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invadernurse · 4 months

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Catching Flies (Revised) Ch. 16

Chapter 16: Reality is Subjective

Overall rating: Teen

Summary: You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. That’s what they say anyway.

Teacher!Reader makes the mistake of trying to help the two most troubled kids in your class. This leads to forming a science club, learning some childhood psychology, adopting an alien older than you, and somehow catching Professor Membrane’s interest.

Afab Non-binary Reader;

The reader does have a last name: Nemo– which means no-name.

Chapter One |Master post |Ao3

**Several minutes earlier**

"Are we going to talk about the fact you called my dad and Mx. Nemo 'my tallest?'" Dib asked, an impish grin on his face as he followed Zim, who had long let go of his hand.

"No!" Zim hissed. "As far as I'm concerned, it never happened!"

"But you did."

"I did not!"

"I was right there, Zim. You totally called them your Tallest."

"The mighty Zim makes no mistakes!" Zim suddenly stopped and spun to face Dib, his eyes narrowed at Dib's delighted expression. "Foolish Dib-stink! You think I, the mighty Zim, would lower himself to call those two meat-bags my Tallest? That I would find them intelligent and honorable enough to think of them that highly?!"

Dib didn't even waiver for a second. "You must, because that is definitely what you called them."

Zim snarled, and Dib quickly realized he might have pushed the alien a little too far. Before he could act, Zim pounced at him, tackling the boy to the ground.

"Zim! No! Get off!"

"Not until you admit defeat, Dib-stink!"

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing!" Dib defended, both verbally and physically as they wrestled each other, completely ignorant of the looks they were drawing. "My dad is the smartest human on Earth right now! And Mx Nemo's the first adult to treat us like actual people!"

"Your paternal unit doesn't even acknowledge that alien life exists, and Mx Nemo can hardly understand your primitive computer system!"

"I'm not saying they're perfect! I'm just saying I can understand why you see them as higher authorities! They treat you a lot better than your old Tallest did!"

Zim went still, sliding off of Dib and sitting despondently on the ground. Dib took the opportunity to sit up, brushing the dust off his black coat as he warily watched Zim for a few moments.

"I-I don't really mean to make fun of it," Dib admitted after a moment. "I mean, I have nothing but respect for both of them, obviously. And I guess I'm kind of…happy? Excited? That you feel the same. Because it means we aren't enemies anymore. We're friends now, right?"

"Irkens don't have friends," Zim responded, more out of reflex than anything. The despondency in expression faded, replaced with something akin to embarrassment. "But…we are partners. Allies."

Dib figured it was as close as he was going to get, and a lot more than he ever believed possible. Hell, if someone told him he was going to be friends with Zim just a few months ago, he would have called them crazy.

"Ah ha, you two must be the students from inter-city middle skool!"

Zim and Dib looked up at a…person. Both Zim and Dib narrowed their eyes at the man that looked like something far too large stuffed inside a suit made to look vaguely humanesque.

"I think that's actually worse than your human suit on peace day."

"Hey, cut me some slack! I had less than twelve of your earth hours to plan that!"

***

No. No no no. You couldn't be stuck.

"Mx Nemo?" You could hear the professor, but couldn't respond. Not as the anxiety and panic gripped at you. You weren't usually claustrophobic but the bright blinding whiteness and cramped space as you tucked in closely to Professor Membrane's large frame, and your fears jumped at the chance to consume you.

"Mx Nemo." Large, firm hands gripped your shoulders, grounding you somewhat. You stared up at him, able to see his eyes clearly through his goggles, dark eyebrows knitted in concern. "I am sincerely sorry, I realize now that was a very bad joke."

Joke. It was a joke. You slumped against him in relief, not thinking as you punched him half heartedly in the chest--his shoulder too far for your to reach. "You had me for a moment there," you admitted.

His hands still gripped your shoulder, though not quite as tightly. "Humor is not exactly one of my stronger skills," he explained rathwr weakly, which was odd coming from him.

"I'm going to get you a book of dad jokes," you joked weakly in return, still leaning against him as your heart slowly returning to normal. "Or-or science jokes. Something."

"I really am sorry."

You shook your head, looking up at him. "It's okay. But let's focus on finding the boys."

He tightened his grip for a moment before letting go. He turned, focusing on the blank wall, confusing you as he held his hand against the wall, but looking intently at his phone's display. But instead of asking, you kept silent and watched as he moved his hand along the seamless wall slowly.

