Present day

All was peaceful on the Massive, aside from the slight bickering of the two Tallest who were fighting over the last doughnut while the rest of the crew watched on, waiting for one of them to drop the bag so they could have it. One of the Irkens behind the controls looked at the screen, ignoring the fact that their Tallest were arguing over the food; he groaned as they were getting a call from the only annoyance to all the Empire. "Excuse me my Tallest, but we are getting a call from Zim," The blue-eyed Irken said, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Red groaned and let the bag go before turning his attention to the Irken who had interrupted them, doughnut forgotten by both Tallest at the mention of the smaller defective Irken; he turned to his co-tallest and crossed his arms. "I think it's time we tell him that his mission was a lie, and we deactivate him for good." He said.

Purple sighed. "We thought we deactivated him the last time, but it didn't work, how do you expect it to work this time?" He asked Red, curious as to what his plan was.
"We need to connect his computer to his PAK; it'll have no choice but to listen to the Control Brains and deactivate him," Red smirked, earning another from Purple, who thought it was a good idea too. "That sounds like a good idea!" Purple said, excited. "This way he will not contact us again!"

It was quiet in Zim's base, except for the small hum of Computer and the burst of giggling coming from the robot that was watching TV though it seemed someone was missing. In fact, the Irken we are thinking about is currently down in the lab working away at his project to show off; he wanted so much to impress his Tallest and hope they liked his plan. It had been a few years since he had landed on this planet and he felt he was close, close to finally succeeding in his mission and getting off this planet once and for all.

Zim looked up; antenna twitched a little. "Computer! Contact the Tallest!" He said, feeling giddy on the inside, oh the plan he had this time, yes, the Tallest would be pleased!

As the Irken waited, he leaned against the table with a confident smile, glad that he hadn't had to deal with Dib for the past few weeks, though part of him wondered why. Why had the human just up and stopped trying to foil his plans; he couldn't understand at all, did he not think Zim was worth his time?

The thought made him very upset, had the Dib just decided to go ahead and give up on Earth? He tried not to let it get to him, but it worried him a little, after all; he and Dib had been fighting over Earth for a very long time now. The question should be; why does he even care if the human gives up fighting over the planet, not Zim of course, stupid human and his giving up.

Zim's antenna perked when he heard the call connecting, geez it had taken a while…what was going on in the Massive to make his leaders take so long? Ah well, all that mattered now was that they were now answering the call. When the two tall Irkens appeared on the screen, Zim smiled happily. "My Tallest I have something to show you, I've been working on it for a few months now you see, and I just wanted to show you what I was going to do-" The Irken was interrupted by Red.

"Zim, that's enough, we've heard your stupid plans for the last time, we do not have the patience for your idiotic behavior." Red started, glaring at Zim. Zim gasped, antenna going back in disbelief as he heard his leader speak to him this way. "B-but-" He was interrupted yet again. "No, we have listened to this for far too long Zim, you were never supposed to find a planet, we sent you out to die like the pathetic defective you are and yet you just end up being an even more annoyance." Red continued.

The smaller Irken could feel tears leaving his eyes as he listened to his leader tell him how pathetic he was; he couldn't understand why they were treating him this way, Zim was nothing but loyal to his Tallest…all he wanted to do was show that he could be the best Invader there ever was.

"N-No, please my Tallest…Zim will prove himself!" He cried out, watching as his computer as forced to do the actions he was commanded to do; he watched as the screen went blank and screamed in pain as electricity surged through his body. The computer lets him go after a while, leaving Zim with a horrible clicking in his PAK; his body hurt all over and cringed when the clicking went on.

"I-I had no control Master." The computer said, trying to defend himself.

