Disclaimers: I do not own Invader Zim
Author's Notes: And we're back to the Episodes! How will things differ? Let's find out, shall we?
PS: Just so you know some of the episodes will be out of order for plot purposes, not that it really matters since most of the episodes give no way of telling you exactly what order they took place besides the dates they were aired. Anyways on with the story!
Shout Outs!: This chapter is dedicated to MockingVenus, thank you for the wonderful review. I am glad you like this series and I hope that you will see it through with me until the end.
(One week later…)
Quiet,
That's what had come for them for the next few days that followed, but it was a silence that could not be enjoyed. With every passing day Dib thought he would go insane with paranoia. Zim had yet to make another appearance, and the wait was killing him.
Dark Booty said there was nothing that could be done about it. Zim was most likely waiting for them to drop their guard before he started eliminating them one by one. So, all they could do was make sure that never happened. Dib followed this order by looking over his shoulder every five seconds and checking to make sure he locked all the doors five times before bed.
Sometimes he wondered if really forgetting would end his life, yet he wasn't about to risk the safety of his sister to prove it. So instead, he locked the doors and spent all night watching the home security, and the watching the skies channel on Mysterious Mysteries. Still, no matter what he did, Zim was nowhere in sight.
Still, he waited… and waited…and waited… Until he was sick of it!
"This is pointless." Dib said to himself, it was once again Thursday night, and Dib was pacing his room. He knew Zim was up to something, and it was more than just hunting them down. How did he know this? Because Zim had tunneled underground, deep underground, far deeper then he needed to for just tunneling to get past the factory's defenses. Not only that; but there was no piles of dirt! Dib, Miz, and Dark Booty had gone back to the factory several times to confirm it. There was no dirt, or minerals. So that meant Zim was keeping it.
"But why?" Dib asked himself as he looked at his pictures on the wall. Several of them were of the factory, and the holes they found. They were rather large, and Dib had walked several of the tunnels, but all he saw was dirt there, and minerals, like iron, copper, zinc, nickel, tin and even some lead. But why keep these things?
Was he purposely gathering these resources, and if so, why? Suddenly a message is heard over Mysterious Mysteries.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we have another weird sighting, just seconds ago a small robot- like creature was seen Raiding Crazy Taco's."
"Robot-like creature?" Dib turned to his TV screen, to see a picture of a small robot with blue eyes. "Hey that's Zim's robot!" He said. Sure, the eyes were a different color but there was no denying it. "I have to tell Dark Booty!" Dib races over to the computer and turns on the secret communications line, Dark Booty's silhouette appeared on the screen.
"Greeting's Moth-Man." Dark Booty said. "Any News?"
"There was a robot sighing at Crazy Tacos." Dib said. "It looks like Zim's." He sent a picture over the live chat.
"Well done Moth-Man." Dark Booty said. "I'll have Agent Grubs look into it."
"Him?" Dib snapped. "What about me?"
"It's too dangerous." Dark Booty. "A stupid move like that is obviously Zim's way of luring you out."
"But it's me he wants, so if it is a trap and I'm not there; you'll find nothing! Besides I'm sick of waiting." Dib whined.
"I know it's hard to sit on the side lines, but please leave this to the senior officers." Dark Booty begged.
Dib sighs. "Fine." He whined and hung up, only to begin getting ready to leave, he pulled on his shoes and packed several gadgets of his own design, plus his camera. "Sorry Dark Booty, but this is my life we're talking about, and I'm going to be the one to protect it." Besides, he needed to see Zim again, he needed to understand why he looked at him like that, and why he had to take those resources. There was so many unanswered questions and Dib hated it! He hated not knowing.
Dark Booty sighed as he watched Dib get ready from his spy bug on the boy's wall. "Oh Moth-Man I should have known you'd do this." He paged Gaz as he spoke.
Gaz looks up from her game to look at her computer, just in time to see a message appear on her screen.
Zim has been spotted, do not let Dib leave the house.
-Dark Booty
Gaz jumps into action and cuts Dib off at the stairs. "Not another step Dib." She warned as her doll army surrounds them.
"Figures he would tell you to keep me here." Dib said. "Come on Gaz I'm just going to observe, promise."
Gaz doesn't budge "Sorry Dib, but I have my orders."
"Then you leave me no choice!" Dib yelled and threw a smoke bomb.
Gaz coughed wildly as Dib used the cover to push pass her, and rush down the stairs. He dodges the robot dolls as he went, Gaz had turned all of her toys into a small miniature army of death and destruction. She did this because Dad was always gone, and this was a house of a known a successfully rich scientist. Several idiots tried to rob them since everyone knew it was empty except for two teens, so Gaz made her own army to protect them. However, she was no stranger to using them on her brother for being stupid.
