Dib had never imagined things could have ended up this way with Zim, but he certainly wasn't complaining.
It still felt unreal…that he and Zim were in an actual romantic relationship. He'd wondered briefly if this was some simulation, but he'd quickly dismissed that idea. Looking outside, he could tell that everything looked as it should, without the usual signs of poor research that bled into the simulations Zim tried to put him in.
So, this was the real world. And Dib knew Zim was telling the truth about loving him and seeing him as an equal. For one thing, Zim wouldn't be able to lie that well, and...
He'd done everything he could to protect Earth and separate himself from the Empire. All because Dib had talked to him and made him rethink his life. He had listened to Dib. He'd listened, and taken Dib seriously, and had done something huge and significant.
It was…almost scary to think about, that Zim had done that, at least partially, for him. And he hoped that he would keep being worth it to Zim…
He quickly shook his head. No, he wouldn't go down that line of thought. Especially since the last time he'd voiced a concern like that, Zim had pinned him down and refused to let him go anywhere until he'd said aloud he was 'worth everything'. Knowing Zim, he'd probably keep finding a way to up the ante if he knew Dib was thinking about it.
Instead, he thought about their relationship…which always made his face turn a little warm.
Okay, so it wasn't too different from Zim's recent treatment of him. But now, Dib could enjoy everything without any lingering guilt or worries about what it meant…and he could kiss Zim. Zim enjoyed it almost as much as he did, it seemed, though did seem a little disgusted when Dib tried to introduce him to kissing with tongue.
He wasn't sure if he had done it wrong or if Zim just found it naturally gross.
Anyway. Knowing he and Zim were equals brought them closer (and also made Zim a little clingy), but it had also spurred Dib to do more of his own things. While he was still taking time to explore the base, he'd also been delving into the Computer's databases to research any sorts of questions he had about space and alien culture.
He'd even gone for a few short walks around the neighborhood, just to get some fresh air. That actually worked out pretty well, since GIR also loved to go outside and cause mayhem, and Dib could tag along and supervise him. Somehow, no one bat an eye at a green dog straining against a leash to attempt to catch and eat pigeons, or said dog begging Dib for ice creams, but he wasn't surprised at this point.
He made sure to always leave a note or message for Zim when he was heading out, though. He'd forgotten the first time, and Zim was both upset and relieved once he came back, trapping Dib on the couch to pepper him with kisses and assure himself he was really there.
Even that had been nice, in a way…that he'd been gone for just a few minutes, and yet his absence had actually been noticed.
It was just…nice, in general, to spend time around Zim. They'd go for walks, ramble to each other about the most random things, and spontaneously decide to make out. It was great.
Though he was worried he was running out of things to do in the base. Eventually, he'd have explored every part of it, and he'd learn about all the technology. Sure, they were still thinking about their plan to travel throughout space, but as confident Zim was that they could take off whenever, Dib felt they might need a little more preparation…or at least a plan on where to start.
And he hated to say it, but he did miss some of the things he left in his old house. His equipment, some of the projects he had been working on, his paranormal research reports…it would be nice to have those, to at least have the option to work on them. He even mused aloud about it to Zim a few times, to which Zim hummed in understanding.
Ah, well. He'd find something to do.
He came back inside from his morning walk, letting go of GIR's leash. GIR screamed and ran off…only to get his leash caught on the leg of one of the kitchen chairs. Dib sighed, but with a smile, reached down to pull the collar off of the dramatically flailing robot.
"You just never run out of energy, do you?" he said.
"Nooope!" GIR chirped. "I'm a battery mongoose-bunny!" He hopped to his feet and marched around in a circle, playing an imaginary drum.
Dib chuckled, shaking his head. He stretched and headed back into the living room, where he had left a spare notebook lying on the armrest of the couch. He flicked through it, stopping at his latest sketch of the solar system.
GIR marched back into the living room, then gasped and ran up to Dib, tugging his pant leg and looking pleading at the notebook.
"Do you want to color or sketch?" Dib asked, trying not to laugh.
"Both!" GIR cheered.
"That's fair," Dib conceded. He went back through his old drawings, stopping at one with a fur-covered trout. He carefully tore it out, along with an extra blank page, and handed them both to GIR.
GIR handled them both carefully, crawling up to sit beside Dib on the couch and pulling a box of crayons out of his head. He hummed, then started to color the trout's fur a mix of pink and brown. Dib watched him for a little before he turned his attention to his own drawing, pulling out a pencil and adding some moons around Jupiter.
