Why hello there, I don't believe we've met. I am PIR... And I do not own Invader Zim... But various characters and ideas mentioned in this are... So don't use them without asking me. OKAY‽‽‽
This was beta'd Tucker's Mayflower. And I will say now that you will see a lot from me and her. Mainly coming from me though.
Now, REEAAD!
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The sparkling orange liquid slowly trailed down the pipe, and then dropped half a dozen feet onto a green head, directly between two antennae. They twitched in annoyance.
Where had it all gone wrong? Probably when that idiotic Zim caused Horrible Painful Overload Day, the Irken thought. Oh, how he has ruined many Irken lives.
It was because of him that they brought in the PAK-Less plan.
She growled a low threatening sound. And the Tallest, allowing some stupid scientists to do what they want with us for the bettering of the Irken kind. They will pay.
They will all pay.
A claw twitched. A scowl formed.
Oh, they will pay dearly.
The floor shook slightly. In the distance there was a faint explosion.
The Irken barely gave a second to consider what it was; there was really no point to think about what was affecting the outside world. Not when she had revenge to plan and a prison break to do.
There was also the small matter of recharging, and that would mean either sleeping or finding a power outlet.
She reached behind her and scratched the middle of her back, where there were five circular holes, four arranged in a square and a smaller one in the middle, but no PAK.
There was another explosion, much closer then the last. This time she took notice and went to a small window at the back of her room - a small hole in the cold metal sealed off with a force-field.
The air was warmer here, and there was a faint breeze that tickled her antennae. But the sight that greeted her stole what little comfort the sensation had.
A Frontline BattleMech was lumbering around, firing missiles and lasers, laying waste to the city and anyone in it. She grinned, her red eyes lighting up as a plan quickly put itself together in her mind. "Ireka," she smirked – bingo.
She swiftly turned around and ran to a ledge that served as her bed. A red and pink striped cable waited for her, fitted with a round end that had two prongs – prongs that perfectly fit into her back.
She let her guard down for a second, but that second was too much. Granted, the cable was important, but if she had kept her eyes up for one more second, she would've seen the BattleMech lean forward and fire the cannon on its back.
The explosion was powerful and ripped through the purple walls of the building next door, and the shockwaves buckled and twisted the red metallic walls of the cell, causing a sizable hole to appear. It also threw the Irken through an archway that was used as a door to let prisoners in and out, usually made impassable by a force-field.
Wincing, she slowly picked herself off the cold, metallic floor and examined the room around her.
It was a round unfeeling affair; eleven archways were arranged so that one was apart from the rest. This led to the rest of the compound, the place that she had been raised. The place where all the PAK-Less were raised. The others led to cells, like hers, where other mistakes such as herself, were kept.
Then it hit her. She was outside her cell.
That meant that the power was out.
That meant that the others could also escape – if they had survived the explosion. They probably had; they had been mutated more than her. They had been given stronger skin, stronger bones and many more "improvements". They became monsters that could no longer be seen as Irkens. They had been driven to the point of insanity, and past it. All they desired was revenge and violence, not caring who they were as long as they had a PAK. The things that some of them had done were so brutal, so uncaringly savage, that were deemed as disastrous failures.
The only reason they were still alive is so that they could still be used to experiment new medicines and weapons on.
Another explosion, this sounded like it had come from further into the compound, where they kept the newer test subjects or ones that hadn't gone defective. A pang of pity shot through her. She had known a few of those Irkens from Smeethood. She had trained and lived with them for decades, they were her friends.
She reminded herself of the war machine destroying the city - she could not afford to pity, only to escape. And if that meant killing some of her fellow Irkens, then so be it.
She winced again, a look of pain flashing across her green face as she put her weight on her left leg. It must be fractured, she thought.
Someone started to laugh, a cold mirthless sound that sent chills down her spine. "Looky here, the guard's already dead," a deep, nasally voice said.
"And the power's out!" said a high pitch squeak to her left.
There were several clanks; figures began to appear in the archways. Some raised on metallic legs protruding from their backs, others clinging onto the walls with the flats of their palms, but most were standing on their own two legs like her.
There was about twenty in all. They had all been experimented on. They were all outcasts. They were all PAK-Less.
A small figure detached itself from the rest and approached her, bare feet making gentle tapping sounds against the red metal of the floor.
"Soldier Liith," the figure said, its deathly pale skin contrasting sharply with the dark green of its eyes, "Subject Zero-Five-Four-Six-Three."
Liith, now thoroughly spooked, began to back away. The Irken before her was one of the few that were designed to become something that wasn't Irken; it had been altered so that it was more machine than most of the other PAK-Less. And it looked like the scientists had succeeded, to a degree. She had heard tales of what they had done when they went rogue, and this one was by far the most dangerous being in the compound.
"You are the...least dangerous one here," it said. It's cold, mechanical voice was beginning to get really annoying, but at the same time, it was still creepy. "You are obviously inferior."
