It seems that there was a certain someone invited to the party, to Dib's surprise. While Dib tries his best to talk himself out of suspicion, Zim is in the meantime crawling through dusty vents. Let's see if he can manage to cut the power and if Dib can manage to talk to his dad for more than five minutes.
Zim let out a lengthy cough, as he accidentally inhaled another puff of dust. He had only crawled for a minute or so, and already the dirtiness of the vents had increased exponentially. Zim could easily imagine how the humans had never cleaned the vents more than a few meters inside, out of laziness or just sheer stupidity. It was nothing like Irken structures and machinery. There every nook and cranny would be looked after and cleaned so that even the insides of the pipes in the most gigantic generators were shining. Of course, the ones sent to do such tasks were the smallest of the Irkens, as they had an easier time fitting into the cramped spaces. And because the process of cleaning would usually lead to a horrific death, or just being lost inside the structures and machinery, never to be seen again. Until the next Irken came to clean up their corpse. But since it was so dangerous, Zim had always been chosen to do such tasks when necessary. Which of course, was the only reason for why the Tallest would make him, the amazing Zim, do the cleaning.
As he continued to crawl, he kept reminiscing about his times inside the machinery of Irken warships, cleaning oil spills and fixing broken wires. He even missed the sharp corners he usually had to look out for or else they would pierce his body. Compared to that, the human vents were awfully dull. Not even any flesh-eating giant space rats to fend off. Only small ones that occasionally would nimble at him before he would hiss at them. Whereupon they would run further into the darkness, to warn their brethren of the terrifying Irken invader in their territory. However, he didn't feel as fearsome as usual, as he wiped cobwebs off his face. And not when he looked down at his otherwise shining uniform, covered in muck and dust. His human disguise, including the dress, he had already packed away in his PAK. The wig he had taken off so his antennas could listen to the vibrations in the vent. And the contacts so his Irken eyes could see better. And the dress…the dress he wasn't so sure about. For some reason, he had prioritized taking it off so it wouldn't become dirty, instead of his proud invader uniform. He dismissed it thinking that his uniform was made for missions anyway. But he couldn't deny that he had gotten some kind of silly attachment to the thing. Perhaps just because it looked nice. Not that anything wouldn't look nice on him. And there was the time when Dib saw it for the first time. He couldn't shake off the memory of the human's face. He can't remember Dib looking at him like that before. He wasn't sure whether to feel flattered or offended.
He had over the years formed other silly attachments as well. His base of operations, his robot GIR, and…the human as well. He had even gotten to respect The Dib's sister for her ferocity and extremely scary demeanor. Not that he was scared of her of course, he could just instinctually tell she was scary to everyone else. Attachments were not something a prober Irken invader should concern himself with if it was to anything but the Tallest. But…Zim had for a while not seen the problem in entertaining the idea. After all, he was one of the Irken empire's greatest invaders! He wasn't going to be swayed from his mission by a bunch of stupid feelings! No…only orders were making him leave. Orders…from the Tallest…He wanted to think of something else.
The vents seemed never-ending and as complex as those on an irken ship. Going up and down, then left or right, and sometimes all those directions at once. It was a good thing he had memorized the building's schematics so that he knew where to go. Or else he would be stuck in a maze of vents. If it wasn't for the fact he could just blow himself out. But it was a stealth mission, so while he wished very much to cause some undeniably useful explosions, he had to hold himself back. Besides, it wouldn't be too long before he would reach the central power bank for the building. There, all he had to do was cut the power, and the Dib-beast would just need to do his ONE job. But still, he couldn't help wondering for a moment what the human might be up to. He looked at his 'walkie-talkie', and considered for a moment to call him. But in the end, he let the idea go.
Surely he hasn't screwed up TOO much while I've been gone. He thought to himself.
"I'm very much surprised to see you here, son!"
"Y-yeah, so am I," Dib answered nervously, looking around like an animal trying to escape. The person who had been so kind to reunite the two of them had left nearly as soon as Dib and his dad made eye contact. He apparently managed to sense the tension and made the right decision to leave. However, that happened to leave Dib without anyone to rely on to talk with his dad except him.
