Chapter 10
To War (or something like that)
Zim POV
As I approached the Dib-stink's garage, I found him already tinkering with Tak's former ship. As he did, I could see the frustration in his face, which was made more visible when veins began to appear on his big head.
"Damn it!"
He then pulled his head out and looked toward me, irritated.
"A little help would be appreciated! It's your technology, after all."
Annoyed, though slightly entertained, I joined Dib at the ship. I examined the wiring and the computer system, checking to see if there was anything broken or odd. It didn't take long to find out what was wrong. I growled in irritation.
"What's wrong now?" Dib called out.
"This is far from anything of mine, Dib-stink. Tak is a technical genius. She's rerouted everything on her ship to create her own system. It makes it near impossible for anyone to break in and take control. Possibly the only thing she did keep the same was the personality downloader!"
"Oh! Well that's just great! How in the hell can we…"
In the midst of his ranting, Dib stopped. A look of realization dawned on his face.
"Wait! Her own system!" He whispered, eyes alight.
His shock had turned to interest and he left the area, leaving me angry and confused.
"What the hell are you doing now?"
Dib then began to type furiously on his primitive toolbox of a laptop, focused on whatever equations he was typing.
"If she has her own system, which means that she has her own coding. It's like a computer's fingerprint. No doubt her ship would have to submit some signals in order for her to contact you so easily..."
I scowled at him for reminding me of the message I had destroyed earlier. But still, I was intrigued as to what he was coming up with.
"Usually, we'd still be unable to find her digital fingerprint, because her signals will be under the radar- no one else will be using the same kind. It's like trying to tune into a radio station," Dib explained.
"Except her exact frequency is one out of one hundred billion. It would be damn near impossible to find with no prior information."
I gave him a cold stare; what was the point of telling me this was unachievable? He was just wasting valuable time. I clenched my fists, ready to knock some sense into his gigantic head. But the human wasn't done.
"But we've got her own ship. All I need to do is find the transmitting frequency of the ship and then search for that same signal up in the air. We should be able to pinpoint her location, as long as she hasn't changed her system in any way... or she didn't think to bounce her transmission off of multiple hosts like satellites or computer routers here on Earth."
Despite that this was my enemy I was talking about, that idea of Dib's was pure genius. It would have taken me at least a week in my current state before I could have figured out something like that. But…I'm still better than him.
However, there was one thing about that plan that has bothered me. What if Tak purposely changed her system or used multiple transmissions to keep us off her track? Not good. As far as I was able to see it, we would have to have a steady, reliable signal if we were to track them down. And what if Tak's base was a form of a maze? There could not possible be a way to track her with so much electrical interference.
Wait a minute. Track. That's it!
I turned to Dib, taking out a small radar from my PAK and handing it to him.
"Dib-stink, I just remembered something. When I tended Samantha's wounds on the day of her fight, I place a tracking chip inside her. Chances are, Tak would try to lead us off the trail or jam the signal. But…the tracking chip is of my own design, just like Tak's ship. We can use the frequency to find them, but we would have to use the ship's long-range radar if Tak has taken her to somewhere farther than the city."
Dib-stink looked at the radar for a moment, hesitating to take it. I had to shove it in his greasy monkey hands to get him to continue thinking. He took a look at the radar before he hooked it up to his laptop.
"Normally, I would say that is creepy and extremely wrong. But this time I say that's brilliant."
As the human continued to merge the radars and examine Tak's system, I worked furiously on the parts of the ship that needed an organic limb to be fixed. And since coming here, that meant everywhere.
I didn't bother to ask Gaz for help. Knowing her, if I did, she would rip out my spine and send me to one of her mysterious, yet horrifying nightmare worlds.
So, for my bride's safety and for my spine, I left Gaz be, letting her to continue to play her GameSlave 5.
After an hour of excruciating physical labor, I heard Dib's voice yell.
"Got her!"
My eyes widened at the sound of those wonderful words. I quickly ran out of the ship and over to Dib, eager to see where Tak took my mate-to-be. The human pushed me back as he printed off a map detailing the location of the devious Invader and her prisoner.
"According to your tracking chip, Tak's new base is on the moon. The dark side of it, to be accurate. It seems that she set up her base there, thinking that it would be the last place you'd look."
He then held the map in front of me, a look of seriousness on his face.
"Well?"
I narrowed my eyes and took the map.
"Make copies for yourself and Gaz. I'll send one of my fighter ships that I've been working on for Gaz to use. You, on the other hand, will take Tak's ship. No doubt that we can use her personality downloader to our advantage, and you will have access to her weaponry at the same time."
