-1Gaz felt sick to her stomach. Dib had betrayed his race and his family, for…for Zim, the one that was bent on world -- no, universal -- conquest. Oh, she knew Dib was insane, but this? The girl touched her torn hip, feeling how sore it was after she had fallen on the way back to the bomb sight. Someone, she had to tell someone who hid that bomb in her GS2, none of the survivors believed her… She spotted a rescue worker that was digging through the rubble, apparently looking for something, but, he was just what she was looking for. Swallowing her 'fear', she mustered up her courage and plastered on her hateful look, but it broke down as she neared the man. The burn in her hip was edging on unbearable, but she finally made it to the man.
"Sir! Sir, I know who did this…" Gaz said as forcefully as she could and the man turned around to look at her dumbly. An annoyed sigh escaped her lips. "I'm Membrane's daughter. Ya know, Gaz."
The man seemed to finally recognize her, his face lighting up in excitement, as if he had just found gold or a precious gem. The professor would be pleased indeed. "OH! Was your brother in there when the bomb went off? He's who we're looking for…" His voice was high and crackly, which was odd for such a seemingly huge fellow. That was also when Gaz glanced around, seeing no other workers there, why would he say we? She shook her head to clear her muddled mind.
She hesitated, but spilled it. "No, he wasn't there because he did this. Well, Zim did it, but Dib helped." It was hard to express it in words and she managed to make herself sound just like Dib had when he explained about Zim.
"DIB planted a bomb in your GameSlave?" The rescue worker said doubtfully, catching onto the insane way she said it.
Frustrated, Gaz pulled her hair frighteningly hard. "NO! I mean, Zim did it, but I think it might have been Dib's idea, or something. And…and I know where they are right now."
"Well…okay, if you're sure, come with me little girl." The man rubbed his neck and the two walked towards a tent not to far away. "We found your father, but he doesn't seemed scratched up at all, you sure he was near the site?" He said as they walked into the tent.
Gaz looked at him oddly, fixing him a hateful glare as she trailed next to him. "Yes. Yes, I'm positive he was there. I saw him! He had tried to diffuse the bomb…"
The man just shrugged uncaringly, and then opened the tent. The girl stepped in and was mildly surprised the rescue worker didn't follow her in. A quick look around the tent told most of what she needed to know. In a corner of the tent stood a tall man wearing a long white coat. His arms were folded behind his back in a professional manner.
Gaz cleared her throat hoarsely, and then spoke up. "Dad?"
The man turned slightly to get a good look at the intruder, which was also how Gaz was able to see who it was and she was filled with relief. "Oh my God, dad, I thought you were dead." Relieved and tired, Gaz dropped to her knees, smirking weakly. "I knew Dib didn't have the guts to kill you…" When the man didn't answer her, she finally took notice that Membrane was wearing his coat and the goggles covered his eyes once again. It was odd. He wasn't dressed like that when the bomb went off, and the clothes he had in the house would've been destroyed. And he wouldn't have had time to go to the lab to change either. That rules everything out. "D-dad?"
Membrane turned all the way around, facing the confused preteen full on. "Yesss, I am your poor departed daddy, aren't I?" He laughed cruelly, his shoulders shaking melodramatically.
"Why're you talking like that?" Gaz demanded, standing, albeit unsteadily thanks to the hot sharp sting that shot from her right hip throughout her body. Rigidly she stood her ground as the man walked towards her mechanically and she felt as if she could hear gears churning from within the tall man. "Dad?"
With a grandeur wave of his hand, Membrane pulled down on his collar to reveal his mouth and pulled up his goggles to reveal his eyes. He seemed perfectly normal, until an eye popped from its socket, connected to a thick cable. Wires spewed from the mouth and Gaz screamed, horrified, turning and running face first into the steel plate that now covered the entrance to the tent. The chuckling Mem-bot approached the half unconscious girl, picking her up by her hair. She winced as she was pulled off of the ground until she was eye level with the maliciously grinning robot.
"Y-you're…you're not dad." She accused weakly, thick blood dripping down from the gash on her head. So much blood loss was making her dizzy, but she held on long enough to watch the eye slowly return to its socket and the wires recede back into his mouth until he looked almost normal. Heavy lids wouldn't cooperate with what she was telling them and they closed on their own accord.
Sadistically, Mem-bot shook Gaz unmercifully, who cried out in agony. "You're right. I'm not you're daddy dearest." Gaz opened her mouth to scream, but all came out was a pained whimper as Membrane clamped a metallic hand over her mouth. "I don't think so…" He was able to stifle her screams as he did the dirty deed. After it was done, his coat was splattered with crimson flecks. The newest data transferred itself to the computer quickly.
Subject: Gaz
Status: …deceased
"It's done." Dib's voice said from under Zim, who was seated comfortably upon his lap. "Do you think…it was painful?" He asked and winced from the question he had had the nerves to ask. In all actuality, he really didn't want to know, it was a rhetorical question, but he knew Zim would answer him anyway. It was confirmed by Zim's bright glow and happiness. To Dib, it seemed as if Zim glowed whenever he did something evil.
Eagerly Zim nodded. "If this data is correct, it was excruciatingly painful. HAHAAaaa, I wish I could've seen the look on her face when she figured out that the Mem-bot wasn't her parental unit! Oh, wait, Mem-bot took pictures. I love that robot!" Pictures of a horrified and bloody Gaz appeared on the screen. Dib closed his eyes tightly, then sat up, pushing Zim's PAK against his chest. He had thought that he'd be disgusted by the sight of such horror and agony, but he was more apathetic to it.
