My Beloved, My Betrayed

by TaylorTheWeird

AU ZADR - For decades Earth and Irk have been at war. Using the stolen identity of a dead Irken, the humans sent Dib to infultrate the Massive, but a small, egomaniacal janitorial drone has his own plans for the fate of the Irken race.

6. Chapter 6

My Beloved, My Betrayed

Chapter 6

Invader Zim (c) Jhonen Vasquez, who, at night, secretly transforms into Optimus Prime. IZ TRUUUUE! AH' SEEEEEEEEEEEEEES EET!

... Dear god, I'm going off the deep end, aren't I...?

"Zim, what are you talking abou-"

"SILENCE!" the Zim cried, pushing a sharpened PAK leg slightly against Dib's neck. Not strong enough to kill him, but enough to break the skin ever-so-slightly and cause discomfort. "You know EXACTLY what Zim is talking about. Lose the disguise before Zim forces you to."

Dib wrapped his hands around the PAK leg digging into his neck and tried to pull it out. The act of resistance only made Zim press harder. "Damnit, Zim! What the hell are you doing?! This is treason! You-"

"Is it? Is it, Skeeeeb? Is it really treason when your commanding officer isn't even of your own planet? Is it treason when your upper is a spy? Zim is just doing his duty as an Irken citizen. Now, answer Zim's question; who are you, and who are you working for?! Tell Ziiiiiiiiiiim..." he said with an intense glint in his eye.

Dib grunted, using all the strength he could muster to attempt to move the dangerous PAK leg away of his neck. The product of Irken engineering was far too strong for him, though, leaving his efforts fruitless; he couldn't pull it out, and moving the mechanical leg to the side would put his jugular in jeopardy. "Your duty!? Your duty is to obey orders, and as your Taller, your order is to QUIT this madness!"

"Ah wanna help, mastah!" GIR said with an idiotic smile, waving at nothing in particular.

"Keep staring at that door, GIR." Zim called back before glaring fiercely into Dib's eyes. "Where was I... oh yeah – wrong answer, Skeeeeeb..." The PAK leg dug slightly deeper into Dib's neck. The human could feel warm, sticky blood beginning to slip down his neck, pressed between his body and solidified hologram surrounding it. "I happen to know for a fact that you aren't Irken. It's been becoming increasingly obvious, at least, if you know what to look for."

"'Increasingly obvious?' What the hell are you talking about?" Dib mentally smacked himself; those two words probably weren't the best choice to immediately protest – the "not Irken" accusation was far weightier.

"So, you admit it?" Zim asked, raising his antenna slightly.

"What? Absolutely not!" and, with a cry, Dib's right hand let go of the PAK leg. He pulled it back, and let a punch fly. The fist connected with Zim's jawbone with a wet-sounding smack. Out of surprise, Zim backed up slightly, giving Dib the opportunity to push the mechanical leg off of his neck away without harming his precious jugular, leaving an angry, bloody line on his skin underneath the hologram, but also freeing him. Dib quickly released his own PAK legs in retaliation. "What the FUCK has gotten into you, Zim?! I order you to stand down!"

"My apologies, my Taller, but that's an order that Zim cannot follow." Zim sent one of the PAK legs flying towards Dib, striking him and creating a deep gash on one of the armored gauntlets of his uniform. "In fact, I don't think that I'll be following ANY of your orders."

"Just like the PAK-programmed orders, stating that you cannot kill other Irkens, eh? Didn't follow those orders either." Zim snarled in fury as Dib dodged a second PAK leg swerving towards him. "I'll take that as acknowledgement that it is you?" He dodged once more before using his own PAK legs to clumsily swing towards Zim, letting momentum carry him into a swift kick in Zim's gut.

"MY SQUEEDILYSPOOCH!" Zim cried.

Dib, sensing Zim's moment of weakness, dived down and grabbed Zim by the cuff of his shirt. "What the hell are you do-"

"MY SQUEEDILYSPOOCH!"

"What are you-"

"SPOOOOOOOOOCH!"

