Dib donned his disguise and Landed a little way from the centre of the throbbing city in a small hangar run by a chubby Irken named Pat, who took the credit transfer (which Dib had added to his profile via the mainframe) silently, and commented on neither his accent nor his height. He had seen a lot of strange folk come through his hangar, and at the end of the day it was much better not to ask. He did however perk an antennae in curiosity when Dib asked where the ICL (Irken central laboratories) were. Why would anyone want to go there? He shuddered and gave him the directions.
The walk to the ICL was long, and Dib found himself going the wrong way more than once, only to have to stop and ask for directions again and again. The streets were bustling, but not just with Irkens (though there were a multitude of them, all shapes sizes and colours) but also Vortians and Meekrobs, and a lot of other species Dib couldn't identify. It was overwhelming. It was too warm, too busy, and the different noises and smells or the city cut into him.
After an age of walking, Dib finally found himself at the front steps of the ICL. It towered above him, a large building with no Windows, and only one door of tinted bulletproof glass. He took a deep breath and did a mental check. Disguise? Check. Fake ID? Check. Fake Medical and scientific licence? Check. Concise knowledge of Irken medicine and science? Check. Courage? He gulped. There were butterflies in his stomach as he walked up those steps, each footfall the knelling of a death bell. He felt a strange mixture of excitement and fear. Excitement because he would finally, after months of waiting, finally find his Irken. Fear at the state he might find him in. He pushed open the door and walked inside.
/00000\\\\\\
Lod stared at the mainframe. It had been a few weeks before her request to access the mainframe had been approved, but at long last she'd been given access. Something was up. It would probably take a bit of digging, but there was definitely something wrong with this Bid's profile.
She began to skim through the pages of his files to find something that proved her right.
It wouldn't take her very long.
/0\\\\\
"Professor Kip, your new scientist for subject 3350z has arrived." The desk Secretary said drearily into the intercom.
There was a brief silence and then a gruff voice responded;
"Send them down".
"That elevator over there" the Secretary gestured to Dib, flicking his wrist "hit minus two, its lab -201"
Dib thanked him, and headed across the sterile white room toward the elevator.
Irken elevators worked much more smoothly than Earth elevators. He barely even felt himself start moving before the doors opened into a corridor. It was the first door on the right. He opened it and was immediately hit by a strong smell of chemicals. If it were even possible, Dib would swear this room was whiter than the last.
An Irken with a long head and purple eyes approached him.
"I'm prof. Kip, you must be our new scientist" he said, his hands busy cleaning a vial.
Dib saluted and introduced himself.
"Very good, I'm sure you want the tour"
"Yes sir"
Dib struggled with the rising anxiety in his chest as Kip showed him around the small room at the front of the lab. There were a few scientists littered around, analysing chemicals, but they paid them no notice. He was reminded of the time he and Zim had worked together in Zim's base for an antidote. His chest tightened. He was shown the various chemicals and equipment used in this laboratory, but the whole while his eyes kept wandering to the door at the back. Zim must be in there. He certainly wasn't out here. He tried to pay attention but he was nervously anticipating the moment he would see Zim. He hoped that he would be prepared for it.
"Alright you got all that? Time to see the test subjects." Kip finally declared.
Dib followed him to the small door at the back of the room. This was it. Time seemed to slow as Kip lifted his hand to the door, and pushed. The door was a glacier sliding slowly across the floor. The room was bright. Scientists were gathered around a large glass cylinder in the middle of the room.
And there he was. Floating in a gel like substance. He was naked, far too skinny, and a shade of pale green Dib had never seen on him before. His antennae lay flat on his head, his eyes closed. A thin wire extended from his Back where his pak should have been, to the floor. On a pedestal in front of the giant test tube was his pak it was open wide, dozens of metal instruments were inserted into it. Dib felt faint, his blood rushed from his face. It's not meant to be like this. Seeing Zim so weak, so vulnerable, so exposed, it wasn't right. Though he knew the answer, he couldn't help but whisper;
"Is he dead?"
"Nope" Kip answered lightly "he's preserved in the gel. You're taking this quite well, most newbies get sick."
Dib nodded. He actually thought he might.
/0\\\\\
Dib knew there was no time to waste, and while he was given introductory tasks to work on, he formulated a plan. It wouldn't be easy, but he was going to get Zim out tonight.
