Title: Frequency
Author: Mizander
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Invader Zim belongs to ME! ...No wait, just kidding. I swear! Before the lawyers representing Jhonen Vasquez and Nickolodeon come to haul me away, I'd better tell you that Zim acctually belongs to them.
Dib's sense of impending doom heightened the longer the trip to the Vortian system went on. He had moved straight through uninterrupted, and was now staring straight down the mouth of a grim, dark docking bay. The structure it occupied was just as grey, cold metal walls with foreboding slits of windows. Whomever this was home to could certainly not be very happy.
The problem at hand however, was that perhaps Tak's ship on it's own could escape notice, but a security hold and prison could hardly fail to be guarded by elite soldiers. Even if he did manage to avoid being questioned by security - it would be more than evident that he did not belong there the second he got out of his ship.
Thinking briefly about passing his unusual appearance off as an Invader's disguise, like the Resisty had believed, he quickly decided against that idea. If he wasn't asked why he was in his disguise in Irken territory, GIR would definitely give something away.
Or maybe, he thought brightening, GIR's affiliation to Zim would be a help rather than a hindrance.
Putting one hand near the reverse thrusters in case a quick escape was needed, Dib maneuvered the ship down to the docking bay entrance. Almost instantly, the ship's communications system crackled to life.
"State your business."
One hand firmly placed over GIR's mouth, and trying to speak as smoothly as he could, Dib leaned over the microphone to reply. "Bounty Hunter Dib Membrane, here to bring the personal effects of Prisoner Irken Zim to..." he quickly debated the use of formalities before finishing. "My Tallest."
There was a long pause on the other end, and Dib's hand hovered, quivering against the thruster controls.
"...Very well. A guard will meet you in the docking bay to take you to wait for The Tallest."
The channel switched off, and Dib let out a breath of air he hadn't been aware he was holding in the first place. He wondered if he could convince this guide to leave him alone...this would be the next step of the plan. There was bound to be a lot of security here - how would he manage to get all the way into the hold and get Zim out, undetected or without arousing suspicions to his true motives? He'd been excited enough that his plan to get inside had worked at all. What if he never got out?
Unfortunately, he hadn't thought that far ahead, and now he was stuck.
Once more bringing the ship to a halt, he climbed out and moved along the rows of similar Irken vessels looking around for his guide. GIR was oddly silent, perhaps he understood the seriousness of the situation - or maybe...as was in fact the case, he found there to be too many unfamiliar things to marvel at and thus hold his attention. Whatever the reason - Dib was grateful for it.
There was no Irken soldier to be seen as Dib made his way slowly amid the rows of parked vehicles, but it seemed careless to believe that perhaps a harried communications officer had already forgotten to send the promised help to the docking bay. Perhaps he was on his way and Dib should just wait for awhile. It might give him time to think of a second story.
"Ooh! Whazzat!?" GIR's voice cut into his thoughts.
Shocked out of his internal monologue, Dib instinctively looked up. At first, he thought that GIR was pointing at a ship not unlike Zim's, but to his surprise, he realized that the robot had instead spotted a short figure cloaked in black who was attempting to hide behind two thin pieces of metal supporting the front wheels of a vibrantly purple Voot Cruiser. Although short, the figure's girth made him ill-equipped for hiding behind such a thin piece of metal. Apparently aware of the eyes upon him, he broke into a clumsy run heading in the direction Dib had just come from and bee-lining for Tak's vessel.
"HEY!" Dib realized with a violent start. Whoever it was was intending to take his ship! Breaking into a sprint, Dib found he was faster, and closed on the would-be thief's heels quickly. Taking a flying leap, he shortly found himself eating cold airlock floor as metal appendages tore through the black cloak, flinging it away as the spider-like limbs bore a short, bulky Irken out of harm's way.
Dib leapt to his feet, his jaw smarting horribly from the face plant he'd just performed, but facing the now-exposed creature resolutely.
Using the extra appendages to his advantage, the alien barreled down on Dib, drawing back a fist and letting fly at his face with surprising force. Throwing up his arms in the nick of time to protect himself, his forearm took the full brunt of the attack. No bones broke, but there would surely be a nasty bruise left, and what was more the thief now had the advantage he needed.