Dib slapped Zim across the face. "Hey – you cut that out! What the hell are you doing? What the fuck is going on here?"

Despite his size, Zim managed to pull Dib off and made distance between them as he pulled himself onto his PAK legs once more. "Get off me, filth-creature! Zim has killed for much lesser offences!"

"Hey – how can you call me a filth-creature when you don't even know what I am?" Zim smirked as Dib realized his slip. "...Oh fuck..."

The small Irken struggled out of Dib's grip and raised himself on mechanical legs once more. "Soooooo... ready to tell me yet?" Zim flung another PAK leg in Dib's direction, which Dib awkwardly dodged, having it graze his leg.

"Why do you even care? You're a member of the Resisty, you're most likely killing the ones in the ship – Irken duty is evidentially NOT one of your strong points. Hell, why are you even trying to kill me right now?!" Another mechanical appendage flew towards the human, barely missing Dib's face. He managed to grab it and give a sharp tug, pulling Zim out of the center of balance on the remaining three legs and causing the Irken to fall over.

"... Actually, I'm not sure... GIR! Tell me again why was I trying to kill the dirt-stink over there?"

"AH'M STARIN' A' DA DOOR!!" GIR shrieked, his face currently rubbing up and down the sliding door.

"GIR, you can obey meeeeee WHILE staring at the door. Why did Zim want to kill the Skeeb?" Zim pointed at a very confused Dib.

"Ah dunnoooooo... somethin' 'bout a taco?" GIR then squeaked and ran over to his master, jumping up and down. "Can we go me get a tacooooo? Pleeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase? Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeee?"

Zim completely ignored GIR's whining and focused his attention to Dib, folding the four mechanical legs into his PAK in the process. "Fine... how about a truce... You lose the disguise – and the PAK, just to be sure – and I'll explain my business with the Resisty. And WILL YOU GET BACK THERE AND WATCH THE DOOR!"

"Taaaaaacoooooooooooooo..."

"And how do I know that I can trust you?" Dib asked with venom-coated words, still balanced on spindly metal legs.

"Zim asks you the same question..."

"Taaacooooo! Taco taco TAAAAACOOOOOO!!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!" Dib snapped at GIR. Letting his guard down slightly, the human collapsed the PAK legs back into their metal pod. "Zim, if, for some reason, you betray me, I WILL let everyone know that you are a member of the Resisty, and that YOU are the one who keeps killing Irken Officers. They're more likely to believe me than you anyway."

"Blah blah blah. Less talky, more take-off-disguise-y." Zim said, lowering himself to the floor and putting his robotic limbs away in his PAK.

"Fine..." Dib mumbled, before allowing the hologram to grow fainter; green fading into pale tan, antenna fading into nothing, where there was nothing, hair, ears, and a nose came into view. He rubbed the front his neck where Zim had been pressing down, and then looked at his hand, smeared with his own blood. With a small crinkle of his nose in disgust, Dib rooted through his wardrobe to find something to soak up the crimson liquid.

Zim jumped back in surprise. "Holy Irk – you're a human-nasty!"

"Keen observation there, Sherlock." Dib responded as he threw a now blood-soaked towel on the floor – he reminded himself to burn it later in order to destroy the evidence – and began to remove the PAK.

"What's a Sherlock?" Zim asked. Dib decided that he wouldn't grace the Irken with an answer.

With a small click and a wave of painful tingling and burning down his spine, the device removed itself from his central nervous system. He then pulled it out of the ports and placed it on the ruined bed near him, keeping it in his peripheral vision, just in case Zim tried to pull something. After all, it was crucial if he planned to keep his disguise.

With the PAK gone, the sleep deprivation that had been accumulating over his time hit him with a mighty pulse. Dib sleepily ruffled his flattened hair, giving it air after being pressed down by the solid hologram for so long. As if on cue, his scythe-like cowlick bounced up.

Before Dib could say anything else, Zim cut him off with an accusatory, pointing finger at the trademark cowlick. "Wait a moment... you're one of the Membrane-filthies, aren't you?"

"There's nothing filthy about me! ...Is there?"

"You're human. That makes you filthy."