He then raised an eyebrow. "What about you?"
"I will hurry back to my nest and take another of my most powerful fighter ships. How about we rendezvous at the western outskirts of the city?"
Dib nodded in agreement. He then pointed a finger at me.
"But…if you so much as harm Sam, I will personally dissect you."
I nodded in response to his false threat. There was no way in hell that I would harm my bride.
But before I could head out, there was one matter I had to tend to: Gaz.
Looking to her, I managed to ask her, interrupting her 'personal time'.
"What about you, Gaz? Are you ready for this?"
She placed her GameSlave into her pocket before speaking.
"Just be sure to stay the hell out of my way."
With that as my final answer, I left the Membrane residence and returned to the Lexus. Once I returned home, I removed my disguise and placed on my battle uniform. Even though I was no longer a part of the empire, I kept the style similar. My shirt was the same pattern and similar design as my Invader uniform, only shorter. I had black pants and knee-high, steel-toed boots. As I donned my black gloves, I entered the hanger.
Once there, I entered my best fighter. It was a cross between an Irken battleship and an 'Earthanoid' fighter jet. It was blood red and had black markings.
As I readied my fighter, I commanded Computer to take out a similar ship and paint it black and violet. Hey, I don't want Gaz to shoot me in the abyss that is space because she didn't like the coloring.
After the jet was painted, I typed in a code that would cause the second jet to follow me. Once I was off with the two jets, I headed for the rendezvous point.
Just hold on, Samantha. I'm coming.
Samantha's POV
As I slowly regained consciousness, I felt the stab of a throbbing migraine coming on.
Ugh…What happened?
While I thought that, my vision slowly cleared. Once it did, my eyes widened at what I saw.
It was a laboratory similar to Zim's, except that this had more of a darker violet and red hue while Zim's was lighter. The technology here was far more advanced than what Zim had as well. And as I scanned the area, I noticed a three-story dome-like window, giving me a view of the vastness of space.
What the hell?
As I tried to look further, I noticed that I had woken up standing. I knew that as much to know that that was not normal. Looking at myself, I noticed that I had iron shackles wrapped around my wrists and my ankles. The softness of my blue sweater gave my wrists some sort of padding against the chafing metal, but the socks underneath my blue jeans lent little comfort from the shackles.
I began to struggle and I heard the sound of cackling coming from the window ahead. I looked down and I saw Tak. Since I only know two Irkens on Earth, I knew immediately that that was her.
"T-Tak?"
Tak then turned around, her eyes now filled with malice and insanity as she grinned.
"Ah. So you have finally woken up. You humans are a truly a creature of Sloth."
She then approached me. Her movements reminded me of a jungle cat stalking its prey.
"But then again, you do have your uses."
I struggled, disliking the situation more and more by each passing minute.
"Tak! Why did you bring me here!"
"Simple. I still need your help."
I looked at her, confused baffled.
"Wait. 'Still?' What are you talking about? You helped me, remember?"
It was with that remark that made Tak cackle.
"You thought I was helping you? An inferior human!"
She continued to screech with laughter.
"Please. I was helping myself. The way you took on Zim. Priceless."
Each time she opened her mouth, I found myself getting even more agitated. What the hell did she want? Seeing my irritation and confusion, Tak continued.
"Oh. Your dear, sweet lifemate didn't tell you about me? Well, that's just rude of him. Oh well. I might as well tell you. Since you are going to be my slave once I finish Zim."
"But why are you doing this? I don't know what Zim has done to you, but I haven't done anything!"
"Oh, you didn't. I'm just using you as bait for the time being. After all, he still loves you."
Tak then exploded.
"Pathetic! That is not how an Invader conquers a planet. Whether by orders of his empire or himself."
She looked to the screen.
"Tell me, Samantha. Did Zim ever tell you why he was sent to Earth."
"To invade it. Like you said."
"Ha! That was what he thought. No, my dear. The reason he is on Earth is because he is in exile."
My rage subsided with curiosity and a gut feeling I wasn't going to like this.
"Exile?"
"Yes. You see, Zim has always been a screw-up. From the moment he was activated, he was a menace. A defect. Yet, he managed to become an Invader, taking my rightful place as one of the Elite!"
"What do you mean by 'taking your rightful place?'"
Turning to a console, Tak continued.
"When I was taking the entrance exams for becoming an Invader, my testing was destroyed by a blackout that Zim caused. I had pleaded with the Control Brain to allow me to retake the exam. But the next exam would not come for me for seventy years. I was then placed on the janitorial squad. I was sent to clean up Planet Dirt. But I escaped, creating my own ship and began to search for the idiot that shot down my chance to fulfill my destiny.
