—

Chapter Thirty

—

The tires of the van crunched on the gravel, marking its arrival. Dax hustled to it and opened the sliding side door. The driver hit the brakes and barked, "Damn, Dax, at least wait for me to park."

Dax ignored him and crouched on the floor inside the van. "Lee," he said to the big guy wearing headphones, "hand me that rope, will you?"

The rope was laying in a coiled mess by Lee's feet. He leaned over to grab it with a meaty hand, then tossed it to Dax. "I don't know about this job, man," Lee muttered, low enough for only Dax to hear. "I didn't sign up for half this shit."

"You did, but okay," replied the smaller man dryly, hoisting the rope over his shoulder. "Be right back." He hopped back out of the van and jogged over to Amy, who held Zim's head in her lap.

Though she was bedraggled and looked like she hadn't slept in days, the redhead had an air of dignity about her. She eyed Dax sharply when he approached, and her gaze was such that he felt she could know everything about him, just by looking at him. For some reason, she made him deeply uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and squatted beside her, deliberately focusing his eyes on the alien.

"What are you doing?" she asked when he started cutting a section of rope.

"It'd be best to bind its arms and legs," Dax grunted in reply.

"His."

"What?" He glanced up at her, meeting her piercing blue eyes. She was hauntingly lovely.

"Zim is a he, not an it," Amy clarified.

"And Zim does not consent to being tied up," said the alien, scowling.

"Well," said Dax, clearing his throat again. "I don't think any of us really care what you consent to."

"I do," Amy snapped. "You will leave him alone."

The man clenched his jaw, irritated. He shrugged. "We need to get it—him—into the van, anyway. You, too. I think everyone would feel better if he was tied up, given he's nearly leveled this building."

"So one of us will watch him."

Dax threw his hands up. "Fine. But if the professor wants all of you tied up, you'll all be tied up, and that's the end of that."

"We'll see," said Amy. Suddenly, she gasped. Quickly, but not ungently, she moved Zim's head off her lap and sprang to her feet. The battered Professor Membrane had emerged from the building, followed by Dib. Membrane was clutching something large in his arms, which had been wrapped in his dirty lab coat. Dib was holding a piece of metal in one hand and a gun in the other; the gun was pressed against his father's back. When Dib saw Amy running for him, he set both on the ground and opened his arms. She flew past Membrane at him, and they gripped each other tightly. He leaned back, lifting her off the ground.

Dax looked at Zim, who pushed himself into a sitting position. "You will not tie me, earth-filth," Zim asserted.

"Whatever." Dax glanced toward Membrane, calling out, "You okay, boss?"

The professor didn't respond, and as he came closer, Dax noticed the bloody mess in Membrane's arms. It looked like a person—or a body. Zim noticed as well, and put together right away that it must be Gaz.

"What have you done with Gaz?" he screamed, scrambling to his feet. His body was still weak from the massive electric jolts earlier, but his mind forced it to comply.

"What have I done?" the professor retorted hotly. "It was her own fault."

"Get in the van, everyone," Dax called. "The fire department and police will be here any minute! We need to go!"

Zim was at Membrane's side in a flash, pawing at the white bundle. "Let me have her!"

Membrane bared his teeth at Zim hatefully. "She's dead," he sneered. "She's dead and it's your fault!"

Zim's body went cold.

"She's not dead yet, Dad, don't fucking say that," yelled Dib from afar, who was fast approaching, Amy on his heels. He reached in between the two men, trying to pry his sister out of his father's iron grip. "Let her go, Dad! You don't have any right to hold her right now. Give her to Zim."

"It's been longer than ten minutes, boy. She's dead."

Dib managed to move Gaz, and Zim frantically reached for her, shrieking, "WHAT HAPPENED?"

"Dad won't tell me, but she has a PAK on," Dib answered quickly. "Dad says it's killing her to wear it, but she'll die if we take it off, too."

Zim moved the coat, and sure enough, the PAK that Gir had stolen for their smeet—that had been smaller before, but had since expanded—was now attached to Gaz. Blood was dripping out of her mouth, ears, and nose, as well as from a wound on her arm and somewhere on her side. Zim tried to hold her, but his arms were weak and he didn't intend to drop her; Dib helped carry some of her weight, and the two stood in an awkward half-embrace with Gaz in the middle of them.

"We need to get to MY lab," Zim said breathlessly. "I can—I can save her, if I have my tools."

Dib shot an enraged look back at his father, and yelled, "You HAD to destroy Zim's lab, didn't you?"

"I've already said, it's been longer than ten minutes," Membrane shot back. His eyes were bloodshot and his words sounded strangled in his throat. "She's dead."

"Excuse me, but we need to LEAVE," said Dax, indicating the van again. "Let's continue this chat later."