Unused to such pain, Dib shook it off with an extreme effort, and took off once more after the Irken. Now unable to reach the same heights, Dib swiped wildly at one of the spindly legs. For his efforts he was rewarded with the frantic scrabbling of metal on metal. Half-way through the fall, the spider-legs retracted back into the Irken's Pak, and he hit the floor with a sickening dull thud.
Dib rushed to stand over him and got a good look at just who had caused him all this pain and trouble for the first time. He was staring at an Irken slightly taller than Zim, but about twice as wide. He was dressed similarly to the other soldier-class individuals but his red, pink and black uniform was unkempt and covered with greasy stains. Feeling Dib's glare upon him, his antennae flattened themselves against his head and he pulled himself to his feet with the resigned terror of someone who knew he'd been caught.
Attempting to keep the upper hand, Dib was the one who broke the silence. "Why did you try to steal my ship?"
The fat little Irken frowned at the floor, trembling from head to toe, and much to Dib's surprise - something that seemed to be tears welled in his protuberant red eyes. "...I don't want to die." he whispered.
Putting two and two together, Dib dropped all pretense. "You...escaped? From here?"
"Yes." Quivering, the Irken clearly believed that Dib was here to take him back to his cell...or whatever. Perhaps he could use this to his advantage.
"How'd you do it?"
For the first time the would-be thief looked up at Dib, perhaps recognizing something as non-threatening in his tone. "You...you're not..." he stammered, pointing over Dib's shoulder. "...that's Zim's robot!"
GIR stopped rolling about on the floor and waved energetically. "Hiya!" Racing closer, he sniffed at the stains on the Irken's uniform suspiciously for a moment, causing him to jump back defensively. "Youuu like Tacos tooooo."
One eye still watching GIR warily, the escapee turned back to Dib. "What are you doing here?"
Dib was not yet ready for the tables to be turned on the questions. He shook his head. "I answer nothing until you tell me who you are and what you wanted with my ship." he growled, hoping he sounded threatening.
The Irken eyed Dib for a long moment, clearly struggling with himself. For a moment Dib thought perhaps he would not speak, but finally the creature opened his mouth. "I am, or rather, I was Invader Skoodge. I was the first Invader to conquer a planet during Impending Doom Two in the name of the Empire." Here Skoodge predictably paused in his tale, probably to savor what Dib already suspected was a fleeting remainder of his pride. "The Tallest decided that I was unfit to represent the Irken ideals as I do not look the part of an Invader."
At Dib's curious look, he elaborated. "I'm not tall."
"Oh. That's stupid."
Skoodge twitched visibly, then relaxed. Recalling the Irken cashier from Foodcourtia, Dib was willing to bet that it had taken all the former invader's effort not to yell at him for insulting his home planet and customs. "Be that as it may, that was the case. The Tallest tried many times to...to take me out of the picture, to kill me, but I returned for more abuse every time. I was impressionable then. I didn't realize the truth. I...didn't want to realize the truth. They accredited another Irken with MY victory...and then, when they couldn't kill me off, they decided to send me here to let me rot. I managed to escape my cell, but I could not truly leave until I had a means of transportation. Nobody really comes here...or stays for long."
Dib made a face as he thought. Here he was, thinking of collaborating with the enemy. But then, nothing risked, nothing gained, and Skoodge seemed honest enough. "How about I make you a deal. If you help me to rescue Zim, then I will take you with me, out of here."
"Under normal circumstances I'd ask why you wanted to rescue Zim, but I would presume that he's in the same position as I am."
"Under normal circumstances, I'd ask myself the same question." Dib retorted.
Nodding slowly, Skoodge extended his hand. Feeling rather dirty in doing so, Dib gave it a good shake, thinking hard of how the Resisty would feel when he brought back not one, but rather two prisoners of war.
Dib followed Skoodge to the docking bay doors finally, whistling low in appreciation at the prone forms of two Irken guards and what was probably Dib's guide laying just out of sight of the doorway. Skoodge apparently really was that good.
