Extra-long 2 in 1 chapter!
Warning: this is a very violent chapter…
The outside of the spittle runner had taken quite a battering. Space suit on and tools in hand, Dib set to work, pounding out dents, re- fixing steel plates, and fusing together any tears in metal and wire. The spittle runner was at a standstill about 10 minutes 3wks away from the last asteroid. He refused to continue the journey until everything running ship shape. He laughed at the pun in his head. This was probably going to take some time.
VIRAL OUTBREAK LOG; DAY 35
Zim and Dib were gathered around the test tubes and microscopes. Fortunately their scuffle hadn't destroyed the most important piece of equipment, with the closest they had come to an antidote inside. Dibs hand still hadn't healed properly, and he was gently flexing his fingers against the elastic. He gaze pensively into the distance when Zim spoke.
"Pay attention!" He snapped
"Sorry" Dib said, and re-adjusted the plate they were looking at. "I was just thinking about how weird this is."
"You're weird, earth weirdness."
"Like the universe is so huge" Dib said ignoring him "what are the chances that you, an alien from another planet, and me, your arch nemesis would end up working together like this."
"This is not important" Zim said irritably, looking back at his notes.
Dib just grinned. Zim had scribbled 'Dib is an idiot' on his page in Irken. Zim still didn't know that Dib knew how to speak it yet. He was waiting for the perfect time, when he could really rub it in.
Despite their mutual hatred, Dib had actually enjoyed the last month, and while Zim was almost intolerable, it was nice to have someone on his side for a change. Then he felt the beginnings of a solution form in his head.
"Hang on" Dib said suddenly "I think I know the formula for the antidote!
11:00 hours
"This is definitely going to work." Dib more confidently than he felt.
"Yes yes so you say, but you better not try to eat Zim!"
They'd tried injecting the antidote into the virus, and it seemed to successfully destroy it. All that was left now was a human test subject. They couldn't go out and get one, as they would contract the airborne virus. So they had to do it one at a time, injecting each other with it, and then the antidote to make sure it worked. After some argument, Dib drew the short stick and had to go first.
"We don't have day Dib pig, give me your arm!"
Dib bit his lip and held his arm out reluctantly. Zim snatched it, and strapped it down, but hesitated. He held the needle menacingly. On one hand, if this didn't work, Dib would be rendered a useless zombie like the others, a victory for Zim! But on the other hand if that happened, Dib being a useless zombie didn't exactly sound like fun. He would be alone on a planet full of brain dead humans. More than usual of course. His human had better be ok. He stabbed Dib in the arm.
Dib yelped and then the symptoms set in. The effect was so sudden it seemed unreal, and shocked Zim. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his body began convulsing violently. Zim quickly jabbed him with the antidote in his arm, the restraint dug into him as he shook. Dib was still shaking and his face dripped with sweat. Blood began to drip from his nose and for a horrible moment Zim thought it hadn't worked, that Dib was doomed to become an infected and useless sack of bones like the others, but then Dib's eyelids closed, and the shaking slowed a little. When he opened them again, Zim saw his eyes had swivelled back round and pupils slowly dilate to their normal size. He heaved in deep shuddering breaths and slowly calmed down. He coughed, then spat up some blood.
"Well that was fun" he managed, his voice weak
"Stupid earth pig" He felt the tiniest atom of relief rush through him.
"Your turn Zim"
13:00 hours
The sealed doors of their quarantine prison slowly hissed open. They had been trapped inside for upwards of a month, and were finally free!
They made their way to the elevator in Zim's base, and punched the up button. They stood in silence as they flew up the narrow chute in the earth and emerged from Zim's base, and left equipped with the antidote. Kurt was going down. Just inside Zim's territory, something stirred out the corner of dibs eye. He almost screamed when Gaz came up beside him and punched him on the arm. Thankfully it was his good arm.
"Gaz!" he gasped, getting ready to run.
There was no way he was going to wrestle with a zombified version of his sister. To his surprise she didn't appear to be infected.
"That took you long enough." She huffed, folding her arms.
"You're… ok?" dib said uncertainly.
"Of course." she shrugged and began to walk toward town. "I've just been waiting out here bored for you guys to make the antidote."
"Wait you didn't catch the virus?" dib asked hurrying after her.
