Wooooo~ Okay, peeps, here's the new chapter. But I should warn you I do refer to information mentioned in the unfinished episode The Trial, and it might be handy for you have read the script of it before you read this (although you don't actually need it to understand). It can be found online if you google it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Invader Zim or any of its characters. I am not making a profit off of this and the views expressed in this story on the Irken PAK and society are not necessarily shared with the original creator - Jhonen Vasquez - and are my own personal opinions and takes on the race. Thank you.


Key:
Normal Text = Irken
Italics = Stressed
Bold = Extra Stressed :P
Underline = English


Chat with Fluffy Bunnies

"Oh no, you are correct on the timing. We've just made this a bit more public of an event. Surely you and your Dib are okay with this." Tallest Red smirked and gestured to the crowd.

Zim narrowed his eyes slightly as he bowed again, opting not to say anything. He straightened and was about to begin the formalities when he was interrupted by a suddenly curious Tallest.

"Hey, hey! HEY! Zim, where's your SIR unit...GIR was it?" There was a moment of silence after Tallest Purple's outburst. Zim opened his mouth and he blinked while taking a breath to answer.

"Please. Purple, now is not the time for that." Tallest Red shook his head at his co-leader and gestured for Zim to continue with his previous duties unhindered. Invader Zim cast a glance at Dib, who just shrugged, and let his breath out before taking in new air.

"My Tallests, I, Invader Zim of Irk, would like to present to you the Dib-human of Earth. Dib, I would be honored to present before you the Almighty Tallests Red and Purple." He gestured to each person as he said their name, keeping his antenna respectfully low. He waited for Dib to follow through his piece.

"It's an honor, Almighty Tallests. I don't doubt your superiority." Dib bowed low at the waist and added the theatrical flare that Zim had fancied.

You could see the leaders chests puff out slightly and the smirks on their faces increase at the stroke of ego. Zim smiled to himself.

"Good. You shouldn't." Purple nodded. Red scrutinized the human silently. Hovering forward, Purple also studied the strange being. "It's ugly. I don't like it." He huffed and hovered away in a dismissive air as Dib almost face-palmed. Zim's eye twitched and Red laughed slightly.

"You're not supposed to like it." Red's smile immediately dropped as he took his turn to approach the Dib. "Dib." He studied the ripple run throughout the human's frame at the slide of it's name - it was intimidated. Red let loose a smirk with an underlying promise for entertainment that set Zim on edge. "You're of decent height. Tell me, how smart is your race?" Dib took a moment to shake off the cloudiness that came with being so close to the red Tallest. There was something about this one that made him feel cornered and in danger.

"Uh, my race does not compare height to intelligence." Tallest Red narrowed his eyes and Dib panicked slightly. "However, I am positive that none are as tall or smart as you." Zim praised the Dib in his mind for the smooth cover.

There was a mumbled "obviously" from Tallest Purple.

"Fascinating." Tallest Red rubbed his chin with a long, slender finger. Dib figured that this may be a good time to offer the snack they brought. He didn't know what a box of cereal would do, but Zim was so keen on the idea. Dib gave a sideways glance to the Invader and nudged his backpack with his elbow, silently asking if this was a good time. When Zim's eyes lit up with understanding and he nodded subtly, Dib turned his gaze back to the Tallest in front of him.

"Excuse me, Almighty Tallest Red, but I have brought a small offering for you both. If I may present it to you now, I would like to just get it from my backpack." At first the leader looked annoyed at being addressed but then he grew curious. He waved a hand to signify it was okay as Purple came over at the word 'offering'. Dib pulled his backpack off and withdrew the box of cereal from it. Holding it out to them, he waited.

Purple eye's widened slightly. Red looked at it apprehensively, like it might explode.

"Ooo, what is it?" Purple poked at the box. Dib smiled a little, almost forgetting that these were leaders of a dangerous race out for galactic conquest that were acting almost innocently.

"It's a snack." That's all that Purple needed to hear as he snatched the box away. Red watched as Purple tore the top off and took the plastic bag out. He could see little round brown things but he couldn't get to them. The purple Tallest pouted as his gently poked at the plastic. Dib held back his laugh, but he did smile. "Tallest Purple, if you open just the top of the bag, you can eat it."

The leader scoffed and put one hand on his hip armor.

"I knew that!" He then proceeded to eye the bag again before carefully ripping open the plastic. When the small round snacks were opened, sensitive antenna quickly picked up on the sugary goodness it held. Purple's eyes grew big and scooped a few directly into his mouth. Red took a single piece between his two long fingers and looked at it carefully.

