, inadvertently smearing cheese around it. He pulled his hand away, looked at it, and then wiped it off on his robe.
"And now", he continued, "because of you, we are forced to make an alliance with one of the most dangerous species in existence. One we only though existed in mythic tales and threats to keep misbehaving smeets in line. How were we to know they were real? We never even saw one until they saw you."
"For some reason, they are fascinated by you," Purple broke into the discussion. "They made a deal with us. If we give you to them, and leave this 'Earth' alone, they will not stop us from invading the known universe. Do you even know how embarrassing it is to be forced into alliance with a species that shouldn't even exist? Huh? DO YOU?"
"Basically, Zim, you're an embarrassment to the Irken Race." Red concluded. "We hereby exile you from the Irken Empire. Good luck as a Neplotn slave. Hope you cause as much damage to them as you did us. Don't call us again. Bye!"
With a flit of Red's wrist, the screen went blank.
Zim stood staring at the black screen. During most of the conversation he hadn't moved. He didn't even try to interrupt his leaders as they shot his world down. Now, he slid to his knees and started to wail, a keen high- pitched sound that was barely audible to Dib, one that touched Dib's very being, the sound of a shattered soul.
Dib made his way from his hiding spot. He didn't care if Zim saw him now. The events of the past few minutes spun in his mind like a relentless tornado, swirling mixed emotions, half developed thoughts, and undeniable disbelief into his consciousness.
'Zim is as much a reject to his people as I am. Zim is like me. I could prove I'm not crazy and show Zim for the alien he is. Zim is no longer a threat to the world. Zim is vulnerable. Zim could easily be captured and taken to 'The Swollen Eyeballs'. Zim is exiled. Zim is alone. If Dad saw Zim he would be forced to believe me. Zim is like me. I could be famous and respected. Zim is an outcast. Zim is like me. I am an outcast. Zim is like me. Zim needs a friend. I need a friend. Zim is like me. Zim is like me.'
The reality of Dib's whirlwind of thoughts came into focus. Zim was like him. Almost exactly like him. Dib never knew it before, but witnessing the exile of Zim, he saw it clearly. It was undeniable. Zim was to Irk like Dib was to Earth. Different. Alone. Rejected. Considered insane. 'And,' Dib thought sarcastically, ' most likely, the butt of every joke in their species' existence.' Dib's own life was as much a lie as Zim's. His dad may claim to love him, but he was never really there for him, hell, he though Dib was insane. And his sister, the only emotions she ever showed him were anger and annoyance. As for him saving the Earth, he didn't even know why he bothered trying. It's not like they really cared anyway. They didn't even acknowledge his existence, let alone listen to him. Well, it didn't matter now. Zim wasn't going to try to take over the Earth anymore. His people all but abandoned him. Zim was harmless now.
Dib sighed and turned his attention back towards Zim. The wailing had stopped and Zim was doing something with his hands. Without a word, Dib went to stand beside him. Zim didn't seem to notice. His eyes were squeezed shut and he was saying something that Dib couldn't quite catch, tears streamed down his face like mini rivers.
Dib's eyes grew large as he noticed the self-destruct button on Zim's gloved arm. Zim was fingering the button softly as he chanted a barely heard mantra. If Zim pushed the button, all of Dib's hopes and dreams would die with him, and perhaps most importantly, Dib would never know what was really going on. Zim knew something that Dib needed to know. Dib knew Zim wasn't crazy. Different, yes, but then, he was an alien. Aliens were supposed to be different. Dib wanted to know who and what the Neplotn were. And why Zim was so afraid of them. And what Tagged meant exactly. If he and Zim were 'tagged' as Neplotn slaves, how come he never even seen one.
