To Crush or Be Crushed, Those are the choices.

A Gaz x Zim Story

Seven years.

It'd been Seven years since his arrival here on Planet Earth.

And yet, he hadn't taken over the planet.

Oh no, not he.

That damn Tak had come back and wreaked havoc upon the poor, unsuspecting humans. And suffer they had under her iron fisted rule. She had enslaved several of the humans, and kept them under a strict and fiendish Empire, but there had been a few that slipped through the cracks, those who had escaped her far-fetched eye and hid within the dark alleyways and thickened shadows that lay strewn within the obsidian night, now painted with deep crimsons and reds as the atmosphere swelled with the ash and smoke from thousands of charred homes and buildings.

They were Reddere Humanitas, a resistance group formed soon after Tak's enslavement of the human race. It consisted of Humans that had manage to stay under the radar, lead by none other than Dib. His sister, Gaz, was second in command, of course, both on a mission to free their father, Dr. Membrane, from enslavement within Tak's Palace.

However, there was two more who had kept under the scope; Neither with the new 'Queen', or with Reddere Humanitas. He and his SIR unit risked the streets, the only place the two could seek refuge, and hid among abandoned buildings and subways:

Zim and Gir.

Both had managed to survive by using whatever he could salvage from scrap to make a make-shift base in an old subway station in the Downtown area. Every once in a while, Zim would nab a bit of food, and ration it as needed with Gir, or, at least he tried. Every so often, though, the two would have to run for cover from patrolling SIR units that marched with deadly swagger down marred streets.

Mimi, Tak's trustful SIR unit had served her master well as head of patrol, along with some other SIR units the Tallest had sent her to survey the entire planet. With built-in infra-red sight, the SIR units would spot warmth and analyze it, using the size of the warm mass as reference on whether or not to attack. Once captured, whatever was caught was brought before Tak and her council of selected Humans and occasionally the Tallest themselves to be judged for use. It was a brutal and inhumane empire indeed, but it seemed efficient to the Tallest, so they permitted it.

But, we need to get back to our favorite Irken, Zim.

Besides, we're getting to the good part.

Zim raced across the street as a SIR unit rounded the corner and out of sight, leaving the street empty enough to sneak through. He raced to the snack pod attached to Tak's Palace, surrounded by guarding SIR units. He hid behind the pane of glass within an old, abandoned shop spared from utter destruction, keeping himself safe from the infra-red glare of SIR units. He drew in a sharp breath, knowing there were about six units out there, and it would be hard to get pass them without being spotted. Then, Zim spotted small squares of glass strewn across the floor, realizing that those who were once here were probably glass craftsmen.

He knew that infra-red rays couldn't penetrate glass, thus rendering the sight of the SIR units useless. They literally wouldn't see these coming if they were used correctly. Zim knew what he had to do. He picked them up hastily, trying his best to keep the glass from making sound. He gathered himself close to the nearest wall, giving his thanks to whatever god these humans served for his luck, having given up his faith in the Tallest soon after Tak's enslavement: The wall had a considerably large hole that had been blasted through the brick.

He carefully peered around the corner, spotting a couple of units just off to his left. He had to make his move now, while he still had the stamina to do so.

Zim launched a square of glass at one of the SIR units at lightning speed, the small square of glass making it halfway into the circuitry in its head, severing several essential chords placed there. The SIR unit fell, sparks and hydraulic fluid gushing from the area of damage. The other SIR units went on high alert, searching for any source of heat that caused the downed unit. While they were distracted, Zim threw three more squares out, each one finding the head of a SIR unit.

'Two left…'

Before he could strike again, a SIR unit spotted him, and proceeded to attack with several lasers and plasma beams.

If it wasn't for being nimble, Zim would have been fried first, and then dragged before Tak's feet. There was no way he was going to let that happen. He used the claws within his PAK to move from wall to wall, before swooping down and slicing the SIR's hydraulic-fueled neck with another square of glass. He then launched that square into the side of the snack pod, using that square as his access point. There was one last SIR to be handled, but, unfortunately his luck had run out. The final SIR unit was Mimi, and he knew one thing for sure:

Mimi was no joke. She could take on an entire horde and walk away without a scratch at her master's command. That fact was prominent as Mimi stared Zim down with her blood red robotic eyes. Just then, a faint whistling was heard. Was something… falling?

A loud crash landed before Zim, silver could be seen from within the cloud of dust kicked up from impact.

"Gir…!" Zim exclaimed, shocked at his SIR's appearance. Just as recap, Gir wasn't a small, jittering robot anymore, well, not as much. Zim had re-designed him to be much stronger, faster, smarter, and just better overall. But, most importantly, Zim had made the little robot taller to match the height he himself had gained during his years here on earth. Gir rose from the dust, his usual green blue eyes now as red as Mimi's.

"Master, allow me to protect you as you continue on your quest for supplies." Gir said lowly, bowing slightly before his master. When Zim nodded in approval, Gir stood back up, still facing his master. He remained utterly still, as if he was waiting.