Darting over two the figures, Skoodge pulled off the cloak off of the male one, which he wrapped around himself and crudely hemmed by sticking the trailing ends into his boots. He removed the communicators from both and several other tools as well, handing one of the pile to Dib. "Keep his keycard on you as a spare in case we get separated." he instructed, and Dib felt another nasty pang of guilt over how he was using the ex-Invader. He pocketed the small device and forced himself to focus fully on the mission at hand.
GIR meandered haphazardly but silently after them as they crept down the maze of hall passages, the somber nature of the prison seemingly affecting even his perpetually care-free mood as Skoodge led them deeper into the heart of the hold. Little conversation passed between them as they walked by rows of heavy metal doors. Every so now and again, Skoodge would make a comment such as 'That's Vortian Prisoner number seven seven seven' or 'That big room there is where they put all the Slaughtering Rat People at once.'
It seemed as though they'd been walking for hours, and Dib was completely lost. All of the doors and passages looked the same - he may as well have been going in circles and for all he knew, they were.
"This is where they keep Irken defectives." said Skoodge. "Zim should be in here."
Dib was just going to question Skoodge on the now familiar use of the word 'defective', when GIR unexpectedly perked up. "Master!" he whispered, stopping in front of one of the uniform heavy metal doors. "MASTER!"
"SHHHH!" Dib hissed in frustration, when to his mingled relief and excitement, a voice came floating back through the steel.
Softer than a whisper, and pathetically weak, but still classically Zim. "GIR!? You found me? Well what do you know. You really are advanced."
Tongue poking out in concentration, Skoodge extracted his spider legs from his pak again and leveled them at the door to Zim's cell. They suddenly sparked to life, forming a glowing blue energy field in the air in front of him. As Dib watched, the other four shut down so that only one beam of energy remained. The lone appendage swiveled sideways so that the beam as thin as a knife blade fit into the crack between wall and door, gliding up and down under Skoodge's direction.
Just like that, the door swung forward and a collective silence reigned between both sides of the door as both parties assessed the oddity of what lay on the other side.
Zim's cell was small compared to the size of the door that protected him. All four walls were of the same dull grey metal that comprised most of the base and there was barely enough room for him to stretch his arms straight out at his sides. Along the back wall, there was a small protrusion, also metal and roughly the width of a single bed. There were no windows or decorations, and the only indicator that one could survive at all in such an environment was a small air vent roughly the size of a man's hand situated high up on the ceiling.
Zim himself looked even thinner and smaller than Dib had ever known him to be, diminished and as weak as his voice. Nevertheless, he was staring blankly at Skoodge, Dib and GIR, completely at a loss.
"GIR!" he demanded in a voice that suggested he had long shouted himself hoarse. "Didn't I tell you to stay at the base?"
As they had done in the Taco house on Foodcourtia, GIR's eyes flashed red. "Yes, My Master!" As they phased back to cyan green, he began to babble, ticking his fingers off as though to embelish reciting a list. "First I made waffles, then I daaaaanced, then I made me some muffins! They had pine cleanser and Asprin in them! Then I made some more waffles....OH! Then I watched the scary Monkey show. That's when the pig..."
Zim winced. "That horrible monkey..." he rasped. "That still doesn't explain what you're doing here. And YOU. And you're Skoodge aren't you?" He took in the poorly fitting high-collared cloak that the ex-Invader had stolen from the guards he'd knocked out. "You got promoted?"
"We've gotta get out of here!" Dib exclaimed, completely losing his head. How long had they been standing here, probably in plain view of a video camera?
Zim shook his head, raising his sick voice in an attempt at his usual bellow. "ZIM hasn't the time to play your pathetic games Dib-stink. My Tallest have finally recognized the MIGHTY GLORY that is ZIM, and are going to give me a--"
"...The Tallest are trying to KILL YOU! Just like they did to Me!" this time, it was not Dib, but rather Skoodge.
"Jealous!" hissed Zim. "You were assigned to Blorch while I was given a secret mission!"
"Oh for godsake, Skoodge isn't jealous. He's trying to save your life." Frustrated, Dib pulled out the tape recorder he'd brought off the ship with him and barreled on. "And I have the proof."
