My Beloved, My Betrayed

Chapter 1

Invader Zim is (c) Jhonen Vasquez, who would probably cry if he knew what we fans force his characters into.

Beta: IrisCanine

A small space-ship hurdled through the vast expanses of the universe. Although Irken in shape and style, its designers and pilot were not.

"And remember, Soldier, always brush your teeth-"

"Yeah, dad, I get it. Irkens don't get tooth decay..." groaned Dib Membrane, half tempted to turn off his father's transmission. He knew his mission was important, and any screw-up could possibly doom the human race, but it was still rather annoying to have a father who, after never paying any attention growing up, feeling the need to remind him to brush his teeth at the age of twenty-three. "Is that all you contacted me for, or are you going to tell me something else besides dental hygiene?"

"That and the fact that the Massive is about fourty-five minutes away. Oh, and don't forget, stay away from the Control Brains! You should be able to handle a simple reassigning, but anything else would blow your cover!" He held his finger up in a dramatic fashion as if to emphasize the point. "Good luck, Agent Membrane!" The professor gave his son a quick salute and the transmission cut out, leaving Dib staring at his own scowling reflection in the blank screen.

Dib turned away from the monitor, rolling his eyes at the same time. Couldn't his father call him 'Dib' for once, instead 'Agent Membrane' or 'Son? He sighed; at least now the 'My poor, insane' was left off of the latter.

He glanced into another computer monitor. As his father had predicted, the Massive grew closer and closer. The moment of truth, Dib silently told himself. After putting the ship on autopilot, he lifted himself out of the seat in front of the ship's controls. Dib stretched his back and heard it pop; flying a ship for days on end can cause all sorts of stiffness. Unfortunately, he also heard the slight tearing of skin. Dib winced, feeling the warm blood dripping down cold metal as he wrapped his arm around his body to try to reach the difficult part of his back. I'll probably never get used to that...

After stretching his legs some, Dib moved towards a storage closet in the back of the ship. He paused, and looked back at the controls of the ship. Namely, the screen showing the Massive.

Dib sighed, and removed his shirt, exposing two circular ports on his back underneath his shoulder blades, one underneath the other. Small amounts of blood oozed from the edges, creating a fluid, morbid outline that contrasted greatly with the cold unfeeling of the metal. The moving cloth accidentally caught on one of them, pulling the tender skin again. Dib cursed under his breath. More blood pooled up and dripped lazily down his back. Dib grabbed a towel and efficiently wiped it away. A nearby medical kit was spotted, and he quickly used that to administer aid to himself. Dib checked the screens again, and cursed loudly. He had wasted too much time seeing to his stupid mistakes.

Dib looked into the full-size mirror mounted outside the closet. Staring back at him was a young human adult. It was a tad depressing, although exhilarating, to know that it may be the last time that he saw his own reflection. Gingerly, he touched the edges of the ports, one of many things changed about him for this mission. He knew that they were important for his survival, but it didn't mean he had to like them. Of all the things the Earthen scientists did to him as to prepare him for this, it was the ports that made Dib feel the most uncomfortable. Burning the memories of a dead Irken into his brain – he could handle that. After all, he was always looking for paranormal knowledge, and what better than straight from the mind of an extraterrestrial? Replacing his eyes with ocular implants – no more glasses. Just... the ports were so inhuman. Although humans had PAK technology, it wasn't used, mainly because the lack of mechanical dependence for survival was something that the species took pride in. Dib just hoped that if he managed to complete his assignment, Professor Membrane would be able to remove them. Then again, that was only hope; they had taken a rather large chunk of flesh and connected the ports to his delicate nervous system.

Dib opened the door to the storage closet. He bent down and pulled a circular object. A modified Irken PAK. He held it over his back and gritted his teeth, both in disgust and in knowing what would soon ensue. Two cables shot out of the device and attached themselves to Dib's ports, causing the human's body to have a small spasm and an explosion of pain. God, another thing he would never get used to. A brief thought passed his mind how the pain was one reason why Irkens kept them on all the time – aside from the whole dying in ten minutes thing. Dib quickly performed a few procedures, checking if everything was working correctly.

