Disclaimer: Do you see my name when the credits role? Do you? Huh?! I didn't think so.

Warnings: SLASH, violence, abuse. Hideous writing. OCs. Don't like, don't read. I will not be held responsible to what happens for your brains if you read the hideous hideousness. *nods sagely*

Summary: A slave aboard the Massive is found missing and his owner is NOT happy about it. Kagan goes to the Tallest about his missing slave, and demands him back. The Tallest decide to hire an Irkan from the planet Rinea - a Bounty Hunting planet. The Hunter is able to track the slave to Earth, where the slave meets up with Zim and his sister, Kad. Zim and Kad both know the slave as an old friend, and Kad used to be friends with the Hunter after him. But things start to get interesting when the Hunter wants to keep his Prey all to himself instead of giving him back to his rightful owner…

"ARGH!!!" The angry roar sounded throughout the main hall of the Massive. Heavy footsteps stormed their way to the Communications Room. Slaves, Drones, and Technicians scrambled to get out of the way of the angry Irkan making his way through the hall. Blood red eyes were narrowed to slits, hooked antennae lowered in rage. Kagan shot a menacing glare at everyone he walked by, a snarl at his lips. He stopped at the door of the Communications Room and slammed his fist down hard on the keypad, making it spark. The door slid open with a whoosh and Kagan stomped in. "My Tallest!" he yelled.

The two Tall Irkans in the middle of the room paused in their conversation with one of the Invaders and turned around to face the angry Tech. Tallest Red turned back to the Invader. "We'll call you back." The screen went blank and Red looked to the angry Irkan making his way to them. "Ah, Kagan. And what happened to you to put you in such a cheery mood?" he asked sarcastically.

Kagan pulled himself up onto the platform the Tallest stood upon and snarled. He unbuckled the high collar of his uniform. "My Slave." He gritted his teeth. "He's escaped. I want him back. As. Soon. As. Possible."

Purple raised an eye ridge. "Have you checked everywhere?"

"Yes," Kagan gritted out. "I even searched all the cargo holds. I have checked every little nook and cranny of this ship. He's not on it." A metal spider leg came out of the angry Irkan's PAK holding a digital report. Purple took the report and read through it while the spider leg retreated back into Kagan's PAK. "I had the Techs in all the Launch Bays to check for any cruisers that have launched in the last three hours. Only one. An Emergency Voot that left little over an hour ago."

Purple passed the report to Red. "Are you sure your Slave was the one to take it?" asked Purple.

"The security cameras said yes."

"Well, what do you want us to do about it?" Red asked.

Kagan clenched a fist. "I want to ask permission to have someone locate and bring him back."

One of Purple's antennae pricked forward and he and Red shared a look. Red looked around the room and at all the fearful Technicians staring up at Kagan. He looked back to Master Tech. "Listen, Kagan. Why don't you go back to your room and calm down? We'll get in touch with planet Rinea and send a Bounty Hunter after Cephen, okay?" Red patted Kagan's shoulder.

Kagan snorted. "Fine. But I want him back alive and relatively unharmed." He nodded his head slightly to his Tallest, turned, and hopped off the platform.

The tension in the room dropped considerably after the Master Tech left and there was an audible sigh of relief from some of the lower Technicians. Even the Tallest visibly relaxed. "That guy scares me when he's angry," Purple muttered. Red nodded. Purple then shook his head and turned to his co-Tallest, his face solemn. "Do we really have to send someone after him? You know as well as I do how badly Cephen is treated."

Sighing sadly, Red shook his head. "Yeah, I know, Purr. But I said we would, and an angry Kagan is worse than a sadistic one. I wonder what he did to finally make Cephen snap and run away…"

The two looked at each other before sighing in unison and facing the giant screen. "Patch a line through to Miathan of planet Rinea," Purple ordered the Control Techs at the base of the main view-screen. The Techs hesitated a moment before doing as told.

The Irkan Corporate Logo blinked on screen for a minute before the line was picked up. On the screen was a Tall Irkan male visible only from the waist up. He had dark crimson eyes -much darker than Kagan's and Tallest Red's- and the ends of his antennae were a little kinky. His right eye had two fresh, bleeding gashes on it and was heavily lidded. He wore a crimson armored chest plate with three scratches in it with red and black sleeves and padding. He had black zippered gloves that reached to his elbows. His armor stopped in the middle of his abdomen and the tops of his silver belt and gun cases were just visible on the screen. Jagged scars could be seen covering the right side of his torso.

Miathan smirked at the sight of the Tallest and raised a hand in salute. "Greetings," he said in his deep voice. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of once again seeing your pretty faces?"