With a speed and strength he didn't know he possessed, Dib slammed into Zim, knocking his hand away from the offensive button and forcing him to the ground. Zim's eyes snapped opened wide as he stared up in shock at Dib. Dib sat on Zim's chest and pinned his arms to the ground with his knees as he dug through his coat pockets. Silently he pulled out a pair of 'Alien Sleep Cuffs' he bought from one of his UFO 'zines and forcefully clamped them around Zim's wrists one at a time. Much to the surprise of both of them, the sleep cuffs worked and Zim slipped into unconsciousness.
"OK, that was easy." Dib stood up and dusted himself off. He looked at Zim's unconscious form lying on the ground in a heap. "Now what?" he pondered aloud. He decided to look around Zim's lab. He needed to find something to tie Zim up with. He needed Zim conscious if he was going to solve this personal mysterious mystery.
Day Two.
Dib hid behind a neatly stacked pile of unopened boxes of stuff. He had managed to follow Zim back to his 'home' and sneak his way inside. Surprisingly, it hadn't been very difficult. Something had scared Zim, something that affected him as well. Something definitely not good, and as a result, Zim had been more careless than his usual paranoid self. When he ran home, screaming and ranting all the way, he didn't even glance around to see if he had been followed. Dib was less than 10 feet behind him the entire way. Zim didn't even seem to notice as Dib followed him straight to his house and partially up his walkway. Equally unaware, Zim hurriedly opened the front door, ran inside and slammed the door shut. Dib had been watching the gnomes cautiously when he reached Zim's small front yard and started up the pathway. The dreaded gnomes watched Dib with glowing red eyes as he followed Zim, but made no move to attack him until Zim had shut the door. Then they converged behind Dib, blocking his path to the safety of the road. Having no real choice in the matter, Dib held his breath and tried the door handle. Surprisingly, the door wasn't locked and opened with almost to much ease, causing Dib to fall inside of Zim's garish front room. Zim was nowhere to be seen. GIR, however, was sitting on the couch watching 'The Scary Monkey Show." When he saw Dib, lying undignified on the foyer, his eyes took on a red glow and he took on a threatening posture, towering over Dib, pointing a collection of various guns and lasers at him. Dib, although slightly panicked at first, knew GIR better than most and pulled out a pack of old and half forgotten gum from one of his many pocket and presented it to the small droid. "I'll give you this if you tell me where Zim is ", was all it took to win his freedom and find Zim. Mere moments latter, Dib found himself deep within the depths of the lab hiding behind a neatly stacked pile of unopened boxes of stuff, watching Zim intently.
From his vantage point he could see Zim standing in front of a large monitor. Zim murmured to himself as images flashed rapidly in front of him. Dib couldn't quite make out what Zim was saying, as he searched for something, but from the tone of Zim's mutterings, it wasn't pleasant. After almost 10 minutes his search ended. The screen displayed a picture of a triangle inside of a larger circle, the tips of the triangle just touching the circle. There was a circle inside the triangle touching the triangles three sides. This circle had what looked like a mini starburst in the center of it. Irken writing was spread around the symbol like some type of bizarre frame. Dib would have given anything to be able to know what those words said. Dib quietly moved closer to the monitor, mesmerized by the odd symbol. He knew he had seen it before but he couldn't quite place it. Zim changed the screen, snapping Dib back into reality. He realized he was fully exposed now and had Zim turned around, he would have seen him. Cautiously he made his way back to his hiding spot. Luckily Zim didn't notice, he was to busy pulling his antennae, squeezing his eyes tightly shut and screaming "HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN! WHY MUST THIS BE!"
Dib watched as Zim sent a hurried transmission to his leaders. Dib was still amazed at the fact that the only reason they were rulers were because of their height, but then, he mused, whose to say Earth's ways of choosing leaders were any better. Zim's culture's way of doing things couldn't be that bad if they are able to invade other planets and stuff.
Dib's thoughts were cut short as the link was established, and two extremely tall, extremely irritated looking Irkens eating nacho's came into view. He had to bite back a sudden desire to laugh as he saw the two, nacho cheese was smeared wide around their faces and dripping down their chins. Chips, chives and tomatoes were plastered here and there in the gooey mess. It looked as if Zim had interrupted a rather serious food fight. Zim, however, didn't seem to notice.
