Chapter 1

"Dib! Get the door now! I'm busy!" Gaz shouted while playing Vampire Piggy Slayer 4. Dib came down the stairs and mumbled something about having a lazy sister. He went to the front door and opened it.

"Hello Dib-human."

"Aaaahhh! Zim! What are you doing here?" Dib yelled. Zim was leaning against the door post, breathing heavily.

"There's no time to explain human, I...I...I...require assistance from you." Zim said; his voice hoarse and weak. Any hopes of assistance were shattered when Dib began laughing.

"You need the help of a HUMAN! Oh man Zim, that's great!" Dib hollered with his eyes closed in amusement.

"I should have known better not to trust ANYONE." Zim said darkly. It went unnoticed by Dib though, who was still laughing his heart out. Zim looked over his shoulder and saw that the man had left. He never did any of his "work" when he saw human interference. Zim let out a small sigh of relief. At least he wouldn't be followed home. But he still needed help getting home. Two bullets had entered his body and that horrible human had disabled his PAK legs earlier. Zim clutched the doorway harder trying to remain upright. Dib had opened his eyes as Zim closed his in pain.

*Maybe he does need help...* Dib thought, but pushed the thought aside. So what? Let Zim suffer a bit for once. After all, he got himself into whatever mess he was in. He could get out of it just fine, right? Zim was strong, he could pull through.

"Listen Zim, there's nothing I can do. This is your problem, not mine, so don't drag me into it." Dib said. He closed the door.

"So who was it?" Gaz asked as Dib entered the living room.

"Um...survey person."

"Didn't they stop going door-to-door after that one guy never returned?"

"No, they just don't go to house 777."

Zim stood outside the house for a few seconds, staring at the door. He sighed and limped in the direction of his house. His PAK legs were still offline and couldn't be accessed for another five minutes. Even then, they weren't at full power and could only support Zim for about a minute.

Zim kept on limping until he heard a twig snap. Spinning around too fast, he saw that the man had returned. Upon being noticed, the man ran towards Zim. Across the street, Zim noticed the old abandoned house he and Dib had hidden inside (when they were bologna) until the dogs were gone. Despite the pain in his body, Zim sprinted towards it.

A few more shots were fired. None of them entered their target, but one grazed Zim's right antennae. Zim hissed in pain and finally entered the house. Looking around, he spotted some old stairs and ran up them to the second floor. A signal in his PAK told him that its legs were back online. Zim quickly used them to hide in the rafters above the stairs just as the man entered the building.

"Fine alien, I am finished for tonight! But be warned, nobody can hide from me for long." the man shouted, leaving the house. Zim sighed in relief, at least now he could return to the base. Just as he was about to get down, a crack was heard. The rafter Zim was on gave way under his weight and both plummeted into the stairs. Those broke from the impact and Zim was once again on the first floor, covered in debris. His leg was caught under a beam, the other still bleeding from the gunshot. The other gunshot had lodged itself into his side. His left antennae hung crooked and useless while the right was severely injured. Three ribs and one arm were broken and various cuts could be seen on his face.

Zim tried to activate the PAK legs again, but there was no response. The impact had done something to the PAK, but it couldn't be fully analyzed without the Computer. Zim sighed in defeat. He was going to die here from blood loss or something of the sort; alone, weak, and at the hands of that terrible man known only as Bill.

Dib walked home alone from another day of High Skool. Gaz was still in the Middle Skool which got out later than the High Skool. He stopped for a minute and looked across the street he was on. The abandoned house was there, the same one he and Zim had taken shelter in from the dogs. Man, being bologna sucked...a lot.

Glancing at the sidewalk near the house, Dib noticed a trail of green liquid, green blood...Irken blood. The same stuff he had seen on his doorstep.

"Shit!" he shouted, running across the street to the house. He ran inside and surveyed the area. Where would Zim be? Was he still there?

"Zim!" he shouted, "Zim, are you here?"

"Dib?" a hoarse whisper said.

"Zim? Zim, is that you?"

"No, it's Lady GaGa. Of course it's me!" the whisper said curtly.

"I'll take that as a yes then." Dib replied to the odd use of Lady GaGa in sarcasm. "Where are you?"

"Do you see a large pile of debris?"

"That could be anywhere! I mean, just look at this place!"

"Use your brainmeats then! Look for a large pile of wood or something! Just hurry up! Every second you waste is a second of Zim's life that I could be using elsewhere!" Zim scoffed.

"You know, I could just leave you here."

"Well, you did that once already so a second time is expected. But I know you won't leave me here."

"You think you know everything, don't you? You're so arrogant."

"It's simple psychology Dib-human. You humans tend to give into this thing called "guilt" which is usually associated with "sympathy" and "pity"."

"What makes you think I'll sympathize with you? Or pity you? I don't care about your so-called "mission". And to be honest, my life has been ten times better ever since you left school. I have friends now and I met some other paranormal enthusiasts. I'm happy without you in my life Zim, so why would I pity you?"

"If you must know, I'm dying. If I'm not back at my base by tomorrow morning, I'll die here. This is not something I want to admit, but exile from the empire has changed my thoughts and habits. Dib, I need help." For once in his life, Zim's pride lowered enough to let him sincerely ask for help. He had tried contacting GIR, but nothing in the PAK was working with the exception of the essentials, life-support, atmospheric pressurizer, the works.

Dib stood still in the rotting house. Zim needed help, his help, to live. He was vulnerable, weak. The thing was, he didn't care. Zim could die and he wouldn't give a shit. Dib didn't care and, surprisingly, he didn't mind this insensitivity.

"Whatever Zim, I'm going home." Dib turned to leave, but stopped once he heard a small yelp.

