I am the Enemy pt 4

On the telescreens, in the nightmare future that is to be made by Invader Sideos. Yes this is it. This was the VERY first thing that I wanted to do from the moment I began writing this. Sorry it to so long to update. I miss judged the update time. This chapter contains lots of images of torture...Dib torture. So Dib fans may want to look away or something. However this is not the 'beat em till their black'n'blue' torture this is more of a psychological torture best put by O'Brian "We do not destroy our enemies, we change them. We change their thoughts".

I don't own Zim...but if I did...MUHAHAHAHA!

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Dib struggled in the chair he was strapped to. He suddenly wanted to get out, to run as far away from this chair, this lab andZim as possible. The metal straps, which fixed him to the cold hard chair, held fast and would not budge. Zim stood in front of him, not moving a muscle. Dib would have expected Zim to be ecstatic about the hold he had over his enemy, but he showed no expression. No emotion.

He had his hands behind his back and his eyes were slightly furrowed as if in deep concentration for what he was about to do. Dib stopped struggling as he realised it was pointless. And besides, whatever he's going to show me can't be that bad, can it? Despite these thoughts however, Dib felt his palms become clammy and sweat began to form on his brow. Zim, from behind his back, took out a small devise that looked like a TV remote and silently turned on the large screen in front of him.

It began showing pictures of a large, no enormous, amount of cheering Irkens on what Dib assumed to be the home planet, Irk. He could hear the ecstatic cheers of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of Irkens. The cheer was so loud that it drowned out all the sound in the room, even in the base. Zim simply stood there, not moving, just staring at Dib's reaction. The screen was showing how they all looked so happy; they were shoving their fists in the air in support.

The camera began to pan across the crowd, revealing that there was a large strip between the cheering crowd and a massive, impressive looking building. It was huge, too huge to fit on the camera. It was a purple-red colour with a small balcony built into the side. On the sides it had hundreds of deep red banners, each showing a strange symbol. It was black and had an insectoid look about it. Dib realised that it was an Irken military emblem.

Dib stared in wonder for a few more moments before asking the first question that came to mind. "What is this?"

Zim allowed himself a smile, but it was hollow and cold as was his voice. "It is the yearly Irken armada celebrations. It is where we salute our army and our rulers."

Dib began to hear something around him, like a small clapping sound. It began to grow louder and louder until it was almost louder then the crowds cheering, which rose with the sound. "What's that sou...?"

Zim held out a hand motioning for Dib to stop, then slowly turned to look at the screen. Dib followed his gaze and what he saw made his mouth drop. Hundreds, thousands, a hundred thousand, thousand thousand, millions of them. The sight was horrifying and Dib slowly realised what Zim was talking about when he had mentioned the armada. Irken soldiers marching in perfect harmony, side by side, goose stepping.

Their faces were the picture of concentration and determination. Every fifth line held three banners, on each of which was a one eyed version of the building's symbol. The emblem of the Irken invader. At the top of each banner, carved into the metal that held them up, was the sign on the building. The crowd was now even more ecstatic as the seemingly never ending line of soldiers marched past. Something in Dib's mind ticked, the whole scene reminded him of something but he couldn't fully remember what.

Zim spoke, surprising Dib, as he had been caught up in the wonder of the whole thing. "Beautiful, isn't it. Truly a prefect sight. Each one of those soldiers, nay, each Irken would gladly give their life to support that."

But Dib was horrified. "That's impossible...No army is that big. There must be a million or two there!"

Zim spoke coldly. "Correction: 10 million soldiers ready to fight and another 30 million ready to be called upon."

Dib couldn't comprehend what he was seeing and hearing. The figures, the screen, the crowd, it was all too unbelievable. The numbers too large, the scene too perfect. "No. I don't believe you. You're lying, that must be computer generated or something...no army is that big."

Zim turned to him with a horrible look in his eyes, as if Dib had just insulted him extremely badly. "No, the numbers are correct. That, Dib, is the Empire of the Irken's. The Human Empire, if that's what you can call it, stretches to its moon. The Irken Empire stretches across almost a quarter of the known galaxy." His eyes narrowed "And is still growing."

Dib answered back, still in defiance. "No, I don't care. I refuse to believe that. The Irkens are nothing, Zim, just a bunch of idiotic, bloodthirsty midgets."

Dib allowed himself a cocky smile, it wouldn't last. Zim rushed towards him, gripped the sides of the chair and glared menacingly into Dib's eyes. He was just inches away from his face. "Don't you EVER say anything bad about us again!"

Zim retreated back with a sick smile growing on his face, his hands hovering over a turndile on his remote. "Because this will happen."

He turned it slightly and Dib almost screamed with pain as electricity soared through his body. His hands clenched into fists, his eyes shut tight and he gritted his zipper teeth together as the pain continued. Suddenly it stopped and after getting his breath back he looked at a grinning Zim. "That all you got?"