Holding the machine victoriously above his head, Dib pressed the 'play' button and the voices of the Tallest poured out of the tiny speaker to rebound around the hallway irreputably. It was impossible to tell what Zim was thinking, but when the entire spiel had faded back into static, he said nothing.
"We found them!" This intruding new voice was punctuated by a laser bolt striking the wall mere inches from Dib's head.
"RUN! Now!"
Dib and even GIR didn't need to be told twice, but Zim on the other hand wouldn't budge. Letting out a particularly colorful stream of curses, Skoodge doubled back and bodily dragged the unmoving, silent figure along after them.
Dib really hoped Skoodge knew his way out of the prison, because he himself was completely lost.
Author's Notes:
I think these silly note things get longer every time I write them. Perhaps I just like hearing myself talk. At any rate I actually do have to say a few things of possible interest:
1) I love reviews. I thank those who review from the bottom of my first-time fanfiction writer heart.
2) I have gone off and gotten myself a live-journal account. I shall use it to my advantage, I hope. I'd like to meet some of my fellow authors and have the chance to talk to them. Link is up in my profile under homepage.
3) I'm actually in the process of working out the kinks to a new fanfiction. As part of the er...hired help in the ZADR C2 community, I thought perhaps I should have something to contribute. If ZADR isn't your cup of tea however - never fear, Frequency was planned as a pairingless fic, and so it shall remain.
Author: Mizander
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Invader Zim belongs to ME! ...No wait, just kidding. I swear! Before the lawyers representing Jhonen Vasquez and Nickolodeon come to haul me away, I'd better tell you that Zim acctually belongs to them.
Chapter 4:
Tugging angrily on the small robot's arm, Dib groaned in frustration. "GIR! Come-on, please! I need you to help me...ugh..." Smooth metal sliding through his grip, Dib lost his balance and landed on the floor for the umpteenth time since setting foot on the planet Foodcourtia.
The robot's eyes flashed red, and he glared doom down at the frustrated human. "You're not my master!" growled the SIR unit in a low voice quite unlike his usual squeal. Dib looked around, but whether they were uninterested in the strange alien boy or simply used to Irken automatons, no other patrons of the Taco place found the incident of any note.
Reverting suddenly to his normal hyperactive self GIR turned back to his distraction, gleefully spraying Dib with bits of food as he spoke. "I can't go now, big-head boy, I'm eating Tacos!"
With sudden sympathy for Zim, Dib let out a roar of frustration. "NOW!"
GIR merely giggled and offered the seething human one of the snacks from his plate in reply.
"I don't have time for this GIR! I..." and then, with a truly brilliant flash of inspiration, Dib leaned over and picked up the plate of tacos - carrying them nonchalantly from the restaurant. GIR raced after him, alternating furiously between screams and intense crying jags. Dib's ears nearly burst, but he resolutely refused to return the tacos to GIR until he was firmly attached to the ship's navigational system.
"Well GIR," he chuckled bleakly over the loud sounds of open-mouthed chewing, "whatever else happens to me on this trip, I doubt it could be as difficult as getting you away from the tacos."
Dib's sense of impending doom heightened the longer the trip to the Vortian system went on. He had moved straight through uninterrupted, and was now staring straight down the mouth of a grim, dark docking bay. The structure it occupied was just as grey, cold metal walls with foreboding slits of windows. Whomever this was home to could certainly not be very happy.
The problem at hand however, was that perhaps Tak's ship on it's own could escape notice, but a security hold and prison could hardly fail to be guarded by elite soldiers. Even if he did manage to avoid being questioned by security - it would be more than evident that he did not belong there the second he got out of his ship.
Thinking briefly about passing his unusual appearance off as an Invader's disguise, like the Resisty had believed, he quickly decided against that idea. If he wasn't asked why he was in his disguise in Irken territory, GIR would definitely give something away.
Or maybe, he thought brightening, GIR's affiliation to Zim would be a help rather than a hindrance.
Putting one hand near the reverse thrusters in case a quick escape was needed, Dib maneuvered the ship down to the docking bay entrance. Almost instantly, the ship's communications system crackled to life.
"State your business."
