A/N: My word, I've been a bad girl again O.O I only started this chapter three days after I finished the last one. I have a reason this time, though! I haven't been addicted to a song for ages (hey, three days is a long time for me!) and my brain doesn't work so well when there isn't a good song in my head. However, one of my rocker buddies introduced me to two amazing songs, so now I'm happy again :) I'm officially a Shinedown fan now :D (I was before, but now I'm even more of a fan, lol)


If Red had wanted to cause Zim sleepless nights, he had failed. It was three days after Red's execution and Zim was sleeping in again. Not that he needed to sleep – PAKs provided energy for Irkens – but a few human habits had rubbed off of him, and sleeping was also good way to relax. He did find the old guest bed in his room quite comfortable too. It was small and only had a thin dark brown blanket on it, but it seemed to be the only furniture Dib had that didn't give Zim a backache.

"You still asleep?"

And then there was dreaming: something that confused Zim when he woke up from his first night sleeping. Dib explained that it was just a natural thing. Zim still found it creepy, though.

"Zim?"

What bothered Zim were the faces that kept flashing up in his mind the last few nights in his dreams. Sometimes it was of Zita, often followed by Dib, both of them giving him angry glares.

"Hello?"

'You owe her an apology' would echo in the background. 'Zim doesn't owe any 'apologies''. Maybe Dib was right. Maybe he had been a bit rude.

"Hello?"

Then there was Red, he'd pop up every now and then, that same smile he wore last time Zim saw him on his face. His laugh still there. It sounded so real Zim could swear that Red was standing right next to him.

"Zim! Wake up you idiot!"

And, every so often, there would be Tak...

"Zim!" something shook his shoulder roughly.

"AH!" Zim screamed, opening his eyes and jerking his head around, "Who dares to awaken-?" he was cut off by his own shock. There, standing over him was another Irken, her narrowed dark purple eyes staring down at Zim.

"Good morning."

"T-Tak?" Zim's eyes still hadn't adjusted to the light in the room, the sun heating everything to a warm and comfortable temperature, "You opened the blinds!"

Tak narrowed one eye before turning around, heading over to the other side of the room, "it's almost to summer, Zim, you shouldn't be in this dusty old room," she walked up to a side table and picked up a plate with four cheese sandwiches stacked on top of each other, "I made sandwiches!" she sang, turning around with a smile on her face.

"I hate cheese sandwiches," Zim sneered. Tak's face dropped.

"At least be a bit more appreciative, Zim. I waited for a whole hour for you to wake up. Since when do you even sleep?" Tak set the plate back down.

"I'm... uh... studying human biography."

"Oh really?" Tak didn't look amused, "Well, while I was waiting for you to come out of Slumber-land, I found a file with my name on it."

"Ah, yes, haven't looked in that for a while," Zim started to get out of the bed, trying his best to forget about the pink pyjamas he was wearing.

"I see you're also studying human culture," Tak said, eyeing the PJs.

"Oh, you know me," Zim waved his hand dismissively.

"Sadly, yes," Tak's gloved hands grabbed a sandwich, "want one? Even if you don't like it, it would mean a lot to me if you took it."

"No thanks, I wish not to be poisoned," Zim folded his arms.

"Why are you always so suspicious?"

"Because you're you."

"Is that meant to be an insult?"

Zim hesitated, "Not exactly..." Tak gave off a small smile. Zim's eyes narrowed, "You're after my robot bee aren't you?"

"No, Zim. I'm here to ask you a favour."

"A favour?" Zim tilted his head to the left.

"I want you to find someone for me," Tak dug her hand into the purple shirt's pocket, bringing up a white envelope, "this has all the information you need." She put it next the plate of sandwiches, still staring at Zim.

"And who is this 'someone'?" Zim took a few steps forward.

"Didn't you just here me? It's in the envelope," Tak's voice started to get louder and more irritated. "Well, if you don't mind, I have to leave now. I have a business meeting."

"Business meeting?"

"You get what I mean," Tak winked at Zim before walking to the door, "Cheerio, Zim."


"I can't believe it," Dib fiddled with the envelope, "Why is it the only person you ever cared for, except yourself, is a World-class criminal? You've got bad taste, Zim."