When he was thoroughly satisfied, Dib looked at the monitor at the front of the ship again. He had about thirty minutes left. The Massive would probably make contact in another fifteen. Dib figured that it was probably time that he should get ready.

Dib activated a program not originally included in the PAK. A flash of light erupted from it, and then green replaced pale human flesh tone. Dib admitted, he had to hand it to his father – the newest cloaking program truly was amazing. It managed to cast a hologram, and made it actually tangible by changing the molecular structure of the air around it from a gas to a solid. That way, if anyone touched any part of Dib that really didn't exist, they wouldn't go through it and blow his cover.

No longer stood a skinny, tall, young human male, but a skinny, tall, young Irken female. Dib stood in front of mirror. Staring back at him was a stranger. Despite the fact that he had activated the hologram many times before, Dib still never got used to it. Already, he felt a pang of longing for his usual reflection. Out of instinct, Dib touched the foreign face that was his own. No. Not his. Skeeb's. Skeeb, the Irken that Dib's PAK, new appearance, and the memories burned into Dib's brain had originally belonged to. Dib never really felt any connection to the Irken soldier, but he couldn't really bring himself to think of any of it as his.

Dib examined the features for what had to be the umpteenth time. Skeeb's head was a similar shape to his own – slightly square-ish, but not too angular. The Irken eyes were somewhat circular in shape, and a golden-brownish color, the result of two recessive genes of red and green – a rare combination in an Irken. Two abnormally thick lekku started above where human ears would be. Near the ends, they curved back into a delicate, yet angular spiral, showing the femininity of the Irken whose identity he had stolen. The triangular mark of the Elite adorned his forehead, and an Irken form of eyelashes adorned his eyes. All the things that made Dib, Dib were hidden under and Irken exterior. None of it real, of course, but convincing just the same.

It didn't really bother Dib that Skeeb was female; he had never really cared too much about anything that had to do with gender. In many ways, he sort of felt he could be described as androgynous, both in looks and in attitude. Dib admitted it to himself, he might have been more feminine than most of the other guys he'd met, but to him it really didn't matter. In fact, it was one of the reasons Dib had been chosen as the one to carry out this mission.

After examining himself, Dib dug inside the closet again, only this time to pull out the armor of the Irken Elite. After much struggling to put it on (how Irkens wore such armor all day, everyday eluded Dib) Dib made his way to the controls at the front of the ship. He should be expecting a transmission. As if on cue, the largest of the monitors came to life as contact was made.

The face of a green-eyed Irken with a collar that covered his mouth appeared on the screen. Dib recognized his uniform showing that the Irken was one of the communication officers aboard the Massive.

"Insert your I.D. into port for verification," the green-eyed Irken stated, with a hint of boredom in his voice. Dib complied, making a long tube appear from the PAK insert itself into a computer on the ship's control panel. He looked to the screen. The communication officer was reading the info from the port on another monitor.

A brief pause before, "Welcome back, Elite Skeeb. When you arrive, report for duty before the Tallest." a small bow, then he cut the transmission.

Dib let out a sigh. At least his mission didn't crash and burn at the first step. A new feeling of dread soon replaced the newfound relief, though. The computer chip in Dib's brain that held the memories of Skeeb told him that the Irken that he was impersonating was supposed to be somewhat of a prodigy. Skeeb had completed military training on Devastis with top scores, as well as on Hobo 13, where she successfully led her team to victory in record time. Not to mention, at 5'9" Skeeb was very tall for her species. Although Dib was a few inches taller, making the appearance that Skeeb had grown three inches during her departure, height wouldn't make up for everything, and he had some big shoes to fill – figuratively speaking, of course.

It was sheer luck that after completing his training, Skeeb had requested to take a vacation and learn more about the galaxy before going to the Massive and becoming one of the upper ranks of the Empire. Even luckier that the humans managed to capture her, allowing them to set one of their most devious plans in motion. The Irken Empire's strategy for the conquest of the universe had long stood in the way of plans of the Earthen Regime's. The humans had devised this plan for Irk's demise long before Skeeb was captured – long before Dib was even born. All they had needed to begin was an upper-class Irken.