While gathered round Zim's container during a short break, the jokes began.
"Not so almighty now are we Zim" one scientist sneered, stuffing his face with food.
"Hah the only thing he could conquer is a spoon" another cackled triumphantly.
"The great destroyer! Look at him now"
Dib joined in feebly. Best not look too out of place. But inside he was boiling. How dare they! Sure he'd teased Zim thousands of times in a similar manner, but hearing these scientists do it made him livid. It was wrong! Zim was being humiliated! Only he was allowed to do that!
/0\\\\\
"My tallest! My tallest!"
"Yes yes what" red snapped looking up from the control panel of the massive. A mid-sized Irken stood in the centre of the room. She was panting slightly.
"Were you granted an audience with us?" purple asked "I don't think so"
"No my tallest" Lod bowed deeply "it's a matter of great importance! I think someone's going to try to free Zim"
"Zim?" Red laughed. "Why would anyone want to rescue Zim?"
"wait," purple cut in "we can't risk it, what if some idiot was actually missing enough to do that?"
"You're right. Speak soldier."
"Thank you my tallest." Lod saluted.
She briefly explained how Dib had accessed the mainframe, how he had seemed odd and out of place. She explained that she had decided to check up on him, and found that his archive only went back as far as two years. When she checked his search history she found Zim.
The tallest were clearly agitated at this news.
"How do you know he plans to free him?"
"I don't, it's a suspicion. But He didn't look at Zim's public profile, the download history shows he downloaded Zim's entire archive."
"Oh no this is bad"
"We need to double, no triple the security at the ICL!"
"Get on the speaker to the head of the Irken law enforcement!"
"Wait" red said suddenly "doesn't she look like?"
"Actually" purple turned to the screen behind him and pulled up an image.
Lod suddenly felt very uneasy. Was she in trouble? What was going on?
"It's almost a complete match! When were you born invader? Give us your ID"
"Lod invader 78654" she said uncertainly.
"Her birth date and place check out!"
"She is!" Red gasped excitedly "she's another key!"
"Guards seize her!" purple ordered.
"Wait what? My tallest! What have I done?"
The guards grabbed her arms and began to drag her toward the exit.
"My tallest? Forgive me! What have I done? I only meant to help!"
The doors to the cockpit slammed shut behind them. There was some muffled shouting, as she was dragged down the hall, and then silence.
"Goody" purple said rubbing his palms together. "Four down, three to go!"
"Get on the horn to Irken security if you want it to stay four" red said glaring at the door Lod had just been dragged through.
/0\\\\\
It was late when Dib crept back into the ICL. He had left the spittle runner round the back down a small discreet alley. As an afterthought, he'd brought the remote controls for the little ship. He'd also brought a hand gun. Just in case. It was easy to get back in after closing hours, being able to remotely manipulate the mainframe had its perks. He hit the button to floor -2, and slid gently into the silent depths of the laboratories.
Lab -201 looked different in the dark. It was much more sinister. Every corner seemed to hold a horrifying shadow. His footsteps echoed as he made his way through the cold dark isles of chemicals and vials. There was a whisper, a faint breath of air. He froze. He could hear nothing except his own heartbeat hammering furiously in his ears. He must have imagined it. He proceeded more cautiously this time, making absolute certain he was as quiet as possible. There it was again, the faintest of sighs. Someone was here. He slowly reached for his gun, and held it tightly as he reached the back door into the room where Zim was kept. Keeping firmly against the wall, he shoved the door open with his foot. Suddenly gunfire erupted in the darkness. glass at the other end of the room shattered. They had been waiting for him.
"Come out with your hands raised and your pak removed and we promise we won't hurt you"
Yeah right. He grabbed a metal disk from the counter behind him, and slowly he held it out towards the door. Using it as a mirror he could count four Irkens in the room with Zim. Shit. His stomach tightened. There were too many! Even with his experience with fighting Zim, he'd never be able to take them all, he'd be overpowered. He didn't even have real pak legs.
An incredible sense of hopelessness settled upon him. He was going to fail. Zim was going to die and it was all his fault.
But then he came crashing down to earth (figuratively speaking) and his brain went into overdrive. He was in a laboratory! The Irkens inside were wearing simply guards. This was his territory, he was at an advantage.
"Ok" he shouted, trying to make as much noise as possible with his voice to cover the actions of his hands.
