Title: Frequency
Author: Mizander
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Invader Zim? Oh, yeah I've given up on trying to own that. Go talk to that Jhonen Vasquez guy. I hear is's his property. Or something. Nickolodeon might have some useful information too.
Chapter 6:
Dib found himself feeling ill as he stared at the prone body of Skoodge lying motionless on the floor. The alien had not moved since Zim had punched him, and from his position on the ladder, Dib could not see any signs of life. Fearing the worst, he approached the body, and nearly died himself of a heart attack as several thick metal wires writhed their way out of the alien's back attachment.
"Re-activate." stated a cool, electronic female voice as sparks flew from the appendages. Seconds later, Skoodge pulled himself to his feet, apparently awake.
"Ugh." he stated, by way of a morning greeting.
Dib blinked, still not entirely over the shock. "Are you alright?"
Skoodge chuckled, rather blithely for one who just seconds before had taken a hit to the head bad enough for a concussion. "My head's still a bit sore, but other than that I should be just fine."
Lard'Nar frowned, making his way over to the two. That's all mighty good my friend, but keeping in mind that you are an Irken aboard a Resisty ship, I'm wondering just how much you think I'm supposed to trust you."
After all they'd been through together, Dib decided to speak in the Irken's defense. "Skoodge helped Zim and I escape. He was a prisoner in the stronghold."
The ram-horned alien came nose to nose with Dib. "An Irken helped you out of the prison?" he asked skeptically. "I think you're being a bit gullible. He could have a tracking device or anything at all on him right now."
This was something Dib HAD given plenty of thought to, but by the same token, Skoodge's story really did check out by Zim's example. It seemed to be that lack of respect was a common problem for short members of the Irken empire. On that note he really couldn't see why these 'Tallest' enjoyed so much success, if all they really had going for them was a height advantage over the other members of their species.
"He's in the same situation as Zim." he continued, with as much conviction as he could muster. "And he wants to help us."
Lard'Nar shook his head this time. "Sorry Dib. I don't trust any Irken farther than I can throw him. Since he seems to be more quiet, we can use him as proof and bait for the Empire. I can't wait to tell them that we've figured out their little plan. Then we'll pump him for as much information as we can."
Glancing appologetically at Skoodge but coming to the realization that his opinion would evidently not be the popular one, Dib waited while the Irken was restrained and then followed the party into the command room of the ship. They were joined by several other resistance soldiers on the way, and Dib was mentally giving himself a rundown of just what kind of sarcastic tirade he would direct at these so-called leaders. He felt like he had the right, having snatched two of their own elite soldiers right out from under their non-existant noses.
Lard'Nar hopped into the command chair and quickly sent the signal. It wasn't long before the screen was alight with the command room of the Massive. Two incredibly tall Irkens wheeled around to face the source of the intrusion into their privacy, glaring haugtily down at the assembled members of the resistance. In one breath, Dib felt all of his brilliant wit die in his throat. These two commanded a certain kind of respect he had found himself at odds with all too often: the arrogant popular kid. It mingled nastily with a flashy showmanship and just plain incredible height. Dib was starting to feel very small, for many reasons that had little to do with comparative height. Realizing this, and being unable to quell such a reaction was doing little for his ego.
"Oh heeeyyy..." the purple-eyed one drawled. "It's you guys! Did you ever find a cooler name? I mean...the Resisty? What IS that?"
Red-eyes made a noise of bemused agreement around the straw of the drink he was guzzling.
"It doesn't matter what our name is," huffed Lard'Nar, "We're here to tell you that we have captured TWO of your elite Irken Invaders. Rest assured we will be making sure we get all the information out of them we can!"
Folding his arms and setting the drink aside, Red narrowed his eyes. "I don't think so. All of our Invaders are currently on Irken enemy planets. All of them have recently checked in - we would have known long ago if you were keeping any prisoner."
