A/N: Invader Zim (c) Jhonen Vasquez, Nickelodeon, Viacom, etc. First few chapters will be rated T or under. Later chapters will be M.
Chapter 1: Ten Minutes
"Incoming transmission."
The technician who made the announcement was one of three females who worked on the bridge of the Massive, and the only female on the current shift. Her eyes were a deep red and her uniform matched. She was stationed at a counsel in the back right quadrant of the room, in the second row.
"From who?" asked Red.
"It says 'caller unknown,' My Tallest…Shall I put it through?"
"Go ahead."
The Tallest had been lounging in their usual seats on the bridge, sipping drinks and not really talking much. The crew had been silently going about their daily tasks. It had been a low-key day on the Massive up until that point. The female technician pressed the button on her counsel that transferred the call to the main view screen. The familiar image of the Vortian known as Captain Lard Nar and his crew of alien misfits flashed into view.
"So we meet again, Irken scum."
"You…" Red arose from his seat and hovered closer to the screen, glaring at the rebel leader. "I thought you crashed into the Earth and died. What do you want? Surely you're not foolish enough to challenge the Armada a second time!"
"We escaped our ship!" Lard Nar answered, glaring back at Red, "I told you, you had not heard the last of the Resisty! And your Armada did little to help you last time, if memory serves me right."
Purple had come to stand beside Red, gazing up at the screen curiously.
"That's still your name?" he asked, raising an invisible eyebrow. "That's stupid. And we would have destroyed you if Zim hadn't hijacked our ship! Where's your ship now, anyways? Show yourselves so we can destroy you!"
"Our ship, along with the rest of our fleet, is safely out of range."
"Your fleet?" Red asked. "You have a fleet now? If it's a battle with us you seek, why are you staying out of range? What is it you want?"
"Oh, yes," Lard Nar chuckled evilly, "we have a fleet. The resistance has grown immensely since the last time we spoke. Other races of the universe are banding together now to defeat you before you come for their planets too! We've gained a powerful ally in the Meekrob. In fact, just last night they captured one of your Invaders."
Both Tallest were glaring at the Vortian and the mix of aliens gathered behind him. The room had grown still as the technicians had ceased their daily activities to observe the scene unfolding before them.
"The Meekrob are pacifists," Red said flatly, "they aren't soldiers. If your plan is to attack us with a fleet of Meekrob, you're destined to fail."
"The Meekrob are merely the key to the plan, Irken," Lard Nar hissed, "Besides, by sending an Invader to their planet, you challenged them to war, as you've challenged us all. They may choose to live a peaceful existence, but they will still defend themselves against terrorists such as you."
"Are you declaring war against us, then?" Red asked. His voice was low and dangerous.
"Not war," the Vortian Captain smirked, "your people could probably outlast us in a war. Our plan is much swifter than war. It begins with your deaths, Tallest! While your Armada is lost and leaderless in the depths of space, we will attack your home planet, Irk, where our fleet is waiting not far away. By the time the Armada gets there, there will be nothing left of your planet but smoldering ruins!"
Red's eyes were blazing with anger and Purple silently glared at the screen as well.
"How dare you threaten to—"
Red's eyes went wide as his hover belt switched off unexpectedly and he was dropped to the floor. He remained on his knees, hands pressed against the cool metallic floor where he had caught his fall. His eyes were wide and fearful and his breathing had become shallow. He stared at the floor in front of him, unmoving. Purple quickly knelt down beside his friend.
"What happened? Are you OK?" he asked.
"My life clock just came on…" Red answered quietly.
Purple looked back up at the screen, confused.
"The Meekrob are excellent hackers," Lard Nar said with a smirk, "they've figured out how to remote access the Control Brains. Did you know the Control Brains are capable of remote-deactivating any of you, at any time? We thought it was fascinating. Don't worry, Purple, your life clock should be turning on any minute now."
Red still stared at the floor in disbelief and Purple gazed up at the Vortian on the screen with a mixture of fear and loathing.
"Well, as much as I'd like to stay and watch the two of you expire, I have a fleet to command," Lard Nar still smirked at them evilly. "Enjoy your last 10 minutes of life, Irken scum, and die knowing your defeat came at the hands of the Resisty!"
Lard Nar cut the transmission from his end and the screen went blank. The room was deathly silent as the crew watched their fallen leader.
"Come on," Purple said to Red, "we need to get to the medical bay so they can shut this off!"
He grabbed Red around one arm and began to help him up. Red shook him off. Purple stood upright and looked down at Red, confused.
"No," Red told him, "we'd never make it there in 10 minutes. But you should go. Your life clock hasn't started yet. There's still time for you to get there."
Purple stared back at Red through large panicked eyes. He shook his head in protest.
