(a/n: here you go. Enjoy.)
Act 7: The Other Side
Malice Lovelace wolfed down the last waffle on her plate. After swallowing the last piece of waffle, she sat back in the chair burping "Thanks for the chow".
Zim sat across from her, glaring at her with a look that could kill an entire city.
Marcus just sat beside Zim cleaning one of his pistols "You're welcome" said Marcus as he glanced at Zim.
Zim just grunted "Hmh" he got out of his chair and left the kitchen table.
After Tak was arrested and dragged off to the control brains to be judged for her assassination attempt on Zim, the Tallest said that Malice would be compensated for her troubles and that she was free to leave.
Malice agreed but there was a large glaring problem.
Malice couldn't leave Earth.
She couldn't leave Earth because a mysterious energy field messed up her ship's computer and power systems, causing her to crash back to Earth in a nearby forest.
Zim attempted to fly out into space with his Voot cruiser but his power systems failed as well and he dropped out of the sky like a stone.
After Zim crashed, Malice decided that she was going to stay with Zim and Marcus, since Zim's home was the only form of civilization within a hundred mile radius. Zim grudgingly allowed Malice to stay because she was a skilled killer and she agreed to assist Zim conquer Earth till her ship was repaired and the ship's systems reconfigured to break through the energy field surrounding Earth's upper atmosphere.
Marcus placed one of his guns on the table and picked up the other "Don't worry about him, he'll warm up to you eventually"
"Well I wouldn't blame him for acting like that" said Malice as she played around with a few strands of her own hair "I mean I would act like that if the person who tired to kill me is now living with me" Malice frowned "Actually that's pretty much how my marriage started"
"Is that so?" said Marcus, he spat on the gun and rubbed it till it gleamed
"Yep" sighed Malice, scratching her cheek "Although my marriage ended up with my husband getting filled with holes, I think this arrangement will have better results"
"Indeed it will" said Marcus, he returned his guns to their holsters "I'll make sure of it".
On Planet Irk, Irken General Tak stood before the massive metal Control Brain. After the big reveal of her attempt on Zim's life, she had been dragged to the Control Brain's chamber to be judged.
The Tallest had followed the security escort and had just ignored Tak the whole way.
Tallest Xale stood on a platform besides the metal behemoth.
The Control Brain spoke in a deep, electronic voice "General Tak, you have been brought here for attempted assassination of a fellow officer of the Irken Military"
"He's no longer an officer of the Irken Military" argued Tak "He single-handedly ruined Operation Impeding Doom 1 and was banished. When an Irken is banished, they lose all rights and protection of the law. Its on file, he's no longer an Irken soldier or citizen, so I had every right to kill him"
the Control Brain went silent for a moment as it searched through every file and document in its vast archives.
The Control Brain spoke "There is no such record in my index" Tak's heart skipped a few beats.
Without those records Tak was in serious trouble.
The Control Brain continued "For breaking our laws, you are hereby re-encoded" two metal cables slithered out of the ceiling and buried themselves in the access ports of her Pak.
A slight shock ran through her body and there was a small beep. Tak glanced up and saw on the large view screen above. It showed her current status. One second it read General and then in an instant it changed to Drone
"From now on you are stripped of rank, status and privilege and are forthwith banished from the core worlds of the Irken Empire."
Tak's jaw dropped open, she looked up at the Control Brain helplessly "no, you can't do this!".
All that hard work, all those years of clawing her way to the top vanished in the blink of an eye. Tak didn't want to go back to the outlying planets. The outer planets that clung to the fringes of the Irken Empire's territory were mostly lawless, crime infested frontiers, prison colonies or planets converted by the empire to serve its thriving industries.
The Control Brain ignored Tak's plea " you are sentenced to eighty six years of hard labor on the planet Foodcourtia and then you are to spend another eighty years on the planet Dirt" Tak's eyes widened and her body trembled a little "No, no, no, no, no!"