"Says the guy who's in love with a private teacher," Zim sank down into his seat, antennae pressed against his head. They were in the house's living room, staring at a static TV screen.

"Oh, please. Tak would rather hang you from your toes than go on a date with you," Dib laughed, "She's the only rival to ever outsmart you."

"All right, you've had your fun."

"What does she want anyway?"

"Moving onto the next subject..."

"What does she need that's so important that she would come to you?"

"Doesn't matter..."

Dib opened the envelope and pulled out a cut out from the newspaper, a picture and some other pieces of paper with writing on it. Dib read one of the pieces of paper out loud, "Missing person. Larb, four foot ten, Purple-pink eyes and has one and a half antennae. Case solved! It seems you're not her type. She likes half deaf, freakishly short Irkens. That's why she never liked you back."

"Shut up."

"Well you are short, shorter than her, at least. Not that she's that tall herself-"

"Shut up!"

"You Irkens are so touchy about the subject of height."

"Dib, if you don't shut your noise tube right now-"

"What were you doing?"

"Will you allow me to explain?"

"I wish you would..."


Tak walked through the door, while I stood motionless; waiting for the click that signalled the door was shut.

Oh no, you're not going into story mode, are you?

Shut up, Dib! Anyway, once she closed the door, I ran towards the window, looking out at the street. After a few seconds, I spotted Tak walking out of the door. She turned to her right and headed down the street. I left the window and ran to the door, opening it and running towards the stairs. I raced down them and that's where I encountered you.

"Where are you going almighty and powerful, Zim?" you asked.

I didn't say that!

"Um... nowhere, Dib-boy," I answered, deciding that this mission was too dangerous for your inferior human body. So I leapt out of the window-

Why did you do that, anyway?

-and let out my PAK legs. I scurried across the wall like a gecko-cheetah-thing.

In your pyjamas...

But, sadly, my PAK legs lost their footing and I fell into an open trashcan. The smell was revolting, but I climbed out of the trashcan and bravely ventured on. I ran down the street till I saw Tak. Cleverly hiding behind a McMeaties advertising board, I spied on her as she walked towards an ally that led to some other part of the city. It turned out she wanted to go to that other part of the city. I stealthily followed her. She had no idea I was even there! Then, believe it or not, I saw some strange Irken walk up to her and hold some flowers out.

"You want to buy some flowers? I'll ask only fifty percent since you're so pretty," he asked in his rough voice.

"Oh, why thank you, sir," Tak said, taking the flowers from him, looking flattered. A dark figure walked up behind her – a tall, fat, hideous human with a mole so big you would think he has two heads. He bent over and rested his chin on Tak's right shoulder.

"Let's see how much cash you've got on ya," he whispered, one filthy hand coming up to grab her left arm. I, then, leapt out courageously to save her-

Ahem...

Ok, ok, I didn't.

Tak's smile didn't disappear, though. She reached into her right pocket and brought out a small wooden club. She swung it at the man's ugly face and he stumbled backwards, clutching his head. Tak hit him again, this time at the back of his head, instantly knocking him out. The Irken behind her tried to restrain her, grabbing one of her arms, but she gave him a kick in the Squeedily Spooch and got out a knife from her pocket – I don't know how big her pockets are, but the stuff I've seen her pull out makes me wonder if they're a gateway to another universe or something. She brought the knife up to the Irken's neck and pushed him to the wall.

"Hmm..." she looked up and down the Irken's Trench coat – it looked a bit like yours, actually – and put her hand in its large pocket, "let's see what we have here..." she pulled out a leather wallet, smiling proudly, "oh... look at what I found..." she put the wallet in her PAK and slowly moved the knife away from the other Irken's face, stuffing it in her pocket. She gave him one more sweet smile, as if nothing had happened, and turned around to carry on walking away, still holding the flowers.

I carried on following her, hiding behind dustbins, trees, bushes and old people. I passed a sleeping hobo with a dirty blanket over him. Thinking that my pyjamas may prove to make me stand out from the crowd, I grabbed the blanket and threw it over myself. Then, a little human boy with a blue cap passed by me, and I took the cap from him. He yelled at me to give him his cap back, but this mission was too important to be sacrificed for some boy's happiness. I spotted a black piece of fabric on the floor, so I picked it up and covered my left eye with it. Remembering those contacts I had worn to that costume party last month, I got out one of them from my PAK, putting it on my uncovered eye so I'd look like a hybrid between a human and Irken. I pressed my hand against the muddy walls and smeared the dirt all over my face.