"I can't just leave you here…"
"Yes, you can!" Red hissed angrily, "You're next! Now go! Go before they activate your life clock too!"
Purple hesitated a second longer. His eyes were glistening with fear and his mind was reeling with the thought of losing his best friend.
"Go!" Red shouted at him.
Purple finally turned and hovered swiftly out the door and down the hallway, not looking back. Red slowly picked himself up off the floor, using his chair to steady himself. His life clock had been running for two whole minutes. He could already feel his body weakening.
"Somebody go after him," he instructed his crew, "make sure he makes it to the medical ward."
Nobody moved. Red seated himself on his chair sideways so his feet hung over one side and his arm wrapped around the back of it, helping him keep his balance. He looked around the room of technicians and navigators who were all staring at him with mixed expressions of fear and sorrow.
"You two," he gestured towards two male technicians at their stations in the front row, "go after him."
The two technicians, one with red eyes and one with green, exited swiftly and silently, then broke into a run in the corridor to catch up to their other leader. Red was scanning the room of worried technicians and navigators again.
"I need someone to help me," his gaze paused on the red-eyed female who had announced the transmission, "You. Come here."
The red-eyed female hesitantly stepped out from behind her terminal and approached her dying leader. Her eyes were wide, a worried frown hidden behind the up-turned collar of her uniform. Her legs trembled as she slowly came to stand before Red.
"I need you to go into my PAK and manually disconnect my life clock uplink," Red instructed her.
"I…don't know how," the female replied quietly. Her voice was shaking with panic.
"I'll tell you how," Red told her, "Go around behind me and open the main panel."
The entire room was watching, captivated. She moved to the other side of the chair and slid open the main panel of Red's PAK – what appears as the upper-most large dot on all Irken PAKs.
"Now push that large bundle of cables aside so you can get at the smaller bundle behind it."
The female's hands were shaking, but she did as instructed. She had to rearrange Red's mechanical 'spider legs' first so she could fit both hands inside his PAK. With the retractable spider legs repositioned, she grabbed hold of the large bundle of cables and pulled it out the opening of the main panel so it hung to the side, out of the way.
"OK. Now what?" she asked, hearing the fear in her own voice.
"Follow those smaller cables. Are they connected to the top portal?"
The female technician steadied herself by placing one hand in the middle of Red's PAK and went up on her toes to see all the way inside. She placed one hand back inside the PAK and took hold of the wires, feeling them all the way down to the portal – the hole through which wires pass to connect the PAK to an Irken's spine. She felt around for the second portal below to make sure they were indeed connected to the top portal.
"Yes," she answered, "they're connected to the top portal."
"Good. Now—"
Red swayed and gripped the back of the chair suddenly to keep himself from falling. He was getting dizzier and it was getting harder for him to focus. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, willing the room to stop spinning.
"My Tallest?"
"It's OK. I'm OK. Now, look closely at the cables. There should be a different colored band around each one – red, blue, green, and yellow. Do you see it?"
"Yes."
"Ok. Use your utility laser cutter to sever them in the order I tell you…"
The female suddenly dropped the cables and took a step backwards. Fear gripped her mind with all the thoughts of what could go wrong.
"No, I…I can't. Maybe someone else would be better to—"
"No!" Red harshly cut her off. "It has to be you. I've only got five minutes left and I'm only going to be coherent for another two, maybe. You're not going to hurt me. I know what I'm doing. If you don't do this, I'm dead."
The female Irken gulped nervously, but stepped forward again. She removed the small laser cutter from her own PAK and took hold of the color-banded cables inside Red's PAK again.
"Cut the blue one first," he instructed. He gripped the back of his chair tighter so he wouldn't involuntarily shift and cause her to cut the wrong cable. He kept his eyes squeezed shut. Having his eyes open was making him so dizzy he felt sick.
The female separated the cables and grasped the blue-banded one between her thumb and index finger of her left hand. With her right hand show lowered the small laser cutter to the wire. She took a deep breath to steady herself then pressed down the small button on the side of the laser cutter. It easily severed the cable.
"Ok," she said when it was done. Her voice was noticeably panicked.
"Cut the green one next," Red told her. He swallowed as a wave of nausea passed over him. It was taking all his strength to focus on the task at hand. He could feel himself growing cold and his lungs were beginning to ache as the deactivate function was slowly shutting down his PAK's memory for performing vital tasks.
"Done," she announced.
Red didn't respond. He felt cold and light-headed. He just wanted the burning sensation in his lungs and heart and the horrible feeling of nausea to stop. He could feel blackness surrounding him as his life clock counted down his remaining few minutes.
"Which one do I cut next?" the female asked.
