Domo Arigato, Miss Roboto: In A Gadda Vida, Honey

Okay, so it's not exactly the end, considering there's an epilogue but still, the main action shall be done. Probably gonna be short, too, since it's just an excuse for a climatic fight scene. And yes, annoying as some may find it, I will continue slapping on lyrics. Think of it as a lazy way to establish mood. But before we get to the fic-age, let's recap the body count so far:

• Dib- crazy & trapped in a hospital full of Zombies!
  
• Zim -Hiding…or is he dead too?
  
• Gaz - ? (Apparently killed by Zim)
  
• Mary-Anne - Vivisected by Zim (HUZZAH!)
  
• Zombies - Massacred/dismembered by Dib
  
• Prof. Membrane - “Sir Not-appearing-in-this-Chapter”

Songs to Annoy You With:In-a-gadda-da-vida (Iron Butterfly), Always (Saliva)*

Chapter 8: In-a-gadda-da-vida, Baby… (The Revised Version!)

((I hear a voice…))

Dib stared at the gore soaking his hands then screamed, “ZIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

((It's telling me all of those things that you were trying to hide…))

The roar crashed down hallways and through doors, trampling sparks up wires in the hundreds of camera pods hidden throughout the building to get the best shots of the carnage. It reverberated in the speakers with an electrified hornet-nest buzz. Static bands rippled across the screen bank.

((Am I your one and only desire?))

“Ha…” Sitting back in his chair giddy with victory, the alien turned the volume up to very maximum and still nearly drowned out the sound with his laughter.

Zim didn't really think of himself as sadistic. After all, a callous disregard for the lives of others and delighting in all forms of torture was quite advantageous to an Invader. Besides, creating senseless carnage was one thing Zim excelled at. He took the greatest pride in wreaking ruin and misery among the enemies of the Empire. It always gave him the strangest, sweetest thrill of ecstasy in his belly. But to see Dib suffer so much before he died was by far most satisfying moment in his entire life.

((Am I the reason you breathe?))

The speakers, pushed above and beyond their limits, blew in a series of discordant pops. But the screens held out and, listening to the faint echo, Zim continued to laugh madly. When the human had finally stopped and collapsed to the bloody floor, Zim quit laughing. He leaned closer, staring hard at the huddled up blob onscreen. It shuddered as if the human was quietly sobbing.

((Or am I the reason you cry?))

Zim's smile crumpled into an annoyed frown. Had Dib given up already? Surely he didn't think that killing the girl and hurling a few zombies around was the worst that Zim could do?

Did the Dib really think he wasn't going to pay for insulting the greatest soldier in the universe?!

((I can't get around you…))

Feeling downright offended by the very thought, Zim zoomed in until the whole screen bank was filled with the image and studied the shaking human closely. He watched in frustration as Dib continued to tremble, head cradled in his hands. Growling, he zoomed in even closer and closer and closer, until all he could see were the fingers curling reddened lines over his face as they knotted up in the coarse black hair.

((I just can't take anymore…))

Suddenly, Dib jerked his head up to stare straight into the camera. Aside from a fine misting of blood, his face was a white mask twisted up in a crazed expression of glee. Over a tooth-baring smile that slashed jaggedly from ear to ear, empty amber pinpricks gazed out from behind grimy scratched lens.

((I'm guessing I'm out of my head…))

The scene exploded in a blue-white flash that sent Zim reeling onto the floor. Barely a millisecond later all the screens shattered in a spray of glass and sparks, impaling the seat he'd just been sitting in with razor-sharp shards. The alien barely had time to regain his senses when the alarms went off.

(( I feel…))

Looking at the elevator across the room, Zim shrieked angrily when he saw that Dib had somehow gotten it back online and was riding straight up the top floor—now his makeshift command center. With a series of select curses, he pounded away at the modified security desk and soon managed to hit the `Purge Elevators' button. He laughed wildly, watching the red numbers flash frantically backwards as the screaming metal death-box plunged into a twelve-story drop.