Did he have some kind of tech in his glove? Considering who he was, your guess was that it was far more advanced than the shoulder-length rubber glove it looked like. It probably was able to scan all sorts of things.

"There's too much interference," Professor Membrane growled to himself, stuffing his phone away. You despaired for a moment, maybe he hadn't been joking after all, when he pulled the glove off his arm.

Oh. Oh.

Your silence becamed stunned at his prosthetic arm. The intricate finger joints moved silently and fluidly as he searched the panel. There was a small blip of green light against the white, and the panels slid apart the reveal an electrical panel.

"Well aren't you a beauty. Look at this work, Mx Nemo. Someone put a lot of time and care into wiring this. But…" The Professor's tone shifted for awe into dubious. "These flux capacitors are overkill for a simple elevator. The energy transmitting through these rival that of Membrane Labs. Why would a convention center need this kind of energy?"

"What did our boys get into this time?" You swore softly. This was not what you had imagined when you realized the pair had wandered off. Unfortunately, it was right up their alley nevertheless.

You missed Professor Membrane's glance at your (unintentional) choice of words. "They'll be fine," he tried to assure. "Between their intelligence and tenacity, I estimate that the chances of them being grievously harmed is less than twenty-five percent."

Those were good odds, right? You tried to convince yourself it was, but that fear and worry continued to gnaw at your stomach.

Thankfully, before you could worry to much, the doors opened, revealing another long hallway, the same bright white walls lining the hallway. Professor Membrane led the way, his phone still blinking with Dib's location.

The place was a maze, with the hallways twisting and turning, each one looking the same. You would have been lost a thousand times over.

After a few twists and turns, you could hear someone speaking in a forign language, only for Zim's unmistakable laughter to abruptly interrupt.

"You idiots! You dare try to intimidate the mighty Zim?! Ha! I'm Irken's greatest invader! Bow and tremble in fear! Tremble!"

There was more chattering as you and Professor Membrane tried to hurry. He was quickly outpacing you with those long legs of his, virtually forcing you into a run.

Whatever you expected, it wasn't Professor Membrane suddenly stopping and subsequently crashing into his back. "Well, that is...quite unexpected."

You peeked around him and paled at the aight.

Were those...koalas? Six feet tall, fuzzy grey and white with large eyes that stared directly back at you. You numbly noted the futuristic armour protecting their chest and limbs as they briefly raised on their back legs and bared their teeth in a snarl.

Koalas...did not have sharp spiky teeth. Nor were they as tall as you were. Or decked out with weapons.

"Dad! Mx. Nemo!" Dib's voice cut through your astonishment. Relief swept briefly through you as you affrimed that both boys seemed unharmed.

Then the not-koalas roared something that sounded like a foreign language towards Dib and Zim. The not-Koalas pointed weapons at both the children as well as you and Professor Membrane.

"You dare call the might Zim a liar?!" Zim spat back while Dib paled slightly. Mechanical spider-like appendages unfolded from Zim's backpack, two supporting the boy into the air while the points of the other two sizzled with red electricity. "You dare threaten the mighty Zim's Tallest?!"

"Boys!" You shouted, moving towards them only to have the Professor shove you behind him, his gloves virtually disintegrating, revealing both arms were robotic prosthetics, and vibrating with white energy.

"Children, get behind me." Membrane commanded firmly.

Zim hissed, "Invaders do not hide! We destroy those before us!"

"You're not an invader anymore!" Dib argued. "You're one of us now!" Zim's response was just a sibilant hiss.

"I am so confused," you admitted from behind Membrane, peering behind him. Space Koalas. Robotic arms and spider limbs.

"I think we must be having a relapsing hallucination from memebraclets." Membrane admitted, though he sounded really doubtful.

"Yeah, I still doubt that was the real story," you said distractedly. "I never had one or was around it, and I still remember everything too clearly."

"Well, with the only other explanation would be that were actually intelligent life, and we went through multiple wormholes and possibly even a blackhole. Which is scientifically impossible."

"Aliens are real, dad!" Dib interjected loudly, gesturing to the non-koalas. "This is real! Not a crazy dream! They are here to abduct the smartest, most imaginative children to use as computers!"

"Their disgusting habits are known through the galaxy," Zim spat. "They deserve to be obliterated from exsistance."

"We were trying to convince them to leave peacefully." Dib stressed.