He had no idea of how he was going to explain what he was doing at such an event, so he tried his best just to make his dad talk.
"B-but, what are you doing here?!" He said, somewhat loudly, trying to sound genuine even though he really didn't need to. Luckily Professor Membrane was more than happy to ignore his son's weird mannerism to just talk.
"Why, I'm so glad you asked! You see, with me being a world-renowned inventor and SCIENTIST, I naturally was extended an invitation to attend this little get-together! Considering I most likely made or designed half of these inventions myself, I think that's pretty fair. While I usually don't attend these kinds of events to instead focus on SCIENCE, I strangely felt the need to get out of my laboratory for once."
"Wow, just… happened to feel like that, did you?" Dib muttered, wondering what the odds were for how the one time his dad went to a social gathering was the same as when he was doing a secret mission. He wondered what exactly he had done to deserve such bad luck.
"Yes, it IS quite peculiar, isn't it!" The professor remarked to himself amused, not noticing the utter dread in his son's voice. But when he was done, he looked at Dib with a slightly unsure look. Dib could already feel the question coming, as his body tensed up and he frantically tried to think of an appropriate response.
"Say son…what are YOU doing here? I know that you have gotten better at getting out of the house as of late, but this seems…a little out of the ordinary for you."
Dib's mouth opened and closed at intervals as he started thinking about what to say. He hoped for a miracle or at least for someone to come and distract his dad for him. But as his dad kept looking at him, waiting for an answer, it became clear to Dib that he couldn't get out of it. He had to come up with something to say. He gulped before opening his mouth.
"Y-you know, I just saw the promotion for the event, and thought, 'Why not! Would be a great opportunity to see some…science?'"
He looked expectantly at his dad, waiting to see whether his bluff would work.
"...That…IS GREAT SON!" The professor exclaimed, clearly excited by his son's newfound interest in science.
While the outcome was not exactly a surprise, it still amazed him what his dad was willing to believe. Except for everything Dib told him about aliens and monsters of course. Those things he was so stubborn about that Dib had become convinced if Zim stood right in front of him, he still wouldn't believe him.
"You should just have told me sooner! Then we could have come together!"
"Yeah, but I was sure you would be busy so I didn't think to ask," Dib replied rather casually, but suddenly he felt a shift in his dad after hearing those words.
"Oh…right." He said quietly, something that Dib wasn't used to. Then a few seconds of silence followed, where Dib wasn't sure whether he should say something else or wait. Wait seemed to be the right answer, as just as suddenly as he got silent, he started talking with excitement.
"But now that we're here together, we can walk around and I can tell you ALL about the different inventions. Perhaps even some of those I DIDN'T make!"
"Oh, that would just be great," Dib stated sarcastically, which his dad was still completely oblivious to.
"Then I could show you to some of my colleagues, perhaps finally convincing them that yes, I do have children!" Membrane continued joyfully. While going around with his dad would just have annoyed Dib, having to talk to his colleagues, most certainly about himself, nearly gave him a heart attack at the thought.
"Oh god."
"There's no god my dear son, only SCIENCE!" Membrane confidently proclaimed, before wrapping his arm around his son and taking him with him further into the gallery.
On one of the top floors of the building, directly in the middle, there was a large and dark room. The walls were covered by screens showing footage from security cameras all throughout the building. At nearly every screen sat someone in security clothes, meticulously scanning the footage for any deviations from the norm. The sounds of clicking from the keyboards were almost deafening. And the air was stale and warm, as there weren't any ventilation ducts that led to the room. As requested by the main overseer of security at the building and event, the newly hired Benedict Watchman, a burly man wearing a blue shirt and black overalls covered in pockets filled to the brim with different devices. Like the king at chess, he stood at the back, overseeing all the security workers doing their work. With an almost iron gaze, he looked upon all the security measures put in place, all controlled from that single room. Remote locking doors, security cameras running 24/7 and laser detection grids along the hallways, with a few normal lasers thrown in there for good measure. And on standby, a group of five helicopters circled the building, equipped with military-grade miniguns that could blast through metal shielding. And with a cherry on top, a group of professional snipers on the roof, keeping track of the ground below. Everything that Benedict Watchman could ever wish for.