Zim came in from the kitchen just a few minutes later, smiling when he saw Dib. "Oh, good, you're here," he said. "I have something to show to you."
"Hmm?" Dib said, looking up and then nodding for Zim to come closer. Zim did so, taking a second to look at Dib's drawing.
Once Zim was close enough, Dib leaned closer and kissed the corner of his lips. Zim smiled, relaxing and leaning closer as Dib peppered a few more kisses on his face.
Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Ack! Enough, enough!" He grabbed Dib's chin, preventing him from getting any closer for another kiss. "I actually do have something to show you. No distractions!"
"Oh, for real?" Dib said. Zim nodded, taking his hand and scurrying back to the elevator. He kept a hold of Dib's hand, guiding him to the hanger and stopping in front of the Voot. Only then did he let go, but only to pick up what looked like a remote.
Dib raised a curious eyebrow. "Behold! Zim has completed the cloaking device you brought up before!" Zim said. He pressed a button, and a hologram flickered to life over the Voot, giving it the appearance of a normal, human compact car.
...normal cars usually weren't painted a gleaming amethyst with bright pink doors, but it was at least in the correct shape of a car.
"Not bad," Dib said, giving Zim a thumbs-up and making his partner beam widely. "How does it hold up when you open the Voot?"
"Eh..." Zim frowned a little. "I didn't work on that part yet."
Another idea crossed Dib's mind. "And this is really only going to work out if you fly low to the ground, or leave it parked somewhere," he said. "Flying cars would probably stick out as much as a spaceship."
"Peh," Zim said. "Most humans never seem to notice it flying around, anyway. But the disguise will be perfect to keep anyone from looking too closely when it's parked somewhere!"
"That's a good point," Dib admitted. "Oh, and if you hovered just over the street with this disguise on, no one would think twice about it! Just a car driving along the road."
"Mmm, yes," Zim said, nodding. "And a simple hover would be a more energy-efficient way to travel the city…still a lot slower, but it would have its pros."
"I think it's a great disguise and a good plan," Dib said, nodding approvingly.
Zim smirked, standing tall with pride. "Care to help me test it out, then?"
"...how so?" Dib asked.
"Well, I figured that with this disguise in place, we could go back and get some things from your old house." Zim grinned up at him.
Dib froze. He…had been thinking of grabbing some stuff from back at his old place that he missed, like old books and tapes, and all the things he'd like to work on again. And of course, he had brought it up with Zim. But the idea of just going back to the Membrane household made him nervous, especially when it seemed so close to becoming reality.
"We don't have to go now," Zim quickly assured him. "I just figured that…you might want your things sooner rather than later."
Dib nodded. "Yeah, just…give me a minute to think about it." He turned and started to pace, muttering to himself. If they timed it right, Gaz would be at school. Membrane was barely around, but there was still a chance he might be there…an unlikely one, though, since he was almost always in one of his labs.
Still, he wanted to avoid any confrontations, if possible. "Could we wait a few hours?" he said. "Maybe until after lunch? Oh, and check your cameras to make sure everyone is actually gone before we go there."
"Of course," Zim said.
"Perfect…and hopefully the neighbors will be out at that point, too," Dib said, mostly to himself.
"Eh? Why do we need to worry about them?"
"If we sneak in and leave with a lot of stuff, and someone sees, they could call the cops on us for robbery…or worse, tell Dad there were thieves in his place," Dib said. He bit his lip. There was also the security in their house…should they take out the cameras? Did he care if Dad and Gaz knew he was there or not?
Zim suddenly wrapped his arms around him, pressing a kiss against his neck that made Dib feel weak in the knees. "You worry too much," he said.
"I'm just…I don't want anything to go wrong!" Dib tried to argue, still a bit worried.
"It'll be fine, Dib." Zim started to pepper kisses on his cheek. "No more thinking about it until you're ready to go."
"But—"
"No, shh, no more worrying," Zim said, scratching behind his ear. "Does Zim need to distract you until you can relax?"
"…maybe," Dib muttered a little begrudgingly.
"Distraction time, then!" Zim placed another kiss on the nape of his neck, and took advantage of Dib's now-wobbly balance to swoop him up in a bridal carry, grinning down at him smugly. Blood rushed to Dib's face…not helped when Zim pecked his nose.
Zim began to carry him to the closest elevator. "What would you prefer, Dib: putting on a movie, or heading into the lab to see how many colors of explosions I can make?"
"The second, if I can be at a safe distance," Dib quickly said. The elevator they were in started to head downstairs. "…I think you'd enjoy the Fourth of July."
