Behind The Tube Glass

By alien freak And Xmimi89eR

story may contain gore/blood/violence/strong language

rating: T

ZaDr/ZaDf


it's been long and my hands doesn't work, I guess karma was like:

'yeah make Zim unable to walk, i make you unable to write mwahahahah'

Oh well, I'm trying to get some sleep, and write more of course :3

Anyhow, enjoy!

English is my second language, my apologies if there are any mistakes.

disclaimer: I do not own Invader Zim.


AUTOPILOT THE SHIP?

Y/N

TWO DAYS BEFORE ARRIVING.

999999

A YEAR AGO.

THE MASSIVE.

The three entered the communications room, it was an abandoned one that nobody walked in, it was locked but they knew who had the key.

"WHAT??!" Yelled the short and fat irken, he had to stand on toss to make himself much higher.

"Stop screaming!!-" Purple yelled/ whispered, he looked from Red to Tenn then back at Skoodge.

Red stepped and shoved the short irken to the wall by his antenna, skoodge yelped in pain.

"Listen little BRAT! You'll open this damn door now!" He spatted his words at the other's face.

Skoodge closed his eyes for a moment, then tried gaining his braveness, "NEVER! Why on irk do you want to go inside!?"

Red held tighter to the sensitive antenna in his hand, his knee shoved towards the other spooch, he immediately squeezed his hand on the shorter irken so he won't scream.

Skoodge scream came out muffled, tears gathered in his ruby eyes, he gazed at the other irken then at the female, his eyes slightly wide,

"Tenn?? You're with them?" He said as he held the urge to vomit.

Her eyes were half-closed as she looked at him with disgust, she walked and shoved Red to the right so she would be face to face with the fat irken,

"You will let us in..." she said with a cold and calm voice, a wire came from her PAK, it landed something in her hand, she played with it a little as she smirked, "and to make sure you'll keep your ugly mouth shut-..." a rough hand held his other antenna making him lean down, PAK showing to her.

Tenn shifted the chip in her claws, she played with her tongue inside.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THIS!?" Skoodge tried to escape but Red's hold was too strong, his small body started to shake, sweat ran down his forehead.

"Open your PAK or i'll break it." Tenn said, she gazed at him, her face was too close he could since her slow breathing.

"N- no!"

"Suit yourself." A laser came from her PAK, she aimed at the PAK edges, and shot.

Red draw his strong hand to the short alien's mouth, making all his screams useless.

Smoke came from the PAK as lasers burned it open, then a click was heard,

"Good choice." She said as skoodge finally surrendered and opened it himself. Tenn replaced the laser with metallic legs to hold the PAK open, just in case.

She leaned down more and attached the small chip in the middle, the chip came to life with a red light.

"Now, you'll do what i say, open the door." She said and stepped back, waving a hand to Red to let go.

"No--!" Skoodge screamed, he wanted to run, to call for someone, but an electric shock ran through his body, it was too strong he couldn't scream, his body collapsed in the air as smoke came from his PAK, the skin around it start to burn.

"What did you just say?..." Tenn rose her antenna, "say again." They all waited for a second as skoodge got his breath and spook,

"I- i... won't..." the small irken said stubbornly, his voice shaking, he could feel smoke coming from his mouth, his spooch was burning.

Tenn start losing patience as she pressed the controller in her hand again, much stronger electric shock ran through skoogde's body.

Skoodge sight became blurry, his tongue lolled out of his mouth, "s- s- stop..." he begged, his forehead touching the metal floor,

"That's enough, we need him conscious." Said Purple from behind, the two almost forgot about him,

His part of the plan didn't start yet.

Tenn continued for a moment then stopped the device, her eyes narrowed, she watched skoodge move to the door, slowly, he almost fell on his face, antennae shaking.

He swallowed and typed the passcode, then stepped aside. The door hissed as it opened, revealing a dark room.

"Get in." Red said as he walked to the door, he pushed skoodge so he'll start walking. Purple and Tenn followed them. The door closed behind.

"Turn this thing on." Red pointed at the large communicating screen.

Skoodge nodded his shaky head and walked on clumsy legs, he drew a hand on the keyboard, it came to life with a red light from the screen.

Both Red and Tenn closed their eyes, but Purple was used to it as he walked next to the shorter invader.

