Disclaimer: Truthfully, I never would have thought up Invader Zim. So…no, I do not own.
Summary: Zim has finally thought of the perfect way to stop Dib from interfering. But Dib may find that Zim's plans are the least of his problems…
'thought'
"speech"
-0-0- is a scene/character jump
Chapter 7
There were gasps around the room, and the agents closed in around the panicking Dib. There were mutters of "So it is true!" and "I can't believe it!"
Dib's father was shaking his head sadly. "Oh, if only I have believed you sooner. Then maybe your desire to prove the truth wouldn't have gotten you turned into an alien! But, there is an upside, son!" Professor Membrane placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "Now we can finally prove there is alien life out there! And we can finally begin in depth research upon extraterrestrial life!"
Dib's eyes narrowed in sudden anger. "In depth research beginning with me, eh?" He growled, and smacked his father's hand off his shoulder and backed up. No, not his father. No father would plan on experimenting on his own child! But…professor Membrane had done it to Gaz, now he was planning on doing it to Dib. No, no more!
Gaz…she had betrayed him. She had turned on him and told his father, and the agents, about Dib's new identity. She had, in effect, doomed him. How could she?? She knew what their father would do!
Angered and hurt beyond words, Dib just thought one thing: 'I have to get out.' They were not going to experiment and research him! He was the one who was supposed to be doing the research!
With a sharp yell at the sudden claustrophobic feeling as the agents pressed closer, trying to hold him down long enough to subdue him, Dib activated the spider legs in his Pak and skittered up the wall, surprising those below him long enough for him to snatch the hologram projector dangling from his fa-no, the professor's hand, and to escape through a window.
"After him!"
Sliding down the side of the house before catching himself, he skittered along the wall, angling towards the garage where Tak's ship was parked. It had been a month-long project of his, and he had modified it to his satisfaction.
Landing beside the ship, the spider legs taking the brunt of the hard landing, he quickly punched several buttons as the sounds of the agents closing in behind him became louder.
"Ship! Launch into orbit and await for my commands!" He shouted, and the ship began to power up. Dib did not know what to do, really. He was so hurt that he was confused. Zim. That was the answer, in his mind. Go to Zim; inform him that he had been found out. Then, Dib will call down his ship and get in, and go somewhere. Anywhere.
The ship took off, knocking the first few agents back as it blasted over their heads and up, heading to the dark sky.
Dib followed, his spider legs taking him up the neighbor's house and he dashed across rooftops, disappearing from the view of the agents.
He landed in an alleyway, and was about to head towards Zim's house when he froze.
Before him stood Gaz, arms crossed.
"Just stay where you are, Dib. Don't make this any harder on yourself." She said, eyes leveling a dark glare at him.
"Gaz? But…why?" Dib whispered, his antennae flat against his skull, he almost seemed to be cowering away from his sister.
"Why? Because you've always been causing trouble! I'm sick of it, Dib! I'm sick of your alien talk, your ghosts! Life will be better with you locked up in one of dad's labs. I will be happy, and Dad will be happy. We can go on with life, without your weirdness messing it up for the rest of us!" Gaz ground out, stamping a foot as she vented all her frustrations.
"But…"
"But nothing! You are going to be removed from my life, Dib. I will make sure of that." She said, stepping closer as the sound of cars squealing to a stop. Dib skittered back, but he was caught. The only way out was to get through Gaz. Glaring in sudden determination, Dib charged his sister, using the spider legs to leap over her head.
He was free! He could get away, and go and warn Zim, and then…decide what to do from there! He was…
He was caught.
Gaz reached up and snagged one of his metal spider legs while he leaped over her head, holding on tight and he landed wrong, the legs crumpling and sliding as he collided with the ground, hitting his chin harshly on the cement.
"You are not going anywhere, Dib!" Gaz told him, releasing the leg she had grabbed while agents ran up and quickly subdued Dib before he could begin to getup. Thinking quickly, he pulled the legs back into his Pak before any of them could be damaged by the agents' uncaring hands, and he slipped the holographic projector around one of them to hide it until he needed it.
"Come now, son." Membrane said, motioning towards the dark car that was blocking the alley entrance. Dib was pushed inside, followed by Membrane and Gaz. Agent Dark Booty took the front seat, and they drove off.
Towards the labs.
-0-0-
Zim was suspicious.
Oh yes, he knew the Dib was up to something…
Dib had not been in class for three days. That meant he was either up to something, or sick. He was probably up to something, and Zim was going to be prepared! Oh yes, Dib was not going to foil Zim's plot for world domination.
