Disclaimers: I do not own Invader Zim
Author's Notes: Thanks for reading and please review!
(Back with Gaz and Peg)
She should have known better than to let those two idiots go off on their own. And through a construction site no doubt! Had they lost their ever-loving minds? "They are so dead when we find them!" Gaz swore.
Peg shook her head in disbelief, the two girls had set off to find the two idiots the moment they failed to show up at the front office for their daily detention slips from Mrs. Bitters. Of course, they had told Miz and Dib that cutting through constructions sites was stupid Dib however, seemed to just go with whatever Miz wanted. And Miz wanted the thrill of nearly getting crushed by construction equipment while on their way to school…apparently.
"Gaz I'm sure they're fine." Peg insisted. The two girls had been using Gaz's phone to track down Dib. Luckily their dad had place tracking devices into ordinary objects they wear every day for such an occasion. For Gaz that meant her skull necklace, which she never took off, even as she slept. And Dib wear his…
"GLASS!" Gaz exclaimed as she pointed at a pair that was perched on grass along the edge of the storm drain. "Dib's Glasses!"
"Okay maybe we can panic a little." Peg said only to stop and gasp at the place where the ground broke just inches away. "Okay make that a lot!"
"Dib! Miz!" Gaz screamed down below but received no response.
"Do you think they…?" Peg didn't dare finish her sentence.
Gaz shook her head. "No, but if they fell in it would explain why they're not answering their phones. They're useless when wet."
"Maybe they got lucky." Peg thought out loud as they began to follow along the edge of the drain.
"What do you mean?" Gaz asked as she made sure to watch her step.
"There's a crossing bridge with a ladder over the storm drain about five miles down…I think." Peg explained, "Maybe more."
"I got it!" Gaz said, pulling it up on her phone's GPS. "4.5 miles out, just ahead."
"Well let's hope they could stay afloat for that long!" Peg yelled, as they ran faster.
"The damn is open." Gaz pointed out, "They'd have reached it in 5 no 10 seconds tops."
The girls had both picked up speed now and for good reason, something was terribly wrong.
How did they know?
Several indicators came to mind, the first being that everyone knew better than to get this close to the storm drain. There were several warnings, and posted signs letting kids know they were close, and the teachers often warned them not to cut through this area. And while the two boys were idiots Gaz knew her brother and Miz weren't this stupid.
Which could only mean one thing.
Moth-Man and Wolf-Spider had once again bitten off more than they could chew. How did they know this?
Simple, Dib and Miz were missing, but there was three different sets of footprints along the drains edge. Gaz had recognized Dib's old Nikes and Miz's boot prints in seconds, but the third was a style of combat boot she had never seen before. Which means they must had been from another planet (because Gaz not knowing a pair of combat boots from this world was unthinkable).
"Zim?" Peg asked.
"Not sure." Gaz admitted as she typed a message into her communicator, warning Dark Booty of their situation. "The foot size is smaller than the footprints we gathered at the factory."
And yet it was the only explanation, in fact Gaz could see the story coming together quite nicely.
Dib and Miz were walking to school when they must have discovered that something was following them, they ran and in the confusion they accidentally got too close to the storm drain, and ultimately fell in.
Her only hope was that they hadn't drown, yes true Gaz would usually say good riddance. Not, today, especially now that everyone was sure her mother was alive. No, the last thing she wanted was for her to come home to the fact that Dib had drowned!
Gaz ran faster at the thought, her lungs were burning now, and she was beginning to think that skipping out on going to the gym with Peg had been a bad idea.
"We're almost there." Peg insisted, and Gaz phone seemed to agree.
Her only hope was that the two idiots would both be there safe and sound, so she could kill them.
Gaz growled at the thought. Oh yes if those two idiots were not in mortal danger then they were so dying for this!
(Moments later at the Swollen Eyeball)
Dark Booty and Disembodied Head sighed in unison as their search for the flying spheres turned up empty again!
Ever since they had discovered the possibility of Annabel's survival and the implications that came along with it the two had been searching for any evidence that these possible Allies from Zoran. However, the robotic squids as Annabel had called them must either be better at hiding or long gone. Unfortunately, Disembodied Head aka Professor Membrane, was fearing it was the latter.
"Well so much for that." Dark Booty huffed.
"Well, I suppose it was too much to ask for one of them to fall out of the sky." Professor Membrane joked sarcastically.
"Dibson this is serious." Dark Booty lectured. "Did it ever occur to you that Irk could steal this weapon and use it against us?"
Professor Membrane froze, obviously the thought had not occurred to him at all.