Must have been an improvement.

Silence Dib-stink! So I carried on following Tak, determined to know where she was heading off to. There was a black ship in the ship parking lot which she walked to, the door opening as she neared it. She stepped inside and the door closed. But I was near enough to catch up to the ship before it took off. I grabbed the door's handle and pulled it open. Sitting in the ship was Tak and some shadowed man who I couldn't identify.

"Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could hitch a ride," I asked. But that shadowed man just pulled out a small, black gun, his gloved hands gripping it tightly. I back away, "Sorry, sir," I almost whispered, taking a good few steps back before shutting the door.


"So you failed," Dib said bluntly.

"No! How? I never fail!" Zim looked genuinely taken aback.

"You wanted to find out what Tak was up to, and you didn't. You're so stupid," Dib sighed, "I think you should just leave the case alone."

"You said I should find another case, and I did," Zim pointed out, "and finding a person who disappeared is easy enough to help me get back into my detective boots."

"Zim, don't you realize this isn't really a case? It's a trick. Why else would Tak ask you to find the man?" Dib sat up straight in his seat. Zim was just about to reply when there was a knock on the front door. "Come on in!" Dib yelled. An Irken policeman opened the door and stepped inside, his face pale.

"Qik," Zim called out the Irken's name in greeting, "what brings you to my house?"

"My house," Dib hissed.

"I-inspector Flint wants to s-see you at once, Zim," Qik rambled, holding onto his hat tightly.

"Argh, what does he want now?" Zim said half-heartedly.

"It's Tallest Red, sir..." Qik's orangey-brown eyes drifted down to the ground, "he's back... from the grave..."

Zim's eyes floated to the TV screen, "He just won't quit, will he?"

"It's not April Fool's day yet, Qik. Red's still in his grave. I pronounced him dead myself," Dib's right index finger ran down the rim of his glasses.

"A man said he saw him walking through the graveyard this morning, sir," Qik continued.

"I'll leave this in your capable hands," Dib turned his head towards Zim, "I've got to meet up with Zita."

"It's not my reputation that's at stake, here," Zim retorted.

"Don't try that. I'm not getting into this."

"Alright, Dib. But just remember: no girl wants to marry a doctor who can't tell if someone's dead or not," Zim stood up, whipping some dust off his shirt.

Dib shot Zim an irritated looked, "I really hate you..."


Tak held onto her flowers as if it was for dear life. She had to get back into that blasted ship. It was darker inside there than Zim's room and smaller too. It always made her feel so claustrophobic. At least wrestling with the two thieves in the ally reminded her that she was one of the top criminals in this area, but also the most innocent looking one. Well, she certainly put those two bozos back in their place. But she couldn't help feel that she was in a cage. Working for a guy like him was not what she really liked doing. He was strict on the way things should be done, and Tak preferred having a bit of freedom in the particular area of work she was in.

Picking at the flowers, she noticed they were from Irk. They were purple with green spots and yellow stems – personally Tak thought they were hideous, but she needed to hold onto something or she might collapse from the stress building up in her. She was actually scared of this guy. She never allowed herself to be scared, but here she was, not wanting to come near to that large black ship, not wanting to walk towards it, not wanting to get inside and not wanting to sit there opposite the shaded figure.

But she did it anyway. She put the flowers on the seat and stared at the shadow in front of her, wishing she could at least talk to its face.

"He'll do it," at least her voice wasn't letting her down.

"Good... Larb is the key to what Red was doing... you've done well, Tak," the dark figure said in a dark musty voice.

Suddenly, the ship's door opened, and some Irken with one eye patched and the other a light blue human eye stood there, his face dirty and topped with a small blue cap hugging his head.

"Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could hitch a ride," the person said, glancing at Tak with an odd shine in his eye. The shaded figure pulled out a small gun, pointing it at the Irken-human's face, causing him to back away, muttering a 'sorry' and closing the door.

"Bloody hybrids," The shadow hissed as the ship started to take off, "They're nothing but trouble."


