Title: Purple
Author: Johara (AKA amethystic 5)
Summary: Tak is in a dilemma and considers abandoning her friends. A visit from Dib gives her more to think about. Implied DATR.
Story Background: ((You Really Should Read This)) Tak has discarded her loyalty towards the Tallest and the Irken Empire, and spitefully committed a high level offense by stealing Something Very Important. While on the run from bounty hunters (called Trackers), Tak runs into the Resisty and joins the rebels, soon finding that Dib and Zim are on the ship as well. Even while among friends in the Resisty, Tak must keep a low profile and wear her old human disguise to avoid being discovered by any passing Trackers.
Warnings: very mild language
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Invader Zim. It would be really nice if I did though.

A/N: A HUGE thank you to the greatest friend in the world Chococrack21 for beta-ing. -hearts-

-Purple-

The small room was lit by an intense plasma bulb. The molten substance threw a bright glow along the walls and over what little furniture was present. The radiant light also bathed the tense form of Tak, sitting hunched over her nightwood desk, her hands clutching harshly at the smooth green skin on her head as she gritted her teeth in frustration.

No, no, no, no... Damn it...

It had been a couple of hours since the afternoon meal. A few of the younger, more impatient individuals of the Resisty were already getting ready for the next chaotic servings to approach. Yet this lone irken female, trapped behind a door she had closed on herself, still had not eaten. It was as though the confusion fogging her troubled mind was also creating a barrier against the smallest of appetites. No, Tak was not actually locked within the room she occupied; anyone could walk in and see her drowning in inner turmoil, lost to her own thoughts. Except for the quietly recharging SIR unit in the corner, Tak was alone-- exactly how she first planned to get her thoughts sorted through. She would get nothing done if distracted by company. Tak would soon be left with nothing but irrational concept and fierce, untamed emotion if she avoided her troublesome predicament any longer.

These feelings... the anger, and the ever expanding doubt; they created an unsurpassable burden that the irken could not ignore, not any more.

Her resent towards the Tallest and the general Irken society was as strong as it had ever been, maybe even more so as of late. Tak had enjoyed the enlivening thrill when she stole from The Massive that fateful day, just as she did during the months that followed when the Irken Control Brains activated a Level Four bounty on her head. But now that Tak was here on the Resisty main ship with Dib, the other rebels, and, sorry to say, Zim as well, the female irken was not ready to confront this duty, and impulse, to protect her new companions. But in order to protect them, she would have to leave the ship... maybe even next week.

Tak inhaled deeply, letting her eyelids droop over deep purple eyes as she rested her forehead on gloved hands. Oh no, it would not be easy to leave behind everyone she had learned to care for. No matter how Tak looked at it though, her presence aboard the vessel could ultimately lead to the demise of The Resisty and the deaths of countless rebels. After all, Level Four cases were given fully over to the Trackers, and they, such callous, death-happy creatures, could care less about any thing else other than their target. Whether they were plowing through a civilization or literally a planet, Trackers loved to kill and they certainly loved to plan first. It was only a matter of time before they found Tak, and God, was she running out of it—

Two beeps quickly sounded from a speaker near the door just as the very plate slid into the wall. A young man, the only Earth creature to be part of the Resisty, stepped into the room cautiously. A long scythe of black hair fell to the side of his pale face, just barely brushing the rim of his round glasses. The boy gave the Irken a bright smile and raised a hand in friendly greeting.

"Hey, Tak," he said in a voice deepened by his three years of adolescence.

"Dib", the alien stated simply.

"Haha, wow. You must be really agitated if you haven't even activated your disguise yet," Dib teased. Before he could blink, a hologram enveloped over Tak's Irken form to a human appearance. She narrowed her eyes at the Earth creature. "Sorry, Tak," Dib apologized for his taunting tone with a contradicting smirk. He grabbed a chair by Tak's desk, and sat himself smugly beside the Irken-in-disguise

Tak growled at him, "What did you want?" She was clearly aggravated by the haughty attitude the human wore today. You may be one of the smartest scientists the Resisty has, but aggravating me right now isn't the wisest of things you've done, Dib. She crossed her arms, and forgot her anger for a second. He's getting taller... Tak blinked and glared again, turning away from the boy. "I don't have all day. Please get to the point."