"Sir, some of the pilots are asking if they can take a break for a while." The assistant security overseer, Michael, stated to an annoyed Watchman. The man was much thinner with greasy black hair and glasses, wearing a white shirt and black pants, matching the color of Watchman's overalls.
"Ugh, come on, they have one job, how hard can it be?" He replied, wondering why he couldn't just be left alone to observe the marvel of security he was overseeing.
"Well, they have been flying for five hours nonstop."
"...If they can rotate their breaks, then fine."
"Got it. ROTATE YOUR BREAKS!" The assistant yelled into a walkie-talkie before the ear-deafening sound of a helicopter came through.
"Yes!" An excited voice managed to get through the noise before he and the sound of the helicopter disappeared. Once done, the assistant looked around sheepishly, as he considered asking a question.
"Sir Watchman, can I ask you something?"
"You may."
"I know you're the top dog when it comes to security, as your diplomas show-" He said, pointing at the wall behind them, where five different diplomas within the education of security were hanging, all bearing the name 'Benedict Watchman'. "-but isn't all this a…little…too much?"
"Too much? TOO MUCH?!" Watchman yelled with a happy tone, having apparently been waiting for someone to ask him that question.
"Let me tell you something, Mike-"
"It's Michael."
"-Michael, when it comes to too much security…You can't have enough. Just when you think every corner has surveillance, that every moving shadow is being watched, and every square inch of something that isn't meant to be there has been eviscerated…then they come. Troublemakers."
Watchman practically hissed the words through his clenched teeth.
"And do you know what I hate the most, Mikey?"
"...Gun control?"
"NO! Troublemakers! And then gun control, right after that." He explained nonchalantly. Michael nodded understandingly, but he still wasn't completely convinced that they should worry so much.
"Yes sir but, still, who's stupid enough to make trouble here? You very clearly announced that this would be one of the most well-defended events currently going on in the country, so who would be stupid enough to try and break in?"
"Exactly! That's why I announced our security measures. That way, the smart criminals would stay away, and only the stupid ones would become a problem for us."
"But if they're stupid…then don't they already have a low chance of succeeding?" Michael asked, confused. With how Watchman's face lighted up, it seemed it was another one of those questions the man had hoped for during the night.
"Oh, my dear, dear Miguel. That's the first mistake any security overseer can make! Here's a little industry secret." He said, before leaning down to Michael's ear.
"It's always the stupid ones, you don't expect to succeed. But in fact, they mostly do." He whispered softly into his assistant's ear. "Just a few days back a secret government warehouse my brother worked at got infiltrated by some thieves who managed to escape with a few goodies. Technological goodies. I'm telling you, someone is gonna try and steal from this event, I know it!"
While Michael still nodded acceptingly, he still wasn't so sure. With everything they had set up, any pro, even a stupid one, would quickly realize it was a lost cause. And besides, the building was guarded by the front, in the air, and by the rooftops. There wasn't a single point of entrance for anyone not invited. So how would anyone go about even getting in, let alone steal anything?
Zim had descended quite far down the building through the vents and if his plans were correct, he should be nearing the central power room. After crawling a few ways through some less dusty vents, something caught his antenna. Vibrations. Following the sound, he quickly discovered that they led to the same place where the building's power was being regulated. Nearing the end of one of the vents, the vibrations had revealed themselves to be music. Peeking through the cover, he found the source of the music and his target. Circuits, circuit breakers, and computers lined the walls of the room, and at the other end, a man was sitting by a desk. Luckily, the man's back was turned to the vent. He seemed to watch a music video on his phone and happily mumbled along to the lyrics while bobbing to the rhythm. Zim didn't think it was that bad of a song, but of course, his music taste was much better. But all those years on that disgusting planet had completely nullified his previous sense of quality, so at that point, he wasn't even sure anymore.