When Dib was younger he had been scared of these things, but thanks to Dark Booty's training he was better at handling the threat and soon managed to dive out the door.
"Damn it!" Gaz hissed. "Fine you win this time!" She yelled after him. "But next time I'm putting them on flesh eating mode!"
Dib keeps running, despite her threat. He knows he's being stupid going alone, but he knows every member of his team will tell him to stay out of it. "Miz!" He realized. "Miz would never let me down." This was true, Miz would still disagree with this, but he'd go because he understood that Dib couldn't help his impulsive nature.
He'd go to keep him safe; plain and simple.
Dib dialed Miz number on his communicator and kept running. No answer!
"Damn it Miz!" he shouted as he reached the back alley of Crazy Taco. "Why don't you ever answer your phone?" it was true, Miz was always missing his calls, only to tell him later that he was doing homework or chores or something. But considering the time was 11:50 he assumed his friend was most likely asleep. "Fine I'll do this myself." He said, pulling out some thermal goggles. He scans the ground if somethings been back here recently he should get some clear reading. He stops as he sees a pair of small footprints, glowing green under the thermal lens.
Dib smiled. "Bingo!"
(Back with Zim...)
Sometimes he could really strangle that robot.
"Please tell me you did not risk this mission for some Taco's!" Zim yelled at the top of his lungs. He was in the middle of a clearing surrounded by several trees in the woods, preparing the Voot for another round of drilling.
"But the Crazy Taco man said I needed them!" Gir said, crying softly.
Zim growled loudly; he had confiscated the tacos the moment the SIR unit had arrived. And was now clutching them in his claws. The past week of nothing but school had worn on his patience and the Tallest were not helping. He had reported to them last Saturday, only for them to be displeased that he had only drilled once for resources and had nothing huge to report.
"Zim we need you to focus." Red had said. "The AIs and their accomplices have escaped Zoran and could be coming to warn the humans."
This news had Zim's senses on high alert, the AIs could see past their disguises, and were driven to kill them all without the slightest bit of remorse. An AI was just as dangerous as a control brain, in fact they were a later model, so of course they were dangerous. Zim scanned the trees at the thought. No enemies yet, but he had to move this along, if anyone saw Gir it could risk tonight's mission.
For a moment he considers going back home empty handed but dismisses it. He had two days until he reported into the Tallest again, and if he was empty handed for a second time, he shivered at the thought. He had never been a victim of their wrath before, but he had seen it, and it was not pretty.
"Sir!" Zim said, and Gir's eyes switched to red.
Dib froze as he heard the three-letter word, the footprints had led him to a tree line in the woods, he peeked out from behind a tree and gasped; it was Zim! He pointed his video camera at him and began recording.
"Why are we here?" Zim asked.
"To destroy the enemy." Gir answered, voice dark.
"And?" Zim pressed.
"And collect resources for the upcoming war!" Gir answered.
Dib's eyes widen. "War?" He whispered. So that's why he was digging so deep in the ground! He was collecting resources for an upcoming war! And he was stealing them from their planet to do it! But why?
"Now where in the mission does it say we need tacos?" Zim yelled!
"Nowhere Sir!" Gir said.
"Stupid robot!" Zim shouted; his anger was all consuming now. "At this rate we will never have enough resources to fight against this planet's defenses!"
"Oh god." The war was with them! Zim was stealing their resources so his people's armies could rage war against them! "I have to tell Dark Booty!" He whispered and took a step backwards.
Zim's antenna twitched as he heard a twig snapped. "What was that?" he turned towards the sound, using his superior eyesight to scan the trees around him.
Dib froze in place, just knowing that he was pretty much screwed whether he moved or not. He's right, Gir can see through solid objects and picks out Dib's skeleton frame with his x-ray vison in seconds.
"Intruder!" He shouts pointing right at Dib!
Zim sees him too now, and smiles. "Well, if it isn't my favorite Earth monkey."
Dib slowly backs away.
"What running already?" Zim teased. "How boring, and here I was hoping you'd be more fun to play with." He stops as he notices the camera, its red light is blinking. "You're recording this?" He asked. "How much did you hear?"
"No-th-ing." Dib stutters despite himself. "I just got here..." He lied trying to sound believable.
Zim doesn't buy it for a moment. He curses in the Irken tongue, before giving Gir his orders. "Drill here until the tanks are full."
"Yes, my Lord." Gir jumps into the Voot before asking. "What about you?"
Zim smiled wickedly as his eyes fell back on Dib. "I'm going hunting for Dibs." He mused.
