weenies: so close yet so far. And thanks again :)

glowzilla: Glad you like this! And yes, the Control Brains were very smart to give Mik his title, otherwise he would be a very dead medic lol

Also everyone's favorite Irken/human couple make another appearance this chapter!


Recovering quickly Mik latched onto Red's hand to ease the painful pressure off his antennae. Red threw the medic on the couch in the common space, the door had been unlocked when Mik entered. He thrust all four of his PAK legs into the couch each one barely missing the scared medic and effectively caging him.

"If you were any other Irken, I would be bludgeoning you to a pulp before throwing you out the airlock," Red hissed and Mik gulped. "Do you have any idea what you've done? Sneaking in there was no easy task, and Purple won't be fooled by snacks again. If I don't get a chance to do that again, I'm blaming you."

"D-Do what again? Mate? M-My Tallest Red, forcing-"

"-We weren't mating," Red cut him off with a harsh whisper, not wanting to say it too loudly. "And there was nothing forced about that."

"But with his PAK disabled and you holding him down..." Mik pointed out.

Red pinched between his eyes with two fingers as a headache was beginning to form. "Purple is the most stubborn, determined, and willful Irken I know. With or without his PAK there is no way I could force Purple to do anything, you saw how easily he kicked me out. We made a bet on a game," Red explained. "And I won, I was just claiming my winnings."

Mik frowned. "Your winnings included mating?"

"No! For the last time," Red said more than frustrated with the medic. "We were not mating." Yet, he added to himself.

"But you were touching antennae ad engaging in the pre-mating act of tasting," Mik said trying to reason this out.

Red felt his face turn bright blue. "That wasn't our intention," he mumbled hotly.

"Why were you acting in such a way then?" Mik pressed and when Red turned stubborn himself and refused to look at him, much less answer, Mik sighed. "Please, My Tallest, you two are the first full Irken pair to have your PAKs primed for mating. I admit that activating your PAKs in each others' presence and while watching the informational mating-vid was, perhaps, not the most appropriate order in which to proceed. However, your reactions to this process are highly vital information. When the rest of the chosen Irkens arrive on Irk, this information will be essential in making the mating-project a success."

Red slowly turned his head back to stare at Mik with an outraged expression. "We're test subjects?!"

"What?" Mik said alarmed. "No! Of course not, My Tallest, but there are no records or examples to provide us with accurate information. My consultant on this matter is not Irken and our understanding of this process might not be completely accurate. Of course, being the Tallest, your behaviors and reactions might also be unique, but you are both Irken and that must also be taken into consideration. This is for the good of the Empire," Mik added.

This placated Red, but only slightly. This would be a good opportunity to ask Mik about the sudden appearance of that strong scent and the odd effect it had on him and Purple. Also antennae touching felt like nothing it showed to feel in the vid, and Red also wanted to ask about the weird feeling in his spooch. However, he was not going to be a specimen for Mik to observe, and he would die before he let Purple be put through that, mostly because Purple's wrath was intense and he didn't want to be at the end of it.

"Fine," Red said. "I will answer all your questions and discuss with you my experiences, but only on two conditions."

Mik perked up, if his Tallest would cooperate then this would be much easier. He didn't want to use his given authority as it didn't sit right with him, however if Tallest Red's conditions were too extravagant or unrealistic he might have to use that power. "Yes, My Tallest?"

"Firstly," Red held up one finger in the medic's face. "You will be satisfied with only interviewing me. You will not press Purple about this."

"But to have accurate understanding information from both participants-"

"-If you try to interrogate Purple, you will be doing it alone and with no support from me," Red interrupted.

Mik opened his mouth to protest, but then thought better of it and nodded. He would have to make due with whatever information he could gather from Tallest Red. The thought of confronting Tallest Purple and ordering him (Mik had no doubt that Tallest Purple would refuse to cooperate and he would have no other choice) to allow access to his PAK to shift through his memories...it made Mik shiver in fear. His authority would not last forever and Mik had no doubt that Tallest Purple would not let such an act go without revenge. Mik had been lucky that Tallest Red had been cooperative thus far, he wasn't going to push his luck.

"Good," Red acknowledged after the medic nodded and he held up his second finger. "Secondly, you will remove any and all observation equipment from our chambers; no video, no audio, nothing. Even computer monitoring must be shut off. Access to the computer's assistance will only be connected if we establish it first. We'll call if we need anything, or if anything is wrong. Otherwise we will be left completely alone and with complete privacy."