Zim had thankfully remembered to save the formula for his nano-bots, and he had a new supply all ready to go. But first, he had to know what the Dib was planning.
At lunch, Zim went over to where Gaz was playing her game slave during lunch.
"You!" He cried, pointing at her. She glanced up at him briefly, before looking back down at her game.
"What do you want, Zim?" she muttered.
"Where is the Dib?" Zim demanded. If anyone would know, she would know.
"Don't you worry about him, Zim. Now be off, before I decide to tell my father all about you." She hissed, glaring at him.
Zim glared back, before going back to his own table.
Gaz gave a small smile.
No Dib, and Zim wouldn't bother her any farther, or she would spill the beans on him as well. Yes, life was going good now.
Actually, she was in such a good mood, she'll pay a visit to her brother tonight. Maybe Dib would like a visit.
Snickering under her breath, she punched a few more buttons, hitting the save point and flying off into the next new level.
-0-0-
Dib paced inside the small glass-chrome cell he was in. All he had in here was a bed, a sink, and a toilet. Professor Membrane and his assistants, as well as the Agents, would come by and observe him, ask him questions, and run a few tests on him.
According to Professor Membrane, they should know all they could about Dib's new species before going public with this, because they wanted to be able to answer any and all questions.
This was lucky for Dib, since he was still puzzling how to get out of here. The walls, though they were made of glass, were of a type of glass that made it very difficult for him to do anything to. One night he had tried to use the spider legs to smash his way through, but had ended up doing nothing but tiring himself out.
His father had begun to run sensory tests, trying to see how Dib heard and smelled things without ears or a nose.
Dib really, really wished he didn't do these tests. They were painful to his sensitive antennae. His father would play an assortment of sounds, some detectable by the human ear, some not. He wanted to see just what range of sounds Dib could hear. He played them at different volumes, as well.
The doors to the lab opened, causing Dib to start in shock. No one came by this late…everyone was currently off working on the next type of super-toast.
Gaz…
"Hello Dib," She greeted, walking up and pressing her face against the glass like someone would do at a zoo. He glared at her, clenching his fists together.
"Gaz…what do you want? Is it not enough that you put me here?" He snapped, stopping his pacing around the perimeter of his cell in favor of staring at her menacingly.
"I just came by to tell you that Zim asked about you, but nobody else seemed to notice that you have missed three days of school." She shrugged, tapping the glass thoughtfully. "Also, I came by to make sure dad is not doing any autopsies on you."
"And why would you care?" Dib asked, "Though I'm not saying you should let him…"
"Why? Because, even though I hate to admit it, you are my brother, moron. I may want you to be locked up and out of my life, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let dad kill you for his stupid science." Gaz, pounded one fist on the glass, causing Dib to flinch and fold his antennae down in response to the reverberating boom it caused.
"Well, I have three levels before I beat my game, so I'm going to go do that." She turned and walked out, pulling her game slave from her pocket and turning it on. The lab doors closed behind her, leaving Dib in the dark labs, with only the dim lighting of his cell illuminating his surroundings.
With a heavy sigh, Dib sat on the edge of the bed. Well, that solved one of his questions as to why his father hadn't progressed to autopsies. Dib had been trying to make himself believe that it was because the Professor didn't want to do that to his son. But that wasn't as believable as Gaz asking him not to.
How was he going to get out of here? Dib was NOT going to sit by and let people gawk at him and prod him.
Spider legs didn't work, and Dib did not know how to use the rest of his Pak. Growling in frustration, Dib activated the spider legs again and began to beat on the side of the cell in anger. He had to get out! He had too!
With a final curse, Dib brought all four tips of his spider legs against the glass at once, wanting nothing more than to BE OUT. Squeezing his eyes shut, he fought back the urge to just scream. Suddenly there was a sharp hiss, and then the smell of melting glass and hot metal.
Startled, Dib opened his eyes and saw a sight that sent his scientific side wild. A glowing blue beam of light was arching from one spider leg to the next, until all four leg tips were glowing, connected by the beams of light, creating a square. That square was slowly burning into the wall of the cell, eating away and melting the glass.
The Pak could do this? Dib had never seen Zim's Pak do this…but then again, there were lots of things about what Zim's Pak could do that Dib didn't know. Oh well, he wasn't going to muse about it when he had to escape.
The spider leg beams finished cutting through the glass, and they pushed the slab of glass to the ground, letting out a resounding crash that made Dib flinch, hoping no one had heard it.