Dib just rolled his eyes, ignoring Zim's statement. "My real name is Dib Membrane. I was sent here by the Empire of Earth."

"And...?"

"And, what? You just told me to drop the disguise. I don't have to let you know anything else," Dib said, arms crossed. "Now, your end. What are you doing within the Resisty? How did you even manage to override your loyalty programming and join them?"

Zim completely ignored Dib's questions. "So – you're one of the humans meant to be in charge of the rest of your smelly race full of smeeeeeeell, 'cuz you were born into the Membrane family-unit, right? ... Meh - Zim will never understand you humans' hierarchal system... So, why are you here, in the midst of your species' enemies? Lose a bet or something? Huh? Huh?"

Dib sneered. "That's classified information."

"And, don't you have a sibling-creature? Why are there two of you? The records indicate that everyone one of your predecessors was the only smeet in their human family-unit."

"... Why do you even know that?"

"It's basic Irken knowledge. Besides, Zim's been alive long before your pathetic family managed to obtain its stranglehold on your planet's WRETCHED economy."

"You know, and here I was, hoping that the whole 'ZIIIIIIIIM this' and 'ZIIIIIIIIM that' business was just a part of your guise, and not your actual personality."

"Zim does not understand what you're talking about..."

"Evidentially." Dib buried his face in his palm, gathering his thoughts before speaking to Zim again. "Look, Zim, I don't know WHY my father had two children. He or my mom probably forgot to use a condom or birth control or something. That's probably the most RANDOM detail of my family history you could have brought up. As to why I'm here – I told you, that's classified information. Information I might be more willing to share if you just teeeell meeeee about your conneeections tooo the Resiiiiisty..." he said, dragging out the final phrase for emphasis.

"Fine, then. I'm sure that even you pathetic filth-creatures have heard of the Irken-Meekrob war."

Dib nodded. "Yeah, the Irkens broke the Irken-Meekrob alliance by secretly sending an invader, having the conflict escalate into an interplanetary war."

Zim scoffed. "It's never as simple as that. You, working closely with the Earth military, should know that much. There are always ulterior motives." He turned his back walked away from the human for dramatic emphasis. He had information that the Dib wanted. The human wouldn't risk harming him. "So, tell me, Membrane-stinky; would you like to hear the truth behind that war, specifically from the Irken who was DOOMED to 'invade' Meekrob?"

Dib simply nodded, trying to urge Zim to continue.

"Well, after an – errrr – accident during Operation Impending Doom One, I was banished to the planet Foodcourtia, where I was assigned as a food service drone. With the onset of the Great Assigning for Operation Impending Doom II, I hurried back to my empire, hoping to regain lost glory. Unfortunately the Tallest weren't forgiving. In an attempt to do away with me once and for all, they gave me that defective robot, GIR, and 'assigned' me to Meekrob; while, at the same time, telling the Meekrob emperor that for 'diplomatic purposes,' they couldn't destroy me themselves, and needed an outside force to do it." Zim sat down on the circular bed. Dib instinctively moved the PAK away from the other, being sure to keep it close.

"The Tallest led me to believe that I was on a real mission – a FILTHY LIE THAT I, ZIIIIIM, ALLOWED MYSELF TO BELIEVE FOR TWO YEARS!! NNNNNNGGGGG!" Zim's claws managed to wrap themselves around a circular pillow from the bed, and were currently tearing it into tiny shreds in frustration with a guttural cry. Dib was about to say something to stop him, but paused. It probably wouldn't be in his best interests to snap Zim out of his little tirade.

A few moments passed. The small Irken had calmed down after successfully tearing the cushion into oblivion. "Ummm... I meant to do that..." With his foot, Zim scooted the remnants of stuffing under the bed. Dib wondered what ELSE the Irken had stuffed under there while cleaning his room.

"Anyway, after two Meekrobian years of the DISGUSTING energy-beasts somehow constantly being a step ahead of me, I finally realized that there had to be a mole. The Tallest were the only ones I shared information with, so, with a heavy heart, I came to the realization that – GIR! I TOOOOLD YOU TO WATCH THAT DOOR!" Zim cried with a sharp, pointing finger, making the robot scamper back to the magical pig-door.