Making sure to not make a sound, he used one of his PAK legs' sharp end to unscrew the screws for the vent. Once all four were out, he carefully grabbed the cover and slowly pushed it out. The sound when it popped out wasn't completely silent, but the man's music easily tuned out the noise. Crawling out, while making sure not to take his eyes off the man, he placed the cover on the floor and thought of what to do next.
If he attacked directly, the man could perhaps have enough time to signal the alarm. Otherwise, someone would maybe hear their scuffle. No, a sneak attack was best. Fortunately, Zim had just developed the perfect tool for discreetly incapacitating someone, and he had been dying to test it.
Grabbing a round metal ball from his PAK, he fumbled around with it in his hands, pressing buttons in a sequence only he knew. Before long, the lower half split into six parts, each being a leg. He then placed it on the floor, whereafter it skittled across, over to the wall. Unfolding the legs further, strong magnets became its feet, which it used to climb up the wall. Slowly but surely it made its way to the ceiling. Then it moved ever so carefully over to where the man was sitting. Unaware, the man continued listening to his music, as the robot managed to place itself right over his head. Then, a horizontal line became visible along the other part of its body, which was still formed as half a sphere. Slowly, it started to open up the rest of its metal body.
Then a red construction brick fell out from it and landed directly square on the man's head, with an unsettling crunch. The man barely had time to make a noise before he fell to the ground.
The sound of the impact had been enough to slightly disturb the alien, as the device had just been meant to momentarily stun someone. It seemed the time he had spent looking at Dib's giant head had made him think every human's head was as big and sturdy. Awkwardly walking over to where the man was lying, he poked him with his foot.
"I'm sure he's fine." Zim's said to himself, before picking up the brick and stuffing it in his PAK, conveniently ignoring the small pool of blood forming around the man's head.
With the guard taken care of, the only thing left was cutting off the power as planned. Taking out another, less violent device, he placed it on one of the computers, that was keeping track of the building's power usage. With a single click, the device started humming, and the computer screen started glitching out.
Back at the event, Dib's dad had first shown most of the inventions, most of which Dib found to be useless, or just too expensive for anyone to buy. Then the worst part came when his dad introduced him to some of his colleagues. Dib was close to blacking out, as he listened to his dad talking about his childhood. Who he was even talking to, Dib had no idea, but the embarrassment was still more than real.
"-And that's when he bought his first trench coat. My dear boy didn't change that coat for nearly five years!"
"Aww, how adorable!" An old woman joyfully proclaimed, before reaching out as if to tuck at Dib's cheek. But the nearly adult boy wasn't having it and 'accidentally' stepped to the side. Which resulted in her falling forward down to the floor, though neither his dad nor the other people seemed to notice.
"Then a little while he started his 'believing in aliens and their desire to take over earth and enslave the human race' phase!"
"How…intriguing." A less older man wearing a red tuxedo said, before smiling awkwardly at Dib, who wished more than ever that Zim would just come and kill him, and finally end his suffering.
"Wait, I'm confused." said another man. "Didn't that start later when he was eleven or such?"
"Oh no, it just worsened at that point. And technically, he hasn't quite gotten out of that phase, have you son!" Professor Membrane explained before letting out a jolly laugh, which was slowly accompanied by the nervous or awkward laughs of those listening to him speak. If Dib was sitting in a chair, he would most likely have sunk to the floor. But he was standing and could only try and laugh, though instead it came out as dry and marked with an unsettling smile. Something that the listeners took as a chance to stop laughing.
Still unaware of the agony he was putting his son through, the professor kept talking, with barely any input from the people around them.
"But you know how it is when your son has such a lively imagination and is riddled with paranoia and mental illness."
"I would like to add that I haven't been diagnosed with any of those supposed mental illnesses," Dib said with clenched teeth, for once adding something to the conversation if only to try and preserve his already crumbling dignity.
"Who needs a diagnosis when you have three astrophysics diplomas!" Membrane uttered without a hint of uncertainty that the two were somehow at all comparable.
