Dib's heart was pounding, and his body was practically vibrating with the adrenaline coursing through him—but he felt no fear, even at the very heart of a battlefield. No, he was excited and grinning! Today was a big day, the day the Resisty would liberate another planet, even if it meant going through swaths of Irken soldiers that tried to stop them.

But the reason he was grinning, and the reason he was heading a charge all on his own and making great progress, was because he couldn't be hit.

Dib grinned smugly as bullets all whizzed harmlessly past him, barely feeling the heat from the plasma bolts they fired at him. The shield device he'd built (and had tested repeatedly with Zim's help) was working perfectly.

With the harness strapped around his chest emitting a constant pulse around him, any projectiles would be pushed away before they even got close to him—the faster they were, the more forcefully they would be pushed away. Like this, as long as he stayed out of range of any PAK legs, he was untouchable!

It was with that confidence that he continued to stride forward, carefully aiming at Irkens when they popped out of cover and firing shots at them in retaliation. He only managed to get a few headshots, and while other hits would leave them injured, he knew their healing factors meant they'd recover all too soon.

At least with this small group's attention on him, other Resisty members would have a better chance to press onward. Dib, meanwhile, was going to take out as many as he could.

He'd already driven this squad back once, storming up and ripping the PAK off of one, the others unable to do anything. They'd yelled at each other and fell back into another bit of cover, behind the walls of what was once a building.

Dib grinned and continued advancing, feeling like he was on top of the world. They were going to win this, and he'd make sure of it!

Adrenaline rushed through his veins, muscles twitching in response to the energy bullets even though he knew they wouldn't hit. He carefully aimed and managed to strike the gun of one Irken, wondering if he could refurbish his device to ricochet things directly back at his attackers…oh, and once they got enough materials, he'd definitely need to make even more to outfit more members of the Resisty…

He quickly shook himself back to awareness. As untouchable as he might be, he was still in a battle, and he turned his attention back to the Irkens he was facing.

One of them pulled out something different—a device he pointed at Dib, which fired out small bolts of electricity at him. Dib allowed himself to grin, the lightning sparking around him and not even coming close to touching him, even if he didn't have his shield—

The device that been quietly humming against his skin stuttered and stopped.

His eyes slowly widened as he remembered with very sudden (but thorough) clarity how electromagnetic pulses could be caused by electricity, and just what that meant for devices like the one keeping him safe.

Before he knew it, he was stepping back with one foot, reaching up with one hand to get his device restarted. It remained firmly off, though, and his heart began to race for a different reason, and he stumbled a few more steps back—

He saw the bright pink bolt arcing towards him, far too fast for him to do anything about it.

Seconds later, he felt it searing into his side, tearing through his flesh like a hot knife through butter. He shouted in pain, falling to the ground and seeing a few more bullets whiz right over where his head and torso would have been mere moments before.

Though pain was flooding his body, and he could already feel his head growing woozy, he was also suddenly filled with the basic, instinctive urge to survive.

Fortunately, he was just a few steps in front of a wall. Still on the ground, he rolled (mostly crawled) over to it, huddling behind it before fumbling around in his pockets. His radio was probably fried, too…which was why it was good that wasn't his only way to ask for help.

He grabbed his emergency flare gun, pointing it into the air and pressing the trigger. No electronics, just a burst of air that sent a flare flying up high, where it exploded into a flash of red. The emergency signal…someone, the medics, should show up shortly. He hoped.

Swallowing, he looked down at his side. The wound looked pretty bad, his lower torso already covered with sticky red blood…he gulped, bundling his shirt and coat from around that area and pressing it firmly on his wound with one hand. With the other, he held up his gun, keeping a hand close to the trigger…waiting to see if any Irkens would try to ambush him while he was down.

Green skin appeared in his peripheral vision, and he just barely kept himself from pressing down on the trigger when he realized this was a familiar face.

"Zim—" he said, quickly wincing and cutting himself off. Speaking was painful.

"DIB!" Zim cried, hovering over him. "Dib, say something! Say you'll be alright!"

Dib gave him a bit of a look as he coughed. "I got…shot, Zim. I've…been…better."

His snark, of course, did nothing to calm Zim, who was still flicking his hands around in panic. He quickly reached into his PAK, tossing out a few things before pulling out a syringe half-full of glowing pink medicine.

Dib's eyes widened. "I thought…you shared all of the…"

"I lied," Zim snapped, injecting the medicine into him. Dib had seen this medicine used a few times before, usually diluted due to its relative rarity. Even when diluted, he'd seen it heal injuries that would have required major surgeries on Earth…

With a sample that appeared very pure injected into him, he couldn't help but let out a puff of relief. That should be enough to heal even the injury he had. Right?

"And it's a good thing I did hold onto some," Zim commented as he pulled the needle out, dropping the syringe into a small baggie. "Otherwise, you'd be at the mercy of whatever the medics happen to have left."

He scowled sharply, lifting his head. "You'd think they'd be here at this point!"

"Not exactly…in an…easy spot to reach," Dib grunted. His wound still hurt, even if was now accompanied by an itchy tingling sensation. He hoped that was a sign of the wound healing. He dared glance down, and…it looked like the bleeding was slowing down, at least.

Zim glanced between him, then out at the open, where the Irkens and Resisty were still trading shots. His eyes narrowed as his head turned in the direction of the Irken soldiers. "Oh, Zim will fix that," he growled.

Before Dib could even think about questioning him, Zim leapt over the wall, PAK legs extending and gun pointed forward. He was shouting something angrily in Irken, and he heard several of the Irkens shouting Zim's name in shock and perhaps fear—

And then their screams rang out, accompanied by gunshots and the sound of PAK legs tearing through flesh (something Dib was uncomfortably familiar with). And then, in just a few minutes, it all went quiet.

He twitched a little when he heard someone approaching, but quickly relaxed when he saw it was Zim again…now coated in pink blood. Zim bent down, pecking Dib's forehead and smearing a bit of blood there.

"No need to worry about them now," he hummed. The sounds of battle still continued off in the distance, and Zim's antennae kept twitching…but he didn't move until they spotted Resisty members bustling over to them.

Dib glanced at his torso. The pain had been consumed by that tingling sensation, but movement still made it throb painfully, and even if it wasn't as urgent now…it still looked pretty bad. Mostly because of all the blood.

Zim started to move as the medics rushed over with medical kits. "We'll talk later about how your device wasn't as foolproof as you insisted," he said, giving Dib a look that was…somewhere between stern and smug.

Dib averted his gaze, embarrassed, and Zim charged onward again, bringing his PAK legs out again while other aliens began looking at Dib's wound, bandaging him up and putting him on a half-cocoon-like stretcher to get him back to safe ground.

Later, he'd hear the news about them winning with few casualties, and he had healed enough to celebrate with everyone else…though Zim stuck close to his side, watching him carefully to make sure he didn't strain himself too far.