He hoped to bait and anger him but Zim just stood there, grinning like a school child. He turned back to the screen wall and another image appeared on a smaller screen. The sound from the large screen vanished. Dib looked to see a picture he had seen on the news a few months before. It was of a woman in a black dress that covered all her body except her eyes. She was hurriedly walking towards a group of soldiers who all looked to be western. As she approached one of the soldiers noticed her and shouted something. The woman ignored the shout and walked faster. He shouted again, gripping his rifle. She broke into a run. The soldiers all went to dive or raise their rifles, but it was too late. The woman reached them and jumped into the middle of them. Dib closed his eyes as the sound of a massive explosion filled the room.

Then he could hear a soft chuckling. He opened his eyes to see Zim looking at the screen, his shoulders shaking slightly as he laughed at the terrorist. A terrible anger rose in Dib. He tried to move, to reach out, to stop that laughter, but his confines help him tight.

Zim turned around; he was still smiling in humour at the suicide bomber. "The humans are so stupid, are they not? Why do they fight over pitiful handfuls of dirt? Why do they insist on killing themselves for their own pathetic ideals, their own selfish interests?"

Dib retorted back, pride for humanity filling his heart. "No, we're not all like that. Some humans have given their lives to save countless others. Others have invented great things for the benefit of all mankind."

Zim began circling him, toying with the remote in his hands. His voice was full of contempt for Dib's statement. "Like that Einstein of yours, hmmm? Yes, Dib, I have researched the human history and everything I found only backed up my belief that they are nothing but worthless fools."

Dib was going to butt in, but Zim gave him a slight shock and carried on. "Anyway like I was saying, I believe that Einstein discovered the power of the atom for mankind, right?" Dib smiled. "Right. See..."

Zim's butted again, again shocking Dib into silence. "But then all his research was used to build primitive atom bombs that killed off how many...a hundred thousand? Twelve hundred thousand? In just the immediate blast! Countless more died of nuclear fallout and you tell me that was for the benefit of all mankind."

Dib was struggling to prove him wrong. "Yea but he..."

Zim shocked him again and continued. "A human male called Joseph Stalin in the earth years of the 1930's killed millions of his own loyal followers simply out of paranoia. Explain to me how that was for the benefit of all mankind."

He wasn't asking questions, he was telling Dib of mankind's failures. Forcing him to see the horrible things that humans had done. Every time he moved on to another subject an image of it would appear on one of the small screens and all Dib could do was watch; the headset was stopping him from closing his eyes by forcing his brain to keep them open. Images appeared from all across history, Pol Pots Cambodia, North Korea, British India, American slave labour, Mao's China, the Somme.

"In 1940's a human male named Adolf Hitler decided to wipe out an earth religious collective known as the...Jews, I think. He gassed, shot, starved, drowned, bombed, and burnt them." Zim walked right 'round Dib now and swung to face him. "He started the bloodiest war in all of human history. Had he won the entire globe would be under one supreme rule, the entire human kind would have been united under one superior race. They could have been like us, one mind and one goal. Under Hitler, humans advanced more rapidly in every direction of science and productivity then at any other time. His soldiers were loyal, well trained and well lead. I admire him, but the rest of the humans in their ignorance stopped him because he did what was best for them all." Dib was speechless, he remembered now what the main screen reminded him of.

When he was human Miss Bitters had shown the class a video, she had simply said. "This is the worst of humanity" and the class had watched in horrified silence. Dib had seen the black and white armies marching, holding that terrible sign above them. He had watched as those stick thin people had been lined up along the edge of a bridge and shot over the edge. He had later learned that they had been tied together so if one didn't die the bodies of the dead would drag him under the water to drown.

"You're nothing but a Nazi!" Dib's eyes shone with a new hate that Zim had never seen him display before. Even he had to turn away from Dib.

"No, our race is not one of fascist gains or ideals." And he added with a hint of cruelty, "we don't wipe out our own, just because of skin tone."

Dib decided then and there that he would try with all his might to resist this brainwashing. He would never surrender without a fight. "I've changed my mind, I don't care if no one loves me. As long as I can fight you and your whole Nazi race, I will." A new determination had crept into Dib's voice. Zim secretly smiled. I knew this would happen. But he will fold, he can only hold out for so long.

He turned around to face Dib and a new image came up on the main screen. It was of an Irken soldier holding a strange staff, facing another alien. The other alien had small horns on his head and small purple eyes. It was a grey colour and was wearing a black suit with the number 565 written on the left of the chest. The grey alien lifting something and suddenly attacked the solider. Dib's hopes were with the grey one. Good, fight back, but he was quickly overpowered by the soldier. He was knocked to the ground, out of view of the camera and Dib watched as the soldier lifted his staff and repeatedly hit him until the end of it was blue with alien blood.

Zim narrowed his eyes at Dib. "Now, Dib, what do you see here?" The question was honest and spoken with real curiosity.

So Dib answered honestly. "I see an Irken soldier brutally attacking another defenceless alien. YARRRR!" Dib felt electricity once again rip through his body; it was stronger then last time.

Zim spoke calmly as if teaching a small child. "No, wrong answer. Try again."

Dib gave the same answer but with more anger only to be shocked again, more strongly.

"No, Dib. What you see is a mighty Irken soldier putting down a pathetic lower life form." The image changed again, this time to an invader standing on a high ledge with thousands of rock-like aliens bowing before him.