Despite his inexperience as a soldier, Dib was the natural choice as the one to carry out the mission. Intelligent, clever, brave, open-minded, and determined – not to mention, he was the perfect build and height to pass off as the Irken. Although young, Dib's knowledge of intergalactic beings was incredibly vast. He was the one backed by Professor Membrane, the brains behind all Earthen operations. Also, the other most likely candidate, Johnny C., seemed a tad bit too unstable for the job.

At first the Earthen government was a little reluctant to even consider Dib for the mission. He was a valuable asset – the highly intelligent son of Earth's greatest scientific mind and the heir and future the powerful Membrane cooperation, which had more or less most of the economic and political power on the planet. But Dib had made it quite clear that he had no interest in pursuing the "Real Science" that earned his father so much fame and admiration. He was more into para-science, although extraterrestrials fell into this category; a increasingly respectable science since his great-great-great grandfather managed to capture an Irken, bringing Earth into its age of intergalactic conquest and, coincidentally, its territorial war with Irk.

Membrane "volunteered" Dib for this mission he was currently on, mainly seeing how Dib would never live up to his father's expectations, because his interests lay in the paranormal. In all honesty, although it hurt Dib that, simply out of disappointment, his father had decided to send him on possibly one of the most dangerous missions for any human, Dib really was excited to undertake this assignment

So here he was; the one who would perform what was easily the human race's riskiest and most direct assault on the Irken Armada, and with only two year's training under his belt.

Dib shifted nervously in his chair. The hatch opened into the docking bay of the massive. The human in Irken guise swallowed his fear, and entered the giant vessel that housed the military elite of his enemy.

As Dib exited his small ship, he couldn't help but look around in amazement. The Massive was just as its name described – really, really big. Even the docking bay was enormous. All around him were large, powerful ships; Spittle Runners, Viral Tanks, Ring Cutters, Shuvvers, Rippers, and even a few junky looking Voot Cruisers. There were some ships that Dib figured humans had never laid eyes on before.

"Ma'am?" Dib's thoughts were cut short with the arrival of a small, stout Irken. Dib looked him over. He was rather short. And ugly. Dressed in the reddish-pink uniform of an Irken soldier, he seemed overly eager to please. "I was ordered by the Tallest to greet you as you arrive and to guide you through the massive."

"Thank you, uh..." Dib's hand moved in a circular motion, trying to goad a name out of the short Irken.

The red eyes of the small green creature lit up considerably with excitement; it wasn't often that an Irken of such height and rank acknowledged anything about a shorter Irken. "My name's Skoodge." He flashed Dib a creepy smile that made the human back up a few steps.

"Um... nice to meet you... I'm Skeeb." He tried to show the pudgy Irken a friendly smile in an attempt to hide his uncomfortable-ness. One of the first things that he learned when he was preparing for this mission was that he should attempt to gain influence over as many Irkens as he could, regardless of their rank or height. Blind loyalty can cloud eyes to one's actions, and opens one up to manipulation. Considering how willing Skoodge was, Dib figured that it wouldn't be too hard to win him over. "So... could you-"

"I conquered Blorch!" he randomly proclaimed, puffing his chest out. Skoodge was obviously trying to impress the taller of the two, but ended up looking ridiculous. He flashed that creepy smile again. Dib twitched.

"Blorch..." That name sounded familiar to Dib. Quickly scanning Skeeb's memories, Dib came across a match. "That's the parking structure planet, right?" Dib had been under the impression that Skoodge's demented smile couldn't get any creepier. It did.

"You've heard of it!" he exclaimed, hopping up and down, unable to contain his excitement.

"Yeah... That's a nice planet, there... uh... I parked my ship there before... and, um... and it was still there afterwards... yup... Good for parking... and stuff..." There's only so much one can say about a parking structure. At least Skoodge didn't seem to be able to discern praise from complete bullshit.

Skoodge puffed his chest out even more, making him too top heavy. Needless to say, the chubby Irken fell over. Dib's face contorted to a look of slight disgust; the thump he expected was more of a "squish" noise.

"Interesting fact about Blorch – it's the-"

"Mm hmm... that's nice. How about you lead me to the Tallest now?" Tact wasn't one of Dib's strong points, and it didn't help that Skoodge's behavior was becoming slightly frightening.