One hand firmly placed over GIR's mouth, and trying to speak as smoothly as he could, Dib leaned over the microphone to reply. "Bounty Hunter Dib Membrane, here to bring the personal effects of Prisoner Irken Zim to..." he quickly debated the use of formalities before finishing. "My Tallest."
There was a long pause on the other end, and Dib's hand hovered, quivering against the thruster controls.
"...Very well. A guard will meet you in the docking bay to take you to wait for The Tallest."
The channel switched off, and Dib let out a breath of air he hadn't been aware he was holding in the first place. He wondered if he could convince this guide to leave him alone...this would be the next step of the plan. There was bound to be a lot of security here - how would he manage to get all the way into the hold and get Zim out, undetected or without arousing suspicions to his true motives? He'd been excited enough that his plan to get inside had worked at all. What if he never got out?
Unfortunately, he hadn't thought that far ahead, and now he was stuck.
Once more bringing the ship to a halt, he climbed out and moved along the rows of similar Irken vessels looking around for his guide. GIR was oddly silent, perhaps he understood the seriousness of the situation - or maybe...as was in fact the case, he found there to be too many unfamiliar things to marvel at and thus hold his attention. Whatever the reason - Dib was grateful for it.
There was no Irken soldier to be seen as Dib made his way slowly amid the rows of parked vehicles, but it seemed careless to believe that perhaps a harried communications officer had already forgotten to send the promised help to the docking bay. Perhaps he was on his way and Dib should just wait for awhile. It might give him time to think of a second story.
"Ooh! Whazzat!?" GIR's voice cut into his thoughts.
Shocked out of his internal monologue, Dib instinctively looked up. At first, he thought that GIR was pointing at a ship not unlike Zim's, but to his surprise, he realized that the robot had instead spotted a short figure cloaked in black who was attempting to hide behind two thin pieces of metal supporting the front wheels of a vibrantly purple Voot Cruiser. Although short, the figure's girth made him ill-equipped for hiding behind such a thin piece of metal. Apparently aware of the eyes upon him, he broke into a clumsy run heading in the direction Dib had just come from and bee-lining for Tak's vessel.
"HEY!" Dib realized with a violent start. Whoever it was was intending to take his ship! Breaking into a sprint, Dib found he was faster, and closed on the would-be thief's heels quickly. Taking a flying leap, he shortly found himself eating cold airlock floor as metal appendages tore through the black cloak, flinging it away as the spider-like limbs bore a short, bulky Irken out of harm's way.
Dib leapt to his feet, his jaw smarting horribly from the face plant he'd just performed, but facing the now-exposed creature resolutely.
Using the extra appendages to his advantage, the alien barreled down on Dib, drawing back a fist and letting fly at his face with surprising force. Throwing up his arms in the nick of time to protect himself, his forearm took the full brunt of the attack. No bones broke, but there would surely be a nasty bruise left, and what was more the thief now had the advantage he needed.
Unused to such pain, Dib shook it off with an extreme effort, and took off once more after the Irken. Now unable to reach the same heights, Dib swiped wildly at one of the spindly legs. For his efforts he was rewarded with the frantic scrabbling of metal on metal. Half-way through the fall, the spider-legs retracted back into the Irken's Pak, and he hit the floor with a sickening dull thud.
Dib rushed to stand over him and got a good look at just who had caused him all this pain and trouble for the first time. He was staring at an Irken slightly taller than Zim, but about twice as wide. He was dressed similarly to the other soldier-class individuals but his red, pink and black uniform was unkempt and covered with greasy stains. Feeling Dib's glare upon him, his antennae flattened themselves against his head and he pulled himself to his feet with the resigned terror of someone who knew he'd been caught.
Attempting to keep the upper hand, Dib was the one who broke the silence. "Why did you try to steal my ship?"
The fat little Irken frowned at the floor, trembling from head to toe, and much to Dib's surprise - something that seemed to be tears welled in his protuberant red eyes. "...I don't want to die." he whispered.
Putting two and two together, Dib dropped all pretense. "You...escaped? From here?"
"Yes." Quivering, the Irken clearly believed that Dib was here to take him back to his cell...or whatever. Perhaps he could use this to his advantage.