"Judgment has been passed" droned the Control Brain "Almighty Tallest, carry out the sentence"
"Guards!" barked Tallest Xale.
Two Irken soldiers rushed into the room. Tallest Xale pointed at Tak's trembling frame "Put her on the first transport to Planet Dirt, immediately" the two Irkens saluted.
The two soldiers disconnected the wires from Tak's pak and they grabbed Tak's arms and dragged her out of the room.
Tak was thrashing and screaming "No! Please! I can't go back there! Please! Nooooo-" her voice was cut off when the doors slammed shut after her.
In his laboratory, Zim toyed with the device in his hands. The device was a long silver rod with a sharp, violet tip. Buttons and switches adorned the length of the rod, Zim hefted the device and he slowly inserted it between the bars of the cage. T
he tip brushed the large ball of brown fur lightly and there was a slight crackle of energy that ran along the surface of the ball of fur. The ball of fur shuddered and bounced around the cage till it came to a stop.
The ball of fur shifted, two eyes opened, followed by a large mouth filled with jagged teeth. The creature snarled and hissed threateningly at Zim but Zim just jabbed the creature with the metal rod again, sending a wave of energy and pain through the creature.
It twitched and toppled over, Zim just chuckled "That never stops being amusing".
Marcus entered the lab, wearing only jeans, a plain green t-shirt and socks. He stopped wearing his coat and hat because they kept having unexpected guests show up randomly so he decided that it would be easier to stay in his human guise, rather then keep switching back and forth.
Marcus crossed his arms "So whats the plan now boss?"
Zim smiled "I've gotten a new, ingenious plan" he gestured to the cage "First I will unleash an army of rabid weasels upon Princess Bubblegum"
Marcus nodded "Ok, and then?" Zim's mouth opened then shut.
Zim just shrugged "I don't know, I never gotten around to that part"
Marcus sighed "Ok, that sounds like a great plan"
"I knew you'd like it" said Zim, proudly. Marcus smiled "Yes but I think we should at least keep it as Plan B for now"
Zim nodded "Yes I see what you mean, but the weasels will be used for later though right?"
Marcus nodded hesitantly "Ok, but do you have anything else planned?"
Zim nodded and began rubbing his hands together like a mad scientist "Yes, yes I do" he giggled "Yes, this plan is so ingenious that it will make your brains explode!"
Marcus raised an eyebrow "Really?" Zim nodded and giggled.
Marcus asked, "Can you please enlighten me of this ingenious plan of yours?" Zim managed to stop giggling and said in between breaths "Ok…heh, ok" Zim coughed and began explaining "Ok, first we-" but suddenly the familiar sound of the doorbell interrupted him.
Zim swore in Irken "Those filthy beasts just wont leave me alone"
"You?" said Marcus, cocking an eyebrow "I'm the one who keeps getting approached by these weirdoes. I've been busting my hump for this stupid operation while you have been sitting here doing nothing for the past week"
Zim just ignored him "Oh, why won't these filthy creatures leave Zim alone".
The two departed the labs and made their way to the upper levels.
Malice, wearing only a tattered white dress shirt, black pants with suspenders and combat boots, sat in the kitchen with GIR. She was toying with a hunting knife as she watched GIR wolf down stack after stack of waffles.
Malice found it fascinating that such a small robot could down so much food without exploding but it soon lost its appeal after an hour or so. The doorbell snapped her out of her thoughts. She got up and went to the door.
Malice carefully concealed her knife by placing it up her sleeve.
Malice adjusted her sleeve and her collar then coughed. She opened the door expecting an attacker but she all she saw were a boy and a dog.
Malice was a little relieved but slightly disappointed, she was secretly hoping for an attack to take away the boredom she was suffering from.
She glanced at the two "Can I help you?" the boy just stared at her with wide eyes, mouth slightly agape.
The dog nudged him gently and the boy stammered "uh…is Zim…here?"