"My turn." Purple said as he searched for the Meekrob.

They kept the small irken within reach if they needed him, he was helpless.

Purple told Red and Tenn to back away from the screen as he turned on his disguise, it changed his voice and his look.

Skoodge watched them, his skin itching.

Purple clicked, and started the call. The other irkens hid in the dark.

'CALLING THE MEEKROB...'

It took longer than it should for them to answer.

A figure appeared, it was slightly taller and bigger than the other meekrobs, light blue and eye-through, it was flouting, skinny, with something like hair on its head, cyan eyes gazed at the screen.

It was the queen.

She didn't speak but waited for whatever was in front of her to speak first.

Purple swallowed, "let's get this over with." He said as a start, "i'm here to warn you."

"What, are, you." She said with her slow voice, they wouldn't know if she was surprised or not.

"It doesn't matter." Purple answered, "i've got news that the irken called Zim will be an invader to your planet."

Skoodge eyes went wide at the name,

Zim!?

Zim was his friend, what on irk did they want from him!??

"An, invader?" She made a thinking sound as she looked at something from behind the screen, "how, can, we, trust, you?"

"I hate Zim. I'm not doing this for you, but for myself."

The meekrob gazed,

"I've done what I'm supposed to do. Now your planet safety is up to you." He said then cut the call.

Red sighed and came from the corner, Tenn followed holding skoodge from his antenna.

"Short ugly thing, delete the recent call history." Red said as he held the other antenna and shoved him to the keyboard.

Purple took off his disguise, and gazed at the small irken to see if he tried anything stupid.

Skoodge yelped in pain as he was shoved, he gathered his strength and started typing on the screen.

After a minute he deleted the call history, nothing was left.

Tenn smirked, oh Zim is gonna pay!

999999

PRESENT DAY

BACK ON EARTH.

The day went by.

Hour after the other.

Both hands in hands.

Kept walking, kept falling, kept getting back up and trying again.

Zim gazed at the ceiling as he laid on the main chair, attached to the wires, the room was slightly colder, the lights were off, it was quiet, but the TV noise made him sure he was still awake.

The human left a few hours ago, it was late, he said.

Zim looked at his hands, he blinked at the thought of the other soft hands leading him.

His legs moved slightly back and forth, he was tired at how many times he forced them to walk and hold him.

"You improve fast, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to walk in no time!"

He remember the smile.

Humans are weird, to say the least.

He didn't get it.

Zim frowned slightly and looked at the TV, some comedian show was playing. His SIR unit was giggling every now and then.

He looked at 'Gir'

Maybe he liked how the robot had become.

He liked him more than the emotionless machine he was back then.

At least he had some company now.

More hours went by.

They both watched shows and movies as the night went by.

From the comedian show,

to a romantic movie, his robot cried at the end for some reason.

and now a horror movie was playing, Gir kept hugging his master's skinny arm out of fear.

It was about some kind of a soul, as it hunted the other humans.

The movies showed him how humans were like, and how earth was, kinda.

They did look like the human boy.

Yet nothing like him.

They looked... stupid.

The movie went by, Zim didn't get any of them.

His eyes slid shut as he relaxed, the place around him became quiet for a moment.

Humans show, he'll never get them.

And those scary movies were so stupid.

What was so scary about them?

Silence...

Zim thought Gir turned the whole thing off when a scream made his eyes snap open, he almost fell from the chair.

He and Gir screamed as they held into each other,

Zim gasped for air as he realized what happened, he hissed in anger at the dirty way humans used in their movies.

They make you bored so you would close your eyes, thinking nothing will happen.

A false-hope...

Then they get you a heart attack from the loud noises or screams.

He placed his hand on his chest,

He sighed.

the way this movie worked was familiar...

Hugging himself tight as memories ran in his head.

He squeezed his eyes, antenna twitching.

The meekrob.

The accident.

The tests.

The illness.

Fear.

Insecurity.

Defectiveness.

99999

A YEAR AGO.

PLANET MEEKROB.

Zim gazed at the planet before him.

He planed everything.

He knew what to do.

He won't let his tallest down.

The ship was disguised, he had his disguise ready, and his SIR unit already gathering information.

The place he was going to land in was empty, he searched every book, he knew that place.

