Chapter 1: The Idea

The night was dark with a chill in the air. The moon cast its pale glowing shadow across the city overrun with Irken soldiers. What once had been a city full of humans going to the late night clubs and restaurants or getting home from evening jobs had now become a quiet, desolate place. Many buildings were dark, people hiding in their homes. The few lights that were on must have had very daring citizens in those rooms. Very few humans roamed the streets, mostly those with passes allowing them to commute from their life draining jobs. Many humans came home with scars on their skin, evidence of the beatings and shocks they received when they showed exhaustion in their work. Sleep was now a luxury. Even though the Irkens had set hours when the humans had to stop their jobs and go home, many people stayed awake at night, terrified of whatever unfortune might happen upon them next.

Though the day was equally as terrifying, much more happened under the cover of darkness. Secret meetings were occasionally held. Kids would sneak out at night for just one hope of meeting their buddies to spend precious time together. Few friendships could be kept nowadays, as not many had the time. Too busy was what the Irkens told humanity. They were too busy serving the empire to be socializing. Some wondered whether the real reason was that they just didn't want secret collaborations trying to overthrow the rulers.

On this dusky, foggy night a peculiar dark figure could be seen racing between the lowly lit alleyways. Covered by the darkness it flitted from shadow to shadow, perhaps hoping to throw off anyone who might be tailing it.

The figure stopped just beneath the broken sign of an old rundown apartment building. The building itself was made of bricks with several boarded windows in horizontal rows. The main metal entrance door stood closed, and if one tried it would not open easily from the outside. Some of the windows almost looked like they were glowing, but the boards tacked over the glass kept anyone from investigating.

Rapping three times, waiting three seconds, then rapping three times again, the cloaked figure waited patiently outside the door. Something buzzed in the corner. A small security camera looked down at the figure. It moved once or twice, inspecting the visitor.

Finally another figure opened a window in the door. A white face mask revealing only the figure's eyes staring at the visitor through the opening. "Name, password, and identification," said a masculine voice beneath the mask.

"Lupus. We beat around the bush," answered the visitor in a feminine tone as she flashed a golden watch in front of the white face. In small red letters it conveyed the current time like it was supposed to, but briefly it flashed to display a different text: that night's date and the time of which the visitor had arrived a few minutes beforehand.

The white face glanced behind the visitor before dipping its head and shutting the opening. A chain rattled against the door's interior and soon it was slid open to reveal the full body of the figure inside, draped in a cloak not unlike what the visitor wore. "Welcome back, Agent Lupus," he said with a twinkle of recognition in his eyes.

The visitor dipped her head with a polite nod. She wore a mask, white and full faced, just like the man in front of her. "Likewise, Agent Fox," she said stepping swiftly into the room. Fox quickly shut the door behind her, locking the chain in place.

Fox and Lupus now stood in a long hall of apartment doors. At the other end was a doorway to a room of stairs ascending into the upper stories of the building. The hall was dark and narrow with paint peeling off the walls and trash littering the floor. Lupus blinking, staring at the staircase.

"Floor three, apartment twenty-eight, like last time," said Fox. "I'll be up once I'm sure the coast is clear."

Lupus nodded and ventured forward, her long cloak sweeping behind her. Reaching the stairs, she climbed up two flights before arriving at floor three. The hallway was similar to the one downstairs. She surveyed her surroundings quickly before heading down the hall. She found room twenty-eight easily and knocked on the door the same way she had the first time.

She had to complete the entering ritual a second time, reciting the password, her name, and flashing her identification watch. A second masked figure let her into the apartment. "Welcome, Agent Lupus," greeted the feminine voice who faced her.

"Thank you, Agent Chupa." Lupus entered the room to see a dozen other agents all dressed in cloaks and white masks. Some were seated on the floor, one on a stool, two at a small table, and a handful on a couch. In an armchair near the corner of the room sat a man with a similar black cloak, but a different mask. It was white like the rest, but instead was very birdlike with a protruding beak that covered his entire face. It reminded Lupus of the plague doctors she had once learned about back in school, though this man's bird beak was much smaller than the doctors pictured in textbooks. Unlike the rest of the party, his eyes could not be seen, hidden behind obscured eyeholes like those of a gas mask. "Welcome, Lupus," he said rather informally for their group, failing to put "Agent" into the title. But he was allowed to, for he was the founder, the leader of their secret society.

"A pleasure to see you, Agent Mothman," she replied.

"Is Fox coming up soon?" he asked.

"He said he was."

