The Fallen Invader

Chapter 2: The Procedure

Zim sat me down on his couch. "Stay here, I'll be back in a moment. GIR! Make sure he doesn't die!"

The alien descended into his base, and his robot plopped himself down on the couch next to me.

"Hi! Howzit goin'?" He asked, oblivious to the great deal of pain I was in. "I've been better."

GIR squealed and laughed hysterically as he rolled off the couch and onto the floor. Every time I saw the little guy, I wondered what he was actually supposed to be doing, because clearly, he wasn't.

Suddenly, video feed of Zim appeared on the TV. "Greetings, filthy Earth monster! You have recently come into contact with Irken claws, which was your fault, by the way, and now your body is beginning the shutdown process. However, this crisis can be averted with this Irken implant. When attached to your heart, the implant will work to filter out the venom that's currently coursing through your veins and eating away at you from the inside. Any questions?"

"Uh, yeah! You're gonna operate on me!?"

Zim went into a fit of maniacal laughter that sent chills down my spine. He really was taking every opportunity to make this as traumatizing as possible.

"No, Zim does not have a medical license, silly human! I'm gonna go inside you like that time when I tried to erase your brain."

"That's even worse!" I screamed.

"It's your only option, Dib. Any chance of your survival requires you trusting me."

Zim sat and awaited my response, staring me down through the screen. I heard nothing but the sound of a ticking clock as the burning feeling inside me slowly spread, increasing in intensity. My eyelids started to become heavy. I was surrendering to the poison. This was it. This was....

No. It couldn't be the end. Not like this. "Alright, Zim. Do whatever you need to. Just don't destroy my organs or anything."

"Okay, well, the procedure's already finished. You were taking too long to answer me, so I went ahead and implanted the device!"

That was around the point when I passed out. It was probably a combination of the venom and the shock and horror that Zim had been in my body the whole time without me knowing, doing god-knows-what.

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on the floor, with Zim standing over me. "Dib, you awake?" He asked.

The memories of what had just happened flooded back to me, and I immediately got up and pinned Zim to the ground. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?"

"I told you, the implant filtered all the venom out of your system. You seem to be recovering quickly."

That was when it set in that I didn't feel pain anymore, and I had managed to pin Zim to the floor, so clearly I was in decent health. I got up and backed off, letting it all sink in.

"Wow... You actually did it. Zim... I don't... I... Thank you."

"Uh huh, sure, now get out of my house."

I headed for the door, but something stopped me. I felt a weird sensation. Receiving help from anyone was already a rare occurrence, but getting help from Zim, no strings attached, nothing for him to gain out of it, was something I never expected. Sure, he was the one who put me into that situation in the first place, but he didn't HAVE to save me.

"I know this is really weird, but... if there's any way I can repay you... I..."

"You can repay me by getting out of my house." Zim interrupted, starting to get annoyed.

With that, I headed out, staring up at the cloudy sky. There was something different in the air. Something I couldn't explain. All I knew was that this had to be Zim's most mysterious plan yet, and I was determined to figure out what he was really up to.