Malice nodded "I believe so" she glanced back over her shoulder and saw Zim and Marcus rush into the living room.
Malice stepped aside and Zim appeared in the doorway "Uh…thank you for answering the door, strange lady who lives in my house. now leave!" grunted Zim.
Malice just shrugged "Whatever"
she shoved her hands into her pockets and smiled at Finn "Nice meeting ya" she turned and retreated back into the house.
Zim watched as Malice went back to the kitchen to watch GIR eat waffles.
Once she was out of sight, Zim turned to Finn and Jake "Soooo what do you want?" asked Zim.
Finn blinked then said "We're just wondering, do you want to come adventuring with us?" Zim blinked in surprise.
No human had ever asked him, Zim, to do anything with them before, except for maybe Keef but this was different.
Zim narrowed his eyes at the two, looking them over suspiciously "Why are you asking me?"
Finn just shrugged "Princess Bubblegum is doing experiments, Marceline hasn't been acting like herself and we haven't seen her since the Ice Kingdom and most of our other friends are busy. So what do you say?"
Zim was about to say no but he stopped himself. This was a perfect opportunity to study this human and his dog closely.
Zim held up a finger "Just a moment" he closed the door and he turned to Marcus "I'm going out for a while and while I'm gone, I'm leaving Minimoose in charge. Just continue about your business, don't let GIR near the reactor again, you know what happened last time. Be on your guard and don't destroy the base"
"Whatever, just go and have a good time with your new friends" said Marcus, he plopped down on the couch, pulling out a pair of noise canceling headphones from beneath the couch cushions and he put them on. He hit play on the small music device; he closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep.
Zim opened the door "Ok, I'm ready"
"Ok lets go!" said Finn and the three departed.
Marceline sat on her couch with a dusty old photo album in her lap. She skimmed through the hundreds of aged photos.
Marceline had searched through several other photo albums but found no trace of Marcus.
Normally she would just give up and just laugh at how she was behaving but she had a nagging feeling that she just had to keep searching.
Marceline flipped to the last page in the album and found what she was looking for. On the last page was a single, aged photo. The photo was of her, her father and Marcus.
The three were sitting together, with her in between the two, happily eating pizza. They were sitting at a corner booth in a pizzeria she faintly remembers. In the photo they all looked…human.
Her skin wasn't grey and her father's skin wasn't dark blue, his eyes were plain green and had warmth to them. She glanced at the Marcus in the photo.
He looked exactly the same as he did when she saw him a few days ago but there were some differences to his features.
His hair was messy and unkempt instead of its current spiky fashion. His skin was a healthy color and his eyes gleamed. Marceline smiled a little.
She could remember only pieces of that night.
The smell of pizza, the laughter of her father and brother and the chattering from the other customers came to mind. She was about to close the photo album when something in the photo caught her eye.
Marceline noticed at the edge of the photo was the window, giving her a limited view of people passing by but one particular person caught her eye.
Walking by the window was the familiar form of Zim.
Five hours after leaving Zim's home and traveling with Finn and Jake, Zim collapsed face first with exhaustion.
For five whole hours, Finn and Jake dragged him around and did various odd jobs and activities that Finn called 'Adventures'.
Zim indeed learnt more about this new earth and its inhabitants but for the most part he was occupied with helping all manner of creatures, like talking animals, living snack foods and creatures from human myths.
Zim had to summon ever ounce of will power to keep himself from throwing up. He hated helping people.
Zim had also began to loath Finn and Jake because they wouldn't leave him alone for five minutes. With the two adventurers watching Zim closely, he was unable to call GIR or Marcus for help. But opportunity came knocking when the trio had found a large hole in the ground near a raging river.
It was an odd hole.
It was perfectly round and had a metal ladder leading into darkness.
Zim, fed up with being dragged around, told the two adventurers that he broke his leg and he needed to rest. They bought his lie and entered the opening without him. Zim rolled over onto his back.