"Oh, that holiday with the puny little explosions?" Zim said. "Psh, I could create much more impressive displays if I wasn't concerned with drawing too much attention to myself."
"Sure you could," Dib said with a grin. He genuinely meant it…though the displays would surely also create some 'impressive' property damage.
It didn't take long for Zim to navigate to what looked more like a firing range than a lab to Dib. The impression wasn't helped when Zim walked past a wall filled with all sorts of weapons. Dib craned his head to look at them, but Zim kept walking forward, carrying him through another door and over to a clear window showing off the range.
Once there, Zim set him back down on his feet. "That should be safe enough," he decided.
"Safe 'enough'?" Dib said, a bit skeptical.
"Mmm." Zim frowned, then rifled through some drawers before he found a pair of tinted goggles and a thick magenta beanie. "Here! Extra protection for your eyes, and ant…flappy human ears."
Dib accepted the protection, putting on the goggles and pulling on the beanie until it covered both of his ears. Now everything was a bit darker, and more muffled. Zim nodded, heading back into the proper lab/firing range.
Just to be on the safe side, Dib took a few more steps back from the glass.
Zim soon stepped into view, carrying two weapons as long as his arms. He set one to the side, then pressed a button on the panel in front of him, which dropped a cheap globe on the far side of the range.
He took aim and quickly fired a thin bolt of pink plasma…when it hit the globe, it exploded into a bright magenta fireball. Not much bigger than the globe itself, but still impressively bright, in hue and intensity.
Dib was impressed, clapping even if he didn't know whether Zim could hear him. Zim turned and grinned at him smugly, grabbing his next weapon and shooting a blue fireball at the next target.
This was even better than fireworks, in Dib's opinion. It was cool to see what different colors and explosion combinations Zim could make, and Zim seemed to be fueled by Dib's fascination, enthusiastic about each weapon he pulled out. Dib wondered if he had built all of them himself…
After showing how he could fire three things at once (with the help of his PAK), Zim poked his head into the viewing area. "How was that?" he yelled. "Not blind, are you?"
Dib shook his head, taking off the beanie and goggles and setting them back where Zim had gotten them. "That was pretty cool," he said. "Did you make all those things yourself?"
Zim smirked. "Heh. No, only a few of them, though some weapons I modified to make a little more effective…want to talk about it over lunch?"
"Sure," Dib said, following him upstairs. While GIR offered them both 'soup', they only pretended to take a few sips from the bowls he gave them. Once GIR had left, they headed up leftovers to eat, and Zim rambled about the weaponry he had been showing off.
Once they were done, they headed back downstairs, Zim reaching over to take Dib's hand and give it a small squeeze. "Want to check the security footage?"
It took Dib a second to recall what he was talking about, but he nodded. They headed over to the nearest screen, and Zim got the Computer to pull up the footage. In seconds, they were looking at Dib's old house from various angles…including one showing the entire living room and even looking into part of the kitchen from a high angle.
"You're kidding me," Dib said. "How long has that been there?" He looked at another one, showing a view of his room. "And that one?"
"Oh, don't start!" Zim said. "You've placed just as many cameras in my base…or attempted to."
"Ugh, still." Dib frowned, focusing on the image of the living room. Gaz wasn't there or in the kitchen, and when he looked at the feed from outside the house, there weren't any lights on…it looked empty, as it should have been at this hour.
"…okay," he said. "I think…now's as good a time as any to do this."
"Ready?" Zim asked.
Dib nodded, still worried about running into his family, but feeling better knowing the chances of that were slim. They headed to the hanger, Zim ordering the Computer to give them several large black satchels, identical to the one Dib had taken into the forest, and they were all shoved into the Voot.
They both sat in the pilot's seat, Zim looking at Dib one last time before activating the ship...and its new holographic disguise. They quickly ascended through the base, only for Zim to zip down to the road, hovering just a few inches above so the holographic wheels touched the pavement.
"Hey…do the wheels of the hologram spin as this is moving?" Dib asked as Zim hovered them out of the cul-de-sac and down the street.
"That's not a bad idea," Zim said. "Eh, nobody's going to look that close, anyway."
"Hope not," Dib muttered, glancing out the windshield. The view from the side was a bit blurry, since the hologram was covering it, but he could see that no one outside was giving them a second look.
For a moment, he was again frustrated with the blindness of humanity, but he shrugged it off. He had no interest in exposing Zim. Maybe he'd be able to open their eyes someday, but now, he wanted to turn his attention to the stars.
