"Tak, I understand that I wasn't there for you for several years," Zie said quietly. "And for that, I am deeply sorry."
Tak turned away from Zie, who was sitting in the pilot's seat of the small spacecraft.
"All I was trying to do was keep you safe. The Tallest wanted you gone, along with a couple of others. I managed to get Mik to help me… for a little while," she added. "However, it was all an elaborate plan to get the Empire to think that you were dead. You don't try to kill dead people."
Tak narrowed her eyes. Sure, it seemed logical… but…
Oh, who was she kidding…? Her mother was alive - after all of these years.
"I have information that… Quentin doubtlessly has already," Zie muttered. "The Massive's weapons will be down for enough time for me and my troops to fight our way to the Tallest… they won't even see it coming."
"And what do I do?" Tak asked.
Zie sighed. "I want you to stay safe. I think you should stay with Quentin again until it's finished."
Tak frowned. "But… Mom…" she said, testing out the word. It felt… rusty.
Zie sighed again. "I think that you'll be safer on the Rapture than on the Squish. Besides, don't you have friends on the Rapture?"
Tak snorted, but then thought about that statement seriously. Zie was obviously trying to appeal to what she thought her daughter was… but, in a sense, she was right. She could definitely say that Mint was her friend, albeit a strange, strange friend. Pepper was always nice to her, too. And Zim.
Without Zim, she wouldn't have been reunited with her father… or her mother.
Suddenly, a strange thought appeared in her mind.
"If you betrayed Father and returned to the Empire, why are you going to overthrow the Tallest?" Tak asked.
Zie was silent for a few seconds. "Well," she began. "I realized a few things."
When Tak saw no swift explanation, she pressed further. "Like?"
"Like… my time spying in the resistance made me start thinking," she said, rapping her fingers on the ship's dashboard. "It made me start thinking about how… idiotic the Empire was. I'd rather be led by Almighty Tallest Miyuki, may she rest in peace, than the two stooges."
Tak flinched at the casual insult directed at the almighty leaders of their civilization. She was still Irken.
"They weren't always like this, you know," Zie muttered. "I've heard rumors. I've confirmed a couple."
"For example?" Tak ventured.
"Well, I'm pretty sure that Purple developed some sort of terminal illness – something that affected his mind, too," Zie murmured. "Something with his brain. The doctors couldn't do anything about it, even though they tried. Rather than bring good news, they even said that Red might develop brain issues, too. That made Red give up, to an extent. Sure, he'll go along with whatever his advisors tell him to do – oversee an organic sweep, give a medal, cut a ribbon – but he used to be… better." She cleared her throat. "In fact, I've heard that Miyuki was almost like a mother to him."
Tak was surprised. She'd never heard that before, but, then again, gossiping about the ultimate leaders of your race was generally frowned upon.
…And punishable by death…
"Anyhow," she said, "we're almost to the Rapture. I'll hail them so they don't, you know, shoot us down." Zie clacked away on the ship's keyboard for a few seconds.
"This is the Rapture, state your business," someone muttered from the other end.
"This is Captain Zie, and I'm requesting permission to dock."
"Z-Zie?" the person yelled. There was a crashing sound, like they fell off their chair. "It's Quentin!"
"Oh, great…" Zie grumbled. "Listen, I'm just here to drop Tak off."
"Oh, you had her?" Quentin said in a relieved tone. "Oh," he said. "That'll mean she's realized that I've lied to her."
Tak cleared her throat, very loudly.
"What was that?" Quentin asked.
Tak walked over to where Zie was sitting and bent over the dashboard. "FATHER, I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU LIED TO ME!" Tak shouted into the receiver.
There was a high pitched whine of microphone feedback. "Ow," Quentin stated. "Docking… permission… granted…"
The Rapture steadily grew in size as their small ship neared it, and Zie skillfully flew it through the vacuum-resisting barrier, and into the landing bay. The ship hovered for a bit, and then came to rest on one of the platforms.
The side hatch on the ship opened upwards, and Tak and Zie clambered out and hopped onto the metal floor below.
Quentin dashed out of the elevator door near to where they were, and stopped before them, panting.
"How did you get here so fast?" Zie asked.
Quentin panted for a few more seconds. "Ugh… I… I'm…"
"Interesting," Zie remarked. "Anyhow, I was just letting you know that I plan on overthrowing the Tallest. You're welcome to assist me…"
Quentin scratched the back of his head. "Uh… yeah," he stated. "I can do that."
Zie chuckled. "Same silly, awkward Quentin…"
"Does this mean you're staying, this time?" Quentin asked.
Zie looked around for a moment. "Yes, I suppose I could. I can send my troops instructions from out here for the coup d'état…" She smiled, showing off her strange, sharp teeth.
"That still creeps me out," Quentin commented.
"I know," Zie breathed.
On the Massive…
"Ah, interesting," Red commented, gesturing to the screen.
"Yes, yes, yes… yes… no." Purple said. "Yes." He stuffed a donut into his mouth. "Mhm."
"Yes… it appears as though our favorite Captain Zie is little more than a scheming traitor. It was smart of you to suggest monitoring our own frequencies, Purple."
"What?" Purple asked.
"Indeed. You!" he shouted, pointing to a crewman.
"What'd I do?" the crewman shouted, fell on the ground, and started rolling about in the fetal position.
"Send the self-destruct codes to the Squish!" Red instructed. "They'll be destroyed before they even know we found out about their little plot…"
Two days later, on the Rapture…
"Alright, this is it," Tak said as she finished screwing in the last part of the SIR unit head casing. "MiMi?" she asked.
The SIR unit's eyes suddenly began to glow a deep purple, owing to Mint's custom SIR unit purchase.
"MiMi, reporting for duty," the robot said evenly, with a smart salute to Tak.
Tak's normally professional behavior around her robot vanished, and, without another word, she grabbed the now-surprised MiMi in a tearful hug.
"Awww…" Pepper and Mint said in unison, both sitting on Tak's bed.
"Woo! Now me and the kitty can watch tacos and eat the TV!" GIR screamed.
"That's 'watch the TV' and 'eat tacos', GIR," Zim muttered.
"Pfft. Maybe for you," GIR said slyly, in one of his rare moments of cleverness.
"Well, it looks like you have your little robot friend working," Quentin commented, standing next to Zie and Tak, who was still clutching her robot.
"What an interesting SIR unit… it looks like some kind of modified delta-series…" Zie commented.
"Custom SIR developed from Delta-series schematics: shock resistant armor with laser dispersing coating. Waterproof, fireproof, lightning-proof. Can function as a standard communications radio, a music player, a thermos, and a Panini oven. Comes with a fusion energy recycler, 'no more recharges, just turn it on and go'!" Mint recited, as if quoting a commercial. "And technically, it's not a SIR unit anymore. I trashed the Information Retrieval functions for something cooler. It's just a side function, but it makes the acronym sound awesome – she's now a PRO unit."
"A 'PRO' unit?" Tak asked curiously.
"Yep," Mint said. "A Premium Robotic Organist. She plays the piano!" Mint started laughing maniacally.
"Okay…" Tak muttered.
"Um… Master?" MiMi asked.
"Oh, geez, MiMi. Just call me Tak."
"Okay… Tak," MiMi said. "Where are we, who are these people, and why is that Zim person over there?"
Tak rolled her eyes. "Oh, MiMi. It's a really, really long story… but, he's on our side now. Everyone here is."
MiMi looked around and was met with a few grins and waves.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to my parents."
"Whaaaat?"