Dib raised an eyebrow while still maintaining his hardened stare, unsure of what to do. "...By any chance do you have ADD?"

"Yes, Zim can add. And spell. What sort of styoo-pid question is that?" Zim sulked, crossing his arms to accentuate his annoyance at such an obvious question. "Anyway, back to my story, before your little mathematical outburst-"

Dib rolled his eyes.

"I came to realize that my Tallest had never assigned me Meekrob; they had sent me there to die. Eventually, contact became less and less, until another Meekrobian year passed without any sort of transmission from the Massive. By that point, I began to look at my options. I could continue the 'mission,' ask to join the FILTHY Meekrob government, enlist in an outside force, try to leave the planet, or simply make due. I couldn't leave – the Meekrob military would have been able to easily locate and destroy a small Irken ship attempting to leave their atmosphere with their STUUUUPID energies. Joining them was out as well. They believed me a dangerous criminal that their 'allies' had asked them to destroy, and had agreed to do so, hoping to strengthen the bonds between the two planets. Sitting it out – well, that's a little BORING... I am ZIM! Something as amazing as Zim shouldn't be bored all the time..." Zim raised his claws in triumph that seemed to exist only in his head.

"So, left with two options, so I did the ONLY LOGICAL THING - I took both of them. I tried to weaken the Meekrob government, although, this time, not for my Tallest. Not for my empire. I wanted them to taste the sweet, sweet burn upon their planet caused by the creature known as ZIIIIIIM. I wanted them to FEAR my name. I wanted them to know that ZIM WAS STILL THERE! I WANTED THEM TO REGRET EVEN CONSIDERING DESTROYING ZIIIIM! I WANTED THEM TO-"

"Yeah, I get it. You wanted attention. Go on with the story."

"... Well, Zim didn't want the Tallest to know that he had discovered the truth from their lies, and stopping the 'mission' would have clued them in... and I had nothing better to do..." The green alien pouted, arms crossed. "ANYWAY! In the slums of a Meekrobian city, I managed to find a Vortian by the name of Lard-Nar. I had known him during my short time as a military scientist on Vort. Funny story there – an infinite energy consuming blob ACTUALLY ISN'T as cool as it sounds like it should be..." Dib spun his hand around in circles, trying to force Zim to get to the point; frustrated by the Irken's small tangents.

"Lard-Nar had started a small resistance group against the Irken government; one that you've heard of. After all, it's well known in this day and age. Second only to your pathetic HYYUUUUMAN government as a threat to Irk. The Resisty. He was patrolling the various low-lifes, looking for recruits. At first, Lard-Nar was hesitant to allow me to join, being... well... Irken, as well as a former Invader, but we had a history. When he heard of my... predicament... I was accepted. He knew that the empire had nothing else for Zim; they had made it quite clear that I wasn't wanted. I knew that I wanted nothing else to do with my Tallest after their betrayal. The Tallest are the empire, and my hatred went out towards my entire race. To prove my loyalty and worth to the fledgling resistance, I managed to use my SUPERIOR skills to get assorted information from my former planet, thus aiding their growing opposition.

"It was by that time that the grubby Meekrob-creatures began to get suspicious of their Irken 'allies'. I was still alive and causing massive damages to them, despite their best efforts to destroy me. By that time, Irk was getting annoyed with Meekrob's failure in killing me, and assigned Tak to destroy me herself. The Meekrob energy-beasts saw her arrival as a veiled threat of invasion, and began to turn their backs on the Tallest. I managed to play into that hand by placing myself in largely populated areas and purposely causing damages to the Meekrob during the small battles between Tak and myself. To them, my behavior wouldn't have changed after years of hiding; therefore Tak must have been responsible for the devastation and lives lost.