It's only then that Dib manages to turn and run, how could he have been so stupid? Did he really come here with no back up? And no real weapon to defend himself with! Sure, he had some smoke bombs, but his father had confiscated all his real weapons in the hope that it would discourage him from going after Zim alone.
Fat chance, his father should have known he'd come either way, in fact Dib told him he would. And now since neither of them listened to what they were told, Dib was in deep trouble…No this was happening because he didn't bring back up.
'I should have gone to woke up Miz first.' He realized. "If I can make it back to the road he'll have to leave me alone or risk being spotted." He told himself out loud, hoping that hearing these words would calm him down.
It doesn't help.
He can hear Zim's advance, and he swears that he can feel his alien breath on his neck, but it's all in his head. Zim is not that close, the kid was smart, zig zagging through the woods in order to slow him down. If this kept up the Dib would reach the road which was a very popular route for midnight workers around town.
He would get away, and Zim could not allow that, it would compromise the mission for sure. Zim growls and moves faster; this was all that dumb robot's fault. 'I swear if I don't get that evidence back I'm trashing Gir!'
Shoot him. His Irken programming orders.
Zim pulls out his plasma gun and aims, his handshakes as he tries to zero in on his target.
Dib curses as he trips over an unearthed tree root, falling to the ground.
Zim advances, it's hard to missing a target that's this close and not moving. "It's over Dib."
Dib looks up to see the road through the trees if only he could get a few inches more, and he would be safe. He could see the lights of the cars passing by, was this the end? Was this the last thing he would see? No! He tries to force himself to his feet, only to be grabbed roughly by a three-clawed hand.
Zim throws him back on the ground away from the road. "So close worm." He hisses. "But not close enough." He aims his gun.
Dib's breath hitches in his throat, was this really the end? And all because he was too stupid to wait for back up. He suddenly thought of all the people he would never see again, His dad, his sister, Peg, and Miz. Oh god Miz! He would be leaving him forever, never knowing if there was anything there beyond friendship. "Why?" He asked him.
Zim froze. "What?"
"Why do you do this?" Dib asked, tears running down his face. "What did we ever do to you?" Zim's hand is shaking again, he uses another hand to steady it.
However, Dib notices his struggle. "You don't really want to do this do you?" He dared to ask. No, no he didn't, and it was written all over his face.
"You don't have to do this." Dib said, trying to talk him down. He wasn't sure if it would work, or if he were right about Zim not wanting to kill him. But he seemed to be at odds with the idea, though it's possible that Zim simply has plans that need him alive for the time being.
Zim shakes his head, this scene was getting to familiar for him to bear, a friend at his feet, begging for his life. Lard Nar flashes before his eyes.
'Don't be the monster they already think you are.'
Fool what are you waiting? His programing asked him. Shoot him!
Zim looked at Dib, almost helplessly. The boy was on his feet now, walking slowly towards him, hands up as if to appear none threatening.
"You don't have to do this." Dib said.
Remember your lesson. His programing said. I am here for a reason!
Suddenly Zim's face twists and converts to one of pure evil. "Yes, I do!" He aims, only to hiss as he's hit from behind.
"Dib run!" Gaz screamed dropping her bat before throwing a smoke bomb.
"You filthy human!" Zim screamed as he was knocked down to the forest floor. His struggle with Dib had distracted him so much that he didn't sense her coming.
Dib makes a run for it, only hoping that he's headed in the right direction. He can hear Gaz right beside him.
"Dib this way!" Gaz shouted.
Zim races to his feet, and charges, but by then it was too late.
Dib breathed a sigh of relief as they ran across the road to the parking lot of Crazy Taco.
Dib looks back towards the trees, he can just make out Zim as the lights of the cars going by light him up.
"Next time worm." Zim vows before vanishing.
"Are you mad?" Gaz asked slapping him out of his trance. "He almost killed you!"
Dib shook his head still unsure of that. "I don't think…I don't think he was going to." He whispered.
"It sure looked like it to me." Gaz snapped. "I hope whatever you got was worth it."
Dib nodded. "I know why he's here." Dib admitted. "And it's bad."
Gaz nodded as she led the way home. "Tell me everything." She ordered.
(Following Zim...)
"Irk!" Zim cursed once more. How could he have been so blind?
"Master the tanks are full." Gir stated as he appeared beside him, in the Voot which is full of resources.
"This is all your fault Gir!" Zim hissed.
Gir's eyes change back to blue, and he frowns. "I know, I sorry master."
"This is beyond sorry Gir!" Zim lectured. "This is worse than the time you blew up Irk's second Moon."
"That was an accident." Gir argued.