Zim asked again. "What do you see here, Dib?"

Dib didn't wait to give his answer. "I see your race imposing itself over another." Dib was shocked again, harder then before. Zim continued through several more images, each time asking the same question, each time Dib gave the 'wrong' answer, each time the shocks grew more powerful. By the end of the questioning Dib was almost smoking, but he hadn't given in.

Zim smiled at him with that unfamiliar warm smile. "You're strong, Dib, I'll give you that, but you will give in. I have never failed to re-educate the deluded." Dib simply sat in the chair gathering his strength. He didn't have the energy to question Zim's remark. Zim turned on all the screens again. They showed a mixture of human failures and Irken 'victories,' with the largest moving back onto the calibrating, cheering Irken's. Zim proceeded to walk out of the room, leaving Dib sitting, wide eyed, in front of the screens.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that, hours, days, months. Every now and then Zim would return and ask the same questions. Always the same questions. Dib had tried to stay strong, but lack of food and the constant shocks where wearing on him. He had tried just telling Zim what he wanted to hear, but Zim had easily seen through it and just shocked him more. Dib was sitting still, looking at the screens. Humanity is the best...better then the great Irken Empire. All they have is power and equality and long life and common sense and unlimited resources and advanced technology. But humans are still better, still better, still better. His eyes shifted from watching the mass murder of people in china to a picture of a small Irken 'smeet' as Zim had referred to it. It sat looking happy, it already had all the education it needed,

Dib had been told. "In our glorious society we are all looked after from container to grave. Can you say the same for humanity?"

Dib thought hard on this. No, not all humans are looked after. At least in this society they care for their people. There's no starvation, no racial hate, no prejudice because of what you believe in, no wars over land. Only the war for a better place to live. A better existence, to bring their clearly superior way of life to the universe. But humanity was better, was better, was...worse. Dib suddenly looked to the screens like he had never seen them before. YES! The Irken's are better! If I was one then I too could live like that! In peace and prosperity! The Empire is glorious! Zim had walked into the room moments before and had been about to begin questioning Dib again. He had been the hardest subject he had ever had. He had held out for so long Zim had almost called it quits, but he saw the look in Dibs eyes and he began to smile. He had finally cracked. He walked forward and Dib quickly noticed him. He called up the image of the soldier beating the prisoner and resumed in his hollow voice. "Dib, what do you see here?" Zim looked at the screen; he didn't want Dib to see the happy look in his eyes.

Dib narrowed, then widened his eyes at the screen, as if trying to think of the right words to say. "I see...I see...I see a soldier beating a prisoner...I see a clearly superior soldier punishing an out of line alien scum." Dib's voice had become angry, not at Zim but at what he had almost said and for once the shock did not come, instead he felt a great warm feeling rush through him. Zim turned, smiling, his suspicions confirmed. He turned to another image, this one of a massive armada of Irken ships firing upon a planet.

Zim asked again "what do you see here?" Zim's voice had softened; it was all part of making Dib believe.

"I see a great and mighty armada and another glories conquest for the Irken Empire." Dib sounded almost proud at the mass destruction he was witnessing. Another warm feeling washed over him, Dib liked that warm feeling. He and Zim went through several more images and Dib answered every one truthfully. And every time he felt better, that warm feeling increasing at every answer. By the end Zim was grinning proudly, partly at his own work and another success, partly because Dib had finally accepted the truth.

Zim decided on one last test, he brought up the great cheering crowd with the marching Irken army. "Now, Dib think very carefully. What do you truly see here?"

Zim knew this was it, if Dib answered correctly he would be fully converted. If not, then Zim would have to put another defect to death.

Dib was quite for a moment, his face the picture of thought and concentration until. "What do I see here? I see the future."

Zim raised an eyebrow, not knowing what this meant. "Explain, Dib."

Dib's voice was clear and true, he spoke from his heart. "I see the future, Zim. I see a people, no, an Empire that is truly perfect. Its people are united, its soldiers strong and loyal, its ideals untainted. How anything could ever want to destroy that I would never know." Dib's voice grew suddenly angry. "And if anything ever did threaten it then I would give my very soul to defend it!"

Zim could have almost hugged Dib at that point, he had taken the words from his very mouth. Dib's anger vanished into sorrow. "If only I was one of your people Zim. I want to be an Irken."

Zim took off the headset and said warmly. "But Dib, you are an Irken! Look at yourself and be accepted as one of us!"

A quick tap of a button and the metal binds vanished. Zim stood to attention and raised his fist to his heart in salute. "Hail the Irken Empire!"

Dib shot up and copied the action his voice bursting with pride. "Hail the Irken Empire!"

Before, from a mixture of shocks and starvation, he collapsed.

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Oh dear, what have I done. I would like to start by saying I am not a Nazi or a fascist of any kind. If you are insulted by the above stuff then you are, indeed, insulted. It happened...live with it. It hurt me to include British India as I am a self-confessed Anglophile (if you don't know what it means google it) but what we did their was pretty horrid. Before you go on about Ooc Dib and such keep in mind it is all part of the plot, so don't fret.
R&R please.