The meekrob planet was rather small, as its own people were also small.

He took control of the ship, and piloted it to land.

He looked around before getting out of his voot.

The place was empty, as he expected.

The windshield opened as he jumped out, the SIR unit followed.

Zim felt something off.

"SIR," he called for his robot as he scanned the area with his eyes, he could feel something.

"Scan the area."

The SIR unit gazed around, red light scanned what was behind the broken buildings.

Zim tapped his foot on the ground as he waited anxiously, his senses never failed him.

"ALERT!-" the robot said,

Zim's antennae rose high at the loud sound of a gunshot, his eyes snapped back at his robot, the bullet hit its left eye, it made its left hand fly back with it as it landed on the pilot chair.

Smoke rose as it tried to get up again, but a long wire got attached to the ship, electricity burned the whole thing, lights turned on and off, the computer hummed loudly.

Zim looked back at where the attack was coming, his eyes wider than ever as he saw meekrob soldiers aiming towards him, they ran and didn't hesitate to shot.

His PAK legs held him high as he tried to avoid every sharp-looking sword,

Deep wounds colored his clothes and skin, more and more shots followed, he didn't know from where, he was surrounded by them, from everywhere.

Some aimed at him, and some at his voot.

A meekrob ran to him and shoved his PAK leg, it broke, and Zim fell hard on the ground, he could tell his leg was broken, as it moved in an unhealthy way.

He tried getting back up but a strong metallic thing fell hard on his right antenna, he heard a break, Zim screamed loudly as more breaking noises were heard.

"Look who we got here..." a male voice talked above him, he pressed his heavy weapon on the irken's antenna, harder and harder, satisfied with every breaking noise it made and the irken screams.

Zim lifted his head slowly to gaze at the meekrob soldiers in front of him, yet again he tried getting up but this time something pressed hard on his legs, he screamed again.

"So you are the Zim who created Cthulu, huh?" The meekrob male said, his voice full of disgust, "do you know how many of my people had died because of that monster!?"

"Y- YOU DESERVE THIS!" Zim screamed at him, another break was heard, his mouth was full of blood, his eyes wandered around at the other soldiers.

"SHUT UP!" The meekrob screamed back, he drew his long arm to Zim's PAK, it got attached with slight smoke.

"Wha-??" Zim's eyes were wide as the unbearable pain made his limbs twitch, his bloody scream fill the place, smoke rose from his burning PAK, his skin burned badly, wounds bleeding more, legs moving and twitching even though they were broken.

Blood ran down from his PAK, he could hear glitches in the program, the PAK released more chemicals to his body, some were painkillers, and some were a bad reaction from the hard treatment.

he knew what the meekrob was doing.

That was why they were a hard enemy for the irkens.

Their powers.

Hundred of years ago, they only infected the SIR units, making them either useless or a threat to the irken invaders.

Then they started to infect irkens.

They don't usually kill them, but ruin their PAKs, just like the SIR units, they either make them go crazy and stupid, or a death machine, a threat to the empire.

The worst thing about it is that even the irken themselves may not know they had an issue, they would act like any other irken, but when it came to invading, they would screw everything in the last part, with no idea why or how it happened.

The control brains could fix this problem in most cases, by recoding the PAK.

If the irken PAK kept having issues, then...

The control brains would end them.

Shut their PAKs forever.

'For irkens safety' as they say.

Then they started infecting smeets.

The smeet would never know they have an issue.

That way the empire would die from the inside out, a perfect plane, they were strong, too strong.

Until years ago when one irken created the energy monster, it had spotted and killed every meekrob in disguise, it was a war monster, one of the bests, it even became the tallest pet.

It was Zim's creation.

"I would love to end you right here, right now." The male meekrob said, breaking Zim from his nightmares.

"But i would like to see what you're going to do if you were a..." he tapped his cheeks, making the irken gaze hard at him,

"A defective."

Zim felt his mouth open and close trying to form words, his body shaking, he swallowed.

A defective...

The insane amount of electricity became that much stronger, his wide eyes switched from black to ruby color as his PAK fought to stay function,

He searched, deep down, for his PAK legs.

He survived a meekrob attack once, this time it was much harder, but he did survive.

The saliva in his mouth dried, his throat bleeding, his heart skipping a beat after the other.

