Chapter 12: Dib's POV
Dib was so angry he wasalmost on the verge of tears. He couldn't keep doing this. He couldn't keep hurting Zim. There had to be another way to keep the world safe!
Shirley wasn't hard to find. She was standing with three lesser underlings, chatting away amicably, near the island in the very center of the quad.
She looked up at Dib's approach, "Well, hello, Dib!" She smiled innocently at him. "Are you by any chance here to ask me to the dance?"
It took all of his willpower not to lash out at her pretty little face and wipe the stupid smile off it. He didn't want to make a scene.
"No, but I'd like to talk to you...in private."
"Oh! In private!" Shirley giggled, "You naughty boy!"
The other girls giggled as well, giving each other knowing looks.
Dib mentally counted to 100.
When they finally stopped laughing, Shirley stood up and came to him, sliding her hand under his elbow. He stiffened but otherwise did nothing, "But sure, we can talk! You seem harmless enough." she looked back to her remaining followers, "Excuse me, girls. I'll be right back."
Shirley turned once more to Dib, "I know the perfect place! Come on."
She led them at an agonizingly slow pace, or at least it seemed so to Dib, and purposely leaned her head onto his shoulder, as if they were just a normal little couple, out for a stroll.
She took him into the school, and guided them towards the dining facility.
Leading him to the first empty table, Shirley stopped and smiled sweetly at him.
"Here we are."
Before the first word had finished forming in her mouth, Dib had spun on the girl, releasing his arm from her grasp.
He glared venomously, "You said you wouldn't hurt her!"
Shirley pouted, "Oh. You wanted to talk about her. And here I thought we had something..."
The boy advanced on her, "Don't toy with me, Shirley! Zim said some of your girls attacked her in her house this morning! That wasn't part of the deal!"
Shirley sighed and sat down, crossing her legs and becoming all business like, "They didn't attack her, Dib, and they didn't hurt her either. She just got injected with a little tranquilizer fluid. Besides the initial pinch I doubt she felt much pain at all."
He grit his teeth, "That's not the point! She wasn't supposed to be involved at all! I want you to call off your little goon squad or else I'll-"
"You'll what, Dib? You gonna tie me up and lock me in your closet till the dance is over?" She grinned mockingly at him, "What about the rest of my girls, hm? I got friends in high places, you know, people even your father has no influence over! Besides, I don't see what you're getting all worked up for. Aren't you planning on turning her in anyway?"
Dib closed his eyes and drooped his head, that increasingly familiar pain twisting his insides again, "I...I haven't decided that yet."
"What's there to decide?" Shirley irritatedly flicked a lock of hair behind her shoulder, "She's a menace to society! Not only that, but to the entire planet! You know this better than I do. Why not go ahead and turn her in now? Now, when she least expects it! You'll have to do it sooner or later, and the longer you let her run loose, the more danger you're putting the world in! You know I'm right."
Dib bit his lip, "I know."
He let the silence linger for a while, trying to find the words that would explain his situation to her...to himself.
He finally lifted his head, "But-"
A crazed laughing exploded from behind the double doors and cut him off. He whipped his head towards them. The laughter began to subside but even before it died away completely, he knew who it belonged to.
He turned to look back at Shirley. The girl wore a self-satisfied smirk on her face and showed no signs of being surprised.
Dib whipped back around and leapt to the doors, his thoughts mad with panic!
Please don't let it be, PLEASE don't let it be…
How much had Zim heard? Had she been listening the entire time? She was supposed to wait for him! What was she doing here anyway!
Had she followed him?
Dib threw the doors open, eyes quickly scanning and taking in the scene before him.
The girls from Shirley's group with black braids and yellow pigtails were standing shell-shocked in the hallway; beyond them was Zim, holding the one with red curls by her throat and pinned up against the wall. She seemed not to notice his sudden entrance, too focused on her prisoner to pay attention to anything else. Her eyes were burning with an inner fire, a look of murder flashing briefly across them.
She tightened her grip.
"NO!"
Dib ran forward to try and stop her, but the other girls were frozen in place and even with his slim frame, he couldn't pass them in the frustratingly narrow hallway.
But Zim did stop. He watched her head dip towards her chest, her shoulders shaking slightly, and then she turned to look at him. She looked at him with a guarded, glassy stare and cynical smile.
She stepped back from Red Curls and let her body fall to the ground, turned her back on Dib and, chuckling, ran down the hallway.
"ZIM!" Dib tried squeezing himself between the living statues once more, desperately calling out to her, "ZIM, WAIT!"
He didn't get far before he felt something jerk backwards at his coat sleeve.
It was Shirley. "You're not planning on going after her are you!" She glowered disgustedly.