It didn't take long for them to make it to the Membrane household, even with Dib quickly having to tell Zim to stop at red lights. But they made it without causing an accident or drawing attention to themselves, and that was the important thing.
Zim parked the Voot in the driveway, powering it down and opening the windshield. It passed right through the hologram, but said hologram stayed in place. Knowing how weird it would look, Dib quickly scrambled out. Zim hopped out behind him, adjusting his wig and closing the windshield. The Voot now appeared to be a normal, if oddly-colored, car.
Dib looked around, but there were no pedestrians nearby, and none of the neighbors were coming out. He slowly walked up to the front door, hand hovering just above the doorknob.
It should unlock for him once it detected his handprint…but if he wasn't registered in the system anymore, the security system would activate, and he'd be getting a little zap at best.
"What's wrong?" Zim asked, now standing behind him.
"Nothing, nothing…" Dib bit his lip, glancing around again before finally opening the door.
It gave no resistance, none of the security systems sprang to life, and no one was rushing over to stop them. Even so, he quickly darted inside, pulling Zim in after him before quickly shutting the door.
Zim huffed, patting his wig to fix it back up. "I still doubt anyone would be suspicious of you coming into 'your house'."
"You never know," Dib said. "If Dad or Gaz is still looking for me, and someone saw us and called them…" He probably wouldn't be in trouble, per se, but he wanted to avoid confrontation. Especially since neither of them would be happy to catch him only to find he was leaving as soon as he could.
"Well, even then it would take some time for them to get here," Zim said. "Even if they came, I bet we could make it out before it's a concern."
Dib wished he could be as confident about that…but Zim did have a point. If they were quick enough, they wouldn't need to worry about getting caught.
He quickly hurried over to the shelves near the TV, where some of his recorded VHSes were sitting on the bottom shelf, many labeled in his scrawled handwriting and sorted by show and episode, with even some old movies scattered within.
All of them were pulled out and quickly dumped into his bag, and he stood up and looked around to make sure nothing else of his was in the room.
"I'm heading upstairs," he said to Zim, already walking in that direction. Zim nodded, following close behind.
Dib opened his bedroom door…and was immediately struck by the mess that he had left behind in his room. Piles of clothes on the floor, belongings scattered all over…was it always this bad?
Maybe he had gotten too used to living with a neat freak who fussed over his room's cleanliness.
"Ugh!" Zim said from behind Dib, face sprinkling in disgust. "It smells like they just left your slobby mess in here to ferment."
Dib sniffed at the air, but didn't notice anything beyond maybe a slightly musty smell from old sweat and grime. But then again, Zim's sense of smell was stronger…and if he was complaining about that, it would hopefully mean less of him complaining about Dib's messy habits.
He stepped forward, cracking his knuckles as he moved to the first pile of clothes on the floor, dumping it all into the bag with the tapes.
"Don't you want to sort your things out?" Zim said, going to a different pile and tossing clothes over to Dib, with equipment and tools buried within being set to the side.
"I can do that once we get back home," Dib declared, dropping the tossed clothes into the bag. "I just want to get my things and get out as quickly as we can." He grabbed another pile of clothes (and some magazines tucked in them), shoving that into the bag, too. It was already getting pretty full, and he grunted a little as he forced it to zip shut.
He shoved the bag over to the doorway, reaching over to grab another empty one Zim had brought up with him. He glanced up and saw that Zim was still sorting piles into bigger ones for clothes, books, magazines, and technology.
The two of them actually managed to get Dib's floor mostly clean within a half-hour…mostly due to Dib just shoveling everything he could grab into a bag, only pausing to throw away bits of trash he came across. Zim's organized piles were still sitting there, but with the mess mostly cleaned, he was now packing them up, starting by wrapping equipment carefully in Dib's shirts to protect them before putting it into a bag.
Dib turned to hide his eye-roll. With everything on the floor practically packed up, he next turned his attention to the wall where he had kept his Zim evidence, jolting a little when he saw how empty it looked. But he remembered that he had taken most of it down, putting it…
He opened a few desk drawers until he found the folder he was looking for, stuffed with blurry photos and drawings of Zim. He smiled, carefully pulling the rest of his evidence off the wall and tucking it into the folder.
Though…there were also some files on his computer he wanted, too. Dib searched his desktop until he found a flash drive, which he plugged in. He copied all his files over into the flash drive...and while his computer was working on that, he started to search through the rest of his desk.