Finally, a metallic leg came out as it fought the blackouts the PAK was having.

It shot lasers at the other meekrobs weapons, some had actually exploded in the other face,

He took the chance to get up on his knees, he stabbed the one who was holding his antenna.

The male meekrob screamed in pain and took a few steps back,

Zim opened the communicating cell to control his voot, he tapped faster than he ever did,

The voot hummed and moved towards him, fast as it shot blindly at energy threats, smoke rose from it, the SIR unit slid to the ship floor.

It flew towards him, Zim typed more but the device in his hand stopped working. The voot was moving too fast, it hit him in the chest, breaking whatever bones left unbroken.

He fell on the pilot chair, it took his mind a second to gain the strength to type more commands on the keyboard,

A shot escaped the smoke and got through his shoulder, he screamed, blood ran down the keyboard and chair fabric.

He panted, sweat ran down his face, clumsy fingers typed more and more.

The ship never stopped shooting, thankfully.

Finally, the windshield closed, and the ship rose up, more smoke sneaked inside as it flew away.

It was flying at an insane speed, red lights blinked in the ship, warning alerts on the screen, weird noises from the back.

Zim wanted to fix everything, but darkness never let him do so, his PAK finally gave in, it clicked twice as it put the heavily injured irken into sleep mood to heal him, ignoring all the alerts.

Everything became quiet inside his head.

Too quiet.

There was no program.

999999

"Aw master, why are you sad?" The small robot that crawled on his chest asked, his cyan eyes gazed, the broken left eye flickered slightly.

Zim blinked as he realized he was drowning in thoughts again, he gazed back at his robot, a hand drew at the feeling of the broken eyeglass, he wanted to fix it sometime later.

"I'm not sad." He replied, was it a lie? He didn't know, irkens aren't supposed to feel sad...

"So why yous crying??" The SIR unit shifted its small hand to point at his master's face, at the tears that rolled down.

Zim blinked again, he drew his hand slowly at his eyes and cheeks. There, he felt it, the damn hot wetness of 'tears'.

He dried them none-too gently, eyes squeezed shut, he hissed with frustration.

The TV was off, his robot got 'tired' and wanted 'sleep'.

Funny how a robot needed such a thing.

Or at least in the way Gir did it.

Zim sighed as his body became numb, he sank more in the chair, eyes traveling at everything in the room, his PAK hummed slightly as it charged, electric lights came from it and the wire attached to it.

How did he end up like this?

He gazed at his SIR unit- at Gir, he was sleeping peacefully on his chest, sucking his finger just like a baby human he saw on TV.

His eyes slid shut slowly as he tried to sleep.

Was everything always this quiet?

His PAK clicked.

Where are the voices?

The PAK clicked again.

Am i...?

The PAK finally put him on sleep mood.

Silence...

99999

Silence...

No matter how loud the alerts around him,

He heard nothing.

The ship heated up at the crazy speed.

His eyes slowly opening at something,

The computer was saying something in the last minutes,

Something about a planet.

Something about emergency landing.

He could see a planet...

After days in space, he finally saw a planet, it was green and blue, should he be happy? Or is it another enemy planet?

The ship became overheated as it was shaking, they broke through the atmosphere, flames burned the ship metal as it fell fast towards the ground.

Zim tried to wake himself, tried to reach down in his PAK to wake him from sleep mood, but he couldn't control it, his injuries were deep, everything around him was dark and blurry, no matter how fast the ship was, in his eyes, he saw it moving slowly, his mind couldn't function enough to realize the situation.

Loud noises.

He now can hear them.

Red lights flickered.

Alerts.

Voices.

The ship crashed on the hard ground, the windshield broke, glass and metal flew everywhere, fire burned down.

His weak body didn't hold in his chair, he flew out of the glass, and landed half on the control panel, on the keyboard, half his body outside and the other inside, limbs hanged from the side, his body sank on the glass of the windshield, deep, he could feel his spooch bleeding inside as the long glass stabbed him.

Blood ran down his mouth, his body, hands and legs, the ship was fall of blood, it sank everywhere, it slightly glowed in the dark night.

He was dying.

His PAK was broken badly.

He could hear it, feel it.

His legs were stuck on the metallic floor, heat melted his skin, burning, the ship kept burning.