It was awkward trying to get all seven of them into the back of the van, with some stumbling, swearing, and snapping at each other. Finally, Dax slammed the door shut and barked through the window to the driver, and the van lurched forward. Dib had relinquished his sister entirely to Zim now that they were sitting, but he huddled close. Amy sat behind him, a few metal items nestled behind her. Val sat on her mother's lap, burying her face in Amy's chest. Membrane sat by Dax on the opposite side of the van. He and Zim glared daggers at each other.

"You can't fix her, you know," the professor taunted. "You're a broken wretch; defective. She is dead because of you—because you couldn't leave her alone, because you wouldn't let her come home where I could keep an eye on her. Because you stole her and ruined her and put your disgusting spawn inside her."

"You shut your mouth," said Amy sharply, eyes ablaze with fury. "Zim and Gaz have been in love with each other for twelve years, and you've done nothing but make it harder for them. You're the reason this has happened. You're the problem."

Zim turned his attention back to Gaz, kissing her head and cradling her close. He whispered her name into her bloody ear.

"Here," said Dax, who moved to crouch beside him with a roll of medical tape. "Let me do first aid on her wounds. Stop the bleeding at least."

"She's dead," Membrane said again. His voice was flat, emotionless, but strained. "How many times must I say it? There's no reason to do first aid. It's over."

Dax looked at Zim and asked, "May I check for a pulse? I'll need to touch her neck." Zim hissed a little, but he let the earth-male do it anyway. Dax put two fingers on Gaz's bloody neck, pressing down on her skin. After what felt like an eternity, he pulled his hand back. "There's one," he said. "It's faint, but it's there." Multiple people exhaled audibly in relief.

Eyes burned into Membrane from all around as Dax began to wrap her arm and hip wounds. "Dad," said Dib darkly, "you need to explain some things. Everything. Right now."

The professor leaned his head back against the wall of the van and chuckled. His laughter grew and grew, until he broke out into deranged hysterics. Dib and his wife exchanged nervous glances. Had Membrane completely cracked? As the laughter subsided, Membrane wheezed, "Sure, sure, I'll tell you everything. And you'll be left with the weight of this on your own shoulders. But first…"

There was a glint, and then he groaned loudly. A knife clattered on the floor of the van beside him. Dib lunged forward with an anguished cry and grabbed his father's leg, where a long, deep cut was bleeding rapidly. Membrane snarled in pain, but Dib forced his shoulder against his father's, half-pinning him against the wall. "Jesus Christ, Dad, you're not pulling this shit!"

"The fuck is going on back there?" demanded one of the men from the front, at the same time Lee screeched, "Are you fucking kidding me? You've only paid us half." Lee had observed the entire fiasco silently, but enthralled. He moved quickly to assist Dib in pinning the professor down, and Dax was there cutting off Membrane's pant leg and treating the wound, then searched his person for more weapons.

Zim paid no notice to any of them. He wrapped himself around Gaz, his face pressed against hers. She was barely breathing. Zim felt the PAK on her back, and squeezed his eyes closed. Whether she physically lived or not, he knew the personality in the PAK would take over her body, and Gaz would be gone. The personality meant for their smeet would devour her, and then the smeet would have no PAK of its own. Just like that, he'd lost them both. Why? Why had this happened? He felt a sour taste in his mouth, hating that his kind had become reliant on these stupid things.

"Will she be okay?" asked a quiet voice. Zim looked up and saw the Dibstink's smeet by him, looking at her aunt with wide eyes.

"Doubtful," Zim replied. "The PAK will take over her body. It should have killed her by now, but… I don't know. Is it because of the smeet?"

"She's half Irken, half human," Membrane said coldly. His hands and feet were tied with rope; Dax had made the executive decision to do so, seeing how insane his boss was being. "Half my child, half the child of my Irken wife, Gaz, who we killed."

The van became silent with this information.

"What?" The question was Dib's. The young man's heart had dropped into his stomach. His sister was half Irken? How was that even possible? Blood thundered in his ears, and the world started to spin slightly.

Membrane laughed in his son's face. "Does that rattle you, son? You are Irken as well, you know. Only twenty-five percent, mind you, and barely any of it has meant anything for your development or function. Turns out Irken DNA is weaker than humans'; and yet this race has managed to somehow conquer and wreak havoc upon a great deal of the universe." His lip curled in disgust.

"This—" Dib blinked rapidly, swallowing hard. Sweat beaded on his brow; breathing became more difficult. "This can't be true. It—it doesn't even make any sense. How—? Twenty-five percent? How did—? That doesn't—"

"You're a fool, my boy. I ought to tell you no more, just to see you go mad with it."

"Wow," said Lee suddenly. He had leaned away once the professor had been safely tied up. "You're one cold bastard."

Membrane smirked at his employee. "My daughter mated with an alien for a decade, and my son is insane. How would you be if these were your children?"