"It looks like a mini cookie." Purple's antenna perked up at Red's comment.

"It tastes sorta like a cookie." Zim carefully studied his leaders faces. They seemed pleased with the snack despite acting like it was insignificant. Purple scoffed.

"Lame. We could totally shrink our cookies." Red agreed and Dib was confused.

"Why would you shrink large cookies when you can just make them small originally?" Everyone just looked at the human like he was stupid, and Zim with a bit of a horrified expression.

'Dib, for once in your life, please don't make people hate you. I'm not on stable terms here either, you just don't know it yet.' Zim was pleading in his mind for Dib to shut up. Luckily, the Tallests just seemed to chalk it up to stupidity rather than insolence. Tallest Purple broke the moment by suddenly shoving more cookies in his mouth.

Seeing as he soon wouldn't get any, Red reached over and stole some of the snack - Purple sticking his tongue out at the thief before returning all his attention to the task of eating.

Red returned his scrutinizing stare to the human, occasionally popping a small cookie into his mouth. Seemingly coming to a decision, he floated over to a hovering screen and poked at it - a large, floating, mechanical ball came from the wall, zoomed over and scanned the flinching Dib. It quickly returned to where it had come from and the screen by the leader was flooded by rolling information. The more Tallest Red analyzed the data, the more he smiled. He was eventually laughing to himself.

"So horribly flawed. It's almost unbelievable. You'd be very easy to simply... break." The Tallest clicked his teeth shut and snapped his two fingers together, making like he was cracking some bones, and shot Dib with a pointed gaze. A chuckle ripped through the audience as Zim stiffened, unnoticed. The constant ignorable itch in his PAK buzzed to an all new level of alarm. He stared down his leaders, checking for suspicions like the paranoia demanded.

Dib felt like melting discreetly into the wall, but the Tallest went on.

"For all the organs you have, they're not doing a great job at getting all the necessities - your cells are lacking a bit of the basics they need to function. So much waste as well." The Tallest tsk'ed lightly as he read more off the screen. "Oh, and look, this organ is not even doing anything. It's practically useless, you could live without it. Why is it there? We could take it out for you, if you wish." Red grinned widely and hovered over to his co-leader who had resorted to uncontrollable chuckling, the sugary snack consumed and no longer providing its meager protection from Tallest Purple. Dib shuffled his feet awkwardly and he pressed a hand against his side where his appendix lay underneath.

"Really, it's okay. I don't wish to trouble you or dirty your equipment." Dib's voice was soft with a hint of sarcasm. While the Tallests were intimidating at first, they hadn't seemed terrible. Now, they were being almost rude. He knew he had useless organs, but no species was perfect, not even Irkens!

"No, really, we insist." Purple almost purred.

Dib blinked.

Metal hit metal.

Then metal hit flesh.


Cloaky and Goatee Bug hadn't had the time to think of a fool-proof plan, but the one they had would work. It had to.

They had gone to the air ducts that fed oxygen to all parts of the ship. They followed the sounds of whispers echoing through the tunnels and carefully made their way to over The Hall. The pathway was bigger here, as there was more air needed for the masses of assembled Irkens. They looked down through the grate, saw the tops of hundreds of Irken heads and assumed that this must be the audience. They could hear the Tallests speaking further down.

"For all the organs you have, they're not doing a great job at getting all the necessities - your cells are lacking a bit of the basics they need to function. So much waste as well."

Cloaky hated that tone. Whoever the unfortunate soul was that was being ridiculed, she only hoped that they could use the distraction as a get away and maybe go off and find Lard Nar.

Both the rebels quickly crawled further down the duct. They stopped at the next few grates to chart their progress as the conversation went on below.

"Oh, and look, this organ is not even doing anything. It's practically useless, you could live without it. Why is it there? We could take it out for you, if you wish."

Goatee Bug almost growled. The jerks...

"Really, it's okay. I don't wish to trouble you or dirty your equipment." The one being questioned made a retort and the rebels were not sure whether to be amused or scared. No doubt they weren't going to get away with that.

They came over a large grate and could see the railing of the balcony as well as people on the upper level. There was the two Tallests, Invader Zim, the must-be Resisty member, and only two guards off to the side. The grate was not directly above them, but if the Tallests moved over to the railing it would be perfect.

It was maddening how lax they were. Did they not fear a threat at all? Cloaky purely resented them. She looked down on the scene and watched carefully for their opening, but what she witnessed next was fast, dangerous, and not what she was expecting.