He could see his numb arms as they hang beside him, moving slightly by the wend.

The grass, his blood kept wetting the grass, making a pool from his sugary pink blood.

It kept dripping, making the blood vibrate, mirroring the large moon.

He felt numb, paralyzed, couldn't move an inch.

Couldn't even blink.

Was he afraid of dying?

He never thought of that before.

Should it be this painful?

Did he deserve it...?

Dark.

Everything was dark again.

He thought he was dead, dead and away from the unbearable pain.

But yet again,

He had to open his eyes, and he wouldn't be surprised if it all was a dream.

He did have dreams- nightmares about the meekrob.

He gazed around, trying to focus his eyes, blinking, everywhere was whiteness.

A strange alien looked back at him.

A scientist if he wasn't wrong.

Then...

Tests.

More and more tests.

his heart trying hard to keep him alive.

With every day that passes, the pain becomes more like a poison, like if it was stuck with his blood cells.

Another nightmare came true.

He was being cut open.

As if he was locked forever in a loop of nightmares coming true.

Then...

He was literally locked.

Locked in a small suffocating tube.

In the dark with no one, not even the lab man came to him, as if he was forgotten...

Days became months.

No sunlight, no fresh air, no life.

He had to stay alone all day all night, if he even recognized time... floating, unaware if he was already dead or not, locked with his thoughts.

HIS thoughts, not the program.

That made the whole situation much unbearable.

Was it stubbornness that kept him alive?

Or did he just deserve the pain?

How many operation impending doom did he win at?

Five?

Six?

He invaded planets.

Killed people and enslaved them.

Maybe he did deserve what was happening to him.

Maybe.

After all...

Un irken is not supposed to think like that.

He prefers being dead than coming back as a...

Defective...

Defective.

A small fact told him...

He won't get out...

He will stay in there, they got everything they want, everything, now he's just a useless tool they had enough with, a broken doll.

He lost all hope to get out.

999999

Dib left the lab at 11 PM, he hesitated at first, but shrugged it off with the fact he'll have to leave the alien like that till he fix his ship, and god knows how long that's going to take.

He had to shut the lights so no one would suspect anyone being inside, he made the main computer as a TV and put the children's lock so Gir won't do something stupid.

The company was half empty at the time he left, he was glad Dale wasn't around, that man was annoying.

It was a cold night, the sky was full of stars.

When was the last time he looked at them and... dreamed? When he believed in himself?

When he believed something was behind all these stars.

When he was a kid full of determination.

A night like this,

His father had found the alien.

Just on his way back from his work.

Was he too lucky?

Or just cursed.

Dib sighed as he tried getting the thoughts away and focus on the road.

"Again."

The stubborn alien's voice echoed, Dib tried convincing him that was enough for two hours, but he kept going.

He didn't seem to give up,

Not yet.

He leaned down as he drove.

Gazing at his hands, eyes narrowed, he was tired, but his thoughts won't leave,

Maybe he should take a shower when he gets back.

Or did he take one this morning?

He couldn't remember.

And didn't care at that moment as he yawned and rubbed his eyes,

He speed up the car since the road was empty.

The first he would do is to lay down his bed and sleep.

999999

Days went by,

Every day felt like a new story, everything felt different.

They got much closer.

Dib would go to work at 6 AM, and leave (if he even does) at 10 PM.

He drinks a lot of coffee, and sometimes brings donuts with him to the lab, And Zim would actually eat with him, sometimes even Gir, the little robot, would eat, Both Zim and Dib were confused by this fact.

Gir would watch TV all day, till Zim asks him to do something.

The robot was... crazy to say the least, but he was like a child, you can't stay mad at him,

And if Dib was honest, he didn't mind talking to the SIR unit all day.

Speaking of talking...

Zim became much of a talker, he would chat with Dib, telling him stories about how space looked like, how other aliens were like, how planets, stars, races were like.

And of course, Dib loved listening to him, he would gaze blankly at the ruby eyes as the irken moved his hands as he spoke.

He would imagine everything Zim says, daydream about it, and asks millions of questions about them.

He would sometimes lay his face on his arms on the table, sleepy as Zim rant more and more,

He seemed to like talking, As if just now he had someone to care about what he said,

And he wasn't that bad of a listener.

The alien seemed to have endless stories and adventures.