Then, Mimi shot forth, cocking back her stronger, mechanically enhanced arm and trusting it with great force and speed at her foe. It didn't follow through, however. Gir had caught her punch, not budging an inch as the rest of Mimi's body continued to move with the excess momentum towards him. She decided to make use of that momentum and brought up her opposite foot in an attempt to try and land a kick; her efforts proved fruitless as Gir had caught her foot as well.

Gir's eyes flashed before he twisted her arm with a quick flick of his wrist, ripping it off. Mimi retracted her foot, holding her shoulder joint to stop the flow of fluid that gushed out in succession. She seemed to disappear for a brief moment, leaving silence upon the area.

Gir knew that she hadn't disappeared, but was actually moving faster than the average eye could see. And, he could see her. He stayed still, until he saw her come down with a kick, amplified by the height from which she dropped and her speed. Gir moved to the side and caught her foot once more and took up her forearm, bringing her back down hard upon his knee. He allowed her to fall, but only just inches from the sanctuary of the concrete below her before kicking her into the hole in the wall of the nearby glass shop mentioned afore.

All the while, Zim had yanked down upon his access point and ripped open the snack pod, snatching up an ample amount of snacks into his PAK, and then some. After filling his PAK to full capacity, he called off Gir.

"Gir! Finish her and report back to base immediately! I'll regroup with you on the way!" Zim cried, taking off before reinforcements arrived. Gir's eyes flashed once more upon receiving his orders, snatching up a shard of glass from a broken vase. Mimi pulled herself up sloppily from the floor, her foot nearly slipping from up under her as she stood back up. As a last resort, she used the only thing she had left, the laser gun hidden within her back, but upon pulling it out, she was dismayed to find it broken in half due to Gir.

Gir smirked.

"Deus tuus tibi loco sancto in putamine…"

With those words, Gir shot forward, and severed Mimi's head from her support cables, watching as her body fell and her robotic eyes dimmed to black.

"Vale, Mimi." He said darkly, before taking off to catch up with Zim.

Speaking of, Zim had nearly made it back to base with his pilfered pastries and snacks, when it suddenly began raining. This wouldn't have been a problem, except for one fact:

He was a mile or two away from his base.

Zim knew he was screwed, but what's worse is that the SIR units were now in Code Red because of his Snack-Snatch earlier. Once Gir had caught up and found his master beginning to sizzle, he too went into panic.

"Master, you're burning! We need to find shelter immediately!" Gir whispered hastily, but he was unable to find any buildings within the area that had sufficient protection from the rain and wasn't crawling with SIRs.

Zim was losing consciousness fast, the rain seeming to fry the very life out of him as he sank down to the ground in a silent sizzling heap. He didn't even have the strength to scream in sheer agony. Gir promptly scooped up his master, his eyes searching frantically for shelter. To his relief, he found it.

An old shack across the way, lying condemned by the humans upon dampened soil that had been stripped of all life and hope for most, but not for Gir and a burning Zim. Gir rushed inside, setting his master in the far corner, untouched by moisture and sunlight, for whatever brief increments it came and went. Gir ripped off some old cloth from a busted window, and draped it over his master, trying his best to remove the water from his green skin and cease his unbearable pain.

As the two waited for the rain to stop, Gir noticed a little blue light in the opposite corner as Zim. He carefully crawled over to it, revealing it to be a little ball, with a faded blue eyeball flashing repeatedly. Below the ball lay a small magnetic socket, attracting the small ball within his fingers. Gir carefully placed the ball back in the socket, becoming surprised when the eyeball began flashing at a rapid rate, until the socket widened and swallowed the ball whole, taking Gir and an unconscious Zim along with it.

Gir pulled his falling master's body close, to protect his still raw skin from impending impact. Eventually, Gir hit a metal floor, back first, making a loud clang as he landed. Seconds after his landing with Zim still locked within his arms, Gir found he surrounded by…humans?

"Reddere Humanitas…!" He gasped, amazed to find an entire underground civilization of free humans. From the depths of the crowd, a low, burley voice bellowed out from the clamor.

"What's going on? Did someone come back from up above?" it asked, the owner of the voice pushing through the crowd, revealing himself to be none other than Dib.

"Gir…?" he stammered, having not seen the robot in several years, "Wha… what are you-…" Dib allowed his eyes to drop down to what, or whom, Gir was holding.

"Zim… what happened to him, Gir?" Dib asked, walking forward and bending down to him. Gir sat up, carefully laying Zim down as his skin continued to heal.

"He got caught in the rain…" Gir said lowly, looking down upon Zim with worry in his green-blue eyes. Dib whipped around to the crowd.

"Go get a stretcher, stat!" Dib ordered, half of the crowd clamoring to do so, "Take the green one to the infirmary, and let me know when he wakes up…" he continued, helping Zim's body up on the salvaged hospital stretcher.

"…we have some things to discuss."