"My Tallest, it is my greatest regret to inform you that I will be resigning from my status as an Invader for the empire."

Three months had passed since that day, the day Zim had called to announce his resignation as an Invader.

Celebration had happened for the first month. Zim was finally gone! Maybe not dead, but he was no longer a threat to the Empire. No more annoying calls, no more Gir or filthy humans learning about their technology. Just the sweet bliss of silence and freedom from the tiny defect.

The second month went as normal, the Tallests focusing on invading the galaxy. Zim was still in the back of their mind, but it just stayed there. The lingering curiosity of why didn't seem to bother them. He was gone after all, right? No more troubles among the Empire.

Then the third month came around, and it started to bother them. Yes, he was a putrid little defect, but why did he lose his loyalty to his missions, as well as his Tallest? What was so valuable on Earth that had captured the tiny Irken's attention?

Red sighed, making his way down a small corridor in The Massive. He would usually spend some of his time roaming around, making sure everything was in place. Sure, he could laze around like Purple, eating snacks and observing the Invaders doing their dirty work, but he knew better than to give his followers time to stray. Even one Irken out of place could spell disaster, so he made sure that nobody was away from their post for more than moments at a time.

Steel doors in front of him opened, revealing one of the primary nurseries. Blue walls coated in cabinets with faces of varying colours and emotions to signal how far in development each smeet was. The floor was made of a destruct-proof glass, showing the silver and blue tubes and wires that contained the power to keep the nursery functioning, as well as the tubes that supplied the nutrients their bodies required as developing smeetlings. A large metal arm protruded from the center on the room, coated in a deep blue paint. It had two claw-like fingers to grasp and break the tubes for when the smeets were developed. The room overall was dark to help keep the small smeets from being frightened at "birth."

Honestly, he had no reason to be in there beyond boredom. In Red's mind though, boredom was a good enough reason to be there, right? After all, he was Tallest! He made his way over to the large claw, disabling it temporarily and finding a small hover lift nearby. Sure, he could levitate, but not high enough to reach any of the higher up cabinets.

On occasion, he would help bring the smeets to life. He swore to himself it was out of boredom, after all, he was a Tallest, and he had nothing better to do. He flew up as one of the grey, blank faces turned green, meaning the frail smeet inside was ready to become a member of Irken society. It was a floating unconscious child, curled into a ball, eyes closed. It was inside a green liquid that, if less transparent, would be extremely easy to hide inside.

With little force, he dropped the test-tube on the ground, watching as it shattered into pieces. The small smeet sprawled onto the floor, body lightly twitching to signal life. Red couldn't hold back a small smile, the small creature looked so precious. Wait...Precious? What was he thinking?! He shook his head swiftly, floating down and picking up the unconscious child. He made his way to the back of the room, pulling a cabinet that had a Pak inside labeled, "Invader Feef." Red chuckled at the lettering, they did have an interesting way with their names. He lifted the Pak, silver with three large orange circles on it. Orange...Interesting, he must have genetics from Invader Ure, currently invader planet Spleck.

He grabbed a laser that was placed by the Pak, carefully zapping two holes in the back of the smeet, to ensure easy fusing with the spine and the Pak. Sliding the small backpack-like device over the holes, it immediately latched on. It made a low humming noise as it began processing it's information into the small body in front of him. Large orange eyes flew open as he wiggled his body around to face his superior. Bug-eyed orange orbs looked up at Red, small hands reaching up.

It only took one small phrase to make him smile, and remind him of what he has managed to keep behind closed doors. The same reason he couldn't being himself to just kill Zim, and the reason he did tend to show some empathy towards his kind.

"I wuv you, Tallest Wred!"

Red chuckled, hugging the small Irken close. He might never see the small creature again, but it didn't mean he didn't care for just this one moment, "And I you, smeet invader Feef." The small child giggled under him, and Red turned to a small chute in the back of the room. It was the first place Irken newborns went so they could get their specific data processed and confirmed to be safe. Naturally, it has it's faults,but it works sufficiently enough. "Take care of yourself, little one." He mumbled as he slid the smeet down.

The Tallest let out a sigh, walking over and closing the cabinets, and turning on the arm. Nobody knew of his whereabouts here, and he intended on keeping it that way. He closed his eyes, taking a breath. Remember, you're an Irken Invader. You've killed many and rule the empire.

You. Don't. Feel. Anything.

He walked out of the room, thinking about how he got this way. One mistake can ruin everything...

He was a smiling young smeet - An invader in training! He was one of the few that actually had formed a companionship with another Irken, named Purple. Nobody really knows why they became so close, but they seemed to bond very quickly, Purple almost entirely depending on Red. He didn't mind it though, it meant he had an extra pair of arms when trying to invade.

Irken's play was very rough, punching and kicking and calling each other names. For a smeet, that was simply a mutual bond, as well as a fight to prove their worthiness of invading. Under close observation, they were warned to never touch their Paks, as it could cause them to grow defected if damaged. As a part of their training, they were forced to witness many neutralizations of their fellow species, which drilled the fear into them of becoming one of these "Defected."