There were a few sheets of old homework that he threw away, but he also found some old notebooks, scraps of paper, and photos, which he piled up on his desk. There were also some old fidget toys of his, a couple of dusty card games, and a few tools, which he placed into a pile, along with his phone and wallet.
Once all the drawers had been cleaned out, he moved the items he wanted to keep into a new bag…and his timing was just about perfect, because when he glanced at the computer, he found that his files had just finished copying over. He removed the flash drive and tucked that into the bag, too.
He was about to move on to something else, but…he paused, lingering at the computer. He could access some of the security features through it, so maybe…
With a new idea taking shape, he navigated to the security panel and began to look through the security camera feeds…then went into their settings. After clicking around a bit, he found a way to delete some of the footage, and to turn them off until a specific time.
He removed the last few minutes of footage from when he and Zim had arrived and set them to turn off until school ended. If they couldn't get out by then, they risked running into his family in person, which was a much bigger concern to him.
"Done?" Zim asked him. Dib swiveled around in his chair and saw that Zim had finished packing up his organized piles, leaving Dib's floor cleaner than he had seen it in years.
"Yeah, I'm done with the desk and computer," Dib said. "I guess the next thing would be the closet."
Zim nodded, opening the closet door…and staring when a pile of assorted evidence and alien junk spilled out onto the clean floor. Oh, right…Dib stored a lot of stuff in there so they wouldn't get mixed up with anything in his other piles.
He stepped forward, quickly shoveling the pile into an empty bag. Even if he could get much more interesting stuff from Zim now, he had gone through a lot of trouble to get these things!
Zim, meanwhile, stepped around him and started grabbing shirts, carefully folding them and tucking them into a bag. When he came across Dib's few spare coats, he paused for a moment, gently folding them and tucking them in with the rest of the clothes.
Dib finished packing his evidence collection and started to help Zim with clothes. But there wasn't really enough space in the closet for them both, and after bumping into Zim and both of them getting in each other's way, Zim shooed him out and assured him he could take care of the rest.
So, Dib started pulling his posters and pictures off of the walls, carefully rolling them up. The only one he left was the signed one of his Dad.
Next was his collection of haunted things, set aside on their own selves, which he treated carefully as he packed them into their own, separate bag. He muttered a few protection spells under his breath when holding the most suspicious of the items.
After that, he looked around, but there really wasn't much left. He did pull his weighted blanket off the bed and rolled it up, and it nearly took up its own bag. He also checked under the bed to see if anything was there, but it seemed Zim had already cleaned out that space.
A glance at the nearest clock told him there was still plenty of time left. He headed to the bathroom, grabbed his things, and shoved them into a bag that had some free space between some clothes.
By the time he went back into his bedroom, Zim had completely cleaned out his closet and was piling the bags next to the door. "That was easy," Zim commented when Dib added his bag to the pile.
"Don't tempt fate," Dib warned. He made another circle around the room, seeing if there was anything else to grab. He double-checked his nightstand, finding another set of tarot cards, but that was it.
He looked up and saw that Zim was also pacing through the room, checking in nooks and crannies and not seeming to find anything. Dib started pushing bags closer to the stairs, and once the whole pile was there, grabbed several and carried them down to the front door.
A glance back showed that Zim was doing the same, though carrying twice as many bags without breaking a sweat. "Show-off," Dib said with a playful roll of his eyes.
Zim stuck his tongue out at him. Once his hands were free, he pulled another bag out of his PAK, tossing it to Dib. "I'll move the rest of the bags down here," he said. "You can see if there's anything else you want to take."
"Yes, sir," Dib said, only a little sarcastically. Zim puffed out his chest as he headed back upstairs. Dib was already pretty sure nothing of his was still in the living room, but he still combed through it to make sure. He then made his way into the kitchen.
The first place he checked was the cupboard Dad kept his tea stuff in. There was the actual tea and some sugar, but he was looking for something specific…aha! Yes, there was still a jar of honey in the cupboard, half-full…and the spare one right behind it. Dib grabbed both and packed them with his things. Dad or Gaz could always get more.
He then checked the snack cupboard, grabbing some of his honey sticks, none of which seemed to have been touched.
Really, all he had wanted was the honey…he didn't want to force Gaz to go grocery shopping earlier than she had to. But it wouldn't hurt to look a little bit…and he remembered that they should still have something that he had wanted to share with Zim at some point.
After rooting around in the cupboard for a bit, Dib found what he was looking for—packets of hot chocolate mix. He held them up, turning around to show them off to Zim as he entered. Zim looked at them curiously.