Zim looked up and panted; he didn't blame his computer…no it was the Tallest. The Irken curled up in a ball and began crying, soon to be joined by Gir who tried his best to comfort his Master the only way he knew how. The Irken hugged his robot close and tried to calm himself down; he had to continue with things as they were, maybe if he could get Dib to fight with him again then things would go back to normal or something. Dib wouldn't even have to know.

~~~Weeks later~~~

It had been a couple of years since Dib and Gaz had seen their so-called father, family time just became a thing of the past, and he hadn't been home in so long. Dib had made it his job to take care of Gaz along with trying to provide for the family he had left. The big-headed teenager had decided to devote all his time to taking care of his sister, which meant he had no time to defend the Earth from Zim; he had begun to see no point in it.

What was the point in protecting people when none of those idiots believed him anyway? All was peaceful in the Membrane household this Sunday evening, of course, Gaz was currently sitting on the couch playing on her Game Slave; Dib was in the kitchen cooking dinner. Over the years Dib had started a vegetarian diet, it was healthier of course and as far as he knew Gaz didn't mind it either; she had stopped complaining and beating the crap out of him.

It was a surprising fact after realizing their father had probably just straight up abandoned them; she would act annoyed most times, but there was no malice behind her words. Dib was glad their relationship was starting a new, hell he never knew his sister was like this; he smiled as he was deep in thought and started returning to reality and put his and Gaz's food on the plates before calling her into the room. He heard her saving her game and then closing her Game Slave, then a few moments later she joined him in the kitchen and sat down to eat.

"Do your homework after dinner," He told her, knowing he needed to do a bit of his own though he may let it go for now so he could fix up the house a bit, or look for a job. The amount of money he had taken out of his father's account wouldn't last them forever, and he figured he better get a job now before they ran out. Admittedly Dib had taken quite a lot out of his father's account, but he didn't think the other would miss it or anything; he was a pretty rich scientist after all.

Gaz gave an acknowledging grumble as she ate, to be honest, she had cooled down quite a lot after Dib had decided to care for her mainly; she hated how he sometimes ran himself ragged trying to do things at times. Sometimes she wondered if Dib would take a break sometime. Instead, he continued to work tirelessly; she had stopped being so mean too. What amazed her the most was that Dib had stopped trying to defeat Zim, admittedly he wasn't that good of an invader anyway, but still.

"So…have you talked to Zim?" She decided to ask; it was strange not to hear her brother constantly talk about Zim and what his plans were; he had been concentrating on trying to take care of her and what little they had left after their dad had stopped coming home. It seemed her brother was starting to grow up, though she did sort of miss his bursts of insanity; she supposed that was life though. Gaz did wonder what Zim was up to though; she had seen him around school with an air of confidence around him, but lately, it dwindled a bit, and she wondered if Dib was aware of the fact that Zim seemed to be upset about anything.

Dib looked up from his food. "No, I've been a bit busy, I don't have time to worry about his plans…"

In reality, Dib truly did worry about what the Irken was cooking up; he hadn't seen him at school in a couple of days, and when he was there he didn't seem like himself. He brushed the thought from his mind and continued to eat his food, earning an eye roll from his sister; she hadn't wanted to hear any of that. What was he supposed to say? That he would stop what he was doing and chase after him or something? He couldn't, just couldn't.

Their dinner was interrupted when Dib heard the noise at the front door; he got up from the table only to see Zim coming in and glaring at him. "Why have you not been trying to foil Zim's plans!?" The Irken said, crossing his arms. "Do you not thing Zim is worth your time anymore? Do you not see Zim as a threat? Do you not think I can take over this stupid planet?"

Dib frowned. "No…Zim that isn't it at all. Look, things have been a bit hectic around here, our dad hasn't been home in a few years, so we're assuming he just up and abandoned us. I haven't been able to foil anything of yours, as much as I want to Zim…it's just that I've picked up a lot more responsibilities."

Zim's ruby eyes looked at Dib for a moment. "Y-your parental unit abandoned you? Just like Zim's leaders abandoned him…" He frowned and looked away. "Zim is sorry to bother you Dib-human; he will leave you alone now…" The Irken turned to walk away, but Dib grabbed his shoulder. "No Zim…why don't you sit down, and I'll give you some food." He said, wanting to speak with the Irken more about what had happened to him. He made Zim sit down and grabbed one of the extra burgers he made. "Don't worry; this isn't real meat." He assured as he put it on some bread and then sat down himself.

Gaz decided to get up from the table to give them some privacy, whatever had happened was between them for now; she didn't want to interrupt them.

Zim looked at the burger Dib was offering him and looked at him. "If this hurts Zim…" He said, unsure and Dib shook his head. "It will not, I promise," He assured and sat back in the chair. "So…your Tallest abandoned you?" He wondered as he looked at the Irken, who seemed very upset as the took a bite of the food, surprised that it didn't hurt him; he then looked at Dib with a sigh.

"They told Zim that his mission was a lie, they sent me out here to die…there wasn't even supposed to be a planet out this way," Zim said and looked at Dib with a sad sigh. "Y-you win Dib, take me to your Earth authorities." He whispered, earning a scoff from the Dib who was shaking his head. "Forget about that; I'm calling a truce, I think we could be friends." The human said, earning a confused look from the Irken, who was unsure about this. "Alright…a truce, Zim and Dib will be friends." The Irken smiled and shook Dib's hand.

Dib watched him a moment and sighed, deciding he would do anything in his power to keep Zim safe for as long as he could.