Triumphantly, the Resisty leader stepped aside, allowing Skoodge's guards to shove him into the Tallest's line of vision. "Here's our proof. We are also holding the Irken Invader called Zim in our ship stronghold." he added. "What do you have to say to THAT?"
Much to the consternation of the Resisty, the red armoured Irken simply laughed derisively. "What, those two? Ha! Oh, you can keep them. In fact, it'd be lovely if you just killed them FOR us."
Purple put his hands to his mouth to hide his giggle. "Heh, yeah. I can tell you right now we DEFINITELY don't want Zim back at any rate. As for the other one...oh, surprise us."
Skoodge stood there, emotionless. The only indication he made that he had even heard his former leader's words was the twitch of one antanae - a brief flicker of movement in Dib's peripheral vision.
"So...you mean we just contacted you to tell you we had WORTHLESS INFORMATION?" Lard'Nar howled.
"Pretty much, yeah." Purple confirmed for them.
The other individual on screen besides the communications officers, an Irken evidently of high rank as the numerous medalions on his chest seemed to suggest, relaxed visibly at his superior's brush-off of the incident.
Lard'Nar scowled at the screen, and several Resisty members made strange movements that judging by the looks on their faces were all probably alien versions of some very rude hand-gestures.
The Irken Tallest simply addressed eachother, making a spectacular display of ignoring the slew of angry opponents glaring at them. "It's rather dissapointing that we didn't acctually get a chance to bring around the Massive." groused Purple. "It would have been fun to kill something today."
If it were possible, Red's grin got wider. "I wouldn't discount that yet. Insignificant as they are," he waved a clawed hand in the general direction of the screen, "they still have property of the Irken empire. Someone screwed up big today." He turned his back on the watching Resisty entirely and faced the now trembling officer.
Purple's eyes opened a little as he caught on. "Hey...yeah! Guess whose fault that was, hmmm?"
Red cackled openly in glee. "KILL HIM!"
The unfortunate commander had barely time to plead for his life, let alone run as three other soldiers rushed on from off screen. Two held him fast and the laser beam fired by the third went into the back of his head and out through the front.
Dib could feel a lunch he hadn't eaten rising from his stomach to his throat, and he resisted the urge to vomit bile onto the floor in front of the two Irken leaders, who were even now screaming with barely contained hysterics.
Simply overwhelmed by the sheer cruelty of it all, Dib recklessly took a step forward. "What kind of SICK race slaughters their OWN kind!?" he yelled. "That's just...I mean, that's just plain WRONG!" his voice rose with anger and passion, choking on the last words as his stomach threatened to betray him once again.
Both of the Irkens seemed to calm at this, Purple giggling through his fingers again, but Red leaned down close to the screen to speak to Dib. "The big-headed creature thinks we're...wrong?" he asked, sounding serious. Without waiting for a reply, he turned to his partner. "I guess we'll just have to show him how much fun it is!" Without further ado, he picked up the resting laser in his two-fingered claw, and casually fired it straight at the nearest Irken.
Purple was acctually unable to stand with the force of his own laughter this time, and Red leaned over him in side-splitting agony at the look on Dib's face, which reflected little more than stupified terror.
A few more minutes of loud, boisterous laughter later, Red wiped a tear from his eye, and straightned. "Ooh, hey, we'd love to stay and have some more fun with your mighty soldiers," He eyed Dib mockingly and turned to Purple who still had a rather sufficiant case of the giggles, "but this is getting boring. Let's go eat something swimming in grease."
As the transmission was cut, Dib finally pitched forward, heaving. The sheer evil of what he'd just witness bubbled up in his chest, and he coughed violently. The members of the Resisty gathered around him, but Skoodge hung back, even though he had the grace to look embaressed for his leader's actions.
"Are you going to be okay there kid?" Shloontapooxis asked, bouncing anxiously in his concern.
With one last hacking cough Dib looked up, the expression on his face utterly miserable. When he finally spoke, his words were quavery and unsure. "...I guess."