"Tensions arose even further when Irk learned that a new resistance group, which just-so happened to be the Resisty, was situated and gaining recruits on Meekrob. The Resisty had proved time and time again that they had information on the Armada. The Tallest had every reason to suspect that it had been given to them by the Meekrob government, as they made no attempt to hide their growing wariness. Irk began sending their soldiers into Meekrob territory, looking for this new threat. It was only a matter of time until, one day, an explosion in the Meekrob capital building – arranged by yours truly – caused the two growing forces to clash, resulting in a war with massive casualties on both sides."

Dib sat in the computer chair, his fingers curled around his chin in contemplation. He knew the gist of the story from what Skoodge had told him, as well as bits and pieces from his education on Earth, although, that generally revolved about it's battles and after effects, not this hidden complex story behind it. From Skoodge, he knew that Zim was involved, but hadn't figured that Zim had been this involved.

Zim, the egotistical janitorial drone. Zim, the clumsy, obnoxious loud-mouth. How much of Zim had he not seen before? Before, Zim - in all respect - was an Irken that, only an hour before, was someone that Dib easily believed couldn't find his way out of a paper bag. Now, he saw the small drone in a completely different light. Zim, the small, seemingly insignificant Irken who had managed to almost single-handedly manipulate two large galactic forces into a costly war. The human still had his doubts, though.

"Well... those are some pretty heavy claims you're making, Zim... especially from an Irken of your, well, current status. No offence, but I really haven't seen much that makes me believe that you're a devious mastermind..."

"Well, you haven't seen much besides the act that Zim's been putting on for you - as well as for the rest of the Massive - eh, Earth-stink?" Zim said, leaning over with a devious grin. "No, I've decided that it's for the best that the empire doesn't see the full awesomeness of Zim. It gives me more room to... errrrr... um... do stuff..." He flashed his zippered smile, still full of malice but with a hint of the playfulness that Dib was more used to.

"Like killing Irkens."

"... Maybe." An antenna twitched. Zim evidentially didn't want to talk about that.

"So, after the war started, what happened? You're still with the Resisty, your empire seems to have grudgingly accepted you back. What came next?" Dib inquired, putting his PAK back on.

"You asked about my connections to the Resisty. I gave you that, and, out of the kindness simply oozing out of my spooch, a little more," Zim stated, pointing a claw at Dib's face for emphasis.

Dib smirked as he leaned back some. "You're trying to dig out more information about my mission, aren't you?"

Zim returned the gesture, leaning back some on Dib's battle-scarred bed as he crossed his arms. "Observant, for a hyuuu-man."

"I'm just going to ignore that human comment..." Dib said with a raised eyebrow, although, still keeping an intense gaze. "How did you know that I wasn't really Skeeb? You said it was becoming 'increasingly obvious.' How so?"

"Well, to tell the truth, I decided to become your janitor in an attempt to learn information about the government and the Tallest, and then just kill you afterwards. After close observation, though, things around you didn't seem to add up. Erratic, almost secretive behavior, a small glimpse without your disguise, GIR's constant comments about your head being 'Flappeh' and 'Pink...' but what really allowed Zim to put two and two together – that makes four, by the way. See, Zim can add. – Was THIS!" Zim's PAK opened up, and, after some shuffling, the janitorial drone pulled out what appeared to be a glass beaker in a plastic baggie. Zim shoved the bag in Dib's face and jiggled it around. "Nnnnng! Nnnnng!" Zim grunted, stressing the bouncing of the glass.

"That's just an empty glass, Zim."

"Well, it WAS! I found it hidden in your closet. When I scanned it, it showed trace amounts of dihydrogen monoxide. Were you Irken, you wouldn't have any use for such a deadly chemical. What were you doing with it? Hmmmmmm?"

"Drinking it." A silence.

"Uh... Really? Not... anything cooler than that? No dihydrogen monoxide bombs? No poisoning of snack supplies? No sporadic splashing of random security drones just to LAUGH as they roll around in pain? That's actually a lot of fun, you know."

"Um... no, not really. Humans kinda need water. You know, to survive... Don't they teach you Irkens that sort of thing about your enemies?"

"Meh – I completed my training before anyone even cared that you pathetic hyuu-mans existed. I have no need to go back there just to learn about your stoo-pid race."