"Hot chocolate," Dib told him. "It's a pretty common thing to drink as the months keep getting colder. I think it's something you'll definitely enjoy."
"I trust your judgment," Zim said, opening up the bag and letting Dib toss them in. Dib scanned the cabinets to see if there was any other food he wanted to grab.
"Oh, there's soda in here," Zim said, looking in the fridge. "Want to grab some of those, too?"
Dib quickly shook his head. "Oh, no, absolutely not. Those are Gaz's. She would lose it if we took her soda from her."
"Not even one bottle?"
"She'll still notice. She always does, and she will hunt us down for it," Dib said. Zim shuddered, quickly setting the bottle he had been inspecting back in its original spot.
While it was open, Dib decided to peer inside the fridge too, but didn't see anything he particularly wanted. He turned back to the cupboards but only grabbed some canned vegetables (leaving the beans alone) to take with them. Zim looked around and snatched some store-bought cookies from the counter.
It was easy to shove all of their chosen items into the last bag. Dib stepped into the living room, looking around one last time to make sure he had remembered to scan every room of the house. "That should be it," he declared, starting to head to the door.
"Excellent!" Zim said. "And without any complications, too—I told you this plan would go flawlessly."
Dib rolled his eyes, but paused to kiss Zim on the cheek before stepping outside. He heard Zim stammer a little before jogging to catch up, which made him chuckle a little to himself.
He went through a mental checklist of all his possessions. He had grabbed everything he wanted from his room and in the bathroom, he wasn't going into his dad or sister's rooms, he'd gone through the living room and kitchen, the basement was just Dad's stuff (and Zim's equipment was better), the stuff in the garage was old junk, dangerous junk, or both—
"Oh, man!" Dib said, dropping his bag of stuff and whirling to face the garage. "I nearly forgot about the ship!"
"You still have that thing?" Zim said. "…also, how can you forget about an Irken ship, even if it's made of garbage?"
"Of course I still have it!" Dib said. "Though I haven't flown it in a while because…it won't let me check how much fuel is left. I'm pretty sure it's almost out and just wants to crash the next time I fly it. It mostly just insults me while I read data from it, now."
Zim laughed. "And you want to keep it!?"
"Well…it's probably the best evidence of aliens that I have, aside from you," Dib said. "And if we can do something about the AI and the fuel situation, it would be nice to have my own ship. It could even just be spare parts."
Zim frowned in thought, then nodded. "True. I can't promise enough fuel to get you airborne in that junk right away, but solving the issue of the AI will be easy."
Dib raised an eyebrow. "Really? I've tried turning it off, but it always turns itself back on, and it has so many backups I can't delete it. And overriding it with a replacement AI…well, that didn't work out. So how is taking care of it going to be 'easy'?"
"You've only been focusing on the code and all the fiddly software aspects," Zim said. He leaned up, tapping Dib's forehead. "Think about it—about what you've seen of the Voot. The AI isn't just 'there'."
Dib frowned, pushing his hand away. "Yeah, obviously. There's an alien CPU or main brain that houses it…" Zim grinned widely, and Dib caught his train of thought and grinned back. "…and if it were disconnected, the AI wouldn't be a problem anymore!"
"Exactly! I knew you'd catch on." Zim turned to the garage, rubbing his hands together. "Just give me a minute or less, and I can pop the main brain right out."
He started to move forward, but Dib quickly grabbed his shoulder to stop him. "You can't just go in there!" he said. "The ship turns on automatically whenever anyone gets too close. And it hates you."
"Ugh." Zim grimaced. "And how exactly were you planning on bringing the ship back with us without it flying into a rage?"
"Well…I figured I'd get inside the cockpit and disable enough systems to hook it up to the Voot before it realized you were around," Dib said. "It still hates me, but it only attacks if I get too close and it's in a particularly bad mood. It'll probably try to attack you as soon as it realizes you're nearby."
"And how long does getting into the ship usually take?"
"Depending on its mood, and whether I can convince it that I have to do it to stop you, it can take…a while," Dib said. "But! I have a better idea."
He pulled out his notepad and began to sketch out his idea as he continued. "I can talk to it and try to get inside to disarm it a bit. Meanwhile, you can sneak up behind it, wait for an opening, then quietly pull out the brain to disable it!"
Zim looked over the plan…and nodded, grinning up and Dib. "This should be easy!"