"Well, it had for me!" Dark Booty snapped. "If Sari's And Annabel's were unable to find their piece then Zim could use it to reverse engineer his own and then we would all be doomed!"
Professor Membrane opens his mouth to speak, to reassure Dark Booty that there was no reason to worry. That it was very possible that the missing piece had indeed been found; only to be interrupted by an incoming message from their communicators.
It was Gaz and the messaged displayed only three letters: SOS Professor Membrane's eyes narrowed, "Zim!"
"Well looks like he's finally making a move." Dark Booty said as they burst into action, loading weapons that the two thought they'd never get to use.
"We can use my phone to track them." Professor Membrane cut in, and in seconds they were off. Sending their leader, The Third Eye, a message on the transpiring evens before as they went.
His only hope was that he'd find them in time.
(Back with Zim…)
He was lost,
No even worse, he was lost with a kid so blind he couldn't see his own hands. No even worse than that!
Invader Zim was lost, with his blind enemy, with another enemy slowly closing in; an enemy which by the way he knew nothing about!
Dib, the blind enemy in question; squinted his eyes constantly as he tried to decipher the world around him. Only to stomp his foot in utter annoyance as he realized such a task was impossible. "Miz what do you see?"
Zim ignored the child as he tried to think of a way out of this. His first impulse was to pinpoint the second enemy; who was no doubt another Irken Invader out to steal his job. However, he placed that thought on a back burner and instead focused on the challenge ahead. "I don't recognize this part of town." He admitted out loud, just barley remembering Dib was there.
Of course, his Irken programing was screaming for him to ditch the child, he was weak, and useless at the moment and therefore unworthy of his company. Still, Zim knew Dib would never forgive him if he just left him.
"Great." The human teen groaned, trying to think of a way out of this.
"Relax Dib." He insisted. "We'll just try a pay phone and call the girls."
Dib paused, thinking the idea over. A Payphone that was a great idea, in fact rundown parts of town like this still had some, however the chances of them working were slim to none. "Maybe we should stay put." he suggested. "Gaz probably suspects we're in trouble by now anyways."
This plan was also great idea…that was until some unexpected company joined them on the bridge.
"Oh, you're in trouble alright!" A voice said darkly, and Zim watched the shadows come alive with gang members. Or what he assumed were gang members, by the way they dressed with baggy clothes, and bandanas.
"Miz what's going on?" Dib asked. "Who are they?"
"A gang…I think." Zim answered. "The Bandanas have smiley faces on them."
"The Smiley Face gang…" Dib whispered, oh yeah he didn't need to see to know how much trouble they were in.
It's in this moment that Zim realizes that for a bridge in good condition there's no cars using it, meaning that despite their name The Smiley Face gang must be really serious. Still, it would take a lot more than 12 overgrown teens to take down a fully trained Irken elite.
Tak watched as the human filth surrounded her enemy, she still being cloaked had the best view while being perched on the side of the bridge. She watched as Zim looked around no doubt he was deciphering how he would handle this situation, and Tak was interested in the outcome. This could be her chance to evaluate how far of a gap there was in between hers and Zim's skills. With any luck she could find a strength within herself, one that would be a weakness when it came to Zim.
It was unlikely but on Hobo 13; Sergeant Hobo 678 had told her that everyone had a weakness, whether it be physical or mental, heck some were even unlucky enough to have both. Zim was no different; he had a weakness, but unlike most he was very good at hiding it! In fact, many had tried to find the invader's Achilles heel, to no avail. Tak, however, was determined to be the first to find it! If she did it may give her the edge she needed to win.
Meanwhile Zim was smiling ear from ear, and for obvious reasons, Dib seemed to always get him in the worst of pickles. Take now for example, He knew he could take out all 12 of these brats no problem. But that would leave him at a disadvantage, He still had no idea who the mysterious invader was, and breaking out in a scuffle like this could turn the tables in their favor. This near-death experience had been meant to be a way for Zim to evaluate them, not the other way around!
A tall, and noodle looking boy who Zim could only assume was the leader of The Smiley Face gang stepped forward and spat in his face. "What's so funny?" He asked.
Zim resisted the urge to break the boy in two for putting his disgusting saliva all over him and looked around. What they needed was a quick getaway, some sort of human transportation that could give them a speedy escape.
"Do you know who I am?" The leader continue to spat.
No Answer, or at least the noodle boy got none, Zim's answer came in the form of a bus with a sign on it that read: What about the Bus?
"Yes." Zim whispered. "That will do nicely."
"I don't think he knows who you are." A gang member said to his leader.
"Miz." Dib whispered, inching towards his boyfriend, or the blurry blob he hoped was him. "Now would be the best time for you to come up with one of your brilliant plans and get us out of this mess."