Stepping out of the cell for the first time since he had been brought into the labs, Dib glanced about. His laptop was in his ship, which should still be in orbit. He hurriedly went to the door and tried to open it.
Nothing, apparently he didn't have security clearance anymore like he used to. Frowning, he focused his will and attempted to make the Pak do the same energy-beam thing it had done before.
Success! Since he had done it once, he could do it again. Just like the legs. The square of light again ate through the metal, and he ran through, heading for the exit.
Breaking through, he activated his metal legs and climbed up to the top of the labs, sitting at the very top for a moment to rest and think.
What was he going to do now? He needed to go warn Zim, he kind of owed the moronic Invader for the Pak, although he wouldn't need the Pak if he hadn't been turned into an Irken.
Argh! He'll just warn Zim, to save his conscience the effort of making him feel guilty, and then he'll figure out what to do.
Resolute in his new determination, Dib took off in the direction of Zim's house.
One thing Dib was certain about: the spider legs saved a lot of travel time. He could cover a lot more ground by making use of their longer stride.
Landing in front of Zim's house, he avoided a laser beam from one of the lawn gnomes and banged on the door, yelling for Zim to answer. The door flung open suddenly, and Dib barely caught himself from hitting the other Irken in the face.
"Dib? What do you want?" Zim asked, and then did a double take as he realized Dib was without a disguise. "What by the Tallest are you thinking?? Running around without a disguise?"
"It's over Zim!" Dib shouted, and pushed his way into Zim's house, slamming the door behind him and peeking out of the window as he heard alarms start up at the labs, ringing out across the town. His escape had been discovered. "We've been found out!"
"You got found out, and you led them to Zim?! Stupid, stupid, stupid Dib!" Zim cried. "Gir! Pack up! Computer, start the Voot cruiser and activate emergency evacuation procedure!"
"I didn't get us found out! Gaz did! She spilled it all!" Dib snarled, eyes dark at the thought and filled with hurt. "She told dad, and then told the Agents of the Eye. She had dad lock me up in the labs for a whole week! Now they're after both of us!"
"So that's why you haven't been in school," Zim muttered "Why did you come here? You hoping for help off this filthy planet and away from the humans you have tried so hard to protect? Well, they're after you now. See where all your 'rescuing' as gotten you?" Zim shouted, poking Dib in the chest with one claw.
"I get it, alright?? It was all for nothing and done for people who don't care! I get it, I get it!" Dib pulled on his antennae, using the pain to orient and focus himself. "I did not come here for help, Zim. I have Tak's ship, MY ship, in orbit ready to come get me."
Zim raised an antennae at the mention of the ship. "Where would you go? Somewhere else on this filthy rock? Why did you come here?"
Dib growled in frustration. "We don't have time for this! I came here to warn you, because it seemed like the right thing to do! Obviously I can't be on THEIR side," and he pointed out the window to where the sirens were almost deafeningly loud as they came closer. Apparently Gaz had told them to check Zim's house. "And I'm not on YOUR side, so what am I supposed to do? I came here to warn you, then see what you are going to do once we escape."
"Mhm, is that so? Well, I hate to admit it, but you are right. We do not have time to argue right now. Let us get out of here and away from the stink beasts, and THEN we can argue!" Zim proclaimed, and dashed towards the chute up to his ship. Not knowing what else to do, Dib followed.
One thing was to be certain, the computer was rather good at getting everything packed up. The secret lab under the house was pulled and twisted until it was back into its original package, small enough to fit in the Voot cruiser. Dib raised an eye brow at the fact that the majority of the lab could be packed down so small, but decided to investigate later.
"Call you ship, Dib!" Zim commanded, throwing Gir into the Voot and climbing in beside him. The house was an empty husk with a large hole underneath it, but nothing remotely alien left inside.
Dib nodded and activated a wrist-comlink with his ship. Pushing a few buttons, he soon was in his own ship and they both shot out of the top of the house while the Agents and police were busy trying to batter the door down.
Everything paused as the two Irken ships flew overhead and disappeared up into the sky, the only movement was one little girl as she shoved her way through the crowd, a game in one hand and her eyes shielded against the lamp nearby with the other.
"Finally," She whispered. "No more Zim. No more Dib. Finally." And with that, she turned back to her game as the door to Zim's house was broken down and agents poured inside, hoping to find something, anything, alien.
All they found was a normal house, with a big hole in the wall where a screen used to be and a toilet in the kitchen.
-0-0-
End Chapter
With finals coming up this week, I probably will not be able to post the next chapter until next week. Sorry!