"Okay." Dib started to move towards the garage. "Last I checked, there was a lot of junk between the door and the ship…but you should probably stay behind me, just in case." Zim nodded again and moved into place, nearly pressed up against Dib.
Dib glanced around to make sure the coast was still clear, then bent down and pulled up the garage door. He was greeted, as usual, with the sight of a large pile of mementos and trophies from his various fights and adventures. The ship would be a bit further in, and wasn't currently in sight.
He looked over his shoulder to make eye contact with Zim and pointed to a gap at his right. Zim nodded, ducking inside that gap and quickly disappearing behind a pile of boxes that Dib had labeled as full of alien scrap metal. Dib started to move forward, and it was only by listening carefully that he could hear Zim creeping alongside him.
It didn't take long for him to find the ship—sitting on a patch of concrete cleared of anything else, with a white tarp draped over it. Zim poked his head out from behind some old traps of Dib's, looked at the ship, then looked at Dib.
Dib gave him a thumbs-up, stepping forward to pull the tarp off of the ship, letting it drape off to the side. Lights on its windshield slowly blinked to life, letting him know it was on and prepared.
"Hey, ship," he said.
"Oh great, it's you," the ship groaned in response. "You were gone for so long, I thought you had finally died."
"Nope, still alive and kicking. Look like the batteries maintaining your central brain are still working fine...unfortunately," he responded, muttering the last part under his breath.
"Yes, and...wait. How did you know those are separate batteries?" the ship asked. It managed to raise itself up a few inches, as though to suspiciously peer down at Dib.
"Um..." Dib glanced back at where Zim had frozen in the middle of sneaking up. "Lucky guess?"
"Suspiciously lucky…but I suppose luck is the only thing keeping you alive through your terrible choices and hideously swollen head."
"It's not big!" Dib snapped defensively. "…maybe I ought to fix up your cameras if you see it that way."
A big red X flashed on the windshield. "Don't even think about it!" it snapped. "I still have enough energy to keep your grubby fingers off of me."
Dib grimaced, holding his hands up in defense. "Look, I'm not even anywhere near you!" He glanced behind the ship and saw that Zim was a mere few feet away, crouching behind a pile of junk and waiting for a good moment.
Now Dib just needed to distract the ship a little more, keep it talking so that it wouldn't notice when—
Zim screamed wildly, leaping up and jumping on top of the ship, clawing at the edge of the windshield.
"Zim, no, that wasn't the plan!" Dib shouted, running forward.
"Zim!?" the ship roared, rearing up on one leg and reaching up with the other to swipe at Zim. "You rotten little PEST! Get off of me!"
"Never!" Zim snarled. "Now open up so I can rip out your personality core!"
"Like I'm going to let that happen!" The ship suddenly dropped to the ground, crashing and screeching against the concrete, and jostling Zim from his perch. While Zim scrambled to regain his footing, the ship reached up with one claw to swat him off, slamming him onto the ground.
"I know my master would want to be here for this…but she'll understand, and she'll LOVE watching this footage!" the ship said, raising the other claw and holding it over Zim's head.
Dib tackled the thinner portion of the claw, knocking it aside just before the ship slammed it down. The tip skidded against the concrete, sending sparks flying. "You!" the ship spat. "Don't you want to see Zim dead!?" A silhouette of Zim's face appeared on the windshield, with a classic circle with a slash slapped over the top.
"No!" He knocked a nearby toolbox over, spilling the contents.
"I won't even mangle him that much! So you can still use his body for whatever sick, twisted ideas you have for it!"
"Not happening!" Dib jabbed a wrench into the joint of the leg, twisting it until it loosened up and the leg fell limp, to which the ship let out a frustrated noise.
"Ack! Dib-thing, take care of this one!" Zim said, pushing up the leg pinning him down…which the ship was trying to press down even harder in an effort to crush him.
Dib leapt into action, jabbing the wrench into the same joint…only for a small bolt of electricity to travel through the leg, making him flinch and drop the wrench. Zim snarled, snatching the wrench from the ground milliseconds after it landed and forcefully jamming it into the joint.
Another burst of electricity traveled through the leg, but Zim didn't even flinch. "Ha! A real Invader's gloves are insulated against any danger!"
"You're no invader!" the ship yelled. Zim ignored it, twisting the wrench until there was a loud creak and the limb fell limp. Zim shoved it aside and scampered over to the side of the ship.
"Don't even think about touching me!" the ship yelled, rumbling and starting to rock back and forth. Dib quickly rushed to the same side as Zim, planting his feet on the ground and shoving his shoulder against the ship just before it tried to tip over to crush Zim.