Gaz simply rolled her eyes. Duh.
"Typical, the dib sister is immune!" Zim said with an air of annoyance.
The antidote was probably in her DNA the whole time, meaning that they were also in his Dib's. Dib groaned in realisation.
"Dib, Zim, you two concentrate on getting that antidote airborne, I'm going to take down Kurt."
"Wait what? You know it was Kurt?"
"I've not been sitting around with my thumbs up my ass. I know he's behind this, and I've analysed his computer software. I have a bug that is going to crash every last one of his units." She kicked a piece of rubbish and sent is skidding down the deserted street.
"Not a chance you're going alone, we've spent too much time on this to let you take all the glory! Zim made a virus too, you could both work together on this and destroy him. Right Zim?"
Zim said nothing. In fact he'd been unusually quiet this whole time.
"Zim?"
"Hmm? What? Yes me and the female can take down the Kurt human." He waved his hand in the air.
"FINE" Gaz snapped.
"Humph."
Something was on his mind. He'd gotten so used to being in Dib's presence, so used to his annoying habits and his snores, his stupid remarks, his stupid stupid. The idea of going back to the base after this was all over seemed empty and hostile. But they could never be friends. Poor lonely Zim, stuck on a planet light-years from the armada, on a mission he could almost accept was fake. But this could all go away. The brilliant Zim would still conquer this puny pig infested planet, and then he would show the tallest that he was a worthy invader. He would be welcomed back a hero, maybe even given a prize. It would all be worth it. He would succeed! And when he did, he would take the dib human down.
14:00 hours
They were lucky, and hadn't ran into any infected humans, and so reached the tallest building in the city in a short amount of time.
"We have to climb this to release the antidote" dib explained, "Has to be high up,"
Gaz narrowed her eyes, thoroughly annoyed at being dragged along to this, when she could be taking down Kurt on her own.
"Zim will be the FIRST to the top!" Zim sneered extracting his pak legs, and set off, easily scaling the side of the building.
Dib knew a challenge when he saw one, and began climbing the fire escape as fast as he could. They reached the top, Zim a little ahead of dib, and collapsed on the roof out of breath.
"Took your time" Gaz said nonchalantly, leaning up against a wall.
"How did you-?" dib gasped.
Gaz simply motioned to the elevator.
"Right." Dib got to his feet "Zim the "thing""
Zim still lay on the floor panting.
"Zim!" and when he didn't respond "Zim?" he kicked him gingerly.
If I don't fix this planet, maybe we can stay like this forever, just me Dib and his weird sister. But what use was that? He'd never be able to go back to the tallest, never get treated with the respect he deserved, never ever. Anger boiled up inside him. He would cut ties with his Dib as soon as this was over.
"Come on Zim!" Dib pulled him roughly to his feet.
"Fine!" Zim hissed, pulling out the "thing"
The "thing" was a special device they'd built, and were too lazy to name, that would shoot the antidote into the sky, and have it expand in the clouds, causing a thunderstorm that would rain down on the infected citizens. Zim was less than enthusiastic about this plan, but it was the best one they had. He'd applied several thick layers of paste, and dib had provided an umbrella and raincoat.
Dib carefully loaded the antidote into the "thing", and aimed it at the sky. He hesitated. Once he pulled the trigger, and they took down Kurt, this would all be over. Zim however had made up his mind, suddenly getting angry at Dib's hesitance.
"Pull the trigger human pig boy!"
Dib took a deep breath. There was a bang, and the "thing" shot the antidote into the sky, releasing it into the stratosphere. Almost immediately dark rainclouds began to form, like a time-lapse. It was frightening. Dib rummaged around in his backpack, which was difficult to do with the use of only one hand, and pulled out the umbrella.
"Here" he said he said holding it out.
Zim batted it out of his hand harshly. The rejection squeezed at his heart and hurt almost as much as the pain in his left hand when the umbrella hit it. Almost. He supressed a cry of pain and bit his lip, breathing deeply. His eyes watered dangerously. He kicked Zim's legs out from under him, and swung his bag back onto his back.
"Come on Gaz" he said storming over to the elevator just as a booming roll of thunder crashed around them. Pathetic fallacy thought dib, and slammed his hand onto the down button, leaving Zim on the roof.