"But enough of that. Thank you, son, for your voice reminded me that YOU haven't told us anything about yourself. Wouldn't you like to share your private life with these well-educated people?" He remarked, turning his gaze to his son. The sudden spot in the actual spotlight caught Dib off-guard, and he could barely find words to fumble together, as the waiting stares of several people were turned on him. In that moment he prayed to any god for help, but it seemed his plea only made things worse. As from the ground, the old lady suddenly rose, with her face gleaming with something to tell.
"Why not tell us about that sweet, pretty girl you came with!" She asked, and Dib's first instinct was to laugh. He wasn't sure if it was because of the association between Zim and sweet or if it was the word pretty that humored him so much. But as he tried to hold in his laugh, he noticed from the corner of his eye his dad's face lit up.
"Wait, you're saying my SON…came with a GIRLFRIEND!?" His dad basically yelled out, earning a fair share of concerned looks. The tone of his voice didn't help either, sounding the most shrill it ever had, nearly giving Dib a shock.
As the interest of the others suddenly grew at the chance to hear about young love, Dib quickly sensed he had to get a grip on the situation. It didn't help that he was blushing much more than he had expected.
"No no no it's not like that, not at all!" He reassured them, but judging by the looks he got, no one seemed to buy it.
"I swear, it's just that he-SHE! SHE'S just my…my…" Dib's voice slowly trailed off, as he couldn't think of anything reasonable to say that wouldn't sound more suspicious.
"She's just your what, son?" Professor Membrane asked, in a weirdly comforting tone, like he was inadvertently telling him it was okay to tell the truth. However, it barely had any effect as he had apparently forgotten the nearly six strangers around them who were listening very intensely to their conversation.
"Uhm…"
Dib quickly started panicking as he couldn't come up with any way out of his situation. Except for ones that included a smoke bomb but unfortunately, he couldn't find a good place for it in his suit so he hadn't taken one with him. Something he very much regretted at that moment. He swore that the people were moving closer as his breath quickened. Their faces basically urged him to spill his heart. Small drops of sweat started to drop from his forehead and he tried to pull himself away, but to no avail. For once in his life, he looked deep inside himself and came to the conclusion that if there existed a god, then he owed Dib one. So he prayed inside his head for something, anything that could save him.
"..."
As expected, nothing happened. In the end, he could only think of one other force of nature in the universe that could possibly have the chance to save him. Zim. So he prayed.
Back at the security room near the top of the building, one of the workers noticed a disturbance. As he looked closely at his screen, he saw that one of the floors seemed to be rapidly losing power and would soon suffer an outage.
"Uh, sir!" He nervously yelled as he wasn't quite sure what he was looking at or what was happening.
"WHAT IS IT!" Watchman yelled back, having been deep in conversation with Michael about the morality of owning a cannon that fires grape shot for home defense.
"Sir, I think you need to see this. It seems we have a situation-"
The man cut himself off when he looked back at his screen. The otherwise green glow of the screen had been changed out by a dark pink, and plastered directly in the center with big bold letters;
EVERYTHING IS FINE. STOP LOOKING AT THE SCREEN FAT HUMAN PIG. Sincerely, YOUR GREASY COMPUTER SCREEN.
The man looked at the screen for a few seconds in silence.
"WHAT, WAS SOMETHING WRONG?!" Watchman again yelled as he hadn't heard what the man had been saying.
"...Oh, ok. No no sir! Everything is fine! The screen says so itself!" The man explained, earning a nod and later a weird look from the security overseer before he went back to his discussion. While he was doing so, he went to grab his cup of coffee. But as he looked at it, he noticed that the liquid inside was shaking, though only a little bit. If that wasn't strange enough, he heard the quiet sound of rumbling.
"Does anyone else hear that?"
Down at the event, just as Dib was about to say something, the lights in the room started blinking rapidly. Then suddenly, they all cut out, and total darkness covered the room.
"Oh thank you, Zim," Dib muttered to himself, nearly fainting from relief.