"No, please don't leave Dib! If he comes back to finish the job, I'll be living my nightmares! I'd rather you do it than him! Anyone but him!" Zim shrieked as best he could. It was hard to make himself heard; he could feel his ribs poking at or into his squeedily spooch. He didn't want to find out which.

"Who are you talking about?" Dib asked, now curious as to what could make his enemy so panicked.

"That terrible paranormal investigator! He said he'd be back to finish the game! He's going to lock me up in a stasis pod and leave me to rot as the scientists perform horrible tests on me! Please Dib! Don't leave me here! I'll let you expose me! It would be better than him doing so!" Zim felt himself growing desperate as he pleaded to Dib. A life as Dib's experiment would be better than a life as Bill's experiment.

"You'd let me do that?" Dib asked.

"Yes! You never shot me! You never purposely poisoned me to the point of near-death! You never tried to truly shut down my PAK! You never hired people to beat me up! You never wanted me for your own amusement! At least you were trying to help the pathetic Earthanoids. This other guy just wants me for "personal reasons" that I have no intention of learning about. Please, help me."

Dib looked down at the ground as Zim mentioned everything that had happened over the years. Is that where all of those injuries came from he would see over the feed from the spy bugs? Is that where the paranoia of leaving the base came from? Is that where the quietness came from? The sparking PAK? The sickness that nearly killed him? Is this what was causing him to be overprotective over GIR? All the evidence pointed to one answer: Yes. This had changed Zim so much, warping his mind beyond recognition. He was no longer the loud, incompetent, proud, confident "Invader" he had been when he arrived. No, now he was paranoid, quiet, and just not Zim-like at all. Whatever he said that resembled his old self was said half-heartedly and without a purpose other than to appear "normal". It was then Dib realized that he had also contributed to Zim's recession.

He had harassed Zim when the truth appeared. He continued the war when the other side had obviously given up. He fired every blow and all Zim did was drop out of school. After all, what else could he do?

"Oh man Zim, I-I'm sorry." Dib stammered with an overwhelming amount of guilt. Zim wouldn't spend this long in a "depression" for a stupid Earth-conquest plan. No, this had been him for years. Zim was a shell of his former self.

"Um...I don't know what to say Dib..."

"Where are you?"

"Do you see a pile of wood anywhere?" Dib looked around and spotted a large pile near what looked like an old staircase. Well, it was busted now.

"Yeah, the one near the broken staircase?"

"I think so. I couldn't really see where I fell. I just know there was a lot of wood."

"Ok, hang on Zim." Dib said, walking over to the pile. Ignoring the splinters, he carefully lifted some of the wood beams off of the pile. After moving the first beam, he saw something green. Yes, this was the right pile.

Within ten minutes of lifting, he found Zim in a sorry-looking state. He was just a mess sitting in a large green puddle...oh no. Dib stopped, speechless. Zim wasn't lying when he said he needed help.

"Dib, could you get that beam over my leg?" Zim asked.

"Oh yeah, sure." He removed the beam and went to help Zim up from his position among the debris. Neither noticed the door close, or the man enter the house and trap them both inside. That is, until it was too late.

As Dib offered his hand to the alien, Zim retracted his and gasped. Dib raises an eyebrow as Zim pointed to something behind him. Slowly, he turned to face the man.

"You have something I want." The man said menacingly.

"Who are you?" Dib asked back.

"I'd think you remember your old career day partner."

"Bill?"

"You know him?" Zim asked flabbergasted.

"I was paired with him for Career Day in Elementary School. You know, Ms. Bitters class." Zim seemed to relax a bit. For a few seconds, he began to think the two were in cahoots.

"Yes, I remember."

"Good. Now," Dib turned his attention back to Bill, "What do you want? I thought you were busy with Count CoCo Fang." Dib smirked as Bill grew annoyed.

"No, I've left that behind me. The alien behind you is my focus at the moment." Bill replied.

"Why? I discovered him first."

"It is trying to take over the planet."

"How many times do I have to tell you that that is incorrect information?" Zim asked, glaring at Bill.

"Bullshit! You lie alien! And your little human friend is in on it! I have no choice but to bring you both with me. The kid will go back to his normal life, but you will be my experiment, my discovery." With that, Bill pulled out his prized weapon, his high-pressure water gun.

"Zim, let's go!" Dib shouted, dragging the Irken out of the debris. As fast as he could, he tried to ignore the terrible pain in his body, he ran with Dib to the kitchen of the house. There, they discovered a door leading to the basement. Without a second thought, they went through and slammed the door shut.

Bill cursed as he came to the door. Well, no choice but to go down and follow them. After all, they knew this house as well as he did. He descended into the darkness without a second thought.

Zim and Dib hid in a room trying to catch their breath. Dib couldn't help but notice Zim breathing erratically and shivering. He needed to get to his base, fast. But how? This basement seemed huge; a labyrinth to one without experience navigating around it.

It was then that Dib realized which house they were in. Although the owner was long gone, it was never wise to wander into this house, especially the basement. It would be hard to out run Bill in the basement and find their way back up to the surface without him noticing. It would be even harder not to get lost. Dib's heart sunk to his stomach as the gravity of the situation made itself clear. They shouldn't have gone down there. There was no way they were getting out.

For this was house #777.

A/N: Yeah, I know it's technically a different house and Johnny might not even have stairs, but that's what fan fiction is for. Plus, Nny's dead in this seeing as Zim takes place in the future so...yeah. And I mean actually dead, as in no returning from Hell. Also, I wrote this start to a chapter fic because I needed a break from Invader Dib. It is officially on hiatus right now and I'll post another chapter on February 22, 2011. I believe that is the day Operation Doom comes out so…yeah, just wait for it. I need the chance to catch up on it so I can actually do weekly updates…hopefully.

Also, I have no clue where I'm going with this story so please, bear with me!