Though, the fact that he invade planets wasn't one of the best things he knew about...

Dib as will would tell him some stories, he didn't have much, but he said what he had,

The story about him raising the dead actually got the irken's attention.

Every day, Dib would hold his hands as they walked, leading Zim with him to train his numb legs, as Zim tried his best to get his legs back to work.

He was a hard worker, he won't give up, too stubborn, no matter what he'll find a solution, any idea to fix the problem, he was smart, and so hard to understand.

Like he said before, the alien was like a galaxy, a universe yet to be discovered.

Unique.

And yet, every day he had to face the same nosy man, he would ask and ask again, bothering the boy wherever he went, it was annoying, and exhausting to come up with a lie every time.

Dale's face kept running in his head from time to time...

The boy would always think, he would drown in his deep thoughts anytime, get distracted, gazing at nothing, and even speak to himself loudly without realizing it,

His face goes red when the irken put his sharp finger on his nose, demanding his attention while saying, "stop thinking."

This happens a lot, and it surprises him every time.

The alien was better at walking now than before, he still can't run or walk fast, he has to watch his steps and balance himself with every foot he puts on the metallic floor before moving the other one.

He started working on his voot, using help from the tools his SIR unit had or some the human gave him.

He wanted to fix his PAK, but was afraid if he got it out it won't reattach to him, since it was broken and may not see him as the host.

The thought of asking the human for help still danced in his green head.

But he can't ask that, no way.

That lullaby, He still liked the lullaby humans heart makes...

Yet didn't get the chance to actually hear it again.

He fought the urge to step close and put his antenna on the boy's chest,

The thought was too weird.

Too weird for him, for an irken...

He also still had to be attached to the wire,

Sleeping on the same main chair, or sometimes on the chair in the middle of the room, just so he could rest his head on the table, though it was a hard metal and cold...

The boy would sometimes give him his coat to rest on.

Zim was thankful for it, but would never admit it,

The whole sleeping thing was still new to him, but he didn't mind it that much.

It became something he had to do.

Dib would have a lot of work since his appearance in the company became a habit, a routine.

He had to fill papers, scan objects, create small things like chips, but mostly he had a lot of work on his laptop,

Leaving Zim alone with the TV and his thoughts, and Gir hums and doom songs of course.

The ship was getting better with every passing day, the irken would work on it all day, it's still not able to communicate, or to fly, but it became better than before to say the least.

Not a lot had passed actually...

Two weeks?

Maybe more, maybe less,

Who knew?

He stopped counting days, he would sleep in the lab and wake up not knowing what day it was, and sometimes not bothering to see.

But yet he loved knowing the time, the clock.

Gaz on the other hand, was becoming more and more like her old self, still nice since Dib was the last person in her family that was left, and the only one who would take her anger and listens to her.

She started drawing more often, since the gameslave company stopped making new games, it made her angry at some point, but decided to replay her old versions, it was funny how she thoughts these levels were hard years ago, now it was child's play,

But yet, she enjoyed it, thankfully.

It made her listen more to people since she already knows the game,

It made her listen to Dib more.

Speaking of Dib,

Her brother was acting... weird.

Weird in a good way to say,

He would rant like he always did years ago, a LONG years ago.

He began to smile more,

And talk more about the paranormal,

Yet after all this, he stuck to his work, never missed a day.

She knew something was up, but couldn't get him to speak.

But even so, seeing how much better Dib became, how he started to open up more, talk more, she tried ignoring it for his sake.

She'll find out eventually.

Last week, when they were eating pizza, Dib held his head as he said how tired he was, only eating his fries,

Gaz looked at him and said sarcastically, "welcome to adult life."

He gave her an unimpressed look and said something about her still being a teen, then something about work that she didn't catch while winning in the final level of her game.

"Do you know a guy named Dale?" Came the question all of the sudden in Dib's head,

"Nope."

"Dad never mentioned him before?"

"I dunno." She shrugged.

"Oh," he leaned back in his chair and took some aspirin for his headache.

They ate in silence and then drove back home.

Dib was already exhausted.


END OF CHAPTER TEN!

Alien freak: aw man this is taking too long to write, i need to fix my hands...

anyhow!

Hope you enjoyed, and please review :3

This was alien freak signing off.