"Hey, hey Red!" Purple ran over to him, holding two poop sodas and two bags of chips under the same brand, "Look at what I got us!" They were on break from training, as they had to prepare the voot simulation base for them on Irk. For now, the smeets were just waiting outside, playing and chatting.

The Irken looked over at his partner, smiling a bit as he took his snack, "Thanks..." Purple just smiled with a giant handful of chips in his mouth. It made Red laugh, the idiot could barely keep food out of his mouth for a second!

The two ate in silence, looking up at the stars in the sky as they sat on the maroon-dusted ground below them. Red eyes scanned each star, wondering how many of them were being used by his colony, and how many were in the process of being overthrown. It fascinated him to no end to think about exactly how they did it, and that he will one day be taking over planets, much like the rest of the people in his class of Irken.

He noticed out of the corner of his eye how Purple was eyeing him playfully. Setting down his trash next to him, he grinned at his friend for a moment,then pounced. The two laughed as punches and kicks were thrown, scratches were made and bite marks became prominent.

"Stupid Purple!" Red coughed out as another punch was thrown to his jaw, kicking the other in the groin.

Purple groaned in pain, punching him in the stomach hard. That caused a loud click to sound from Red's Pak, freezing them both in place from shock, "Red?" The other looked at him worriedly, and Red simply backed off.

What was this? He felt his stomach churn in knots, his eyes begin to water, and his heart begin to pound. It was so loud he assumed Purple could probably hear it. He was starting to tremble, confused. What were these feelings? What had happened to him? He was scared, not only from the new overwhelming emotions, but that he had become a defective.

"Red...?" Purple walked up to him, sitting down next to him, frowning slightly. The other was silent as they made eye contact, pure pain in Red's eyes.

He whispered to him, "Don't tell anyone what just happened...I don't want to die..." Purple simply nodded, understanding the seriousness of the situation.

Since then, Purple and Red had become inseparable. Purple had formed a loyalty towards Red, and Red was learning from Purple how to control his new defect so that nobody ever found out.

Red made his way to the large observation room where Purple was, floating into the room with the floating device. He seemed to really enjoy using it, as it made him taller than normal. Purple looked up, hardly even noticing his entry. The Irken was obviously to caught up with tinkering on his smoke machine he had found laying in one of the storage units.

He grabbed himself a soda from the large pile of snacks they hoarded within the room for easy access, flipping open the silver cap with a "pop." Nothing was more satisfying to him than the small bubbling sound of the carbonation reating to the pressure release, well, other than actually drinking the soda itself.

"Hey Purple," Red floated to the control panel as he spoke, typing some coordinates for monitoring, "Ever wonder why Zim quit on us?"

Purple took his focus off the small machine, turning to his partner Tallest, "No, why should I? He's gone, isn't that what matters?"

The red Irken shrugged, "Well, it's not normal for invaders to defy their coding and lose their sense of loyalty," He sighed out the next words, "Even if they are defective idiots."

The large holographic screen in the center of the panel before them showed them Zim, who was inside of what appeared to be a human's house...A kitchen possibly? There was a tall man in a lab coat making some sort of human food, a small human girl using some system that looks as if it was modified with Irken technology, and two boys. One was Zim in his human disguise, sitting alongside the familiar face of who he called "Dib-worm" in the few calls they had together. Papers and notes, in both Irken and English, were sprawled across the dining table before them, indicating various ideas of things they could do to improve their planet.

Something stuck out to Red more so than the rest though. Zim was...smiling, and it had no intentions of being evil. It was a content smile, something Red knew very well. Was Zim's defect also an emotional defect?

Red shook his head a bit, clearing himself of his thoughts. Purple at this point had set his half-finished smoke machine nearby and floated up next to his partner, "I wonder why he's smiling...We're not supposed to feel any sort of happiness beyond victory!"

"Why is he smiling happily around these 'humans?'" Red frowned a bit, "What do they have that's an advantage over us?"

Purple shrugged, "We could just blow up their planet, they do seem to have something that could ruin our people."

Red thought about this. They could destroy the planet and move on, it would be the easiest path. The Almighty Red was a lot smarter tan his friend though, and he also knew they could research the humans and find out exactly what this is that can completely change an Irken.

"I don't want to destroy them," He decided after a long moment, "I want to find out what they are hiding and use it to our advantage. Set course for Earth, we're finding a human and figuring out what they know that we don't." Purple just stared at him in complete shock as Red floated towards the door. He looked back at his partner.

"Also, lasers are way better than smoke machines."

I actually worked longer on this bit than I have on any story I've ever written...I really like this story, and how I have it planned out. This chapter was more character development for Red than anything.

Plus, who doesn't love Invader Feef? You won't be seeing him again here, but I couldn't help but give him a small spot in the story, being my first Invader Zim OC.

I hope you guys enjoy and look forward to the next chapter!

-Mixceny