Chapter 19

Brooke struggled against the grip of the officer that held her so tightly. He was sort of cutting of the circulation to her chest and he was squeezing so tightly that she was having a difficult time breathing. The fact that she continuously trashed about didn't help much either. Brooke clawed and thrashed and she tried to bite and tear at his skin but no matter what she tried doing she found that she couldn't get angry enough to escape from him. It was apparent that she was causing him a lot of trouble in holding her still and he continuously told her to stop and be good.

She sighed, completely exhausted. Brooke let her rams fall to her side and her legs hang there. She was suspended a little bit above the ground, because the man was tall, and that contributed to the lack of blood circulation. Brooke relaxed and calmed herself down.

She couldn't get angry enough to break free and she was finally accepting it.

The man relaxed as well.

On occasion the others had offered to help him hold her still, seeing as she seemed to be such a nuisance. But the man that held her, she soon learned that his name was Pete, continuously said that he didn't need any help and that he was perfectly fine on his own.

It was at that time that she would lunge out harder than before and hit him hard just to make him look like an idiot in front of the men he worked with. He'd always cringe and she looked up to see a twitching eye each time. It made her smirk with delight.

The scene went silent again. The men that had gone inside were eerily quiet. Brooke could see from the shadows that they were in the living room. It was the same room where Zim and Gir were but the police officers weren't reacting to it. It looked like they were talking to him.

She sighed out deeply to herself.

Pete smiled slightly and looked down at her. Brooke could feel his warm breath coming down on top of her head. She didn't much like being that close to a guy that she had never met or seen before in her life. But she didn't do anything and, instead, hoped that Zim would make it out ok.

Pete spoke up. "So, have you stopped now?"

She nodded lightly, not bothering to speak to him.

"That's good. You be a good little girl and we'll be done in a little while. OK?"

Brooke's eyes opened wide in shock at what the man had just said. Her heart began to beat quickly. The war between the two Brooke's, evil and empty, started up once more. She felt very warm for some reason but her heart stayed cold in her chest. Brooke's finger twitched in beat with her eye and her head turned slightly to his shoulder. "W-What d-did you s-say?"

"I said that you should be a good little girl. We'll be finished up with this in a little while. OK?"

That set her off.

Brooke could feel the anger rising in her. She felt warm, cool, hot, cold, heated, bitter freezing, infuriated and iced all at the same time. Her hair stood up on the back of her neck and she could feel her left eye twitching ever more and ever faster with each beat of her heart. She clenched her fists in fury. The band of technology around her wrist reacted to her fury in the process. "I thought that's what you said…"

She was angry again.

Angry enough to escape.

Angry enough to change!

Her skin paled into a deep green, hair fazing out from where it was and being replaced with antennas was what the man next to Pete saw.

He shook with both fear and curiosity.

Fear for the fact that the girl Pete had in his hands seemed to be mutating, curiosity because he wished to see what exactly she mutated into.

Brooke's clothes changed before their eyes, from her scull shirt and torn jeans to a black uniform with red stripes that was tight to the skin and a pair of black pants. Brooke's black sneakers turned into long black boots, strips of metal down the front of the left one, and her hands were covered with long, black gloves. She had a red collar around her neck and two triangles of red for shoulder pads. Two fingers were now missing from each hand and her eyes became black as the night, slight patches of gray on them.

The Irken girl smirked, her head down slightly so that Pete wasn't able to see. Although he had a feeling that that was what she was doing.

EB thrashed out, much stronger than she had been before. She thrust her head forwards and then drove it backwards into Pete's chest. He coughed out in pain and she used the time to bring her legs up and drive them into his tender spot twice. Then she jabbed at each of his thighs, sending him to the ground immediately, in pain. Pete dropped EB once she had hit his spot but she had been able to get him three more times before she hit the deck.

She fell to the ground and bent her knees low, placing her right hand on the wooden deck. EB bared her sharp teeth at the police officers. She no longer cared that they had their guns pointed at her. All she wanted to do was tear them each apart. She wanted to make them hurt. She wanted to kill them.

The garage door was torn off in an instant. The officers turned their heads away from EB to looked behind them at the Mercedes as it drove out of the doorway, backwards.

Zim was at the wheel, Gir beside him. He stopped at the deck and waved to the officers. They looked utterly dumbstruck. EB took the opening in the action to dive between the officers, send them to the ground, and go straight for the car. She dove inside, pushing Zim to the passenger seat, and took hold of the wheel before any of the police ready knew what was happening.

She drove out of the driveway; Zim straightened himself up, Gir whooping the whole time, from the back seat. EB pulled over to Fenwood and went all the way up to Charlie's Convenience store. The police had started up a chase by now and were following the two Irkens and the robot as they tried down Kingston road.

EB didn't have time to wait for the green light and so had to drive on the wrong side of the road.

Engines blared and horns honked at them as they avoided the automobiles. The police were on the right side, firing at them the whole time.

They were nearing the school now.

EB tried to swerve onto the right side.