"Miathan!" Purple yelled in concern. "You look bloody awful! What happened to you?"

Miathan chuckled, his smirk never leaving his face. He reached up and touched his wounded eye. "Don't worry. It's nothing that hasn't happened before. Although I can say that it will never fully heal… I only just got back from a hunt with a renegade Vortian. Put the scratches in my armor, too." He shrugged, the armor riding up on his belly slightly. "Nothing new."

Red raised an eye ridge, his lip curling up slightly. "You know we could have just given you a spot here on the Massive. You're Tall enough for any position. Except for Tallest, of course."

Raising a hand, Miathan waved it dismissively. "Thanks, but no thanks. I like being a Bounty Hunter. Thrill of the hunt and all that, you know?"

"I can only imagine…" Red muttered.

"Pleasantries aside," Purple started. He glanced over at Red then to the Bounty Hunter. "We have a job for you."

Miathan raised his hand again and wiped a non-existent tear from his good eye. "Aww… And here I thought you both just wanted to see my pretty face…" He sniffed. If it wasn't for the fact that Miathan was good 'friends' with the Tallest and that he could easily kill them if he felt threatened by them, the Hunter would have been gone a long time ago. "What's the job?"

The Tallest shared another look. "A run-away Slave," they said in unison.

"Ohh!" The Hunter smirked widely. "Those are always fun to go after. As soon as they realize they're being hunted, they resist as much as they can. Free will and all that. Who's Slave am I going after?"

"Kagan's," Red answered.

If possible, Miathan's smirk grew wider. "Just for that you're going to have to pay me extra. How is the sadistic bastard doing, anyway?"

Purple scratched the back of his head. "Very… very angry."

"And I'm not the one to anger him? Pity."

Red shook his head. "We'll send you a description of what he looks like and where he'll most likely be heading. His name is Cephen."

"Cephen, hmm?" Miathan mumbled. He tapped his chin. "Pretty name…"

The Tallest shared a look. They both knew that Miathan was the type of predator that liked to play with his prey. Red figured Miathan would like to do that with Cephen. "You know," Tallest Red started, "you can take your time in finding him."

Purple jerked his head toward his co-Tallest, narrowing one eye at him as if to say 'What do think your doing?' Red ignored him.

"And why would I want to do that?" asked the older Irkan. He raised an eye ridge and crossed his arms. "Your gonna pay me, I hope, and I kind of need the money as soon as possible."

Red couldn't believe what he was about to say. "Well, we know that you like to play with your 'prey', as you call it. Once you find Cephen, you can mess around with him - play with his mind and stuff. At the same time you'd be doing your own little bit to anger Kagan by making him wait for his Slave."

One kinky antenna perked forward, and Miathan seemed to think this idea over. "Would you be willing to deal with Kagan for as long as the Slave is gone?" He seemed a little concerned.

Tallest Purple seemed catch on to what Red was doing. "We can deal with him," he cut in. "But whenever you do find Cephen, don't hurt him. Kagan said not to harm him too bad."

"Oh?" The Hunter cocked his head. "And why's that?"

Both Tallest shrugged. "Probably so he can deal with the little run-away himself," said Red.

Miathan narrowed his eyes. "Does he abuse him or something?" he asked angrily.

Both Tallest shrugged. "Every time we see him out of his room," stated Purple, "he usually looks relatively healthy."

"Relatively…" the Hunter whispered, almost inaudible to his leaders' ears. He was silent for a few minutes, lost in his own thoughts. When he finally looked back towards his Tallest, he gave a short salute. "If you will please send the coordinates and information about this 'Cephen' I'd be much obliged. That way I can find a good time to get started."

Red ordered the Control Techs at the base of the view screen to send the information, while Purple continued to stare up at Miathan. "Where he's most likely heading is quite a long flight away. You might want to leave sometime soon."

On Miathan's end of the transmission, the screened blipped. The Bounty Hunter nodded to his Tallest and gave them one final salute. "The next time I talk to you, I should hope to have the Slave in hand." And with that the screen closed.

Purple sighed and stared at the ground. "Let's hope he doesn't call us anytime soon, then…"

Red wrapped an arm around his co-Tallest and pulled him close. "Hey, don't worry, Purr. If Cephen's smart enough to go to where we think he's going, Miathan might have more than a little trouble catching him."

Purple nodded and leaned his head on Red's shoulder. "I just hope 'they' let him have a little peace while he stays with them." He smiled slightly. "Zim can't possibly be that loud, can he?"

Red shook his head. "I don't know, Purr. But that's why Kad is there with him. She can keep them in line."

"Are you sure?"

Red grinned cheerfully. "Nope."

Please review. Creative flames are welcome. I'll still laugh at them though.^^