"I then traced him to Earth six years ago by learning about the Great Assigning and that Zim was sent here for exile. The reason? He had become too much of a nuisance for the empire to handle. And since The Almighty Tallests didn't know about Earth at the time, my people thought that he was sent to oblivion."
Tak then turned to me.
"After finding him, I attempted to take his mission. Even though it was only for exile, I found I could use Earth to win the Tallests good graces. But, your pathetic husband-to-be along with the Membrane brats found my base and ruined my S.I.R. I had to flee Earth for a while. With my plan ruined, I began work on tending to Mimi and to this very base. And I'll tell you…reprogramming my robot after retrieving a virus from that impudent tin can of Zim's took at least five years. Five years of excruciating torment!"
"So…What's that got to do with me being here?" I asked.
Tak smirked.
"Simple. The day I reapplied to that city's idiotic school was the first day of my new plan of vengeance. Not just for taking my place as an Invader, but for the humiliation and torment from six years ago as well. However, I had retrieved information from Mimi that Zim was now finally aware of his banishment. And…that he became a Carzis. An Irken with an alien lifemate."
She then approached me with insanity glowing in her violet eyes.
"You see, my dear, before he came here, Zim had no known weakness. That is…until you came to the set."
She then pulled on the collar of my sweater, bringing me down to her eye level.
"You have given him a weakness. A weakness so weak, it is hilarious."
"What about the tape you gave me? What about all of the other things you've said?" I snarled, hatred for this alien burning in my veins.
"Oh that?" She then threw her head back, laughing hysterically.
"You've actually fell for that cheap trick! Talk about stupidity at its prime. That was a plan to separate you from Zim. I knew that once Zim noticed my return, he would go to great lengths to keep you safe. So I had to work on a trick to get you out into the open. Once I had learned about your fight with that behemoth, I found the perfect opportunity."
She then smiled wickedly. "And you know what else? After you said all those things to him, I found him on the verge of committing suicide!"
Those words hit me like a speeding train. Zim? Killing himself? Because of me? I mean, I was angry with him, but I never wanted anyone to commit suicide.
In a moment of steadiness, I told Tak, "You're lying. If you lied about the tape, why should I believe you about Zim trying to take his life?"
She then pressed a series of buttons, bringing something on the holographic screen.
"Here's the transmission I did earlier. I was saving it for entertainment purposes, but I guess it can be proof too."
From where I was held, I watched the screen. Frame by frame, my heart dropped. And it didn't help seeing a knife to his throat. In his eyes, I saw tears. It looked like he had been crying harder than anyone I knew. Harder than myself.
Once the transmission was done, I was almost shutdown: unable to keep steady from the shock of what I had seen. Turning off the monitor, Tak began to walk to a door.
"No doubt he'll come here to rescue his beloved bride. And what will make this vengeance even sweeter is that he'll no doubt bring the Membrane brats with him. Well…might as well get ready to greet them."
She then left me alone in the dimmed room. For which I was grateful. Because once she left, I had no strength left to keep back my tears. Lowering my head, my sniffling soon became hiccups to hard sobbing.
How could I have been so stupid? Why did I say such hurtful things? Why didn't I have the tape examined before I did all those things to him? Right then, I felt like the biggest jackass in the universe.
"Oh God, Zim. I'm so sorry."
I thank my Beta, FeatherPen18.
On Earth, Our hostess, DD, marches in front of a flag, dressed in an army general's uniform.
DD: Alright, Fangirls and Fanboys! This...is the calm before the storm. The silence before the bang! The peanut butter before the Jelly!
*Fans sweat-dropped at that last statment*
DD: No doubt in the next chapter, Zim, Dib, and Gaz will put their lives on the line to rescue one of Earth's own. As loyal fans, We WILL...Support them. WE WILL...pray for them. WE WILL...shoot Tak's weaponry out of the sky.
*Fans begin to cheer*
DD: Now! Load your bazookas! Ready your ships! Go to the bathroom a.s.a.p! Because THIS...IS WAR!
*Fans roar in excitment as the Loyal Fans of Zimness (L.F.Z) ready for battle.*
DD: *points rider's crop to reader* YOU! Read this fic and review! If you flame...IT'LL BE BAZOOKAS UP YOUR ASS! NOW DROP AND GIVE ME 20!
Random Irken: Ok. This chick definatly watched too many episodes of M*A*S*H.