"But it has only been myself in observation. And nothing has been recorded but my own memories in my PAK. Offspring from two Tallest is of up most importance to the Control Brains and I have been entrusted with the safety and success of this task," Mik protested.

"Look here," Red poked him repeatedly on the forehead. "Nothing will be successful knowing that we're being watched. It will take all my skills as a Tallest and as a former Elite soldier to coax—or trick—Purple back into interacting with me again after your interruption and your admittance to watching us. If you want this to be successful you will leave us alone, completely alone. Got it?"

Mik rubbed his bruised forehead. He did see the logic in his matter. Many other species copulated in private, however that didn't stop him from feeling disappointed as a scientific medic. With a resigned sigh, Mik nodded again. He would have to make due with a personal account from Tallest Red. Taking out a screen from his PAK, Mik entered in a code to disable all observations and computer monitoring.

"It is done," Mik said a bit sad.

"Good. And if I find out otherwise, that you have gone back on our deal, I will make your existence so full of suffering and pain that you will be begging me to throw you out the airlock," Red threatened. Mik's eyes went wide with fear and he vigorously nodded his understanding. Red glared at him once more time for good measure before smoothing his expressions and crossing his arms. He could feel a slight blue tint come back to his face and did his best to keep a neutral expression. "I'll answer your question about before now. What I asked for winning our game wasn't to mate, but to... well..." Red could no longer maintain eye contact and found a spot on the wall to inspect. "Touch Pur's antenna."

Mik took mental note of Red's sudden change in demeanor and the shortened form of Tallest Purple's name.

"I'll admit," Red continued, the blue on his face spreading. "That since seeing the vid I was a little curious. I wasn't entirely convinced that it would be as the vid said, but it didn't hurt him and it was soft and warm to the touch, much different from grooming my own. Purple seemed to be reacting to the touch too, judging from what happened next, I think it was a pleasant sensation for him.

"I was going to stop, going farther hadn't been my goal, I just was curious. But then there was this sweet alluring scent, better than doughnuts, coming from Purple. It made my own antennae itchy and I felt...hungry," Red side-glanced at Mik as he said this, Mik nodded thoughtfully.

"I will assume that you felt no desire to actually eat Tallest Purple," Mik said. "But rather a similarly intense feeling directed towards him, which triggered a mating response?" he asked to gain clarification.

Red thought a moment. "Maybe, I did feel an odd sensation in my spooch, like my organs were moving, and a similar feeling to the itching in my antennae. However, I wasn't thinking about mating, I just wanted to continue what we were going."

"Which was the interlocking of tongues," Mik said having observed that before his presence startled the two apart. "That is one of the pre-mating steps, which was explained in the vid. The feeling you described about hunger is—as I understand it—called 'lust', which is a desire to mate that is directed towards a particular individual. The scent..." Mik trailed off as he thought. "This might be unique to Irkens, and part of the mating process if it triggered a desire to mate. I wonder what results an analyzed sample would yield?" he mumbled and as soon as the words left his mouth Red's hand lashed out to grab at his throat.

"If you even try to get close to Purple I will tear you apart, Control Brain authority or not," Red said with a threatening hiss. "That scent, that taste is mine."

"O-Of course, M-My Tallest," Mik stammered as he struggled to breathe. "I believe this is enough for today. In exactly twenty-five hours I will check-in again. I...I will alert you of my presence first, next time."

Loosing his grip, Red let go of the struggling medic. "Fine. Go." Red watched him scamper away and out the door. He also heard the defining beep of the locking mechanisms being put back in place. They weren't confined to Purple's room anymore, however Red wasn't sure it that would help. After the way Purple closed the closet door, Red wasn't sure if his co-leader would ever be lured out again, even by snacks.

Sighing, Red went back to Purple's room to hopefully repair the damage the medic specialist had done. Even with the door unlocked, allowing Red to roam around their living space, he was positive that intense boredom would find him again. Red wasn't too sure about this 'lust' but one thing was for certain, he hadn't been bored.


Mik slipped away from Red and his menacing PAK legs and quickly left the Tallest Chambers. There were a few things he wanted to run by the human-Dib and get his opinion on. Mik had a few hypothesizes about Irken mating rituals and behaviors, one being increased aggression and possessiveness. Mik was a little worried about Tallest Red's behavior, it would not be good if Tallest Red attacked anyone who went near Tallest Purple, it would make co-ruling very difficult.

Narrowing his eyes in displeasure, Mik waited again for the human to stop laughing at him. Mik did not understand before, and he did not understand now, how the human could find such potentially dangerous and delicate situations humorous. Of course Zim was know for his rampant laughter so maybe the fact that they paired naturally made sense.

