The blast threw Dib to the far wall, slamming his head on the concrete. Dazed, he scrambled to his feet. The room was filled with billowing green smoke. He choked, dropping to his knees and crawling to where Zim had been.
A blackened, steaming crater. That was all that was left. Dib felt his fury rising. "No! This wasn't how it was supposed to be! I was supposed to get you this time! You were rightfully mine. How dare you blow up!" He slammed a fist down, ignoring the pain.
Cautiously, he peered into the crater to see if there was anything left of Zim to salvage. Something flashed a few feet away. His heart quickened. It couldn't be… he snatched at the lights and uttered a crow of triumph as he withdrew a PAK, blackened and dented, but in a single piece.
"Yes! Proof! Proof! I'll bring it to the Swollen Eyeball meeting tomorrow and tell them I destroyed the alien threat. I'll be a hero! Then I'll pull this thing apart. I'll probably be able to find more about Zim from this thing than from his body." Grinning at the vapors above him, he shouted, "Thanks Zim! Best present you could have ever given me."
Chuckling, he dashed for the nearest lifter. The sooner he got home the better.
………………………………………………………………………………….
GIR shuffled out of the shadows of a control panel. "Master," he said sadly. "You went 'way." The bot let out a rending scream that shook the base, and fell to the ground, pounding his little fists and sobbing, "Why? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?"
………………………………………………………………………………….
"…and so, as you see, the alien is no longer a threat to us. But we must always be on the alert for others, because the Irken Armada is still out there. It just isn't interested in earth… yet."
He stood before the Swollen Eyeball committee, every eye trained on him. As he concluded, every last one stood and broke into heartfelt applause.
Agent Darkbooty stepped forward. "Agent Mothman, we of the Swollen Eyeball owe you so much. Please accept this certificate of Valor in the Paranormal Observation Field for your extraordinary paranormal research."
Dib shuffled. "Aw, it was nothing." He mumbled gleefully.
Darkbooty stiffened. "Nothing? Nothing! You only saved the human race from annihilation and you call that nothing?" He turned to the committee. "And humble too! Gentlemen, I think the choice is clear. Who here disagrees?"
No one spoke. Suppressing his excitement, Dib casually asked, "Disagree with what?"
Dropping to one knee, Darkbooty reaching into his pocket and withdrew a necklace. Dangling on the end was a large, mesmerizing purple eyeball. "We of the Swollen Eyeball took a vote and unanimously decided to elect you president of this organization. Please kneed, place your hand on the eyeball, and repeat after me: I, Dib Membrane."
"I, Dib Membrane,"
"Do solemnly swear to never reveal or repeat any of the secrets of the Eyeball."
"Do solemnly swear to never reveal or repeat any of the secrets of the Eyeball."
"I swear to do my utmost to uncover the paranormal mysteries of this world, whether the world accords me credit or not."
"I swear to do my utmost to uncover the paranormal mysteries of this world, whether the world accords me credit or not."
"And I swear to help guard the earth from their dangers."
"And I swear to—Augh!" A stabbing pain pierced Dib's back. He sprawled forward, flailing wildly. Darkbooty and the Eyeball committee dissolved into the nighttime darkness of his bedroom, but the pain continued. His head pounded wildly.
Gingerly craning his arm around to his back, he felt a hard lump. Turning on the night lamp by his bed, he glanced at his desk. With a shock, he realized that the locked safe he had put Zim's PAK in was a smoking mass of jagged, twisted metal.
Terrified, he gripped the lump on his back and tugged. Searing pain ripped up his spine and he groaned in agony.
"Shut up!" Gaz yelled from across the hall. "Some of us are trying to sleep!"
"Gaz," he gasped. "Gaz… help…"
"Are you being stupid again?"
Desperate, he dashed out of his room and into Gaz'. She sat in bed, her face dark with suppressed fury. Dib fell to the floor in front of her. "Gaz, help! It's Zim's PAK, it's on my back and it's doing something, get it off!"
Her anger vanished. With wide eyes she hopped off the bed and gripped the PAK, wrenching it off her brother.
A moment of overwhelming pain crashed through his spine and head. Then, nothing.
………………………………………………………………………………….
"…and if you don't wake up, I'll send you into a flaming pit of utter despair!"
"Now now, Gaz, that's no way to talk to your poor, unconscious brother."
"But he started it by passing out!"
"Just give him time, he'll come around."
Dib remained utterly still, his eyes darting under his eyelids, his ears straining for every sound.
Why am I so tense? It's just Gaz and Dad.
For all you know, that's what they want you to think!
Good grief, I gotta stop watching those old spy movies.
Relaxing his muscles, he forced his eyes open. Gaz stood there, her fists clenching and unclenching, the way they did when she was scared and didn't want anyone to know. Dad was there too, wringing his gloves and muttering the periodic table to himself. Dib grinned. He's reciting backwards, he must be really worried.
"Miss me?" he croaked.
Gaz' eyes opened wide with relief before she regained control of her emotions.
"It's about time, you idiot. You had Dad worried half to death."
"Just Dad?" he cracked.
Glaring, she gritted out, "Just Dad."
"Now now, you two," the Professor butted in brightly, "No need to argue right away, let's let Dib rest a bit first, hmm?" A light flashed on his sleeve, and he exclaimed, "Ah, well, now that you're alright it's back to the lab. Rest up, Dib. Drink plenty of fluids, and have soup tonight. See you later." With that, he marched out of the room, humming a tune.
Dib rolled his head around so he could see Gaz better. She had just opened a can of soda. "What happened?"
She shrugged. "You barged into my room screaming bloody murder that Zim's PAK was attacking you. I pulled it off and you passed out. You are going to get those blood stains off my rug, right?"
"Yes Gaz," he sighed. "Where's Zim's PAK?"
"Over there." She pointed. "Hey, I think it woke up."
His head whipped around. The PAK was snaking spiderlegs toward him. Horrified, he leapt from the bed and fumbled at the control panel, pening the doors as a wire snaked down his pack and plunged into the… hole?... it found there. Terror rushed through him and he began yanking at every wire he saw.
A spider leg sliced at his head, tearing a ragged gash down his cheek. He shrieked in pain but continued yanking. He snatched Gaz' soda and poured it into the circuitry.
Every wire and leg shot straight out. Sparks flew and electricity sizzled Dib's skull, throwing him backwards. A flash of red and green enveloped the room and vanished two seconds later, leaving Dib blinking at the afterimage. He glanced toward the PAK, but it had disappeared.
Gaz looked from her wrecked room, to her empty hands, to her stunned brother and growled, "You will pay, Dib. That was the last soda."