After he said those unlikely words, he looked around the now pitch-black room. There wasn't anything to be seen. Neither was there to be heard. The entire event had gone completely silent and it was as if people were holding their breath. Then, like an incoming tsunami, once they realized that it wasn't a prank, the screams began. The screams became like a chorus as they echoed across the darkness, bouncing off the walls and making their way directly into people's ears. Dib could barely hear himself think, as the panic of the attendees only grew, and people began running around, stumbling and walking over each other. As Dib tried his best to not be run down, he remembered what he was supposed to do. And it seemed that Zim had been correct in his estimation of what would happen.
He blindly walked backwards, until he couldn't feel anyone in the near vicinity. Then he tried to gain the attention of the eventgoers.
"Hey! I need everyone to calm down!"
His words fell on deaf ears as nothing changed. He tried a few more times to no avail until he finally got tired of it all.
"LISTEN TO ME!" He yelled with as much force and pent-up anger as he could. Luckily, it seemed his words finally managed to be heard, and at the chance of someone taking over the drastically dire situation, people became silent and listened keenly. Once the entire floor went silent again, Dib at first admired his ability to yell. He took it as a perk from yelling at Zim after all those years. Then he quickly tried to come up with something to say.
"Uh…Ok, ALL RIGHT FOLKS, NO NEED TO PANIC! WE HAVE A MINOR ISSUE WITH THE POWER, SO I'M GONNA NEED EVERYONE TO GO TOWARD THE ELEVATOR, LOCK YOURSELVES IN THE CORRIDOR, AND WAIT FOR THE STAFF TO COME GET YOU…FOR YOU OWN SAFETY OF COURSE!"
A bit of mumbling spread across the room, but soon enough came the sound of people neatly tip-toeing or crawling toward where they remembered the elevator to be. It took a bit of time but sure enough, it seemed everyone had made their way to the corridor whereupon Dib heard the doors close.
Letting out a sigh, he fumbled around in his pockets, before he managed to pull out a flashlight. As he turned it on, he wondered why no one just used their phone. Then again, panic isn't something that makes people act the most reasonable. He also couldn't help but wonder what he was going to tell his dad, once the whole affair was over. But that was an issue for another time.
With the flashlight in hand, he managed to navigate over to the display cases. The place became eerily unnerving once the people were gone, and not being able to really see anything didn't help. As he checked out their targets, a thought struck him. He and Zim were supposed to regroup. So where was that green bug?
He looked around for a little while, and couldn't find Zim anywhere. It did take him a while to cut off the power, so there was a chance that he was going to need to wait a while. But Dib wasn't keen to stand still in the dark all alone for too long. Then he remembered the walkie-talkie and took it out of his other pocket. Using the flashlight he was able to find the button to speak, and took the device up to his mouth, holding said button down.
"Hello Zim, are you there? When are you coming, the entire floor is already empty, and I don't know how much time we have."
No response came from the device, and a cold sweat started running down Dib's back.
"Zim? I'm not in the mood for this, just answer!" He said a bit louder than he wanted but still nothing came.
He considered a third attempt when a sound caught his attention. It was like the sound of someone drilling a road, but it didn't make sense to hear that several floors over the ground. As he listened, the sound only grew louder, but he soon realized that it was also coming closer. Having no idea what was coming, he guarded himself the best he could and waited. For some reason, he really wished Zim was there with him.
Then the drilling sound intensified and ended with a bang that came from one of the walls, with Dib being able to hear pieces of the wall gliding across the floor and hitting and shattering some of the glass cases. With lightning speed, he turned his light toward where the sound came from. Only to see Zim standing with a large drill hanging from his PAK and with his walkie-talkie in one hand. His bug-like eyes shone brightly in the light of the flashlight. He looked at Dib slightly disappointed, and took the walkie-talkie up to his mouth.
"I specifically remember you have to say 'Roger' before someone answers." He blankly said, the sound coming from both Zim and the device in Dib's hand. The human was so taken aback by the sudden entrance that it took a few seconds for him to answer.
"I…I just thought we didn't follow that rule."
"THEN WHAT'S EVEN THE POINT!" Zim yelled angrily if nearly disappointed. He then sighed shortly before throwing the walkie-talkie behind him, with Dib being able to hear the thing falling and hitting several things on its way.
