Hello again! I'm back with the third chapter! I sincerely hope that you've been enjoying the story so far, I've been trying to keep things interesting. I apologize for any OOC-ness. Quick disclaimer, and then we can start. I do not own Invader Zim, the show and all it's aspects and characters belong to Jhonen Vasquez. Story is written for fun, not profit. Okay then, here goes Chapter Three!
(flashback) Dib's P.O.V.
As the elevator I was in slowly descended into Zim's base, I reflected on what his robot, Gir, had said.
"Gir said Zim wasn't feeling good… Maybe he really is sick… But what if he didn't tell his robot he was faking? Or maybe he told Gir to say that… But why would he? His gnomes weren't on, and everyone is supposed to be at school or work right now… It doesn't make sense… I'm talking out loud to myself again… Whatever. He probably just didn't tell his robot… That has to be it."
As soon as I stopped talking, I became aware of a noise coming from somewhere deeper in the base. It sounded like two people arguing… I was too far away to make out what they were saying, all I could hear was the tone of the voices. The first voice was somewhat mechanical, a sarcastic monotone… Zim's computer. The second voice was strange, though. It would sound like Zim's voice, and then fade into a raspy growl, sharp and angry, almost like… A wolf barking? Odd… My thoughts were cut short by a jolt from the elevator, it had reached the bottom.
No sooner had I stepped out of the elevator than I tripped over something. I looked over my shoulder to see what it was, and Gir was standing there!
"What, GIR? How did you get down here before me?"
"….. I haven't the slightest idea!"
Then the robot broke off into a fit of insane giggling. I sighed.
"Look Gir, just stay here. I'm gonna go talk to Zim, okay?"
The robot stared at me blankly for a few seconds, then broke into a goofy grin and began to nod vigorously.
"YUP! Okey Dokey! I stay here and make sure the rabid squid-ninjas don't get in!"
"Right…. You do that," I said, walking off and leaving the little robot there, laughing insanely to himself, and mumbling something about "cheesy goodness."
I followed the sounds of the voices, and as I got closer, I started to be able to understand some of what they were saying.
"I told you, run a diagnostic on the illness!" the wolfy voice barked.
"…I've already run three," replied the computerized monotone.
"WELL RUN ANOTHER ONE, THEN! These can't possibly be right, they LIE!"
"You can run a thousand more, Zim. The results will not change. You have Lupitis, and no amount of tests you take will make a difference, and you know it," snapped the computer.
Huh, so the wolf-bark was Zim… Odd… I wonder what happened to his voice… And what's Lupitis?
I must have spaced out a bit, because the next thing I knew I was about to walk in front of a doorway. I stopped short, and just in time, because Zim was in this room, and if the tone of his voice was any clue, if he'd seen me it would not have been pretty.
I peered through the doorway and into the room, leaning in just barely enough. I had to squint at first because the room was fairly bright compared to the sparse lighting in the rest of the base. However, when my eyes adjusted, the scene I saw seemed normal enough, aside from the fact that Zim was a bit hunched over where he stood.
"I AM YOUR MASTER, IF I TELL YOU TO RUN ANOTHER TEST, SO HELP ME, YOU RUN ANOTHER TEST!" Zim screamed.
"No, I'm not running anymore tests! They eat time and power, and the results aren't going to change! It's pointless Zim, give it up alreadly!" the computer yelled back.
Zim seemed to sigh, and dropped the papers he had been holding. I almost thought he was submitting when he leaned forward, putting his arms on the elaborate keyboard in front of him. But suddenly, every single one of his muscles visibly tightened, and he gripped the keyboard so hard that his claws dug into it, leaving small rivets on the glowing surface. Then he began to tear the keyboard apart, shouting swears, both in English and Irken.
"STOP IT! IT'S NOT GOING TO HELP!" shouted the computer, panicking.
"GOD DAMN YOU!" Zim screeched in response, burying his fist in the computer screen, shattering it and causing an automatic shutdown.
Most of the light in the room disappeared, he must have destroyed the main computer. He glanced at his handiwork with a smug chuckle, which dissolved into a barking cough. He raised his hand to his face, and began to pull out the glass shards imbedded in it, dropping some in the small puddle of blue blood beginning to pool on the floor, others he just threw in random directions as if they were darts, not caring if he hit anyone, although there was not really anyone there to hit. The final glass shard, however, he threw in my direction, and I almost got out of the way in time. Almost. The shard just barely grazed my cheek, leaving a fine cut under my right eye before sticking in the wall behind me.