"Look out!" came a boy's voice. It wasn't Zim's but it was familiar nonetheless.

Two faces stopped her and she had to turn abruptly to avoid them.

That turn was the worst that she would ever do.

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(One hour earlier)

Kim sighed. She rested her head on her hands and stirred her coffee with boredom. Dib had taken up reading some more of EB's stories as well as some others on FanFiction. Every once and a while Kim would hear him yell out an 'I would never do that!' or the occasional 'Zim and me are not lovers!' then there was the 'Gaz and Zim? As if,' and the one she hated the most, the 'hmm… I guess Tak is sort of cute… in her own way…' That one really got to her.

Kim sighed again and took a sip from her drink. She put the empty glass on the small table and turned to look at Dib. A thought struck at her. "Hey Dib?"

"Mm?"

"Why don't we go an see EB?"

Kim saw Dib sit up straight at that. He turned his head to look at her, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "W-Why didn't you tell me that you could do that before? You never told me that we could just go and see her."

"Well duh. The bus ride is like an hour long."

Dib fell out of his beanbag. When he hit the ground Kim saw his leg twitching.

(At the bus stop)

Dib and Kim climbed onto the bus and waited as the rest of the people got on. They took their seats and waited patiently, for the vehicle to fill and then set off down the road. Kim had taken a bag of makeup with her for the trip.

Dib pointed to it and asked, "Why did you bring that?"

"I haven't seen Brooke in person for years. It'd be nice if at least one of us looked good for it." She took out some black stuff and rubbed it along her eyes with a small stick.

"Are you saying that I don't look good?"

"What? No! No, I was talking about Brooke." Kim batted her lashed a few times and smiled with delight as she ruffled through her bag again. "That girl never tries to get dressed up for anything. If she had the choice she'd just wear jeans every single freaking day, not even a nice dress or skirt. She'd look a lot better if she would just wear one. Everyone tells her that if she made the effort to put on makeup and a nice dress and brush her hair for once she'd look really pretty and be able to pick up a boyfriend for once. I swear, she used to be so nice as a little girl. You know, the only time she had a boyfriend it was only for two days before she broke up with him. It had something to do with him being too wrapped up in video games. Apparently she went over to his house and all he did was play a one-player game that she didn't care for at all. Then, once she tried to occupy herself, he told her not to do that and to come over and actually watch him play his stupid game. But I really wish that Brooke would get a boyfriend. She keeps telling me that she doesn't want to get one but I think that's just stupid. If she gets one then I'm sure a lot of her problems will be solved. All she has to do is change a little bit; stop being so creepy and stuff like that. She can be so moody at times and a lot of the time you could keep her on a calendar on when she's like what. For instance, on Mondays she's usually very perky, which is freaky. On Tuesdays she hates everybody, same with Wednesday and Thursday. Then on Fridays she just wants everyone to leave her alone and then she gets all happy around midnight. Saturdays she in a very artistic mood and Sundays she usually sleeps in but when she's awake she's all cheery and optimistic. It's pretty strange… Don't you think?"

"Ok. I didn't want a huge explanation. Man you talk a lot."

Kim smiled. "People tell me that all the time."

(Kim: It took me forever to think of all of that stuff to write about Brooke. LOL)

(Exiting the Bus)

"Ok. Were, pretty close now. This bus turns but we can walk the rest of the way. Oh! Won't she be happy to see me! I can't wait to see Brooke again It's been so long!"

"Look out!" Dib went up close to Kim. He clutched her shoulders and tried to push her out of the way as a black Mercedes moved towards them.

He wasn't fast enough but the car turned nonetheless.

However, it didn't turn in a very good direction.

The car headed directly for the school, tearing through the shrubbery and moved directly for the old entrance. (Note: The school that Brooke goes to burned down in like 1940 something and only the entrance was left so it stands as a monument out front.) There was a crash and the sound of curling metal at the vehicle smashed into the bricks and became a smoldering wreckage of twisted metal and stone.

Dib and Kim ran towards the car. A bunch of police cars that had been giving chase to the people in the car regurgitated the officers. The men ran towards the car behind the teenagers, arriving just in time to see a horrible scene.

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Zim rubbed his head, it was sore from the crash and he didn't feel all too good. IN fact, he felt as though he was going to be sick. He just wanted to curl up in a nice, quiet room in his lab and relax, his PAK charging and him eating something delicious.

There was a moaning that came from beside him.

Zim turned his head.

His red eyes went wide in shock.

EB was next to him, her body covered in blood. Her head was leaning back in the seat of the car and was bleeding an awful lot. She was hurt incredibly badly. Her PAK was even torn from her back and lay sprawled not to far away from the car. Her hair, which had come back with her disguise hologram, was stained with blood and was dripping wet. She looked completely torn and mangled beyond repair.

Zim hurried out of his seat and let his head hover above hers. He found himself close to tears but he had no idea why!

"EB? EB, can you speak? Are you still functional a little bit?"