That was weird Gaz observed. They always fought, but this time their petty squabble seemed less of a game, and a little more intense. Like it had some sort of underlying meaning. Dib seemed more put out than usual.
17:00 hours
The outside of Kurt's base was the entrance to a small bookshop. The rain was coming down heavily now, and a dripping Zim was beginning to show the first signs of pain. An occasional eye twitch, a quick sucking of air through teeth. It had been three hours and he still refused the umbrella and raincoat dib had repeatedly offered him. Fine then. They entered the small building, and made their way toward the back. The door to the back room was locked with an electronic keypad. Zim stepped up and shoved Dib out of the way without saying a word, and inserted the tip of one of his pak legs. It opened up into a small probe that fit into the side. Zim's body went rigid, and the numbers on the lock whirred past until the first number stuck. 9. The numbers behind it whirred on, until a sequence formed. 9. 4. 2. 8.
Dib supressed a smirk. 942 were the numbers Gaz used to have as her phone password. They spelled out Gaz with a little imagination.
Zim relaxed a little as there was a soft beeping, and the door hissed. He retracted his pak leg, and pulled the door open. Dib brushed past him coldly. No doubt by now Kurt's alarm system had been triggered, eliminating the element of surprise.
"Deactivated the alarms" Gaz said as if she'd read his mind, slipping her phone into her pocket.
They made their way down the stairs into the basement. There was another tightly locked door with a keypad lock. Dib doubted he'd use the same password twice, but it was worth a try. . A quick beeping, and the door opened.
"I can't believe this guy" Dib said to himself. Both Zim and Gaz were being too quiet. It was making him uncomfortable. They entered the door, and were faced with yet more steps, leading down to a broad, dimly lit room. Gaz slunk into the shadows. In front of an impressive computer and various panels, was a swivel chair.
"Kurt Vlog!" Dib said from behind their enemy, "Its game over for you!"
The chair swivelled round instantly.
"Argh!" Kurt screamed standing abruptly "I spilled my cereal!" he wiped at his trousers in vain.
Kurt was a man in his early twenties, jet black hair was pushed off his face. He had deep brown eyes high cheekbones and sallow skin. He was actually quite attractive, and would have looked threatening if it weren't for the steadily spreading wet patch and Cocofangs cereal dripping from his shirt.
"God damn it! What do you want dib?"
"Um..." dib was taken aback. He didn't seem surprised that he was there at all, more slightly annoyed.
"Prepare to die!" Zim screamed and attacked him.
Kurt grinned and it was on. He whipped out a laser pistol from a nearby shelf, and began to fire upon Zim. He got closer and ripped at his skin with his pak legs. Kurt screamed and dropped the gun, rolling out of the way of Zim's razor sharp weapons. Zim lowered himself to the ground and pulled Kurt up by the front of his shirt with his pak legs.
"Despicable" he spat, throwing him back to the ground. Kurt got to his feet and launched a punch at Zim's face. He ducked to the side, giving Kurt the perfect opening to jab Zim's pak with an electric prod that he'd pulled out of nowhere. Dib dove at him, just as Zim's pak short circuited, the small Irken lay unconscious, strewn across the floor, his pak legs still out, motionless. His system wouldn't reboot for another 5 minutes. Dibs gut turned, as he threw himself on top of Kurt, tackling him to the floor. He grabbed his hair and smacked his head into the floor. Kurt yelped and pushed dib off.
Dibs mind roared as he got to his feet. Nobody fought Zim like that, nobody. If anyone was going to take the alien down it was going to be him, even if it was the last thing he did. It was a mutual feeling.
He ran at Kurt and punched his face. He ducked the next blow and ran at Dib, pushing him against a wall and punching him repeatedly in the face. Dib screamed. Kurt was holding tightly to his injured arm. Dib kicked him, stomping on his toes to get him away. Kurt punched him in the stomach, winding him. Dib doubled over gasping for breath.
"Look at me" Kurt demanded, pulling him up by the hair. Dib, gritted his teeth, and with every inch of force he had left, head-butted Kurt in the face. He staggered back and his feet kicked the laser gun. He picked it up and aimed it at dib.
"Now what?" dib spat "we've already released the antidote, you've already lost."
"Wait really? That was fast, I would have thought it would have taken you at least another month."
"What?" dib asked confused.