"You got me! I surrender"
"Really? That was easy." One of them mumbled happily.
"Put your pak on the ground where we can see it! We have to disable the arms"
"Of course" Dib said holding a 5litre bottle of water. Of course they had the stuff in a lab. To them it was just another acid. Inside a small wad of tissue paper was a sliver of potassium. He screwed the tissue into the lid so that it hung above the liquid, and threw the bottle through the door. He ducked behind the wall as it exploded. There were screams from the next room as the guards were soaked. It wouldn't kill them, but it would make the next part easier.
Dib looked round the door frame at the room, gun in hand, and fired. He hit one of them on the arm just as he began to extract his pak legs. Water dripped off everything. He shot again, and he guard went down. He kept on shooting as he advanced into the room. Adrenaline rushed through his veins. Glass shattered as he missed his target. Finally a bullet hit home, and another guard dropped to his knees. A third guard was on the floor immobilized by pain. He was covered in water. He must have been closest to the blast. That meant the fourth one was-
Something slammed into his back. He crashed to the. Ground, the gun went flying out from his hand.
"You despicable piece of shit!" The fourth guard screamed.
Dib rolled over and struck out with His legs just as the guard launched himself at Dib. His legs caught him in the gut. He dropped to the ground. Dib unsteadily got to his feet. The guard Spat Blood at him, and used his pak legs to raise himself.
He lunged at Dib again pak legs in attack. Dib dodged again, but this time the spike hit home, gouging into his chest. It didn't go very deep, luckily it hit a rib. Dib gasped in shock, and promptly brought his head down to butt the Irken in the face. He reeled back.
"Argh what the Fuck!" He screamed "use your pak legs what the Fuck is wrong with you? Are you an Irken or what?"
"No." Dib said clutching at his chest.
"What?"
"No I will not use my pak and no I am not Irken."
He switched off the IDM and advanced. The guard's jaw dropped in shock. Instead of an Irken soldier, a young alien with a large head and strange black fibres coming from the top of his head stood before him. Though this creature was grotesque, the most terrifying thing about it was the look in its eyes. Sheer determination and fear. The guard fainted.
Dib let out a small whimper of pain, which mingled with the moans coming from the Irken left writhing in water, and made his way to Zim's container. It was empty, the glass smashed, gel liquid covered the floor. He hadn't even noticed, but during the fight a stray bullet or perhaps his potassium bomb had broken open Zim's prison. He found Zim lying a little way from the tube, carried there by the current of gel. He lay face down on the floor, the chord from his back to his pak was severed. It was severed. Oh no. panic welled up in dibs gut, how long had it been? Five? Ten minutes? He couldn't die now! He scrambled back toward the pedestal and grabbed Zim's pak off of it. It was still wide open with all sorts of things sticking out, but there was no time Right now. He hurriedly plugged it into Zim's back and gingerly picked him up.
As he reached the door, he heard one of the guards who had regained consciousness call in for back up. He grabbed his gun from the floor at the entrance to lab -201 and began to run. Zim was light. He didn't seem to have grown at all since he left, but he had definitely lost weight. He jabbed the ground level button on the elevator, and briefly lay Zim on the floor, while he used the. Spittle runner's remote control to bring it crashing into the entrance of the ICL. The elevator doors opened and dib picked up Zim again. He made it inside the spittle runner before reinforcements arrived, and was lifting out of the rubble of the ICL when they began to fire. He put his thrusters to full blast and rocketed up into the atmosphere, guards in pursuit.
The spittle runner was small, but it packed a heavy punch. Dib shot at the guard ships as he flew higher. They didn't look like they were built to go the distance, and probably couldn't even clear the atmosphere. He managed to hit a few as they came close, but the spittle runner also suffered a few minor injuries. He shifted the ship into wk4 and cleared the atmosphere. As he predicted the guards pulled up short, and hovered there expectantly. Dib ignored them. It wouldn't be long before they sent something bigger after them, and he wasn't going to stick around to find out. He had to get out and he had to get out now.
DISCLEAIMER: I DONT OWN IZ OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS
call me butter because im on a roll!
finally zim has arrived, im honestly so happy you all stuck around until now and didnt get bored or anything ily!
if you like this, please review! even if you have before, i always like to hear what you think of a certain chapter!
so do the thing, and ill see you all in chapter 10! 3
mia out~