A/N: I had Domino for quite a long time. You may remember him from "The Prince of Irke..." and there's art of him on DA from the user Critical-Error, just in case you think he's not mine. I had Domino for about 15 years, he's the one of the OGs.

I wanted to write his story for a long, long time. I just never had the idea in my head. I knew how he did everything, I knew how it went, but I never really -wrote- it. I had this story on Ao3 for a while until I took it down, because the Invader Zim following on Ao3 isn't as alive as it is on here. So his new home is here, and now I get to relax.

Also, I had an 'alternative' time system implanted into this story that I later edited out. I just got tired of having to keep notes.

Chapter 1 - Before the Storm

Irkens are filled with information right after their initial hatching. Everything they need to know is transmitted into their PAKs: history, laws, culture, common knowledge, and how the hierarchy works. From there, Irkens are sent into training. There is little time for Smeets to think, sent from where they were born to basic training in the span of fifteen minutes. The world of an Irken becomes focused on battle. From attack to defense, tactics and weapons. For at least twenty years, they are isolated from the universe, learning combat basics with holographs. When they're finished training on holographs, they are then inducted into the world where they are faced with living challenges and advanced military skills.

That's when he met them.

Domino didn't really like them, Red and Purple. They were annoying and obnoxious and just plain full of themselves. It was a first impression that dragged on many years later, when they would start showing height.

Unfortunately, he was stationed with them. It was strange to see two Irkens who stuck together so much. They talked, constantly. Domino didn't really like that part, mostly because he didn't talk all that much. He learned in his smeethood that talking was unnecessary unless you actually had something to say. He also learned that not to say anything unless you were spoken to.

He wondered if his silence was why they took interest in him.

Irkens were naturally chatty, it seemed, but Irkens were also naturally hive minded. They thought the same, they talked the same, they even had the same goals. Domino, however, was quiet and he didn't really think the way everyone else did. He often questioned everything he saw, as a lot of things didn't even look right in his mind. He knew something wasn't right with that line of thinking, however. No one questioned how things work, no one wondered why things were this way. They just accepted everything as fact and did what they were told.

One day Tallest Miyuki visited the training camp. A routine check, but still something all Irkens spent forty hours preparing for. Domino stood with his peers, watching as Miyuki took autographs from some. He stared at her for quite some time, his antennae twitching irritably.

"Is it weird that she's in charge just because she's tall?" He questioned to another, "It should be how powerful you are, your skills in battle."

He was met with a smack to the head from one of the instructors, the Irken hissing. "That's defective talk, talk like that gets you deleted."

After that, he learned to keep everything to himself.

The older he became, the more he viewed things differently. It didn't help that he was getting taller and everyone was starting to treat him better. The idiots, Red and Purple, were taking advantage of their growth, using it to boss the smallers around. It seemed unfair. The smallers worked just as hard or harder than the tallers, and they were treated like shit. When he was inducted into the Irken Elite, he felt like he earned the title with his skills in battle.

Skills and height seemed to clash. He realized that the taller one became, the more skewed the rules had gotten. Things that weren't so obtainable in the past were now easily accessible. He could see it with the idiots, as they started to use their height for how it was traditionally used. They became more indulgent, leaving their hard work and training at the door while they took in the pampering and the praise. He didn't like it. He didn't want to lose everything he worked hard for just because he grew a few Feet. So he continued with his training, honing his skills so he could surpass them. Though, he knew that the taller he would get, that his skills wouldn't mean anything anymore.

Becoming a Tallest-elect meant being separated from the other Irkens. He was given a private room when he used to live in barracks with others of mixed height. The idiots had joined him, but with their own respective rooms, which he assumed they shared. They were still always together and thick as thieves. Training became less of a required task, while political science took the foreground. There, Domino's mind was opened to what it meant to be a Tallest, and how everything worked behind the scenes.

He became disgusted of his own kind. He grew to loathe the Empire and everything about it. How it urged Irkens to follow a superficial supremacy and lived off of the hard work of other species. Irkens took what didn't belong to them, they stole from the weak. They killed whatever didn't suit their needs and fought for control of everything they wanted. Everything about the Empire made him physically ill, and he began collecting illegal paraphernalia, anything that educated him about the world outside of the Empire. He took his free time and made it for study of intergalactic treaties and how the rest of the universe saw the Empire. His thoughts seemed to align with theirs.

He became secretive, isolating himself and insisting on keeping his body in peak physical form. The idiots, however, were becoming smarter. They took notice of his behavior and decided to investigate, using a moment when he was away to break into his private rooms and discover his darkest secret.

He came back that day to find them resting on his bed, grinning proudly at themselves as everything he kept hidden was spread out. Domino felt the air leaving his spooch and knew that he was just caught. The two he regarded as idiots have unearthed everything.

"What do you want?" He hissed out. "Is this why you two have been avoiding me for three days?"

"Maybe." Purple spoke first, "We had to figure out your routine somehow."

"I've gotten better at lockpicking." Red added, looking quite smug. "I'm pretty sure if we went to the Control Brain with all this evidence...you would become such a liability." He clicked his tongue, "I'm not sure exile would be an option…"

"He's pretty much deleted." Purple chuckled.

"What. Do. You. Want?" Domino kept his voice steady, but while he was still primed for battle, they were twice as cunning.

"We've been pretty bored." Red flicked one of the books on Domino's bedside table, snorting in amusement. "I'm sure if we had something to play with, then it would keep us very entertained."

"Like you." Purple added, "I mean, you could entertain us so much that we'll forget all about the fact that you're a dangerous defective that needs to be dealt with."

They had the upper hand, and Domino hated that. There wasn't any way he could get out of it, and for the rest of his time as Tallest-elect, he was their personal plaything. They weren't gentle about it either, putting him through pain and humiliation for their amusement alone. It would last until Tallest Miyuki was killed, and again when Tallest Spork met his untimely end.

Domino couldn't allow this. He wouldn't deal with being at the hands of Red and Purple or the Empire. He never wanted to become a Tallest, and he knew that his secret would be exposed if he did. So he did what he could do.

He left.

He used what advantage he had with his height to get a ship, and flew out as far and as fast as he could go.

When Red and Purple officially became Tallests, Domino began his life as a fugitive.