Zim, Dib and Qik all walked through the graveyard, glancing at the tombstones as they went past them. Even at daytime the graveyard gave off a haunting feeling.

"It's just over there..." Qik pointed at a crowd of policemen at the edge of the cemetery. As the three neared it, Flint came stamping out of the crowd.

"You took your time," he huffed, glaring at Zim. He motioned for the police to spread out. Once they did, they revealed a grave stone with four large square boulders to the side of it and a gaping hole right in front. "These slabs of stones way half a tone each and they're smashed open from the inside."

"And the coffin?" Zim asked.

"We were just about to bring it up," if Flint's eyes weren't blue, you would say they were on fire. His voice sounded equally as angry. "The witness is over there," Flint gestured at an old man, who had his back turned to them, "He's gone into shock."

"I see..." Zim observed. Flint marched over to the police.

"You lot better stop acting like a bunch of newborn smeets, because I'll make sure you don't get paid any more than five monies every two years if you don't get that coffin up here immediately," he threatened them. It seemed to work; the police headed towards the grave.

"Hello," Dib walked up to the old man, trying to act friendly. The man had a long white bread and a crazed look in his eyes. He was tall, too, but his hunched body made him shorter than Dib. "Don't worry, I'm a doctor."

"He said he saw Tallest Red rise from the grave," Flint walked up to the two humans. Dib turned around to look at Flint.

"That's pretty weird, I guess," Dib almost whispered.

Flint gave off a 'hmph', "You said he was dead." Dib's caramel eyes looked up at Flint angrily.

"He had no pulse," Dib stated sternly, glaring at Flint. He'd never really liked the Irken, especially when Flint blamed him for something.

"Oh, we'll see about that..." Flint turned around as the police dragged the long coffin out of the ground. Zim was standing there too, watching quietly as the put the coffin down in front of him. Dib and Flint both made their way to the coffin. Zim reached down and tugged at the coffin's handle till it flipped open. Dib's mouth dropped open and Flint's eyes widened. Zim stood up and blinked in surprise at the sight before them.

The coffin was filled with soil that covered up most of a short body of a dead Irken, his eyes shut and head on the side. He took up just over half of the space it the coffin.

"That's not Red," Flint managed to choke out.

"Indeed," Zim said in the same shaking voice. Reaching down, Zim pulled out one of the Irken's antennae out of the soil, but was surprised to see that the end half wasn't there.

"Half and antenna..." Dib said, deep in thought, "Zim, you don't think-"

"I think I do... when did he die?"

Dib kneeled down next to Zim, getting out a ruler and measuring the Irken's face, "I'd say it's around ten and twelve hours ago."

Spotting a small piece of paper in the body's pocket, Zim pulled it out, wiping some soil off it. He slid it into his own pocket, making a mental note to look at it later.

"I know what I saw," an old voice sounded a few meters away. Looking up, Zim saw the aged man, his distraught eyes staring at the group of Irkens and humans. "It was Red. He is back. And when the dead walk among us, the living will fill these coffins..."


SHERLOCK HOLMES AND INVADER ZIM ARE NOT OWNED BY ME. I DO NOT CLAIM TO OWN THEM. I NEVER DID. I'M JUST BEING A HYPERACTIVE FANGIRL.

A/N: I don't like the end of this chapter...

Anyway, I decided to be creative and put in a little first person in here. And, yes, I had to make Tak play the role of Irene. I mean, come on. They're so alike. I don't really like writing Tak's parts, though. I like writing for Red, Zim and Dib more :D Flint's also fun, but that's probably cuz he's an OC and doesn't need to be IC cuz he's MINE! MUHAHAHAHA!

If you couldn't figure it out: the old guy is one of the Saucer Morons (the one who saw Zim without his disguise first) and this Larb is a twisted version of the Larb who conquered Vort. Pretty much all the characters I kill off in this story I love, so I decided the first one to die will be one I don't like (if you're wondering why I don't like him, 1: Because he grew taller, poor Skoodge had to go to Blotch instead of him 2: he conquered Vort. Yes, I am a Lard Nar fan, and that's the reason I like Vort)

Overall, I don't like this chapter and I'm not really looking forward to the next chapter. Though I can't wait for the chapter after that xD

Time in movie: 40 minutes 52 seconds

Words: 3,196