Dib grunted. "So, random facts about my family's history are common knowledge, but the basic fact that humans need water to survive isn't? What sort of 'superior race' are you Irkens claiming to be, again?"

"Hmph! Mock Irk all you want, filthy human, but you know, deep in your squishy, DIRTY organs, that it is a formidable foe. Your race would never be able to defeat them on your own..." Zim spat, before pausing and giving Dib a wary glare. "You know, you never did explain why you're here. You said you would after I explained my Resisty connections. Zim demaaaaands to know!"

"Uhh... no," Dib said with a confident smile and a raised eyebrow.

Zim was seething. "And why NOT?!" he asked, furious.

"Frankly, I don't trust you. You seem to be telling the truth, but I can't be sure. And, then, I have a feeling that there's a lot more to you and the Resisty than what you're telling me. Not to mention, I never actually said that I would give you the information. I just told you that I might be more willing. All you need to know is that I'm retrieving information for my planet by impersonating one of your kind."

Zim glared and stuck out his serpentine tongue childishly, the universal sign for immature disgust. Damn that human and his loopholes!

Another awkward silence followed. Dib finally spoke up to shatter the uncomfortable stillness. "Sooo... now what?"

"Hmmm?"

"I mean... You're a rebel, trying to exact vengeance against your government for past wrongs, and I'm a member of a race at war with said government, trying to assimilate with the Irken government and act as a spy... what happens now?"

The devious zippered smile returned. "Soooo... why fight against each other, my fair Dub-stink-"

"Dib."

"Right. That's what I said. Dib... NOW! We're both working towards the same goal, yeeeeees?"

"Well, actually, the Resisty is trying to tear apart the empire, while Earth is trying to usurp it-"

"Zim SAID, we're both working towards the same goal, yeeeeeeeeeeeees?" the small, green creature said, antenna flattening in mild irritation.

"I guess, in a round-about way."

"So, what say you? Individually, we might cause the empire irritation, but with our combined efforts, the Armada may fall. Or get more irritated than they would otherwise."

Dib rubbed his chin. "I see what you're getting at..."

"I dooooooooon't..." the insane robot drooled. Zim glared. GIR saluted, and went back to watch the door. It still hadn't turned into an Earth-pig. He must not have been staring hard enough at it.

Satisfied with his robot minion's behavior, Zim focused his attention onto Dib once more. "Just think of the things that we could do together – our combined resources, combined brainpower. They'll never know what hit them! We shall bring the empire to its knees!" Zim, with bursting excitement, wrapped one arm around Dib's shoulder while stretching the other out in front of them, as if he were already showing the human the results of their efforts laid out before them.

Dib's lips stretched into a sinister grin, his eyes meeting those of the Irken's. "You know, Zim, I think I'm beginning to like you more and more."

"I knew you'd see things my way, Membrane... Oh yeah... And Dib..."

"Hmmmm...?"

"Try to work on that talking to yourself thing..."

The lure of a new tablet is far too great to resist. Sorry, guys – in my life, art takes priority to writing, so a tablet proves to be a MAJOR distraction... so does band camp.

Reading so many bad!fics (and a few good!fics) lately has finally given me the drive to finish this chapter, which had been sitting on my hard drive - almost fully completed - for about a month. It didn't help that I REAAAAAAAAALLY wanted this chapter to be excellent, considering it's a bit of a pivotal point in the story. I am such a lazy-ass.

In order to make up for my laziness, the midgets promised in the last chapter have been forced to do Shakespearian reenactments of your comments nonstop for the past 83 hours. They are currently in my room, plotting my demise while acting out the scene where they're cast onto the deserted island by a magical storm at sea.

Much thanks to my lovely reviewers, - RandomShadow, Dr.Scarecrow, Hashmir, kikomio, Ice Dragon, Zira Thirteen, ffnetlover, Death Aaya, DTGC, Insert Generic Fan Name Here, Rambie, Reigning Fyre, Maran Zelde, and andalitebandit-6.

Reviews make my ass less lazy. Please save it from lethargy.