Skoodge nodded, completely missing the cue to shut up. "Oh, yes! Don't want to make the Almighty Tallest wait, now, do we? Since you seem so interested in it, I can tell you all about Blorch while we walk!" It was becoming increasingly difficult for Dib to resist the mighty urge to either (attempt) to wrap his fingers around the creepy, small Irken's neck or to slam his own head against a nearby wall until his brain-meats spilled out.

"Surrounded by Slaughtering Rat People - I thought I was done for. Then, I remembered the explosive device I had hidden inside the spleen of their Gornoch. Quickly thinking, I reached into the bag over my shoulder and grabbed the laser cleverly inside my sandwich..."

"Uh huh... that's nice... Say, how much farther until we reach the Tallest?" Dib had never thought that one could be in physical pain from simply listening to something so annoying, at least, never believed until just then. Dib's mind was at the point where it simply shut down and running on autopilot.

"We've still got a ways to go. They don't call it the Massive for no reason, you know."

Dib simply let out a long, exasperated groan. Skoodge began talking again. Dib was ready to fall into walking coma again when something cyan caught the cloaked human's eye. Dib stopped in his tracks to get a better look; anything was better than listening to Skoodge's diarrhea of the mouth. Upon closer inspection, Dib realized that it was a small, slightly junky looking SIR unit. It struck him a little strange that a SIR would be roaming the halls of the Massive; SIRs were generally reserved for Invaders.

The small, blue robot noticed Dib's gaze and immediately began a straight-legged walk over to him. Dib recoiled a little, mainly because he had no idea what to do in the situation. He gave a feminine wave, trying to keep his guise. The small robot stared up at the taller Dib. Round cyan eyes met golden ones; staring, as if they could see into his soul. See through his disguise. See the very core of his being.

"YOU'S ALL PINK!!!" It cried in a mind-splatteringly loud shriek. Dib had to fight every urge within his body not to hold his ears and go for the fake lekku instead. If took a few seconds for reorientation before he finally gathered what the small robot screamed.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" he responded, fear beginning to form around the edges of his voice.

"But iz truuuuuuuuuee... " it whined. "And you's gots them flappy thingies on the sides of yo' head! MAKE THEM FLY!" and with that, it promptly jumped on to Dib's head clung onto it. "There's fuzzy stuff on here! I'ma make it mah friend! Wha's that in da middle of yo' face? Iz all funny lookin'!"

Oh shit, oh shit oh shit ohshitoshitoshitoshit... the words rebounded in Dib's mind, not allowing him to think, to speak, to take any action. It can see through...

"GIR!" A piercing, nasally voice echoed off the walls. Simply the sound of it was enough to cause Dib to break out of his stupor of realization enough to flinch and its slicing sound. "Where are you? Come to ZIIIIIIIIIIM!!"

The bluish eyes of the robot, GIR, glowed a sharp crimson before reverting to their natural color. It jumped off of the head of Dib, but otherwise ignored the command. "Tha's mah mastah! HI MASTAH!! COME MEET THE FLAPPY THINGEH!!" Dib had to wonder if this robot ever stopped screaming.

Despite the command for the robot to return, a particularly small Irken carrying a mop - Dib had to assume that this was the one who announced himself as "ZIIIIIIIIIIM" - entered through a small hallway connecting to the main one. "GIR! What have you gotten yourself into this time?" He looked upwards, only then noticing that he and GIR were not the only ones present. Ignoring Skoodge, he turned his sights onto Dib. "Oh... eh... Taller... uh... I see you met my... SIR unit."

The chip implanted into Dib's brain informed him of the significance of the strange reddish-pink jumpsuit of GIR's owner. Secretly, it was a bit of a thrill to be the only human to ever witness an Irken janitor – but the robot's discovery of his true appearance killed most of the rather pointless excitement that he would have felt, if under different circumstances.

GIR pulled at his master's clothing, throwing the small Irken off balance. "Mastah! This iz Flappy! Iz all pink! JUS' LIKE A PIGGEH!!"