"Those poor bastards," Dib chuckled and Mik gave a scandalized gasp at the insult. Dib rolled his eyes. "Come on, I'm helping but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Those two have been dicks to Zim and they're trying to take over the universe. However, the fact they they're experiencing every teenage nightmare in the time span of two days does help ease the pain a little," the human grinned.

"Dib-human," Mik whined.

"Alright, fine. Spoil sport," Dib grumbled before sighing and getting back to the matter at hand. "I agree with you on the scent-thing. Zim often comments on my 'stink'," as he said this he wiggled two fingers on each hand up and down. Obviously, the gesture meant something but Mik had no idea what it was and in all honesty he didn't much care to learn the intricacies of the human dialect. "And sometimes when we're really into it I can almost get a whiff of a sweet smell coming from Zim. So yeah, the fact that they both strongly react to each others' scents is probably a mating thing. My guess would be something like pheromones, a particular chemical scent that some species on Earth give off to attract mates.

"As to the new possessiveness and aggression, I think that is probably normal and a very Irken thing. Irkens are greedy, possessive, selfish, self-centered, ego-centric, gluttonous creatures. It wouldn't surprise me if Irkens, in the middle of trying to attract a particular mate, wouldn't be above killing off potential rivals at least until a bond is made. Which," Dib scratched his chin in thought. "Might be something you want to consider for your breeding program-thing. Setting some ground rules and strictly enforcing them might be the only way to avoid massive bloodshed if you put all of your sexually stimulated Irkens in one room and just wait for them to pair off. Hey, if that does happen can you send me a vid of that? I'd be cool to watch an all out Irken vs Irken battle like that."

Mik gasped, completely taken back by the request. "Our aim is to create the next generation not cull our current one! And no! I would not send that to you. That is horrific and barbaric and—would you send me a vid of a full mating session in exchange?" Mik couldn't help but ask. As the human's face turned red, Mik smiled smugly. "I will take your warning into consideration. It might be best to have small groups of Irken mingle instead of the large group I had intended. I will also make note to separate interested and potential pairings away from the group until a mating occurs."

"Yeah," Dib cleared his throat. "Do that. Also the odd behavior you mentioned before, about them offering up highly coveted snacks to each other, I can understand your confusion. Like I mentioned before, you guys are gluttons and selfish and greedy and-"

"-Yes," Mik cut him off irritated. "I get your point."

"Yeah, so, that behavior is just... well... kind of cute," Dib said with a small shrug.

"Explain."

"Irkens, especially tall Irkens, view snacks as super important, life sustaining important, right?" Dib said and Mik nodded. "So the fact that Red-"

"-Tallest Red," Mik corrected.

Dib rolled his eyes, "Tallest Red offered a coveted snack to Tallest Purple and the gesture was returned...it's just a really cute thing that two people do when they want to make someone they like happy. I'd take it as a really good sign, they already have a unique bond and now that their sex-drive has literally been activated, it wouldn't surprise me if they came to experience what we humans commonly refer to as 'affection' or 'love' for each other. Making offerings and doing similar gestures for someone you're interested in is a common practice. Offering snacks to potential partners is a good way to entice the other to favor you more. I know I do it with Zim all the time. It's way easier to persuade him when he's happily munching on his favorite snacks."

"I KNEW IT!" a sudden yell came from behind Dib and off screen. Dib whipped his head around to the voice. "I knew there was a reason behind all the snacks! OH! YOU DECEIVING, CUNNING WORM-MONKEY! You just wanted to trick Zim!"

"No! Zim, that's not-"

"-LIES!" Zim's voice screeched making Mik flinch.

Dib hastily turned back to the screen as Zim continued to rant about filthy human lies. "We good?"

"Ye-" the connection was severed before Mik could finish. "-s," he said to the blank screen. Mik frowned at the screen. While he knew that Zim was...unique (to put it lightly), he just hoped that mated Irkens acted a little less...Zim-like. Sighing, he dialed in the code to contact his team waiting for the arrivals on Irk. They were going to have to make some more adjustments to their program.

Mik wondered if he did the right thing in severing his observations of the Tallest. While the data was invaluable, his Tallest's mental well-being was more so, especially Tallest Purple as he would be the smeet carrier. Mik would just have to trust that Tallest Red knew his co-leader well enough to make the correct decisions, he also hoped that the human's musings on 'affection' proved to be right. A deeply-bonded pair of Tallest would certainly be of benefit to the Empire.


*shakes head* Dib, Dib, Dib, don't give away your seduction techniques where Zim can hear you.