"On it!" Miz answered and to everyone's surprise he punched noodle boy square in the face.
"What the!" Noodle boy howled in pain as his men stared in complete shock and Zim took that moment to grab Dib by the arm and run.
He was doing it again!
Tak was dumb struck; Zim was saving the boy AGAIN! Why was he going through all this trouble! He should just leave him and be done with it!
Zim's programing was screaming the same thing, why was he doing this? Why did he bother? The answer surprised Zim to say the least.
'If I did that if I left him; Dib would hate me.'
He laughed despite himself it was Lard Nar all over again, but just like last time Zim knew he couldn't help himself. This was what it meant to be a defective in hiding. You use your own defective ways to real them in and gain their trust. Only to lose a part of yourself the day you stabbed them in the back.
Yes, that was the unavoidable outcome, and yet.
'I can't betray him...Dib is the one person I can't betray."
Zim wasn't sure why he felt this way for Dib, or how the emotions had gotten this far. Still, as always now was not the time to think about it. The two boys sighed in relief as they made it on the bus jumping in seconds before it drove away.
The boys landed on the floor of the bus with a loud thump.
"Whew." Dib said out loud as he got to his feet. "That was a close one."
"Yeah well we're still not out of the woods yet." Miz said as he too got up, and started looking around for something useful.
"Why not?" Dib asked.
"They're following us." Miz revealed as he looked out of the window of the rear exit door, and sure enough the Smiley Face gang was indeed running after the bus screaming for blood. Soon they'd have to face them, but not like this, Miz suddenly swiped a pair of glasses off a sleeping man's face and gave them to Dib. "Here try these."
"Miz I can't just wear any pair." He argued.
"Just put them on!" Miz argued.
Dib sighed and placed them on. "Fine but they won't-hey would you look at that!" He exclaimed as the world came into focus around them. "I can see!" He exclaimed. "Hey maybe this means our luck is changing."
"Not even close." Recap kid said as he appeared in the seat beside them.
"You!" Dib shouted. "Don't you dare ruin this moment of victory for us!"
"Yeah you would not believe the day we are having!" Miz added.
"Fine." Recap kid said. "But for the record I was simply going to remind you that without bus fare…"
'*Fare?" Zim asked.
"Yeah money." Recap kid said.
"Oh, we've got plenty of that." Miz said. "My Dib is load-"
"Yeah about that." Dib said, holding up his soggy roll of cash, which tore into several pieces as he tried to part the dollars.
Recap kid gasped. "Mrs. Bus Driver they're trying to get a free ride!"
The bus comes to a screeching stop, and the two teens are thrown out onto the payment in seconds.
"This ain't a free ride, boys." The bus driver snorted. "'You need money!"
Miz got to his feet, saliva drooling from his mouth. "You expect us to pay to be on this filthy machine? You must have worms in your brain!"
The driver slams the bus door close inches from his face and drives off muttering "weirdo" under her breath.
"Well, this sucks." Dib says as he brushes himself off and gets to his feet.
Miz suddenly gives him a look, one that can only be described as pure evil. In fact, Dib dared say that such a look could put Gaz's own death glare to shame. "I hate you so much right now!" he admitted.
Dib winced; he had never seen Miz this angry before. "Sorry I don't exactly have a wallet." He admitted.
"Well, you're getting one as soon as we get out of this." Miz lectured.
"Hey you!" An all too familiar voice screamed.
"Oh no!" Dib turned to see the Smiley Face Gang had caught up to them and was still coming up hot.
"Correction." Miz said as they started to run again. "When we get out of this you are so dead!"
Dib gave a nervous laugh, Miz was actually kind of cute when he was this angry. In fact, it kind of reminded him of the "Mini Moose" incident a few weeks ago.
"What's so funny?" Miz demanded. Honestly, how could the kid be laughing at a time like this.
"Nothing." Dib answered. "Just thinking how nice of a day it is to die."
Zim suddenly found a smile slipping on his face as well. "Yes." He admitted. "Beautiful day like this, and by gang members no less."
"What a way to go." Dib mused. "To think I thought Zim would be the one to do it."
Miz's smile got impossibly wider. 'Oh, I will.' He thought as they continued to run. 'As soon as this is over you are so dead! You are far more trouble than you're worth!'
Running along the roof tops above them, Tak was thinking the same thing, and yet.
Zim made no move to ditch the boy, and Tak was beginning to think that this had to do with a lot more than just the invader's cover.
'Somethings not right here.' She realized the obvious. 'And I'm going to figure out what it is.'
And she would, one way or another.
To Be Continued
Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed the chapter as always; I thank you for reading and ask that you please review!