He stared at the clear blue sky muttering, "This human is going to kill me".
Zim sat up and glanced around at his surroundings suspiciously. The land around him looks so familiar somehow he just couldn't place it.
He heard Finn call for him from the hole in the ground "Zim! Dude you got to see this, its totally mathematical!" Zim grumbled something and walked over to the opening, then began his descent into the darkness.
Once his foot hit solid ground, Zim hopped off of the ladder and pulled out a flashlight from his pak and switched on the small lighting device.
Zim's eyes widened in shock at what he saw. From what Zim could see was that he was in a spacious, metal room that was packed with technology, desks and books.
Zim glanced around, moving his flashlight around the room till he saw Finn and Jake on the far side of the room inspecting some odd goggles.
Finn waved Zim over and Zim marched over to their side of the room.
Finn handed him the goggles "Check these goggles out, they're awesome!"
Zim placed the goggles over his eyes and suddenly he could see the whole room clearly, as if it were lit. Zim glanced around and he saw that behind the ladder, the room stretched on even further and it was stocked with even more curious items.
Zim smiled "Neat" he walked through the forest of machinery and technology, looking upon them in awe.
With this technology, he could conquer the earth and maybe even find the box that was stolen from him.
Suddenly Zim came to a halt at a table in the corner of the lab. He picked up a what looked like two half's of a circle connected by a little ring of metal. Zim turned it over in his hands and saw little lights adorning the two halfs.
Suddenly it hit him. It was a collar.
But it wasn't any collar; it was the collar that Dib wore when he and Zim were sucked into that horrifying dimension filled with monsters on Halloween. Zim realized that the room they are occupying must have belonged to Dib.
"I know, just check out all this science junk" he heard Jake say as he inspected a massive piece of machinery
"I wonder what this dose" said Finn, reaching to touch a familiar looking device. The device looked a pair of binoculars attached to a long cylinder that had a long sharp point at the end.
Zim's eyes widened in fear, realizing that it was the same dimensional scope that got him and Dib out of that nightmarish realm.
Zim began sprinting towards Finn, trying in vain to stop him but Finn picked it up and his hand brushed against some buttons on the sides of the cylinder, causing a soft hum to emit from the device. Finn glanced into the binoculars and gasped, "oh my glob, this is amazing!"
"No!" cried Zim "You foolish human!" he launched himself at Finn.
Suddenly a burst of light erupted forth and Finn's head became enveloped by it, then the light spread to his entire body.
Zim's arms made contact with Finn and suddenly the two became enveloped in blinding blue light.
When the light died, Jake found himself alone in the darkness and silence.
Security officer Zeke, who was monitor duty when the group of intruders found the cave of gold and jewels, was reading a magazine when he heard a faint beeping sound. Zeke lowered the magazine from his face and glanced at the monitor in annoyance, wondering what was disrupting the systems this time.
Zeke's heart almost stopped at what he saw on the monitors.
Zeke quickly called his superior, Captain Blake to see it.
Captain Blake marched into the monitor room with a steely look on his face "What is it this time" growled the grey haired officer "More treasure hunters?"
"No sir" said Zeke, he jabbed a finger at one of the monitors "Somebody had entered sub level seven four and activated one of the devices".
The captain's eyes widened "What! But how, it is impossible to get in there, the security systems should've obliterated the intruders…unless" the captain trailed off.
"Unless, the intruder was a true blood relative of the Empress" said Zeke, finishing off the captain's thoughts.
The Captain coughed "but it is impossible, all her blood relative's have died"
"Yes but you and I both know she has one blood relation that has been missing for the past thirteen years" Zeke pointed out.
The captain scratched his steel grey hair and sighed "ok. We must inform the Empress" "No need" hissed a familiar voice. The two froze and turned.
Standing in the doorway was Empress Gaz Membrane. She was dressed in flowing violet robes and pieces of high tech armor were placed around her body
"I have received the alert before you did" said Gaz coolly.
