Operation: Incentive - Invader Zim fanfic (ZADF)

Arguments.

"Zim!" Dib spun around, looking the Invader, whose eyes were filled with deep distaste.

"Yes, Dib, hello... I assume you returned to continue our earlier conversation?" 

Zim was avoiding eye contact, but Dib couldn't care less. An argument might distract Zim while Dib finished what he came to do. Plus, a vent might be nice.

"Of course!" proclaimed Dib. "Why else would I come back to this hellhole? You're a horrible thing, Zim. What makes you think that YOU have the right to do...to do THIS to me? You took away my family, my body, my life!" Dib was on a roll now, and his plan faded from his memory. All that was important was that he give Zim a piece of his mind.

"You're just an idiotic lout, Zim. Better to never have proof of my theories and to be thought crazy, than to deal with overgrown brats like you!" 

The yelling felt nice...but it had an unexpected reaction. Zim's eyes were watering, but the beast inside Dib tasted sweet victory, and kept pushing.

"Your planet isn't in our solar system! Your Tallest must really hate you to send you so far away! I bet you were as useless on your planet as you are on this one. Have you ever done anything worthwhile in your life? You can't even defeat a twelve year old! How pathetic can one alien be? Half of your half-baked plots are centered around me!" 

Dib paused to take a breath, but Zim beat him to the chase.

"Has your tiny Urthling brain considered that maybe I didn't WANT you to be defeated?! Taking over Urth would be no fun at all without an arch nemesis to pester! It was a battle of good against evil, and all's fair in love and war, Dib-Stink! One of us was bound to defeat the other, and it certainly wasn't about to be the Urthling! The Almighty Tallest send me here because I am their greatest Invader! I am Invader Zim! I have performed feats beyond your wildest dreams!"

They stared at each other in a stunned silence for a while, but then Zim continued, now straight up screaming. 

"All you had to do was give up your humanity! You could have been a great ally of the Irken Armada! You would have been hailed as a genius for your inventions! Is that not what you wanted, Dib? Is that not what you wanted, you filthy worm?! I made you a PAK! I made you a goddamn Voot Cruiser!" he wailed, gesturing to the spaceship. "But if you want to die with the rest of your species, then go ahead! Fine by me! Except you won't die with your species! They aren't your species anymore, and never will be again! Resistance is futile. I know it is."

Zim's tone had turned almost somber in the last sentence, and Dib was stunned.

"I'll be upstairs." said Zim, turning away. "Come get me if you change your mind, worm boy."

The elevator took him up, and Dib was left alone in the cold base. He stayed there for a little while, thinking over Zim's words, but eventually roused himself. 

Dib ran over to the computer, and started searching. The computers were still logged in; this made the job a fair bit easier. He searched and searched, downloaded various files, and his patience was eventually rewarded. On the uppermost screen, a file simply named "Memories" flashed. When he tried to access them, the computer displayed a warning.

"Warning: This file is a Vortian file. Please prepare your input hole. Click YES when ready."

 Dib slipped out of his coat. Irken biology was quite technology based: all Irkens had an "input hole", which was where the PAKs were normally plugged into the body. It seemed they used these holes to transfer files, too. He pulled his shirt up, over his head, and clicked yes.

For a terrifying second, nothing happened, but then Dib felt a sharp pain in his back and the world, once again, faded into darkness.