Dib backed off a bit. "Hey, alright, I didn't come here to start a war. We have enough of those going around already." Dib shifted his glasses a bit before leaning on his elbows. "Listen, we're all kind of worried about you." When she remained quiet, Dib continued, "I talked to Lard Nar after lunch earlier; he said we could assign someone else to Captain The Second Ship, since I told him you weren't in the best states of mind lately. And, I mean, we all understand if you don't want the position, Tak. Lard Nar said he could probably get Schloo-"

"Wait, what was that?" Tak's eyes flashed bewilderment at the human. "Captain? I don't recall Lard Nar saying anything about me controlling a main vessel. I would have remembered something like that." Never mind for an instant that the human was implying a weakness in her being, but when exactly had she been offered such an unbelievably high rank?

Dib quirked a brow at the confused irken as he replied, "I thought you were one of the few who actually listened during the meetings? He told us yesterday the design of the fleet layout for the next raid, and assigned its head operatives right after." The Earth boy scratched the back of head in momentary astonishment, "You really weren't paying attention?"

"Oh, shut up. I was there and I knew what was going on. I know for a fact that Lard Nar was giving ranks to trusted Resisty members of at least two years." Tak pointed a finger under the boy's nose accusingly. "I've only been aboard this ship four months, hardly anyone knows who I am, especially not our infamous little leader. And not to mention I'm an irken and I should be treated with some ounce of caution! I mean, c'mon, are they just going to accept the next of my race that walks in claiming to hate the empire? This hardly makes sense." Oh, hell, Tak was angry. Lard Nar was showing a ridiculous amount of stupidity in his actions by assigning an irken such a high position, and, and—... And I was going to leave next week! How could they offer this role to me just as I was planning to go my own way? Damn, shit. "Why would they give me the lead rank of the Second Ship anyway? Lard Nar has plenty of experienced men that he's been using for years, why wouldn't he choose someone he knew better?

"Eh, I don't know, Tak. I guess you did something right. Everything right. A lot of people look up to you here, you know? They all hate irkens, but they made an exception for you. Well, Zim I'm not so sure, but for you, well yeah." Dib shrugged, and then sighed. "Does this mean you're not going to take the position? Your freaking out is scaring me. You've always worked hard to prove yourself of the things you deserve."

Did she deserve Captain?

Tak realized she had been standing during her bout of rage. She quickly sat down again, and coughed quietly. "Yes, I do like proving my worth and being able to get things done... Power does usually help."

But I've been keeping secrets from the Resisty; I'm in possession of the one object that could destroy the Irken Empire in a night. But in this case, my being here with it could very well be the death of every rebel for galaxies around. The Trackers would kill off as much of the fleet as possible if they found out I was hiding among them.

But Captain? Captain of the Second Ship? I could do so much; I could help so damn much... It's far better than running... Plus I can't just let this chance go...

When Tak looked up, Dib was staring at her blankly. "Well," Tak said, "You shouldn't have gone running to Lard Nar so quickly, Dib. You hardly know what I've been going through to run off and blab your mouth to the leader about it." She paused. "But yes, I will accept this rank. You should know I'm not one to easily toss such opportunities away." Tak smirked, her spirit rising steadily, and looked over to her recharging robot. "I guess I better get Mimi up and ready to download The Second Ship layouts. I should know all the resources to my access, shouldn't I?" The irken smiled proudly, and looked back over to Dib.

Dib, who was still staring at her but now in a more thoughtful, rather than idiotic-blank, way.

Tak blinked.

"You have nice eyes..." Dib said.

Tak blinked again and, completely thrown off, brushed a lock of purple hair behind a pierced ear. "Uhm, this is a hologram, you know... Nothing special, Dib." She furrowed her eyebrows, "In fact, I've never changed the eye color in this disguise, and it's at the same color settings as it was the first time I used it on Earth, so you've seen it all before..."

"Oh." Dib's eyes widened as he blanched. "Oh, uh, crap." He stood up suddenly and nearly tripped backwards over his chair. "Uhm, I-I..."