"My Tallests" Zim spoke with urgent politeness, his glove clad hand unconsciously going to the spot where his 'ear' would have been. "I have some very distressing news."
One of his leaders leaned close to the screen, a cheese drenched chip threatening to slide onto one of his large half-closed purple eyes.
"Look Zim," he muttered threateningly, "You're interrupting a very important discussion."
He glanced at his red-eyed partner who nodded enthusiastically.
"Yah, Zim. Very important discussion." He sputtered, half chewed chips flying from his mouth as he spoke.
The purple-eyed leader rolled his eyes at his partner before returning his focus on Zim. "Tell me, Zim, what is so important that you would interrupt this meeting. You know you're not scheduled to call in for another four days."
"My Tallests, this is VERY IMPORTANT." Zim said with an ever-increasing tone. He turned his head to the side and pointed a finger to the spot where his hand had been. "LOOK!" he nearly screamed with fear. "I'VE BEEN MARKED! THE MIGHTY ZIM HAS BEEN DEFILED! THEY SHOULD'NT EVEN EXIST! HOW CAN THIS BE!"
The purple-eyed alien pulled back from the screen and turned towards the red-eyed one.
"Well, it looks like we've been found out." He said with a shrug to his partner.
Turning towards Zim he gave a fake smile. "Look, Zim." He said in a soothing voice. "You have done the Irken Empire proud with your uh, devoted and um, enthusiastic services, and now, uh, because of your unwavering, eh, devotion, yeah, well, you are going to be an, a."
The red-eyed leader glanced at his partner for a moment before pushing him to the side. He cleared his throat and said in a blunt voice." Look, Zim. You're a pathetic invader."
Dib watched as Zim's whole body posture changed from dignity and pride to confusion and defeat. His shoulders slumped and his hands hung forgotten by his sides. His antennae were pressed lower to his skull. His head hung low.
"Red", the purple-eyed leader said, trying to interrupt his partner.
The red eyed one pushed him way. "No Purple," he muttered. "Zim needs to know. It was fun at first, but I'm tired of his constant interruptions and stuff. He has caused nothing but trouble."
He turned his attention back to Zim. "Purple doesn't want you to know, but I think its time we told you. You're not really an Invader. You were exiled to Foodcourtia. You weren't invited to 'Impending Doom II'. I don't know how you even passed the Invader test in the first place. You're short, Zim. Never has an Invader been so short. You are not much of an Irken, really. You're defective, Zim, a genetic mistake. Since we couldn't kill you outright without a plausible reason, we sent you on a fake mission to die. You weren't even supposed to make it to this backwards dirtball planet known as 'Earth'. You were supposed to die. We didn't even know this 'Earth' existed until you showed up there. It's outside of the known universe. It wasn't supposed to be there. I don't know how you made it this far without the control brains noticing how defective you really are. Your history speaks for itself. You blacked out half the planet, twice. You killed Two Tallest, albeit inadvertently. You can cause more destruction and mayhem than any Irken alive. Yet, even when we finally were able to put you on trial for all of your defectiveness back on Judgementia, you passed. You should have died, Zim. You would have saved us a lot of trouble."
Red took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead, inadvertently smearing cheese around it. He pulled his hand away, looked at it, and then wiped it off on his robe.
"And now", he continued, "because of you, we are forced to make an alliance with one of the most dangerous species in existence. One we only though existed in mythic tales and threats to keep misbehaving smeets in line. How were we to know they were real? We never even saw one until they saw you."
"For some reason, they are fascinated by you," Purple broke into the discussion. "They made a deal with us. If we give you to them, and leave this 'Earth' alone, they will not stop us from invading the known universe. Do you even know how embarrassing it is to be forced into alliance with a species that shouldn't even exist? Huh? DO YOU?"