You were so confused. You had started looking for them expecting they had wandered off exploring or getting into trouble.

But. Aliens. So absolutely alien. The implications that this summer was real. The red sky with planets hanging heavy in the sky. The alien ships. The endless void of a black hole.

Feeling like you were being ripped apart atom by atom and compressed into an infinitely small point at the same time.

"It was real?" You whispered.

"No. No, it couldn't be real," Professor Membrane stated firmly, shaking his head. "This can't be real. It's scientifically impossible. We would have seen signs, discovered radio signals, something." There was a desperate denial in his tone as Membrane clenched his fists.

The alien-koalas made a noise that sounded like a laugh, interspersed with guttural clicks and growls. Zim snickered while Dib protested. "What?! Are you serious? All of that was a joke? You've been purposely avoiding humans?!"

"Well, to the intelligent beings of this quadrant, you aren't exactly that sharp. Playing with lesser beings is quite amusing," Zim chimed with a snicker, only adding to the confusion.

Dib had accused him at first of being an alien… but surelt not. Surely not. "No. No way." You hadn't befriended and taught an alien for that several months.

Yet it was making so much sense. The advanced knowledge, being abandoned. The technology. Dib was the son of the world's most intelligent man, but Zim…

Or was this actually a dream and that's why it was making sense? It felt so real, but didn't all dreams? You were so confused and torn, and you had the feeling Membrane next to you was just as lost judging by his stiff posture and heavy silence.

Just...just focus on what was important, and leave all those questions for later. Whether it was a dream or not, you had to focus on the here and now and worry about the implications afterwards.

"Leave them alone," you commanded with more bravery than you felt as you stepped forward, away from the protective form of Professor Membrane. You heard him whisper your name, quiet enough you were sure that it was an unintentional slip. You squared your shoulders and glared with as much authority as you could muster. "You leave those boys alone and leave this planet."

The alien-koalas growled, clicking their teeth.

"You dare threaten my Tallest!" Zim hissed, the energy at the end of his mech-spider legs flaring and threatening to fire. "You dare threaten the mighty Mx. Nemo?"

"Hallucination or not, I cannot allow harm to come to my son, his friend, or Mx. Nemo."

There was something encouraging about being flanked by a tall, broad-shouldered scientist with two mechanical arms whirring as they powered up, and a possible alien with lasers. Dib seemed to feel the same as he stepped between you and his father, looking rather stern faced as well.

Except, instead of being threatened, the alien-koalas just chittered, a mocking kind of chittering that set your nerves on edge.

The place erupted into laser fire. There was no time to think, only react. You grabbed Dib and pulled him behind the sturdy frame of his father, protecting him as best as you could. Sparks and fires erupted as energy blasts landed all around the control room.

"Get out of here!" Professor Membrane shouted. The way you came was clear, so you dragged Dib with you towards the corridor.

"Zim! Come on!" You and Dib shouted once you reached to safety of the corridor.

"Invaders don't run away!" He snarled back, zapping the control panel which burst with a shower of sparks.

"You're not an Invader, you're my student!"

That made Zim pause, and it was all the Professor needed. He fired a shot rather reminiscent of an anime character before grabbing one of Zim's robotic legs and yanked the boy off balance and towards the corridor. He tumbled, the legs retreating into his pak, and before he recovered, you plucked him off the ground, holding him as if he was half his (assumed???) age as you ran down the hall, barely aware of where you were going. All you cared about was getting away from the cacophony of explosions and making sure Dib was keeping up beside you.

Shortly, however, he too was scooped up as Professor Membrane caught up with you. "This way!" He commanded, turning a corner. "Their systems are more volatile than anticipated."

"It's possible we may have activated the self-destruct," Zim said, holding on to you while looking behind. "Or that they did, realizing they had been defeated by the mighty Zim!"

"Not sure we won this one," Dib chimed. You were inclined to agree with him, but it was taking all you have to keep with the Professor's pace while carrying Zim. Your legs and lungs burned, but you kept pushing yourself harder.

Thankfully, there was another corner and the elevator appeared. Or at least an elevator. You all but collapsed against the wall while Membrane jammed the call button.

Except the doors opened to reveal a void instead of the blinding white elevator from before. "Where's the elevator?"