Odd, Tak thought, and amusing. She remembered this sort of blundering fool display years ago when she was trying to take Zim's mission on Earth. If she recalled correctly, this was a sign that—

"I wasn't talking about those eyes. I meant your eyes, your irken ones." He grinned sheepishly. "I never really got to look at them before, but, uh, earlier when I walked in, I-I got a really good glimpse of them, your eyes, when you were, uh, out of it. But they're really nice, y-your eyes, I mean." He chuckled uncomfortably.

Ah... Wow, Tak was flattered, really. Irkens did not usually get compliments. No, definitely not compliments. Insults usually. Curses and threats. If compliments were ever distributed, it was normally over the amazing tactics used for another society's annihilation or shiny new battle equipment, or something similar. Hmm. Had Dib thought about her eyes this whole time they were talking? It was strange of him to blurt it out so randomly like that. But still… it was sweet…

"Oh. Well, um, thank you, Dib. That's really... nice? Yes, nice of you to say," Tak smiled and stood up from her chair; unsure what to do that would not cause the boy more embarrassment. She felt bad for him. This little display differed immensely from when Dib first walked into the room. Tak paused for a thoughtful second, before speaking up again, "Hey... would you mind telling Zim that I'll be done with GIR's recharger in an hour?"

Dib was overly relieved for the change of subject. The muscles along his body that had just a second ago been unnaturally tense currently resembled jelly. "Yeah! Yeah I can do that. Of course," he smiled gratefully, then, "Oh... Right. The original reason I came here was to tell you that, heh, Zim says he forgives you for shooting that laser gun off at him during breakfast." Dib pulled at his shoulder while he grinned. "He also told me to tell you that you don't have to miss out on another meal just for his comfort."

Tak snorted, "Oh, thank the universal gods, Zim has forgiven me!" The irken giggled cruelly. "And when exactly did I apologize to Zim about firing that gun?" she cynically pondered aloud as she sat on the edge of her desk.

The boy was laughing too. "I asked him the same. But then he reminded me: if it's not about Zim's well-being, then it's not enough to skip meals over. 'Cause he's just that important."

Tak snickered. "I should try actually aiming the gun next time," she joked. "Maybe that'd clear up these little misconceptions of his."

"Heh, so I take it that means we'll see you at dinner tonight?" Dib said as he began to walk towards the door.

"But of course. See you then, I suppose."

"Yeah, alright, cool. Seeya."

The Earth boy smiled at her, and then turned down the hallway. Tak listened to his boots clap over tile until the sound eventually faded into silence. When the irken was left to herself once again, she folded her arms and wondered if she really got anything worked out this afternoon.

She had accepted the highest rank on a second-in-control battle ship, so leaving the Resisty was out of the question. Trackers were still after Tak's bounty-rich irken head, and as her new responsibilities called for, she would have to alert the Resisty of the possible, and almost certain, threats-- no more secrets for Tak. On top of it all she would be dealing with an idiot irken reject and a hormonally active teen. Whoo boy, didn't this sound fun.

Tak certainly got a few things straightened out during her swap with Dib, albeit not perfectly. But, hell, who expected anything to go perfect these days? She was glad to get some dilemmas sorted out, and surprised that it was because someone was there to help her with it. Tak supposed a little friendly company now and then was all it took to make things simpler... So maybe fighting against the Irken Empire with friends had more strengths than not.

The irken walked away from her desk to get a look at the holographic schedule that was transmitted on a wall. There was a meeting set after dinner tonight, Head Ranks only. Tak would confirm her new position with Lard Nar, and then see what she could work out with the Resisty council about her little Tracker problems. Because if there was one thing Tak was able to reason this afternoon it was that working together within this twisted universe was probably the only way anyone could get anything sorted and solved.

-end-

Hiya guys, thanks for reading! This is first fanfic I've ever completed (so I'm sorry if the ending was awful, but I've never had much practice). I honestly don't know what to think about this fic. If you could tell me what I did right or wrong, that would be really cool. It would help me out in the future... If I decide to ever write again. o.o

Thanks again to chococrack21! She is so awesome for beta-ing this for me! (I loves you Alex!)

-Johara