She decided that she hated him.
"Tell me," it began, "since you are so inferior, how did you manage to kill three of the elite before you were brought down?"
There were sniggers from the others, most of who were sneaking towards the hole in her cell.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Liith said, her voice quivering on the last syllable. "Now shouldn't we be escaping? There's a giant robot destroying Irk outside and I don't want to be here when it gets taken down."
It lowered its head slightly, "I know." It turned its back on her and ran towards what was left of her cell, which now only had a few Irkens that had stayed behind to watch. "There are three dozen ships about a kilometre to the north," it stated. "It won't be like that for long. I'd hurry if I were you." And then it disappeared into the chaos outside.
There were screams.
Liith, deciding that a ship seemed like a good idea, turned her back and headed into the compound. "Everyone always forgets about the Voots near the labs," she muttered to herself. Every step caused her to wince. She was only Irken after all, she couldn't heal in minutes - but she was more pain resistant, thankfully.
She had barely been walking half a minute before she ran into someone. Their purple eyes widened.
"The defects have escaped!" he shouted, fear evident in his voice, before he was on the floor, held down by metallic legs. His eyes looked up into hers, begging for mercy, whispering to her. "I didn't want this; I just wanted to help the empire."
Curling her hand into a fist, Liith struck him between the eyes. He was unconscious in seconds and she released him. She couldn't waste time. She had to get to the ships, which meant passing where they experimented. It wasn't going to be pretty.
She started to slow down as she reached a fork in the corridor - one lead to a Smeetery and the other lead to the Voots. And she had forgotten which was which.
Boom.
Liith was thrown several metres down the left corridor. And right into a small robot.
It leaned its rugby-shaped head over her.
"We're under attack?" it asked, its red eyes staring into her purple ones.
With a grunt, Liith got back onto her feet. "Yeah, by an idiot in a BattleMech. I'd run if I were you," she said as she ran past it. "This place is probably gonna get razed to the ground."
"The Voots are the other way," it said, its voice lowered. "That is what you're looking for, right?"
She turned around and ran the other way. "Yeah, thanks."
After a few seconds, the small robot began to follow her, its feet making slight tapping noises.
They ran in silence for a minute, passing various turn-offs and doors, every so often hearing a scream or shouted commands.
"The sounds of chaos," the robot muttered. "Next right."
With a nod, Liith turned and sprinted down the corridor, boots sliding slightly on the smooth metal floor.
"Straight ahead and we're at the Voot... Place. There'll probably be guards."
Another nod from Liith, showing her understanding. "There'll be plenty for the both of us." Liith grinned, a shadow of the soldier within her showing through. "May the best defect win."
They continued to race to the door at full speed, a metallic leg slid out of the Irken's back and fired its laser at the door, the energy heating it and causing the metal to weaken.
The small robot jumped at it and went straight through to the other side, sending shards of metal outwards.
"DISTAN!" a voice inside shouted. "What are you-‽" A scream of pain cut the question short.
As she ran through what was left of the doorway, two metal limbs reached around her thin frame, her hands tensing as she prepared her claws...
Just to see that there had only been a scientist in the entire hangar, lying spread-eagled on the floor, blood slowly leaking out of his head.
Her metallic companion was clambering into the sphere of a Voot. "Distan?"
It appeared to shrug, "Yes," it said. "That's what they called me." It wiped a spot of blood off a small bump on the left side of its head.
Liith considered for a moment, and got in with Distan. "I think it'll be better if we stick together for a bit. Don't you?"
The orbs that the constituted as Distan's eyes narrowed slightly, its small hands pushing various buttons. "No, that's a bad idea."
The ex-soldier pulled the glass screen down, "Well tough, I think it's a good idea." She took control of the small ship and put in the coordinates for a small planet two galaxies away. "Plus, I think I'm going need a SIR."
"Distracty-1000," Distan muttered. "I'm a Distracty-1000. Not a SIR."
The Voot shot up into the sky, leaving the chaos of Irk below.
"Either way, I'm going to need someone to help me. It might as well be you," Liith said, looking out into the vastness of space, and she grinned. "Did you hear that there's a group of aliens who're against the empire?"
Distan shook its head.
"Well, how well do you think they'll react to an Irken wanting to join?"
"Probably lock you up and torture you to see if you're lying," the android stated, "And then kill you."
"Then I hope you're wrong, Distan," Liith replied as the Voot shot off into the vastness of space, leaving the chaos of Irk's finest soldiers trying to stop the destruction of its capitol. "I hope you're wrong."
1996 words.
So, what do you guys think? I spent several MONTHS on this thing, and I am proud of it. And although this is a one-shot, you'll be seeing a lot more of Liith and Distan. But it will be a while before you see more of them. You'll also see more from the other PAK-Less.
I have biiiiiig plans. :3
Now, read and review my readers, REVIEW MY FIRST INVADER ZIM! And prepare for more.