"Well then, make yourself comfortable. The rest of you just busy yourselves until everyone is present."

Quiet conversation filled the air. They all were careful of how many decibels they allowed their voices to reach, as anything near yelling could be heard through the window. The Irkens had good hearing; loud conversation could not be risked.

Several minutes ticked by. Lupus glanced at her watch multiple times. Though it was for identification, she often found it handy for the purpose it was supposed to serve: displaying the time of day.

Soft footsteps were heard from outside the door and Agent Chupa greeted someone at the door. The familiar voice of Fox rang through the entrance hallway. He identified himself properly and was soon ushered inside before Chupa locked the door for good. He settled himself next to Lupus, who had perched her own self onto the floor a couple agents from Mothman.

"Everyone here?" he said in deadpan tone.

The rest of the agents all nodded. "Okay good," he continued. "Welcome to the bi-weekly meeting of EDS, the Earth Defense Society.

"Now, a quick update on our progress. We've hit them hard in that one supply center in Sector Two. Their weapons and snack rations have decreased in that part of the sector, but quickly they're delivering more food from other planets. Our next task will be infiltrating Irken Weapon Storage Facility Four in Sector One."

Murmurs of surprise and concern were heard through the party. "But Sir, that's one of the most well-guarded facilities in this whole city," cried Chupa. "It would be suicide to go there."

The bird mask shifted slowly, as if he was pondering her statement. "I know," he finally replied. "But our progress lately has been slow and we need to make our next move. Remember, I'm not forcing any of you to do this. If no one volunteers to help, then I will do it myself."

"I volunteer, Agent Mothman," piped Lupus, sitting up a little straighter.

The masked leader nodded. "Thank you, Lupus. Anyone else?"

"I will," volunteered Fox.

"Count me in," echoed Chupa.

All the other agents hesitated. Mothman's invisible eyes travelled over them all, lingering an extra second on Lupus. "You know you don't have to," he stated. "I think four agents will be enough."

"That's the thing, Agent Mothman," said one of the male agents on the couch. "I'm glad to be defending our planet, but I still have a family to support. My kids are too young to work yet and my wife takes care of them at home, so I work everyday to earn enough food for them. I don't want to risk my family losing the sole support they have. Considering the state of society right now, you never know who will disappear next. The aliens punish us for the smallest of things."

"Well spoken, Agent Yeti," replied Mothman. He glanced up at the crowd. "Unless someone else wants to volunteer, this meeting is adjourned. I will send the plans discreetly to each one of you who volunteered."

No answers came from the crowd. Mothman nodded and said, "Alright, the meeting is over. Please leave one at a time surreptitiously, as you all know how."

Every few minutes an agent would leave. One by one they dispersed, leaving through the doors and trailing into the street. They disappeared like phantoms into the shadows, ready to blend back into the dystopian society they had been forced to become an unfortunate part of. After an hour only two agents remained: Lupus and Mothman.

"Mothman..." began Lupus, but the other agent put up his hand. Frowning, Lupus glanced around the room, searching for any possible signs of eavesdrop, but no one else remained. All the windows were boarded and they had already conducted a sweep for bugs and cameras at the beginning of the meeting. Lupus shook her head and reached for her mask. At the same time she pulled back her head, revealing a head of thick, curly brown hair. Removing her mask, her blue eyes gazed at Mothman in concern.

Mothman hesitated, returning her gaze, his mask intimidating. She shivered as she gazed back at the obscured dark eyeholes. Finally Mothman slowly removed his mask and lowered his hood. His black, scythe-like hair left its cloth hood, standing up with a backwards point, just like Lupus had known it to back when they were teenagers. "Maven," he stated monotonically.

"Dib."

He had grown older of course, now in his early twenties. He still looked much like they had when he was a teenager, but his amber eyes had an older, more wise look. He was taller, too, but the glasses he always wore remained. After all, he couldn't see without them. The few who saw his face often thought he looked emotionless, but Maven knew it was just a mask he wore in these hard times. One had to be emotionless in order to protect themselves against the torture this new alien-run society had demonstrated.

He winced, like the sound of his real name brought back bad memories. "Why are you still here?" he asked, still quite monotone but with a hint of curious concern.

She took a step towards him and kneeled, placing her hands on his forearms in a gesture of friendliness and comfort. She felt the roughness of his black coat beneath her fingertips. He did not react. "You know why I stayed," she replied, frowning slightly. "I wanted to talk to you after the meeting and… I was worried about you."

He sighed and placed a single hand over her wrist. "You didn't have to. You should go. You need to wake up early tomorrow because you work and your watched extra carefully because Zim knows we were friends before he took over."