The Captain and Zeke just stared at her nervously, till Captain Blake asked, "What are your orders, ma'am?"
"We go to my brother's lab to investigate what they were doing there" said Gaz, pulling on a hood "then we retrieve my son and kill the rest of the intruders" she gestured for the two to follow "You two shall accompany me" she turned on her heel and left.
Zeke and Blake glanced at each other and rushed after the Empress.
The transport ship descended from the sky and landed in a narrow back ally. The side door slid open and a gangway lowered itself to the ground.
Two armed Irken guards dragged Tak by the arms down the gangway and through a set of doors. The trio journeyed through a hall that was packed with boxes and machines till they reached a very messy kitchen.
The three Irkens heard a gruff voice speak "Another huh? doesn't look like much but she'll do"
the three saw a large, portly Irken in a hovering chair glide into the kitchen through another set of doors on the other side of the kitchen "Thank you soldiers, you may go"
the two soldiers saluted "Thank you Frylord". Sizz-Lor returned the salute and the two soldiers departed.
Once the soldiers had left and the sounds of the ship taking off had faded, Tak saw a nasty grin appear on Sizz-Lor's face that sent chills down her spine.
She wanted to speak but she just couldn't find the words.
Instead Sizz-Lor tossed her a plunger and said coldly "Welcome to Foodcourtia former general. now get to work, i need the bathrooms unclogged and cleaned, booth twelve cleaned for some guests that are coming in five minutes-" he continued rattling off a long list of chores as Tak was trying to plan her escape.
After he finished listing the chores, Sizz-Lor noticed that Tak was just standing there, deep in her thoughts.
Sizz-Lor just sneered "Thinking of escape? don't, because i have updated the restaurant's security system" he snapped his fingers and automated hands came out from the ceiling and placed a manacle on her wrist "If you try to leave while you are wearing this, you will explode"
Tak's heart almost dropped into her gut. She is familiar with the security system. It was currently used by Irken Prisons to keep prisoners from escaping and so far it has rendered all escapes futile.
Sizz-Lor growled "Now, get to work. we open in five minutes."
Tak sighed and trudged off to work muttering "This is not going to be easy"
Finn's eyes fluttered open, he saw a deep purple sky hanging above his head that was filled with glittering stars and jagged black clouds
"Oh man, night already?" grumbled Finn, he sat himself up.
His head was throbbing and his back ached.
Finn looked beside him and found Zim sitting there, muttering and his eyes darting around in fear "Zim, are you ok?" asked Finn.
Zim's landed on Finn and he hissed "Look what you have done now, you troublesome boy!" he got up and waved his arms around "Look around you!"
Finn got up and he saw that the two of them were standing in a barren, disserted street.
Surrounding them was a city of twisted and misshapen structures.
It looked like a normal city but twisted and warped into a dark parody of itself. There were towering black spires made of organic material and stone, they all had large holes in them.
Some buildings didn't look like buildings at all, some just looked like large blocks of stone.
Finn had been all over Ooo and seen many strange places but he never seen such a city.
Something about it made his blood run cold "Where are we?" asked Finn
"We're in the Nightmare Realm" said Zim, fearfully "We better hurry before-" a sharp, earsplitting screech pierced the cool, silent air.
Finn and Zim glanced around them but saw nothing. There were more screeches and suddenly a crash of thunder and flash of lightning cut through the dark sky.
Finn drew his blood red sword "What was that?" asked Finn, sounding a little nervous
"The Halloweenies!" cried Zim.
Finn and Zim saw hundreds of hideous, twisted and disfigured monsters crawling out of the shadows.
Leading the monsters was one that Zim was all too familiar with.
"Well, well, well, lookie who we have here" sneered the monstrous doppelganger of Miss Bitters.
End of chapter.
(a/n: well here you go. what'd you think? anyway review and all.)