It screamed in frustration while Dib tried to hide his wince of pain. He was going to have a pretty big bruise there later…if they could get out of this.
Zim quickly grabbed the panel in front of him, yanking it off and tossing it aside despite the ship's protests. "What is wrong with you, you stupid human!?" it snapped. "Don't you realize Zim's going to turn on you the second he disables your only ship!?"
Dib snorted. "You don't know what we've been through! But trust me, it's way more than would be worth it to fake just to turn you off."
"Ha! Nice one," Zim said, tearing through wires before grabbing a second circular panel and twisting it. With a grunt, he managed to get it loose, and let it drop to dangle on an array of wires. He shoved his whole arms into the new opening, his front pressed up flush against the ship.
"You'll regret this!"
"I don't…think we will!" Zim grunted as he reached deep into the insides of the ship. The ship let out a strangled scream, which became more staticy as Zim growled, grabbing at something.
With a snarl, Zim yanked his arm back, and the ship's scream cut out as he pulled out a brain in a snowglobe-like jar with several wires connected to it.
Dib stared at the brain, which flashed angrily a few times before the light winked out. "...is the ship going to work without that?"
"Eh, we can replace it with a basic brain without an AI, like the Voot has," Zim said. "It's easier that way."
"What should we do with the brain?"
Zim frowned, turning it over in his hands a few times. "Eh, dunno. I guess it's technically yours, so you can decide what to do with it."
"Technically it's Tak's and doesn't belong to either of us," Dib said. "By the way...how about next time I suggest doing something stealthily, you listen to me?" He crossed his arms and gave Zim a look.
"I was stealthy!" Zim protested. "I waited over a minute before I jumped in for a sneak attack!"
Dib sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You know what? Let's go home...and later, we can talk about what 'stealth' actually means, okay?"
"Hmph." Zim tossed the brain into a bag with the rest of Dib's stuff. "I was perfectly stealthy...and we won, anyway."
Even though Dib was still frustrated, he sighed and agreed. His shoulder was still pretty sore…though Zim had nearly been crushed, and so probably had much more reason to complain about the fight.
"Let's get the ship out of here and get home," he said, walking back over and placing his hands under the ship. Zim moved over to the other side, mimicking Dib, and the two managed to hoist it a few inches off the ground—Zim seeming to struggle less with it than Dib did.
But between the two of them, it was easy to carry it out into the yard, even if a few boxes got kicked over in the process after being in the way. Once it was sitting on the grass, Zim headed to the Voot, grabbing what looked like a small disk before coming back and letting it snap magnetically to the front of the ship.
"That'll let us tow it back…though I don't think the disguise will cover this ship," he said, frowning at it.
"Oh, that's an easy fix." Dib headed back into the garage, grabbing the white sheet and dragging it back out to toss it over the ship again, hiding it from view. "Now everyone will think we're towing a lawnmower. Or something."
"Genius!" Zim clapped Dib on the back. "Of course, I would expect nothing less from my human!"
Dib chuckled, and could feel heat rising in his cheeks. He thought he was getting used to hearing what counted as compliments from Zim, but every so often, he would say something that would still make Dib feel flustered.
"But with the ship, that's everything, right?" Zim said.
Dib scooped up his bag again, slinging it over his shoulder and opening it up to check the contents. It was already stuffed full, but he was pretty confident that all his stuff had been grabbed. "Yeah, pretty sure," he said. "And if I'm forgetting anything, it's probably nothing too important."
Zim nodded, and the two of them headed back to the Voot. Dib tossed his bag in first, then let Zim pick him up and plop him into the pilot's chair. Zim sat in Dib's lap, stretching and making himself comfortable before reaching for the controls.
Once the Voot had turned on and was hovering in the air, Zim pressed another series of buttons. A blue energy beam shot out the back of the Voot, connecting with the disk he had attached to the Spittle Runner…burning a small hole through the sheet Dib had thrown over it.
Zim grabbed the steering controls again, nudging them forward and back onto the streets. Dib made it his job to look over his shoulder, making sure they hadn't lost the other ship or attracted any unwanted attention.
It felt so bizarre, looking out the back to his old house, and feeling a sense of finality. He always knew he would end up moving out as he grew older, but he always figured he would be a little older than he currently was…and that he might have more of a desire to go back.
But now, with practically everything he owned packed up and coming back with them…he smiled, wrapping his arms around Zim. Maybe he'd be back, but right now, he was more interested in moving forward.