She coughed up a glob of shiny blood. Zim flinched back in panic at that. He came up close to her again. There were people gathering around the car now. He saw police all around them from the corner of his eyes. They had their weapons pointed to him and her at first but lowered them once they saw the scene before them. The girl was covered in blood and she was… dying.

"Zim!" It was Dib's voice. Zim was sure of that. But he didn't bother to look up. He didn't bother to face the human; he really didn't care if he was there at that moment. The fact that EB was there before him, dying, was enough to make him not care about the Dib-stink for an eternity.

He placed a hand on her cheek and shook her slightly. "EB, speak to me. Speak to Zim. I order you to speak to Zim."

"Oh my god! Brooke!"

Zim didn't know this voice. But he didn't care about that either.

He put his other hand on her forehead and tapped it lightly, making sure that he didn't touch the wounds. Zim was choking on tears now. He tapped her head a little bit more. "EB, you must speak to Zim. I have commanded you to. Speak Dammit! Speak!!"

"Zim…"

His head rose up. He stared into EB's eyes. Though her human guise was back she still had her Irken eyes. She still looked as much an Irken to him as she had before. He could still see it in her eyes. They were black as the night with the two patches of gray like they had before. "EB?"

She took hold of his hand and he could see tears streaming from her face. She was in so much pain right then and there. But, yet, she was able to hold it back and talk to him. It melted his cold heart. "Zim… Conquer Earth for me…"

He nodded lightly, tears in his eyes.

"And don't cry for me… I don't want that… Pity's a waste of time…"

He nodded once more, smiling slightly as he whipped away tears.

EB's hand went limp in his.

"No!"

"Brooke!" said the girl's voice again.

Zim's lip quivered. He lowered his head. The pain that he felt then and there was so much more horrible than any pain that he had ever felt before. It was horrible. A horrible twang that stung him and hurt him so. Zim didn't think that he could stand it. But then a voice in his head told him better.

"And don't cry for me… I don't want that… Pity's a waste of time…"

All right EB, I won't cry.

He started to feel weird. Zim looked at his hand. He was starting to fade away. He was going back to his dimension. He was fading away from EB's world and going back to his own. But at least now he knew what he had been suspecting all along. She was a human. The red blood proved so.

Dib stared at his hands as he stood next to Kim. They, with the rest of his body, was fading away. "I'm leaving."

Kim turned to him, shocked at what she saw. "W-Why is this happening Why do you have to go?"

"Brooke is the only thing that was anchoring me to this world. With her gone I'm going back. I can't stay in this dimension unless she's alive. She's not and… and… I'm leaving with her…"

"No! I don't want you to go Dib. I had so much fun with you here. I don't want that to end. I want you to stay."

"I can't. I don't have a say in it."

"Fine…" Kim whipped away some tears from her face. "But I want you to take something to remember me goodbye." She shuffled through her bag and pulled out a photo. When she passed it to him he got a good look before he found that it went see through like the rest of his arm.

It was a picture of them on the street. Kim was holding Dib's arms and leaning her head against his shoulder. He looked a little bit flushed around the face and he was looking at the camera like he was surprised to see it. He had his clothes on and then Kim on her blue, smile shirt with a short, black jacket that didn't even do down to her stomach. He remembered when it was taken. A girl named Jamie had taken it for the newspaper in school. (It was a slow news day.)

"Oh… and there's one more thing…"

Dib looked down at Kim.

His eyes went wide as she pulled on his collar and locked her lips with his.

It was his first kiss.

Then he vanished, leaving Kim to grieve for both him and her childhood friend.

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Zim floated through a stream of time and space as he headed towards his dimension. Traveling through the rift like this was near an eternity. But it seemed to pass him by so quickly.

He sighed.

Seeing Brooke go like that was horrible on his mind.

He was already missing her company.

A streak of black, red and purple swooped past his head. He spun around in surprise. As he tried to steady himself Zim could hear a strangely familiar voice erupt from the streak as it hurried down the tunnel.

"Race you to the other side, Zim!"

He didn't hurry along.

The longer he was quiet the more he was able to think about forgetting the pain. The easier it was to avoid pitying Brooke's demise.

The streak of black, red and purple stopped after it realized that he was not following. It turned back to see him, slowly approaching the end of the time space stream. The light was right in front of the color streak now and it was ready to pass on through. The fact that Zim was being so slow didn't help in its mind. The streak, though without any body parts, shrugged and dove into the light.

It waited for Zim to come with it.

But he never came.

And the streak was driven into a different part of the dimension, far off from where it had wanted to be.

One word escaped its mouth.

"Damn…"

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Kim: (sniff) It's so sad! I killed Brooke! Wha!

Brooke: Well, you're the one that wrote the story.

Kim: I know, but it's such a sad ending. I wish it didn't have to be so sad!

Brooke: It doesn't you idiot!

Kim: I know Brooke… You're upset about dying at the end…

Brooke: Not really… I still happen to remember something you said a while ago. Someone about another story.

Kim: Shh!!!

Brooke: Heh…