"How'd you do it?"
For the first time the would-be thief looked up at Dib, perhaps recognizing something as non-threatening in his tone. "You...you're not..." he stammered, pointing over Dib's shoulder. "...that's Zim's robot!"
GIR stopped rolling about on the floor and waved energetically. "Hiya!" Racing closer, he sniffed at the stains on the Irken's uniform suspiciously for a moment, causing him to jump back defensively. "Youuu like Tacos tooooo."
One eye still watching GIR warily, the escapee turned back to Dib. "What are you doing here?"
Dib was not yet ready for the tables to be turned on the questions. He shook his head. "I answer nothing until you tell me who you are and what you wanted with my ship." he growled, hoping he sounded threatening.
The Irken eyed Dib for a long moment, clearly struggling with himself. For a moment Dib thought perhaps he would not speak, but finally the creature opened his mouth. "I am, or rather, I was Invader Skoodge. I was the first Invader to conquer a planet during Impending Doom Two in the name of the Empire." Here Skoodge predictably paused in his tale, probably to savor what Dib already suspected was a fleeting remainder of his pride. "The Tallest decided that I was unfit to represent the Irken ideals as I do not look the part of an Invader."
At Dib's curious look, he elaborated. "I'm not tall."
"Oh. That's stupid."
Skoodge twitched visibly, then relaxed. Recalling the Irken cashier from Foodcourtia, Dib was willing to bet that it had taken all the former invader's effort not to yell at him for insulting his home planet and customs. "Be that as it may, that was the case. The Tallest tried many times to...to take me out of the picture, to kill me, but I returned for more abuse every time. I was impressionable then. I didn't realize the truth. I...didn't want to realize the truth. They accredited another Irken with MY victory...and then, when they couldn't kill me off, they decided to send me here to let me rot. I managed to escape my cell, but I could not truly leave until I had a means of transportation. Nobody really comes here...or stays for long."
Dib made a face as he thought. Here he was, thinking of collaborating with the enemy. But then, nothing risked, nothing gained, and Skoodge seemed honest enough. "How about I make you a deal. If you help me to rescue Zim, then I will take you with me, out of here."
"Under normal circumstances I'd ask why you wanted to rescue Zim, but I would presume that he's in the same position as I am."
"Under normal circumstances, I'd ask myself the same question." Dib retorted.
Nodding slowly, Skoodge extended his hand. Feeling rather dirty in doing so, Dib gave it a good shake, thinking hard of how the Resisty would feel when he brought back not one, but rather two prisoners of war.
Dib followed Skoodge to the docking bay doors finally, whistling low in appreciation at the prone forms of two Irken guards and what was probably Dib's guide laying just out of sight of the doorway. Skoodge apparently really was that good.
Darting over two the figures, Skoodge pulled off the cloak off of the male one, which he wrapped around himself and crudely hemmed by sticking the trailing ends into his boots. He removed the communicators from both and several other tools as well, handing one of the pile to Dib. "Keep his keycard on you as a spare in case we get separated." he instructed, and Dib felt another nasty pang of guilt over how he was using the ex-Invader. He pocketed the small device and forced himself to focus fully on the mission at hand.
GIR meandered haphazardly but silently after them as they crept down the maze of hall passages, the somber nature of the prison seemingly affecting even his perpetually care-free mood as Skoodge led them deeper into the heart of the hold. Little conversation passed between them as they walked by rows of heavy metal doors. Every so now and again, Skoodge would make a comment such as 'That's Vortian Prisoner number seven seven seven' or 'That big room there is where they put all the Slaughtering Rat People at once.'
It seemed as though they'd been walking for hours, and Dib was completely lost. All of the doors and passages looked the same - he may as well have been going in circles and for all he knew, they were.
"This is where they keep Irken defectives." said Skoodge. "Zim should be in here."
Dib was just going to question Skoodge on the now familiar use of the word 'defective', when GIR unexpectedly perked up. "Master!" he whispered, stopping in front of one of the uniform heavy metal doors. "MASTER!"
"SHHHH!" Dib hissed in frustration, when to his mingled relief and excitement, a voice came floating back through the steel.