Spleenk patted him on the back. It normally would have been a horrible sensation for Dib as the alien's skin was cold and clammy, but through his haze of illness, he barely noticed. "Not to worry. We're going to land on Mozmen soon, so we can transfer Zim to a stronghold there for awhile. It's a nice place; you can go for a walk and get your brain-meats back into order."
"Um..." Skoodge interjected uncharacteristically timidly, "Just a thought here, but despite what we've just seen and heard, this is a fairly happy occasion, is it not? The Resisty is victorious, and we all have new allies." He looked pointedly at Lard'Nar who thought for a moment, but in the end did give a little nod of affirmation.
Dib coughed a little again and straightened, trying to smile but only managing a watery grin. "Y...yeah. That's true."
"So, perhaps some kind of celebration is in order?" prompted the Irken. "With food?" he added hopefully.
Lard'Nar nodded slowly. "I see no harm in that." He eyed Dib. "In fact, I think it'd be excellent for morale!"
"WHOO! PARTY!"
The excitement was infectious, as there was a flurry of activity to set coordinates and take care of the ship's duties before arrival. As the only two with no set activites, Skoodge was left alone with Dib, the later of whom was still in shock from the after-effects of the Tallest's transmission.
"If it helps..." Skoodge began, coming up closer behind Dib but keeping a respectful distance. "...I never much liked either of those two. Their rise to power was an awfully weird situation, but after they started Impending Doom - well...it was pretty hard not to get sucked up into the idea of ruling the Universe. You have to admit it sounds pretty cool." He spread his hands appologetically.
Dib said nothing for a moment, his shoulders trembling as he struggled to pull himself together. He kept trying to remind himself that Zim had done much worse and had unendingly plotted complete genocide of the human species. Then again, Zim had also been prevented from acctually harming anyone, and Dib had never been able to see exactly what an Irken left unchecked could manage. "What kind of leaders kill their own kind? For a mistake?"
Skoodge's answer was simple. "Ruthless ones." He paused. "Look, Dib. If there's anything I've learned from being an Invader, there's no such thing as pretty war. Sometimes you have to see or do or feel things that you don't want to feel...and you can either do something about it, or do nothing about it. I did nothing for far too long." He paused, and waited for some sign from the human. Finally, Dib turned to face him, though he still stared at the floor. "If you don't LIKE what the Tallest and the Irken Empire is doing...?" he left the statement hang in the form of a question, and shifted slightly so that he blocked any escape routes Dib could take, waiting for an answer.
It took a while, but Dib finally swallowed. "...We stop them?"
"Well that doesn't sound very convincing to me."
Dib raised an eyebrow. "We stop them." he repeated with greater volume, glaring at the Irken in the hopes that he would move.
Skoodge didn't. For awhile, they simply stared eachother down, Dib's frustration mounting. Did Skoodge really want a cheerleader response from him? A promise that he wouldn't be sickened by things such as he had just witnessed only a few moments ago? Trying to cheer him up so they could have a little party? That was impossible, and the only thing that would make him feel better would be to...oh. He took a breath and opened his mouth.
"I'm going to bring some DOOM down on their DOOMED HEADS! ...Hey. That felt good."
Skoodge gave him a look that was somewhere between amusement and understanding, before moving aside. Dib looked up more confidently, but didn't end up going anywhere, as this action revealed a view out of the ship's window at the planet that they were approaching. With a pang of homesickness, Dib moved closer. "...wow."
"I've never seen a planet like that before." Skoodge agreed, taking a look for himself. After the Vortian Prison planet and Foodcourtia, Dib could see why. The Irkens apparently mechanized everything they laid their hands on. This world though, was even more vibrantly blue and green than Earth, evidently housing some kind of natural vegitation and perhaps water.
"Welcome to Mozmen. This would be the home of the Resisty." he added for Dib and Skoodge's benifit, before addressing the rest of his crew. "Initiate landing proceedures." Lard'Nar smiled around at the assembly, seemingly relaxed for once. "It's good to be home."