I let out a tiny gasp of pain, and that gasp, despite how small it was, was my third mistake.
I froze. So did Zim. My mind was racing. Could he have heard that? No, there's no way… Why did he stop? He couldn't have heard that, it must have been something else. You know he heard that. Stupid, stupid, stupid! You knew better than to make a noise! Idiot, now you're going to pay for it! You saw what he did to the computer, now it's gonna happen to you! But there's no way he could have heard that! Is there? Please don't let him have heard that… Please…
I was too scared to even move, until the sound of approaching footsteps brought me out of my shock. I took off down the hallway, knowing that he would hear me, but hoping he wouldn't be able to catch up. At the sound of me running, he barreled out the door, and with an enraged roar, started to run after me.
It was unbelievable how fast he moved, he didn't even have to activate his PAK legs to keep close behind me. But it was strange the way he moved, at first he was running upright, but then he started to run lower and lower to the ground, until he was running on all fours. The oddest thing about this was that it didn't looked accidental, or forced, in fact it looked almost natural. It was hard to keep ahead of him, he was tearing down the hallway just a few yards behind me, bellowing swears at the top of his voice.
There was a turn in the darkened hallway, which I made without much difficulty, but Zim had so much momentum that it was impossible for him to make the sharp turn, and he crashed headlong into the wall, scrambling for purchase on the smooth floor. That lengthened my lead by several yards.
The elevator can't be far now, I thought. I was right, there, about twenty yards ahead, the hall ended and there was the elevator. Unfortunately, Gir was standing directly in front of the elevator, performing ridiculous-looking ninja moves.
"GIR! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" I yelled down the hall.
The robot looked up.
"HEY! You're BACK! DID YOU AND MASTER HAVE A NICE TEA PARTY?"
I didn't bother answering, I just threw the little robot out of the way, and began frantically pressing the door button on the elevator. By this time, Zim had gotten up, and was tearing down the hall towards me, cursing a blue streak in six different languages. The elevator doors opened and I rushed inside, and began pressing the close door button as rapidly as I could. Zim was just a few feet away when the doors finally slid shut, just in time for Zim to crash against the other side, so angry by this point that I wasn't sure if some of the words he was yelling even meant anything.
Then suddenly there was a tremendous bang accompanied with a bulge in the metal of the door, and more curses. Then another, and another. He was trying to punch his way through!
Suddenly the metal ruptured and an arm reached through and started groping around. I pressed my back against the side of the elevator opposite the door, wanting to be as far from Zim as possible. My eyes darted around, looking for anything that would help me. My gaze came to rest on the elevator control panel. If I could get to that, I could get out, but there was no way to reach it without Zim throttling me, unless… I glanced over the rest of the small elevator, until I found what I was looking for. There was a small, knifelike shard of metal on the floor left over from when Zim smashed the door. I darted in and picked it up, and waited for an opening...
There!
I leaned in and struck at Zim with the shard, opening a long gash in his arm. He gave a high-pitched yelp, and the arm retracted. Without hesitating, I dashed to the control panel, and slammed down on the buttons. The mechanism groaned and began to move, grinding and clicking due to the damage to the elevator.
I gave a sigh of relief, and was just starting to relax when I heard a growly voice echoing up the elevator shaft.
"ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP YOU LITTLE CUR! IF YOU EVER HAVE THE NERVE TO COME HERE AGAIN, I SWEAR I WILL END YOUR EXISTENCE BEFORE YOU CAN BLINK! DO YOU HEAR ME? IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE, YOU WILL NEVER, EVER COME BACK HERE FOR AS LONG AS YOU LIVE! NEVER!"
He continued shouting, but I didn't listen, I really didn't need to hear any more death threats today, towards me or otherwise.
As soon as the elevator reached the house level, I scrambled out of the toilet and ran like my life depended on it, because, actually, it did.
Sooooo, that's it for Chapter Three! Hope you enjoyed it! This was my longest chapter so far, and I think it may be my favorite. Please R&R and tell me what you thought of it! I will try to update soon. Oh, and have a happy Thanksgiving everyone! Invader ShadowWolf, OUT!