Zim shook his head. "We have to fix this Gir?" he said the obvious. "But how?"
Zim's personal computer dethatched from his PAK, before speaking. "It's too late, the enemy already knows the mission, the best we can do is confiscate the evidence so there is no proof of your existence for the enemy to present to the Earth authorities."
Zim knew the computer was right, while the Swollen Eyeball was an agency of the Human government system, and received funds from the NASA, no one actually took them seriously. Yes, the Swollen Eyeball was the laughingstock of NASA, but that all could change if they had a video with proof of a real-life alien. "Very well I will retrieve the video data at once, and since this is your fault Gir you will help fix this."
Gir frowned but saluted all the same. "Yes Master."
And with that Zim jumped back into his Voot with the Sir by his side, it wouldn't be long before School began, and Zim would have to be ready.
"Are you sure we should not warn the Tallest?" His computer asked as they took off, the ship cloaked from the outside world.
"The Tallest do not need to be aware of this." Zim said, remembering what they would do to Gir if they realized the stupid Sir unit had messed up again. It took him months to convince them not to deactivate Gir after the moon incident, and they would not be so understanding this time around. "I will fix this, end of discussion."
The computer sighs, obviously unhappy with the decision, but agrees. "Very well." And with that it returns to Zim's PAK as the Invader continues on his journey to base.
(Back with Dib...)
To say that Dark Booty was displeased to hear Dib's report was definitely the understatement of the year.
"Do you realize just how much danger you put yourself-NO! All of us in?" He yelled. "Zim will do whatever it takes to get his hands on that disk!"
Dib sighed, "I know but look at the bright side, we now have proof of alien life, and we know what he is planning!"
"Dib…" Dark Booty sighed. "We have shown NASA several pieces of "Poof" that our work is vital they simple choose to ignore all of it; just as they will ignore this." This was true, besides while the Swollen Eyeball had countless amounts of evidence, the real incriminating evidence that would leave no doubt in anyone mind was under lock and key in Area 51. And only members of the Swollen Eyeball and government agents with special clearance get to see what goes on inside.
Dib thought it was stupid that the US government didn't want its people to know about aliens, they would go through great links to cover anything up, sometimes even in neighboring Counties.
Why?
Because the world was better off not knowing. At least that was their reasoning, Dib on the other hand thought the world had a right to know the dangers aliens could present if ignored.
"But Zim is talking about war!" Dib declared. "His people are going to destroy us, and they're going to use our own resources to do it! We have to do something!"
"And we will, but I assure you we will get no help from the government." Dark Booty says. "Not until they see the enemy spaceships in the sky."
"Well, that dumb." Dib snapped.
Dark Booty couldn't help the smile that fell on his face. "Your father once said the same thing to me."
"How is he?" Dib asked fearfully.
"Distraught." Dark Booty answered, his smile fading. "We have found no evidence that the Squids are still here. And we have found nothing that could even come close to being a piece of any alien weapon."
Dib sighed; he knew this news must be frustrating for his father. They finally had confirmation that his mother could still be alive somewhere, and still she was nowhere to be found! Worse still it took 15 years to find any trace of her, what if it took another 15 to find the next clue they needed? Would his father still be around in 15 years, and if so what were the chances that his mother would still be too?
Dark Booty sighed once more, drawing him out of his thoughts. "Listen Dib all disregard to orders aside you're right." He said. "This information is vital, unfortunately you're father and I are currently in the Amazon as you know-"
"But you'll be back Saturday." Dib cut in. "I could drop it off in the morning."
"No, it's too dangerous." Dark Booty said. "Are next meeting being Saturday evening, bring it with you. Until then I suggest you make several copies and hide them in various places in your home, Zim's chances of finding all of them are slim to none."
Dib nodded. "Yes sir."
"Be careful Moth-man." Dark Booty said. "Dark Booty out."
Dib went straight to work on making copies of the disk as the transmission ended and hid them in several places around the house. Once he was finished he did his best to get some sleep, however, sleep never came.
He was too busy trying to make sense of his latest encounter with Zim. He had gone after him tonight for answers, but all he got was more questions.
Why did Zim hesitate to shoot him?
The green lizard acted like doing so was almost a painful idea. As if killing him would be killing a part of himself in the process.
Why was that?
What could possibly make Zim look at him in that way?
Dib wasn't certain, all he knew was the closer he got to knowing Zim, the less he actually understood.
What was going through that alien's mind?
Dib wasn't sure, but he'd do anything to find out!
-To Be Continued
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks for reading and please leave a comment. (If you want!) The Next update will be soon.
So, until then this is Emily Signing off…