Red still didn't respond. He was having trouble comprehending what she was saying. He shifted in the chair so he was lying on his side with his head resting against the back of the chair. He was too weak to remain upright any longer and breathing was becoming difficult. He opened his eyes at last, but everything looked dim and only grew dimmer and the blackness moved in to surround him like a blanket.
"My Tallest, which one do I cut next-" the female asked again, voice rising with her growing panic, "the red one or the yellow one?"
Red had barely heard her and had almost forgotten she was there until she appeared suddenly in front of him, crouching on the floor.
"My Tallest," she repeated, "red or yellow?"
Red blinked once slowly before attempting an incoherent answer. "I…yellow…no…red…I…don't remember...so tired…"
His eyes slipped shut again. The female gripped his arm, perhaps rougher than she meant to in her panic. Red slowly opened his eyes again.
"My Tallest, please, try to focus. Red or yellow?"
"…yellow…"
"Are you sure?"
Red closed his eyes again and gave no answer. He had one minute left on his life clock. The darkness was calling to him and he was too weak to fight it any longer.
The female stood up and moved behind him again. She took the cables in her hand again and lowered the laser cutter to them. Taking a deep breath, she severed the yellow cable. She looked down at her fading Tallest. He was still breathing, barely. Her hands were shaking almost uncontrollably, but she at last severed the red cable.
She removed her hands from his PAK and looked down at him again. He hadn't changed. He was still dying. She felt her heart sink, along with the hearts of all the crew who still watched in rapt attention. Her mind was swimming. Had she not been quick enough? Had she severed the wrong cable?
Then a deep computerized voice emanated from Red's PAK: "REACTIVATING."
All Irkens knew that voice, whether they had ever had to hear it from their own PAKs or not. The female instinctively jumped back as a white hot bolt of electricity surged through Red's body, essentially shocking him back into existence.
Red's eyes shot wide at open when he felt the burning sensation of the electricity. After it ceased, he lay still for a few seconds as his vision returned to normal and he once again became aware of his surroundings. At last he sat up and turned to face the red-eyed female who still stood a few feet away holding the laser cutter in one hand.
"It worked! I'm alive!" he said, as though he needed to confirm for himself that he was really alive after being so close to the brink of death.
The female was grinning hugely with relief, although no one could see it under her collar. She was so relieved that her Tallest was alive that she had forgotten about the rest of the room entirely until an outbreak of exuberant applause reminded her of her surroundings. She looked about the room to see that all the other technicians and navigators were looking at her – they were applauding her.
She felt herself blush and shrank back a little. She wasn't used to having so much attention directed at her, and truthfully she didn't feel she really deserved all the applause. She had saved her leader's life, yes, but only after he commanded her to do so and walked her through the process step-by-step.
As her gaze moved across the room it eventually settled back on Red. He was sitting up sideways on his chair again and smiling at her warmly. She moved closer to him again, stopping and standing within arm's reach.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Azhira, sir," she replied shyly, eyes flicking humbly down and to the side.
"You saved my life, Azhira. Thank you."
Azhira's eyes remained respectfully downcast before her leader who had returned to his powerful and charismatic self. Wanting to get a better look at the Irken who had saved his life, Red reached out and gently pulled down her collar so he could see her whole face. The gesture caught Azhira off guard and her eyes flicked up to meet Red's again.
"You're a hero to them now," he said, nodding his head towards the other crew, "You should feel proud."
"Why did you choose me?" Azhira asked quietly, unable to think of another response.
An amused smirk crossed Red's face and he chuckled lightly.
"Because of everyone here you have the smallest hands," he answered honestly. "I couldn't let some club-handed idiot go digging around inside my PAK, now could I?"
Azhira smirked as well and giggled at her leader's simple but honest answer. Even when his own life was rapidly running out he had a reason for the decisions he made. That was something Azhira had always admired about him.
"Could you put that large cable back in there?" Red turned so his back was to her again. Azhira put the laser cutter back in her own PAK, then stuffed the cable back inside Red's PAK. The hatch closed by itself that time. Red stood up and his hover belt automatically reactivated.
"I need to go to the medical bay to have a functional diagnostic run on my PAK and make sure Purple is OK." He turned to face Azhira again. "I'd appreciate it if you went with me."
"Of course, My Tallest."
Red turned his attention back to the rest of the room. "The rest of you," he instructed, "look into the Meekrob issue. Find out if Invader Tenn really was captured. And set a course for Irk. Then send a transmission alerting the planet to be on the lookout for Resistance filth."
The technicians and navigators immediately set to work carrying out the tasks their leader had assigned. Red turned and looked down at Azhira once again.
"Let's go."
She followed him out of the room and into the long corridor. The relief she had felt when Red had come back from the brink of death was slowly being replaced by worry and dread of what might have happened to the other Tallest, whom nobody had heard from since he left the bridge almost 10 minutes ago.