"Basically, Zim, you're an embarrassment to the Irken Race." Red concluded. "We hereby exile you from the Irken Empire. Good luck as a Neplotn slave. Hope you cause as much damage to them as you did us. Don't call us again. Bye!"
With a flit of Red's wrist, the screen went blank.
Zim stood staring at the black screen. During most of the conversation he hadn't moved. He didn't even try to interrupt his leaders as they shot his world down. Now, he slid to his knees and started to wail, a keen high- pitched sound that was barely audible to Dib, one that touched Dib's very being, the sound of a shattered soul.
Dib made his way from his hiding spot. He didn't care if Zim saw him now. The events of the past few minutes spun in his mind like a relentless tornado, swirling mixed emotions, half developed thoughts, and undeniable disbelief into his consciousness.
'Zim is as much a reject to his people as I am. Zim is like me. I could prove I'm not crazy and show Zim for the alien he is. Zim is no longer a threat to the world. Zim is vulnerable. Zim could easily be captured and taken to 'The Swollen Eyeballs'. Zim is exiled. Zim is alone. If Dad saw Zim he would be forced to believe me. Zim is like me. I could be famous and respected. Zim is an outcast. Zim is like me. I am an outcast. Zim is like me. Zim needs a friend. I need a friend. Zim is like me. Zim is like me.'
The reality of Dib's whirlwind of thoughts came into focus. Zim was like him. Almost exactly like him. Dib never knew it before, but witnessing the exile of Zim, he saw it clearly. It was undeniable. Zim was to Irk like Dib was to Earth. Different. Alone. Rejected. Considered insane. 'And,' Dib thought sarcastically, ' most likely, the butt of every joke in their species' existence.' Dib's own life was as much a lie as Zim's. His dad may claim to love him, but he was never really there for him, hell, he though Dib was insane. And his sister, the only emotions she ever showed him were anger and annoyance. As for him saving the Earth, he didn't even know why he bothered trying. It's not like they really cared anyway. They didn't even acknowledge his existence, let alone listen to him. Well, it didn't matter now. Zim wasn't going to try to take over the Earth anymore. His people all but abandoned him. Zim was harmless now.
Dib sighed and turned his attention back towards Zim. The wailing had stopped and Zim was doing something with his hands. Without a word, Dib went to stand beside him. Zim didn't seem to notice. His eyes were squeezed shut and he was saying something that Dib couldn't quite catch, tears streamed down his face like mini rivers.
Dib's eyes grew large as he noticed the self-destruct button on Zim's gloved arm. Zim was fingering the button softly as he chanted a barely heard mantra. If Zim pushed the button, all of Dib's hopes and dreams would die with him, and perhaps most importantly, Dib would never know what was really going on. Zim knew something that Dib needed to know. Dib knew Zim wasn't crazy. Different, yes, but then, he was an alien. Aliens were supposed to be different. Dib wanted to know who and what the Neplotn were. And why Zim was so afraid of them. And what Tagged meant exactly. If he and Zim were 'tagged' as Neplotn slaves, how come he never even seen one.
With a speed and strength he didn't know he possessed, Dib slammed into Zim, knocking his hand away from the offensive button and forcing him to the ground. Zim's eyes snapped opened wide as he stared up in shock at Dib. Dib sat on Zim's chest and pinned his arms to the ground with his knees as he dug through his coat pockets. Silently he pulled out a pair of 'Alien Sleep Cuffs' he bought from one of his UFO 'zines and forcefully clamped them around Zim's wrists one at a time. Much to the surprise of both of them, the sleep cuffs worked and Zim slipped into unconsciousness.
"OK, that was easy." Dib stood up and dusted himself off. He looked at Zim's unconscious form lying on the ground in a heap. "Now what?" he pondered aloud. He decided to look around Zim's lab. He needed to find something to tie Zim up with. He needed Zim conscious if he was going to solve this personal mysterious mystery.