Softer than a whisper, and pathetically weak, but still classically Zim. "GIR!? You found me? Well what do you know. You really are advanced."
Tongue poking out in concentration, Skoodge extracted his spider legs from his pak again and leveled them at the door to Zim's cell. They suddenly sparked to life, forming a glowing blue energy field in the air in front of him. As Dib watched, the other four shut down so that only one beam of energy remained. The lone appendage swiveled sideways so that the beam as thin as a knife blade fit into the crack between wall and door, gliding up and down under Skoodge's direction.
Just like that, the door swung forward and a collective silence reigned between both sides of the door as both parties assessed the oddity of what lay on the other side.
Zim's cell was small compared to the size of the door that protected him. All four walls were of the same dull grey metal that comprised most of the base and there was barely enough room for him to stretch his arms straight out at his sides. Along the back wall, there was a small protrusion, also metal and roughly the width of a single bed. There were no windows or decorations, and the only indicator that one could survive at all in such an environment was a small air vent roughly the size of a man's hand situated high up on the ceiling.
Zim himself looked even thinner and smaller than Dib had ever known him to be, diminished and as weak as his voice. Nevertheless, he was staring blankly at Skoodge, Dib and GIR, completely at a loss.
"GIR!" he demanded in a voice that suggested he had long shouted himself hoarse. "Didn't I tell you to stay at the base?"
As they had done in the Taco house on Foodcourtia, GIR's eyes flashed red. "Yes, My Master!" As they phased back to cyan green, he began to babble, ticking his fingers off as though to embelish reciting a list. "First I made waffles, then I daaaaanced, then I made me some muffins! They had pine cleanser and Asprin in them! Then I made some more waffles....OH! Then I watched the scary Monkey show. That's when the pig..."
Zim winced. "That horrible monkey..." he rasped. "That still doesn't explain what you're doing here. And YOU. And you're Skoodge aren't you?" He took in the poorly fitting high-collared cloak that the ex-Invader had stolen from the guards he'd knocked out. "You got promoted?"
"We've gotta get out of here!" Dib exclaimed, completely losing his head. How long had they been standing here, probably in plain view of a video camera?
Zim shook his head, raising his sick voice in an attempt at his usual bellow. "ZIM hasn't the time to play your pathetic games Dib-stink. My Tallest have finally recognized the MIGHTY GLORY that is ZIM, and are going to give me a--"
"...The Tallest are trying to KILL YOU! Just like they did to Me!" this time, it was not Dib, but rather Skoodge.
"Jealous!" hissed Zim. "You were assigned to Blorch while I was given a secret mission!"
"Oh for godsake, Skoodge isn't jealous. He's trying to save your life." Frustrated, Dib pulled out the tape recorder he'd brought off the ship with him and barreled on. "And I have the proof."
Holding the machine victoriously above his head, Dib pressed the 'play' button and the voices of the Tallest poured out of the tiny speaker to rebound around the hallway irreputably. It was impossible to tell what Zim was thinking, but when the entire spiel had faded back into static, he said nothing.
"We found them!" This intruding new voice was punctuated by a laser bolt striking the wall mere inches from Dib's head.
"RUN! Now!"
Dib and even GIR didn't need to be told twice, but Zim on the other hand wouldn't budge. Letting out a particularly colorful stream of curses, Skoodge doubled back and bodily dragged the unmoving, silent figure along after them.
Dib really hoped Skoodge knew his way out of the prison, because he himself was completely lost.
Author's Notes:
I think these silly note things get longer every time I write them. Perhaps I just like hearing myself talk. At any rate I actually do have to say a few things of possible interest:
1) I love reviews. I thank those who review from the bottom of my first-time fanfiction writer heart.
2) I have gone off and gotten myself a live-journal account. I shall use it to my advantage, I hope. I'd like to meet some of my fellow authors and have the chance to talk to them. Link is up in my profile under homepage.
3) I'm actually in the process of working out the kinks to a new fanfiction. As part of the er...hired help in the ZADR C2 community, I thought perhaps I should have something to contribute. If ZADR isn't your cup of tea however - never fear, Frequency was planned as a pairingless fic, and so it shall remain.