"HEY! THAT THING'S STILL MINE!" Dib yelled back.
"I did you a favor, Dib-worm, that thing was a piece of junk," Zim explained, before walking away from the wall, with a robot arm extending from his PAK, which shined a purple light. As he did, he tried dusting off the cement and dust that had accumulated on his uniform. Meanwhile, Dib shined his light at Zim's hole in the wall.
"Did you really need to drill through the building? I thought we agreed nothing too loud…or destructive."
"It wasn't THAT loud! And not nearly as destructive as I wanted." Zim sulked, as he accepted he wasn't going to be able to get his uniform clean before they came back to his base. He then took a look around, noticing that they truly were alone in the giant room.
"Huh. I see you managed to not utterly fail and die while doing your duty. Goo-I MEAN…adequate job, human pig."
Dib smiled for himself at the comment, knowing Zim was so close to complimenting him. That knowledge strangely helped improve his mood.
"Well, I see you too managed to cut off the lights without electrocuting yourself. Adequate as well."
"It wasn't adequate, it was AMAZING! Zim never does anything but amazing, you should know that by now Dib-thing." The alien stated with a proud smile on his face.
"Yeah, failing to take over one dumb planet sure makes that obvious."
"...Low blow human. You don't see Zim making fun of your ASTRONOMICALLY large head!" Zim replied, with a hint of play in his voice.
For once, Dib didn't feel the need to answer back, and instead just chuckled good-heartily. Zim was at first perplexed, though he let a smile slip past his mouth, that he tried to hide away.
Soon they were standing in the middle of the exhibition, with all the inventions and their cases surrounding them.
"So is there anything specific you want, or should I just start grabbing?" Dib asked, wondering if Zim knew of any security measures that were still activated. Apparently not, as he just walked over to the nearest display and smashed the glass with his little robot arm light.
"It's all nearly worthless, but I don't know how much time we have, so just take whatever you can. Zim can make use of even the most worthless junk." He explained, taking the invention and stuffing it in his PAK, before moving to the next.
Dib, seeing the wisdom in his words, followed his example and started smashing glass with his flashlight. They quickly went into a routine like the one back at the government warehouse. But since Dib didn't have something to carry them with, he simply tossed them over to Zim, who with a robot arm caught them and put them in his PAK. He still wasn't sure how much space there was in that thing.
It seemed everything was going fine, and Dib couldn't help but enjoy the thrill. While the thought that he was basically being a thief did but a bummer on that, he thought what he was doing was necessary. And besides, who was going to miss or even use something called an 'intellectual nose-picker', which he half-heartily tossed over to Zim.
As they were going about their business, Dib was stopped when suddenly a cough came from the alien, gaining his attention.
"You know, Dib-thing…this wasn't such a terrible and stupid plan in the end." The alien said, with nearly a solemn tone.
Dib looked back at him confused before trying to think of something to say.
"Uhm, thank you…but most of it was your plan, I just got us in."
"I know that very clearly. Just shut up and take Zim's compliment, you barely deserve it as is, worm."
"Wait, was that an official compliment?" Dib asked, with clear surprise in his voice. The aliens stopped what he was doing and looked at the human with shock and embarrassment.
"Uh-NO! Zim just meant that…that…"
As Dib waited for a response with a sly smile on his face, a light suddenly filled the room. Red light. At first, the two were blinded but soon realized that something was very much wrong. If the sinister red wasn't enough, they both instantly put together that it was an alarm light. Even before they could react, a rough voice could be heard in the room from unknown speakers in the ceiling. A rugged, nearly manic laugh came, before the person settled down, and finally spoke.
"Thought you could get past me?" He said, the words echoing across the room and ringing in their ears.
"THE Benedict Watchman? My friends, you have made a very, very bad mistake."
And there is another chapter. Seems once again the two managed to get into trouble. Hopefully, they will learn and adapt in the future. If they make it that is. Hope you liked this chapter, and that you have a good day. See you next time.