Dib added two and two together, bringing twin gold lasers to focus on her.
"You...you set this up, didn't you? You knew I'd come to you after Zim told me about the attack on her! You brought her here to listen in on us! And now she thinks that-"
"The Hell are you getting angry for?" She snapped, "I did this for you, you stupid moron! I know you think you're in love with her, and it's holding you back! You think that just because you two got into a little hanky panky that she'd give up trying to conquer humanity, just for you? It's what you were hoping for, wasn't it? You were hoping she'd choose you over her mission because she might love you back!"
She smiled then, as if the very idea was so preposterous as to be almost funny, "You're just kidding yourself! But now, there's no chance of that happening! Now, there's no 'what ifs', no doubts! I've released you from all the useless, naive hopes you might've been clinging to, and you should be grateful for it!"
Dib lowered his gaze, feeling his head become heavy with anger and guilt, knowing everything she had said was true, "Maybe..."
And then he raised it slowly, the burning amber sunrises behind his glasses piercing through the ice blue tinted windows of the girl's soul.
"And maybe humanity isn't worth saving!"
He whirled around and ran, leaving Shirley open mouthed and gawking after him.
Black Braids and Yellow Pig Tails had finally come out of their trance; YPT was attending to Red Curls, and BB cautiously approached her commander.
"Do you wish for me to stop him?"
Shirley closed her mouth then, thinning her lips into a grim line. "Just follow for now. Keep out of sight."
BB nodded, and then calmly walked in the last direction the boy had taken.
The blond haired leader grit her teeth, "This isn't over Dib. The title of Dance Queen will be mine! And with the power that comes with it, I'll destroy you and your freaky little girlfriend like the split ends in my hair that you are!"
(Page break)
Chapter 12: Zim's POV
The girls had brought Zim to just outside the cafeteria. Strange that they thought Dib would be there. She stayed alert though, constantly making sure there was nothing and no one blocking the hallways in case she needed a quick escape route; but the girls were true to their word and kept their distance. She heard voices beyond the double doors. Two human voices were shouting inside! Well, one of them was shouting anyway, male it sounded, and to a female, it seemed.
Checking that the girls were still behind her one last time, Zim pressed the side of her head to the door and listened.
"...That wasn't part of the deal!"
That was definitely Dib's voice! What was he doing in the cafeteria and whom was he talking to?
And what was this 'deal' that he had made?
"...didn't hurt her either. She just got injected with a little tranquilizer fluid. Besides the initial pinch I doubt she felt much pain at all."
That female stink meat Shirley! And they were talking about her obviously.
The Dib had made a deal with her?
"That's not the point! She wasn't supposed to be involved at all! I want you to call off your little goon squad or else I'll-"
"You'll what, Dib? You gonna tie me up and lock me in your closet till the dance is over? What about the rest of my girls, hm? I got friends in high places you know, people even your father has no influence over! Besides, I don't see what you're getting all worked up for. Aren't you planning on turning her in anyway?"
Zim felt her insides constrict. Surely, she had misheard! Dib was planning to turn her in? That couldn't be right...
Then again, this was just a temporary truce. They had agreed to be civilized to each other during the time they worked together, but neither had given up on their main objectives. Yet she had been so sure she could convince him to join her before then. After all that had happened between them after just a short week...
"I...I haven't decided that yet."
"What's there to decide? She's a menace to society! Not only that, but to the entire world! You know this better than I do. Why not go ahead and turn her in now? Now, when she least expects it! You'll have to do it sooner or later, and the longer you let her run loose, the more danger you're putting the world in! You know I'm right."
A pause, and then,
"I know."
Zim sank to her knees and stared desolately at nothing. So it was true. She should have been expecting it, and still...
But wait! Hadn't he said he hadn't decided yet? There was still a chance! She could still try to convince him! And surely, she would succeed! The Dib cared for her, she would bet her life on that, if she could just make him see how much better off he would be with Zim! If she promised to spare his spooky sister and his mad scientist father...
What reason would he have to side with that loathsome human female anyway?
click- (brain gear noise/puzzle piece falling into place)
Because she was human. Because she was a part of humanity.
Dib's humanity.
click-click-
No matter how vile, how useless, how stupid or how inferior they were, Dib would stand by them, because that's what Dib did. It's who he was. He was Earth's protector.
click-click-click-
And as long as Zim threatened it...
click-click-click-click-
...she was his enemy.
click-click-click-
In the end, Dib would always be obligated to choose humanity;
Just as Zim would always choose her mission...
-click-click-
No...
click-
Scratch that...