"Well you and the green kid are such good chums, I knew you'd figure it out eventually." Kurt grinned and shot a shelf of books behind dib. They collapsed on top of him and he fell with a scream. Kurt neared him.
"It was all just a bit of fun you see." He was still holding the gun, casually aimed at dib "Actually it was your sis-"
Kurt was ripped off his feet and sent skidding across the floor.
"STAY AWAY FROM ZIMS HUMAN!" Zim screamed, appearing and standing firmly in front of dib.
Before anything else could be said or done, there was a loud wailing of sirens and flashing lights, which abruptly cut out.
"system failure" a loud mechanical voice boomed from the computer, and everything went quiet, whirring to a halt. Neither Zim, nor Kurt, who'd gotten to his feet, breathed a word. The only noise in the room was the quiet whimpering of dib, as Zim stood protectively over him. And then there was the sound of footsteps coming out of the shadows.
"Kurt," Gaz whined softly "you're in a lot of trouble." Kurt visibly paled.
"To think" she continued, emerging "that you'd go and have all this fun, and leave poor old me out in the maelstrom?"
Gaz sauntered up to Kurt, and stroked his cheek seductively.
"Do you know" she almost whispered "how long it's been" Kurt's Adams apple bobbed. Gaz reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. "Since I've had a pizza?" she snarled. Suddenly pulling his dark brown locks.
"Gaz!" he whimpered "I thought you left for Europe!"
"Well you thought wrong!" she said pushing him back into the swivel chair and straddled him.
While it was true that Gaz had been meant to leave for Europe, she'd had her plans cancelled last minute, and had ended up staying. Whatever their weird Bonnie and Clyde relationship was, she was clearly very pissed off at being kept out of the loop.
"I told you not to do it didn't I?" she hissed in his ear.
"You said it would be funny!" he gasped.
"It's not funny if I'm in another country, and definitely not if I'm locked out! Besides, I said it as a joke you idiot! You didn't have to take it this far."
"I'm sorry!" said, his voice strangled.
"I was out there for almost 6 weeks you ass! I couldn't even call you because of this stupid radiation proof bunker" she snarled "your password was sweet though. Gaz forever? You're hopeless. Call me when you're ready to behave." She brought her face close to his, her lips parted slightly and- she got up and flipped the chair over, Kurt and all and stormed out, leaving Kurt a blubbering mess with a hard on. Well it looked like she had that under control.
Virus terminated; day 1
Dib woke in his bed. He didn't recall how he'd gotten there. The last thing he remembered was a really weird interaction between Kurt and his sister, and cold steel wrapping around his body. Then he'd lost consciousness. He winced and climbed out of bed, and wearily went down into the kitchen. Gaz was leaning against the counter eating a pizza.
"How's your arm?" she asked.
He looked down. It was swollen and bruised, and it hurt with a deep throbbing pain.
"It'll be fine." He said, "Everything back to normal?" he asked
"Yep" Gaz said pulling another slice of pizza from the box.
"How did I get home?"
"Zim carried you. It was raining a lot too, I don't know how he managed. He was almost as bad as you were when he turned up at the door."
"Really?" funny things were happening to Dib's insides that was not related to the pain.
"Yep. Oh and by the way Dib?"
"Mhm?" he said rummaging in the drawer for some painkillers.
"What happened in Kurt's base didn't happen. Understand?" her tone was dead serious.
"You mean all that weird end of the world romance stuff?" Gaz threw a spoon at his head. He grinned.
"As curious as I am Gaz, I am in a lot of pain right now."
"Dib I'm serious"
"Never happened." He said and left the kitchen for some TV and bed.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INVADER ZIM OR ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS
Hey guys! Sorry I took so long on this one, its longer though so?….
Hurray they've finally defeated the cereal spilling Kurt Vlog! I hope it wasn't too anti climatic, I was really put off writing it because I didn't want to disappoint… if I've left any lose ends in this arc, just let me know and I'll write them into the next chapter.
Also I just realised I had the wrong url up! I changed it, its: tooot-sweet dot tumblr dot com (with 3 o's…. woopsie)
Again I know nothing about science or science related matters, but hey…
I know they are out of character, so fight me!
Idk man tell me all your thoughts!
If you like it, please leave a review, they really encourage me to write more!
Review review!
Mia out~