The teen swallowed thickly. "That…looks so painful. I wonder if the knowledge that we were behind it made it even that much more horrible. I wonder if her life flashed before her eyes. I wonder…I wonder if she regretted ever doubting me." He knew he was rambling, knew that he probably sounded as crazy as everyone had told him he was. "And I wonder if…" He stopped.
Zim had stopped to listen to Dib's 'I wonder…'s, the boy's voice trailing off at the last one. Not knowing something would bother Zim so much. If you start saying something, you had better finish it, dang it. "Spit it out, you!" He said loudly into Dib's ear, making the boy flinch and curse without anger, only what seemed to apathy. "Dib Slave!" He yelled, and when Dib didn't answer or move much, he resorted to the familiar nicknames he'd given Dib over the years. "Dib Worm!!"
A strangled gasp arose from Dib's throat as he jumped in surprise. How long had it been since Zim had called him that? It felt familiar… "What is it, SCUM." Dib answered back with a smirk, then he grew oddly bright.
"What were you going to say and…why are you looking at Zim like that?" Zim shifted on the boy's lap so that he was facing his slave, so he could look into Dib's honey glazed eyes.
"What was I…going to say? What do you ever mean?" Dib said as leaned back into the cushy chair, the soft back pillowing around his torso. Long arms wound back behind his head, trying to look relaxed, contradicting what he really felt. Zim gave him 'the look' and he sighed, smiling at Zim. "It was nothing, really. Just an inane thought. Nothing but a speck in a sea of consciousness…" Dib blinked as Zim's face appeared directly in his line of vision.
"Hn. I think you're just a good liar, you know that." Zim scoffed unhappily. Boy, was that gonna bother him forever or what?
No comeback make its way to Dib's mind, so he just sat there, staring into Zim's ruby red eyes, until he thought of something. "So…now that the most important man in the world and the only one who knows we killed that man are dead, what now? Do we spread the disease now?" He pointed a thumb in the general direction of the table that the 'disease' was set on. It wasn't much of a disease, more of a poison, but it would be spread like a disease. The perfect plan! As the Mem-bot was working, the two had decided to actually do something instead of makeout, so they made a box full of their special concoction.
Surprised by the sudden outburst after such a long (it was only a few seconds, sheesh) silence, he only blinked at the question. "OH, uh…" Not wanting to admit he had no idea what so ever, he decided to make something up. Grab something from midair, if you will. Take a shot in the dark, even. "The Mem-bot…yeah, yeah, that's it. The Mem-bot will come back here, pick up some of the…whatever that stuff is…and, ya know…do something with it."
No emotion was evident on Dib's face as Zim finished with his idea. Then, a mocking smile formed its way up onto Dib's face. "You're just pulling that from your ass right now, aren't cha?"
"AM NOT! I worked really hard on that." Zim cried, narrowing his eyes.
"Yeah, for a few seconds maybe." The boy scoffed none to nicely at the alien, but it was all in good fun. "Just admit it. You had no idea what you were talking about. You were just stringing words together to make sentences."
"Well then, if that's how you feel about my plan, how about you give it a shot."
"Well, maybe I will." Dib said childishly, crossing his arms.
Not to be outdone, Zim mimicked Dib's actions and said, "Maybe you should."
Too bad Dib had already made up a plan, just in case. "Okay, I will. If my plan is better you have to wear that French maid outfit for one day." Finally, he'd be able to see Zim in that sexy outfit… He unconsciously began to drool while Zim blushed, sputtering.
The odd blush that had crept onto Zim's cheeks were too cute and Dib pinched them. Zim swatted the hands away angrily. "Irk no!"
"I see. We'll just go with your lame plan then…"
Zim frowned at the look Dib was giving him. It was the pathetically hopeless look, too. "Alright! Do your worst."
Brightening up considerably, Dib straightened up and Zim fell face first into the human's chest. "Fine. I say we use the Mem-bot as a…well, as a 'right of way' to get into the labs my dad works, oops, I mean worked, at. I'm Membrane's son, so they won't question it, especially if the Membrane is there." Dib smirked haughtily. His plan was fool proof.
But Zim didn't think so. "What? Why couldn't we just sit here and relax while the Mem-bot does all the dirty work! Your plan is stupid! And so is your huge head." Zim poked furiously at Dib's head with a clawed Irken finger.
A whine came from Dib as he grabbed the hand and held it tight in his own. "Tell me, when would the famous professor Membrane get any privacy to do anything? The scientists, maybe even the media after that explosion, he'd never be able to do anything discretely and you know I'm right."
Unable to argue with the logic Dib had placed out before him, he said nothing, but he did give up a pouty sort of glare. Oh, how he hated how that large cranium encased such a large, albeit stupid, brain. "You're horrible."
"Ah, yes. I know it." Dib chuckled under his breath and looked at the clock. "You're day starts right now, so you better get suited up. And since it's still so early, we should probably put our plan into motion."
"Ohhhh, no, no, no. I will NOT go out in that…that maid outfit."
Dib sniffed and sniggered. "What are you scared of?" He taunted characteristically.
Horrified, Zim drew back as if he'd been slapped across the face. "NOTHING! Zim fears nothing. Zim shall take his defeat, though it's not really much of a defeat, like an Irken and wear that…disgustingly filthy outfit…that shows so much skin too…" Zim grimaced as he said the last part. How he hated to show skin, no one should be able to see his mighty Irken flesh!! No ONE! Not even his love slave.
"Really? A lot of skin, eh? Good…" Dib said eagerly, then tittered at Zim's slightly freaked expression. "I mean, good! Uhm, I think it's gonna be pretty warm out there tomorrow, heh, yeah…that must be what I meant…"
Unconvinced, Zim only narrowed an eye in suspicion and slid from the human's lap. "Uh-huh…get the vial, we're heading out."