((…like you don't want me around))

It was a shame the monitors had blown up… Zim wanted to see the look on Dib's face at the realization that he was soon to become just as mangled as the fucking bitch of a robot. When he heard the boom of the elevator crashing at the very bottom of the shaft, Zim let out a sigh and took a brief moment to mourn the fact that he never got to face Dib xeno-on-mano. Then he heard the banging.

((It's all been bottled up until now… ))

Glancing up, he watched with a stupidly gaping mouth as the elevator doors started bending out like a shiny metal balloon before they burst and flew across the room in a flaming panel of shrapnel. It was by another stroke of luck that the jagged fire-spray just missed incinerating the stunned Irken by mere nanometers.

((As I walk through your door,))

Surrounded by a white-hot halo of fiery doom, Dib glided into the now burning room. He raised a hand and aimed it toward Zim, all the while smiling death. The blast took out much of the security desk in an arching lightning bolt, leaving behind a smoldering pile of melted plastic and metal. But unknown to the human, his enemy had a plan B.

((I left my hand around your heart…))

After ducking out of the way of the energy blast, Zim leveled a mini-laser cannon at Dib and fired. He didn't wait to see if the shot had killed the human or not as he fled toward the stairs. Right when he hit the door, Zim felt his body be swept up off the ground and flung violently into the ceiling, then dropped to the floor.

((Why did you tear my world apart?!))

Charging through a curtain of flame like a crazed bull moose, Dib lunges and rams his cyber-claws right where Zim would've been laying it he hadn't rolled quickly aside. The alien hops back up and nails Dib with another cannon shot, but it only makes his enemy mad. With a snarl and a swipe of claws, the cannon is reduced to scrap with a grip. Flinging it into Dib's face, Zim takes advantage of the distraction to bolt up the stairs with one seriously pissed psycho thundering at his heels. He barely has time to reach into his PAK before Dib bum-rushes him.

Dib's smile vanishes in a grunt as Zim drives a set of 4-inch knuckle spikes into his stomach. With a mad grin, Zim twists his wrist to push them in deeper. “Does it hurt, Dib?”

((Always…))

Dumbly, Dib grabs the alien's shoulders, falling against him.

“Or are you just surprised? I know your sister was…” Laughing, Zim jerks the spikes out and pushes the human away.

Dib staggers, hacking up blood as he clutches the gaping wound in his belly.

“What's the matter?” hisses the alien, casually beckoning with a bloodied hand. “Don't tell me you're going to let a few tiny holes stop you, the mighty Dib! Come on! Kill me!”

(( I see the blood all over your hands…))

Reeling, Dib stumbles forward until his leaning up against Zim for support. He reaches up slowly, gory slicked fingers stroking up Zim's face. “You're so cold,” comes the raspy whisper. “But you feel alive…”

“Eh?” Zim stares at the human in confusion. It fades to a funny sort of warmth as Dib takes hold of his hand and puts his cheek in the gloved palm. There's a faint grin on his ashen face.

(( Was it all just part of you plan? ))

“Touch me,” Dib purrs now, resting his head on Zim's shoulder. He leans in closer, till his lips are barely touching the green skin. “One last time…”

(( The knife shaking in my hand…))

Zim screams in stunned pain as Dib gouges his eye out, flinging the human to the tarpaper below. Howling in rage, he jumps on top of the human and reared back to slam the spikes through his face.

((I love you… I hate you…))

Dib caught hold of his wrist and, yanking it upward, rolls the alien onto his back, pinning him. Then he started slugging Zim in the face and chest with his free hand. Slamming a knee up into Dib's groin, Zim knocked him and gets back on his feet quickly. Not giving his fallen foe a chance at defense, he began kicking and stomping Dib. Finally, he ended up punting the human into an air-vent.

((Can't live without you…))

As he lies there gasping in ragged sucks of air, Dib can only watch  Zim stalk toward him. Knowing that it's the end yet still charged with defiance, he grinned up at the alien and flipped him the bird. “Fuck you, Zim.”

There is no expression on Zim's face as he reached back. In a flash of blood and pain, it's over.

((And now I'm done with you…))