"Not above us," was Professor's answer as he peered into the darkness. "And neither can I detect it below us. I'm not sure if I possess enough power to carry all of us out…"

"Get the boys out," was your automatic response. Especially as you could both hear and feel explosions and fire creeping closer. You tried not to think of what was going to happen to you, and focused on the students safety. The innocent people above. "Just--get them out. Evacuate the building."

Professor Membrane looked back at you, managing to convey his concern. "I find myself wanting to reject that idea despite the fact it's logical."

"We are not leaving you," Dib agreed with his father.

"You humans are disgustingly stupid sometimes," Zim growled as he extended his spiderlegs once more and grabbed Dib. "I trust you can at least carry Mx. Nemo?"

"I-I'm not sure about this," Dib panicked, but Zim neither gave him nor Professor Membrane time to say anything before jumping into the void, the spindly robotic legs quivering as they caught both his and Dib's weight before skittering upwards like a true spider.

"This hallucination is stranger than the last."

"God, I hope this is a crazy dream," you agreed before another explosion drew closer. This felt so real that you didn't have the courage to test out that theory.

Yet, at the same time, you weren't sure what Professor Membrane's plan was, and you were too nervous to ask.

"Right dream or not," Professor turned towards you, arms open. "Shall we?"

"Er…" was your very eloquent response as you stepped closer.

"I haven't carried anyone besides my children, so I do apologize in advance," was his response before suddenly lifting you up, one hand bracing your back and the other beneath your knees as he held you close.

Your squeak turned into a scream as he stepped into the elevator shaft, dropping sharply. There was a click and suddenly you were shooting upwards. All you could do was clutch to Professor Membrane's neck and bury your head into his shoulder, barely aware of him gripping you a little tighter in response.

After what felt like forever, the ascent slowed. You looked up and saw the faint light shining from the elevator doors that had been forcibly pried open. Emergency lights strobed, the sirens overwhelmed as by yelling and screaming in the Expo building as people hurried for the exits.

Professor Membrane set you down, though his hand quickly grasped yours as you both made your way towards where the boys were. They were hard to miss, considering Zim’s mad cackle and the Rover drove circles around them, fire erupting from one of his robotic arms.

“Really?” you panted as you reached the pair, gasping for breath. Rover stopped, the fire cutting off quickly. You weren’t even sure who your exclamation was pointed at, but Dib only gave a half hearted shrug as patted the Rover on its head.

“We didn’t know how else to evacuate everyone. They were all standing around even after we pulled the fire alarm.”

“Now they run in fear of the mighty Zim! And Dib!” Zim was quick to tack on as soon as the other boy glanced at him.

“I think this conversation would best be continued outside,” Professor Membrane interrupted before Dib could respond. The phone that had tracked Dib was now emitting a shrill alarm of its own. “This structure is highly likely to collapse from the impending seismic activity.”

The ground rumbled beneath your feet, faint at first but quickly growing until you were having to hold on to Professor Membrange to keep from falling over.

“Run!”

Dust and debris rained down as you tried to navigate your way out of the expo center, through the maze of long abandoned science projects. IF it wasn;t for the fact Professor hadn’t let go of your hand as he more or less dragged you behind him, you were sure you would have gotten lost. Though, you could faintly make out the light flashing off Zim’s robotic spider legs as he raced over the displays, and the Rover, carrying Dib, weaving through the tables like it was nothing.

The doors opened to a sunny afternoon, yet the chaos had spread outside. People were scattering everywhere, panicked screams and crying filling the air. The tremors were becoming noticible further and further away from the building, to the points cracks were forming in the pavement under your feet.

A large one in particular formed that Professor Membrane just easily strided over with his long legs, but instinct quickly stopped you in your tracks as it screamed you wouldn't make it. Your hand slipped from his and you slid to a stop, harshly landing on you butt.

The crack just kept growing larger and larger, steam, or maybe it was smoke, escaping with a hiss.

"Mx. Nemo!" All three boys called out, having quickly noted your absence. They were moments away from taking the leap themselves. That was all the encouragement you needed. You backed up a few steps before rushing forward and jumping over the gap.

And, as you feared, you didn't make it. You felt yourself fall before you could reach the other edge, just shy of brushing the jagged rock. Below you could feel heat rise from whatever was exploding below to cause the mock-earthquake.

Several somethings grabbed you from mid air, yanking you up and slamming you against the concrete on the other side before you could scream.

You blinked as Zim's spider legs retreated and the three looked down at you. "Ow."

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