"Are friends, Dib, not were," Maven corrected. "We still are friends."

Dib's expression turned somber. "Not in the public eye."

"But we're not in the public eye right now, are we?"

"True, but… I still worry, Mae. Zim's been hunting me for months now. He knows I've made a secret society to defend Earth and he's trying to destroy both it and me. Thank goodness none of our members' real identities are known, but… still I worry."

She sighed. "I know," she answered softly. "Um… have there been any signs of your father or sister yet?"

He shook his head mournfully. "No."

Mae swallowed awkwardly. "So… what's our next move in EDS then?"

Dib suddenly stood up and strode across the room, making soft footsteps over the gray apartment's carpet. Throwing his mask onto the table, he pulled out a long scroll of paper and unrolled it. "I'm actually glad you asked. There's something I didn't mention during the meeting because it's kind of a big thing," he admitted.

Mae's eyebrows raised. "And what's that?" she inquired.

Dib pointed to the paper, tracing a circle around red notes written in a code he'd developed. "This map has the whole city on it. That's the storage facility we're going to infiltrate next. I'm hoping to get more weapons to help us gain better ground, but that's not the only reason..." He trailed off, hesitant to continue.

"Dib, tell me what you're planning," said Mae firmly, placing her hand on his shoulder.

He sighed. "I… I'm planning an assassination."

Her whole body went rigid and her eyes grew wide. "An assassination? For who?"

"Zim and maybe the Tallest if we're lucky."

She didn't respond for several long moments. Dib shifted uneasily, staring at the map. "It's the only way to help cripple their forces," he explained. "At least without Zim ruling Earth it will give us the temporary advantage of possibly taking control once they have no leader here. Once we take back Earth, we can gather resources and an army to fight against the Irkens."

"And who will do that?" Mae demanded. "The government? The military? They fell to pieces once the Irkens took control."

A determined look graced Dib's features."I will," he said. "And you and the rest of EDS, if they agree to participate, can then gather recruits and help the people who were treated cruelly by the Irkens."

Mae's frown did not disappear just yet. "Okay, assuming this all does work, what then? We just build a few spaceships in record time and go to battle? Have you seen the size of their armada? Not to mention there will still be thousands of Irken soldiers already on Earth if we did take it back. How will we combat them? They're all over the globe right now and we can't be everywhere at once. They might decide to hold hostages. Just because the main leader is gone, it doesn't mean the cause will stop." She stopped, breathing heavily.

"I know! I know!" cried Dib. "There are many flaws in my plan, but it's the only one I've got. Can't we at least try? If anything does go wrong, we can always abandon the plan. Zim may know our society exists, but he doesn't know who its members are except that I'm the head, and he hasn't been able to find me yet." He suddenly stood up and turned to face her, placing both his hands on her shoulders, his amber eyes meeting her ocean blue. "I don't expect you to help me with the assassination. You're already helping me with the next infiltration, so I understand if you don't want to place your life in danger for the umpteenth time, but..." His gaze fell and he found himself looking at the ground. "Would you want to help me assassinate Zim?" he asked quietly. "And… and if all goes well, take back Earth?"

Mae smiled and suddenly shot forward, throwing her arms around his neck in a tight embrace. "Of course I will," she whispered. "We can't let the Irkens squash the hope out of us, but..." She drew back, her arms dropping to her sides. He looked at her curiously. "Are you sure there isn't another way? A safer, less risky one?"

Dib shook his head. "Unless you can think of one, I don't have any other ideas. Our resources are depleted enough already and I'm pretty sure most of the other agents are losing hope in EDS. We need to do something drastic soon, or else I fear Earth may lose hope altogether."

Mae stepped back and placed her mask back on. "Well then, Agent Mothman," she said rather grimly, but not without a small smile. "We should be going. You'll fill us in on the plans soon, right?"

Smiling, Dib refitted his own mask into place. "Of course, Agent Lupus. I don't have an exact day planned, but it will be soon."

Nodding, Mae turned to go, only to hear Dib call after her. "Oh, and please don't tell any of the other agents about the assassination just yet," he requested. "I'm not sure how they'll take the news. We should probably wait until we can discuss it further."

Mae turned back and dipped her head a second time. "Of course, Mothman." Then, she whipped back around and opened the door. It shut with a soft click behind her. Breathing a long sigh of relief, Dib flipped the light switch, surrounding himself in a shroud of shadows. Exiting the building, he faded into the darkness of the night.