((((SNAP))))
Her glorious mission! Her mission to bring honor and conquest to the magnificent Irken empire! Her mission bestowed upon her by the Almighty Tallest themselves! Her mission, which would begin with the subjugation of the entire pathetic earth school! All would willingly bow before her and be glad to worship the ground she walked on! She was an invader! Part of the Irken Elite! She needed no one! Especially not ugly, gangly, large-headed stink-monkeys! Oh, she needed him now, just like someone answering the call of nature, needed toilet paper! But there would be nothing beyond that! No emotional entanglements! She'd lived her entire life alone, without family or friends, and grown strong. She would continue to do so, proving her worth and eventually conquering this rotating ball of filth!
Zim felt like laughing then, so she did. With so many pathetic human plans doomed and falling apart all around her, Zim threw her head back and cackled insanely with glee.
She lifted herself up from the floor. Clutching her sides and still laughing, Zim started to go down the hallway.
She didn't get far before a pair of crimson red Doc Martins appeared in front of her. Zim steadily controlled herself, biting the insides of her mouth until they bled, and until she was sure she could look into the worm monkey's face without bursting into fresh bouts of laughter.
"Going somewhere, Zim?" The redhead stood with her arms crossed and legs spread shoulder length apart, effectively blocking the invader's path, "They haven't even finished talking yet."
Zim grinned at her, "I've heard enough. Get out of my way."
RC stood firm, "I don't think so," and was then suddenly wondering why the back of her head was throbbing and why she was having such a hard time trying to breathe...
Zim's claws dug deeper into the contours of her fleshy neck, her other hand scraping the paint off the wall behind her captive. She wasn't looking too happy anymore.
"This changes nothing, human!" Zim whispered menacingly, "NOTHING! I knew the Dib would plot against me! I have always known! We never stopped being rivals in the first place! Each of us is in this for our own personal gain, and if you think that with this obviously staged display of treachery, that I would willingly release him into your filthy clutches, then you are sadly mistaken! I've worked too hard and invested too much in that boy to give up now! He can play whatever little games he wants with you wretched pig smellies, but he will remain my partner until I am done with him! Am I understood!"
The girl made a few weak gasping noises, and flailed her limbs in a useless attempt to knock Zim's hands away. The alien wondered vaguely why the others hadn't come to offer their assistance to her. Weren't they all friends? Ha! Some friends! Puny pathetic stinking cowards! All of them! They were all so tough and sure of themselves when facing what they thought was a weak opponent, but when they found themselves alone with their backs against the wall, they crumbled like a flimsy house of cards! It was astounding to think that the Dib was one of them.
Dib...
Zim watched the red curl framed face contort into all sorts of interesting expressions. She couldn't make noises anymore and her face was acquiring a violet sort of shading.
What did the Dib see in this girl anyway? In any human for that matter! What made him want to protect them, stand up for them, when all they ever did was either ignore him or cause him pain? What possible reason could he have for thinking that they were deserving of his protection, his loyalty, his love?
Wasn't Zim more worthy?
"NO!"
Zim closed her eyes then, the irony making her head droop and her chest heave in silent, mirthless laughter.
The Dib was trapped behind the terrified female earth monkeys, and looking a bit frightened himself. Obviously Zim wasn't in any danger. His concern then, was for the pathetic sack of bladder waste she held in her grasp.
So this is where your true loyalties lie, isn't it human? Zim smiled at him, Right where they've always been...
Chuckling, she released her captive, turned and beat a hasty retreat. She didn't wanting to deal with the human just yet. Let the boy save his precious humanity! Let him become a hero in his own eyes, though no one else would ever see him as such.
Fool! She cackled in her mind, unsure if she was addressing the human or herself, Foolish fool boy!
She could hear the Dib calling her name, could hear the desperation in his voice, but Zim wouldn't be deceived by him again! She wouldn't be deceived by that traitorous emotion that had made her vulnerable to the human in the first place! She was an invader!
It was time she started acting like one again.
(End chapter 12!)
OO: I got myself excited too when I wrote the last part, but THIS chapter is my FAVORITE by far! Hope you likes it too!
All Apologies: I was gonna just make Dib's POV one chapter, and Zim's POV another chapter, but thought people might get confused...hope the suspence hasn't killed you yet, and also that you liked this one!
night-emerald: I changed-ed the 'he was almost' part, like you asked me to! It reads A LOT better! Thankies!
Accountless: I sent you an e-mail, butnever got a response, so maybe you missed out on my explanation...I basically said that the girls didn't neccessarily accept the fact that Zim was an alien, as much as they just ACTED like they did, asleverage with Dib, to make him more co-operative!
Dreamer16: Glad you likes my babeh!
SingerOfDoom: Thanks for the encouragement! Hope you liked this chapter too!
deadcat323: Thankies!