The impromptu party took place in the outdoors, adding pleasantly to the mounting appreciation Dib was feeling for this group of vigilante aliens. The planet of Mozmen was even more beautiful on it's surface, and as Dib had predicted it was rich with plant life. Naturally, the vegetation was like nothing Earth had to offer, but it was at least very pleasing to the eye, and a visual reminder of all the Resisty fought for. At present, he found himself seated between Skoodge and Shloontapooxis, the former in hommage to the friendship that seemed to be thriving between the two and the latter because of a wild curiosity to find out what and how a cone with no appendages to speak of, ate.
Standing up at the head of the table, Lard'Nar attempted to make a speech in the spirit of boosting morale, but Dib found that having wound down from all the excitement of the past few days (was it days? He wasn't sure anymore), he was too hungry and too thirsty to care.
"...And that's why the Resisty will be victorious!" Lard'Nar finished up. There was some spattered clapping, followed by a mad lunge for whatever food was in reach. Dib greatfully gulped down three full glasses of water before turning his attention to food, and was almost astonished to discover that he was apparently expected to eat what could only be described as 'snack food'. It was almost like a little kid's dream. Every kind of cookie, cake, chip, pretzel, soda and candy bar imaginable littered the table, and there wasn't a vegetable in sight.
"What's the matter Dib?" Shloontapooxis rolled to the left so that he was no longer face down in the plate of nachos. "...you can't possibly not be hungry!"
"...you all...just eat snacks?"
"What else is there?" Skoodge asked.
"Uh, well...meat, vegetables, stuff that doesn't have disturbingly high amounts of sodium and cholestorol?" Dib prompted.
Skoodge laughed. "This is pretty much the Irken diet right here."
Dib blinked. Skoodge was apparently not the typical example of an Irken, but then Gaz also somehow got away with stuffing down food like this every day without gaining a pound. Besides - at a celebration, what could it hurt him?
Apparently, it could hurt a lot. Halfway through his fourth or fifth (he'd lost track somewhere) plate of snacks, Dib felt his gut turn over horribly.
"Something the matter Dib?"
"Yes, my stomach!" writhing slightly in his seat, Dib attempted to quell the rumbling pain, when a new and truly horrible sensation struck him with full force. "Oh no...it's NOT..."
All eyes turned to him in concern.
"DIARRHEA!" With that, Dib raced from the table, to find a hopefully secluded area.
It was probably thankful that none of the Resisty knew precicely what diarrhea was.
In the end, his stomach had calmed down considerably, but Dib had found himself reluctant to return to the revelry. After much thought, he wandered into the actual stronghold for a look around. He was unsure exactly where he planned on doing in there, but it was with a certain resignation that he found himself deep within, searching for Zim's cell.
"Zim...--what?!" Dib jumped, as his arm was caught in a vice-grip. He instinctively moved to defend himself, but relaxed when it occured to him that it was only Lard'Nar. He made no move to explain himself, as the Vortian already seemed to understand why he was there.
"I'm sorry Dib, but you need to leave Zim alone right now. I'm not sure he'll ever...truly recover." Lard'Nars' words were reasonably sympathetic, but he held fast to the human and guided him back towards the party. Reluctantly, Dib went. He wasn't sure what he'd wanted to do with Zim at the time...taunt him, convince him...maybe even comfort him. It was possible that Lard'Nar was right and that the alien was a hopeless case entirely. It felt weird to be giving up on him though - as Zim had been the one constant thing in his life on Earth. He'd originally gone on his mission to get some of that back, but now he wasn't sure.
He really couldn't help but wonder what exactly Zim was thinking now.
Authors Notes:
Mmm. So you want me to sum up Chapter Six for the masses? Angst,Fear,MoreAngst,Horrible Bathroom Humour,Angst. I needed a bit of a break from the more "hardcore" stuff. This chapter however, DOES herald the end of PART I. Part II begins now...
Thanks for the Reviews - and hopefully I'll have more time to write after...y'know Midterms and stuff.