Feeling that GIR's nonsense with the important Irken that he was supposed to escort to the Tallest had gone on long enough, Skoodge spoke up. "Zim! What have I told you about keeping that insane robot under control?!" Skoodge grabbed onto the collar of Zim's suit and shook the smaller Irken. GIR hung on for the ride, squealing in fits of glee the entire time. "You remember what the Tallest said last time they ran into him. You're lucky the two of you made it out alive." he then leaned towards Zim, whispering into the other Irken's lekku. Dib strained to hear, but the only thing he managed to catch was ' and the Tallest really want to impress her'. Whatever else Skoodge said to Zim, it seemed to have a profound effect on the small janitor.

Zim released himself from Skoodge's grip and gave a small salute to Dib. "My apologies, Elite Skeeb. I was not aware that I was in the presence of one whose greatness is almost comparable to the greatness that is ZIIIM!" He raised his hands in triumph for reasons known only to himself. The sheer irony of his occupation as a janitorial staff member was not lost on Dib.

Dib could only fall into stunned silence, wondering if there was something horribly wrong with every member of the Irken race. What he had seen so far seemed to support that theory. The fact that GIR was currently knawing on his fingers seemed to put their technology into that category as well.

Dib let out a shriek as he pried the demented robot off his arm, and carefully nursed his fingers. Skoodge looked shocked and mildly worried. Zim seemed to act as if this were perfectly normal behavior.

"Yew even taste like pink!"

"Yeah, that's GIR. He's insane." Zim said indifferently as if what had just transpired was simply normal behavior. Skoodge inspected the Taller's hologram-encased fingers for any damage before shooting Zim a death glare.

"But maaaaastah, she really iz all pink..."

"YOU LIE!" he shrieked with an accusatory finger pointed towards GIR.

Skoodge started pushing Dib forwards and away from the psychotic little janitor and his equally mad, if not more crazy, SIR. "Um... that's all very nice, Zim, but we reeeeeeeeaally have to get going to the Tallest. You know how they don't like to wait..."

"Yes, yes, of course! Not even the amazingness of ZIM is an excuse for being late. And Taller Skeeb, if you ever have a need for someone to clean up one of your MIGHTY MESSES, do not hesitate to call upon mighty janitor ZIIIIM!" Zim gave another salute before grabbing his SIR by the arm and literally dragging it away in a straight-legged walk.

"Awwww... but I wanna play wi' da fluffy on Flappy's head..." Despite being dragged face-on-the-floor, GIR seemed more disappointed with the fact that he couldn't stay with his new friend.

When both Skoodge and the disguised Dib managed to escape earshot of Zim, Dib had to ask Skoodge the question that was on his mind.

"Skoodge, what the HELL just happened back there?!"

The short, ugly Irken looked upwards at the larger of the two. "That was Zim... Zim is... well... uh... Zim... Don't let him or GIR get to you. They're just... different." Skoodge's voice dropped to a hushed whisper. "I'll tell you about him after you speak with the Tallest. They really don't want to remember."

"Remember what?" Dib inquired.

"Later." Skoodge's voice returned to its normal volume. "Well, looks like we're here. Just go through that door. Good luck, Ma'am!" Skoodge gave Dib a small salute, and scurried off to do Skoodge-things.

Dib looked up at the hefty double doors that led to the Tallests' private quarters. Large and ornate, Dib paused before them, wondering if he should knock first. No, the Tallest were awaiting him, they should know he was coming in. He gingerly cracked one open and paused again to swallow the lump in his throat before opening them wider, not knowing what to expect on the other side.

Hey there, fair readers! Welcome to my first Invader Zim fanfiction!

I've been talking about it for a while on deviantART, and I know many have expressed an interest in it - so here it is. I'll just say this - there isn't going to be an update schedual, but I've already gotten the first few chapters finished, and random parts of various others done. Just FYI, the rating may change, but for now it'll stay at T.

The whole idea of this story started with the thought "You know... there really needs to be more fanfiction and fanart with Dib in a PAK..." and it just kind of took off from there. You know it's true, somewhere... deep inside of you. So very deep, but it's there... somewhere...

Feel free to comment. Actually, I encourage you to. -waggles eyebrows-