"No, really, we insist." Purple cooed and shot a cord from his PAK straight at the pale alien with the single antenna. She cringed expecting the poor thing to be impaled. However, Zim - showing surprising reaction time, strength, and even caring for reasons Cloaky was sure she couldn't fathom- shot out his own metallic leg and pierced through Purple's cord and then into the wall. With the leg effectively trapped, the original target was saved.

But, just as quickly as Zim had stopped Purple, Red responded to the threat against his co-leader. Soon his PAK leg was impaled in the Invader's shoulder.

A gasp rang through the crowd as Zim growled in pain, grasping the metallic PAK cord the connecting him to his Tallest Red.

The rebels didn't understand. The Invader Zim had just acted out against his leaders to protect a non-Irken alien. The whispers were right, this was turning out to be an interesting meeting indeed.


If not for the fact that Zim had been so increasingly focused on his leader's every movement, analyzing it for suspicion, he would have missed the subtle signal.

There was a slight shift of weight that gave the PAK a more direct shot at Dib. That increasing itch in Zim's PAK exploded into a whirlwind that directed his PAK leg to stop the threat against the human. Zim recognized in the back of his mind that this impulsiveness just signed his death warrant, but it had all happened in the blink of an eye.

Zim's spider leg was impaled through Purple's and Red's was embedded in the Invader's shoulder. Zim groaned and dropped to his knee's in pain. The Irken's pink, life-sustaining fluid dripped onto the floor. The pain was like a wave temporarily clearing away the dizzying conflicting emotions. When it occurred to him what the hell he had just done, and the severity of his betrayal in front of an audience, Zim stared at his spider leg like it didn't belong to him. He could feel the Dib staring at him as well. Zim wasn't aware of the crowd shocked into silence - this couldn't be real. It had to be a dream because this couldn't happen.

Zim was snapped back to the cruel reality as Red's PAK leg twisted in his deltoid, splashing more pink blood on the balcony floor. He winced both from the pain and from his leaders piercing glare.

"Let go, Zim." Tallest Red's voice was deliberately slow and clear, promising pain if not heeded. Zim tried. He really physically tried to remove his spider leg from Purple's. But, there was that something that refused to budge. It was that irrational forced indulgence in his paranoia that kept him there against rational thought. Its traitorous voice whispered that his leaders were not to be trusted - that they were not good enough leaders. If he let go, he knew that there would be repercussions to face and they were likely to attack him. The whisper called for a fight for dominance. It new Zim could win...he ached to take the challenge...

"I can't." Zim's voice was strained as he was fighting the urge to stand up to his Tallests. He was talking to himself as much as he was them. He couldn't fight them, and he couldn't not fight them.

"Yes, you can! Just let go, let go! Let Go! letgoletgoletgoletgoletgo!" Tallest Purple had a mini-tantrum as he struggled against Zim's hold, pulling back on unobliging cord.

Zim just lowered his head and hugged his torso, clamping his hands onto his sides - trying to contain the feelings raging inside him that were building with Purple's struggles. The more the Tallest proved he couldn't pull away, the stronger the itch's argument became.

Tallest Red became aware of the increasing growl from the Invader and stopped putting pressure on the leg impaled in him. When the vibrations started reaching him through the leg from the shaking invader, he shushed his co-leader.

"Purple, wait." Red's tone commanded the halt of the tantrum. Both Tallests observed the growl take on a pained tone and Zim curling in farther. The Invader's hands were inching towards his PAK now - obviously the source of the problem. Red knew that this could possibly turn dangerous. PAK malfunctions could make an Irken physically strong, but at the cost of being mentally unstable.

According to the dissected PAKs of previous deactivated defects, the point of insanity was caused by weak PAK circuits fried by primitive emotions. These strong impulsive feelings sometimes occurred if there was a mutation in the synthesized DNA after it's already been inserted into the PAK. With the DNA in the PAK no longer being a perfect match to the DNA in the body, the PAK could not work in perfect harmony. Depending on the type of mutation, the gene and protein codes were read differently by the mechanical RNA and the programming could no longer achieve maximum proficiency.

These emotions could push the functions of the PAK past what most Irkens were capable of, but the price was your sanity and superiority. You could not logically be part of the superior Irken race if you still held the same emotional tendencies as your primitive ancestors.

Zim was undeniably strong, and the Tallests knew that they could no longer disregard this fact as his mental stability was definitely questionable.

But then again, both Tallests wondered how far they could push him.

Dib had been left forgotten until he made a move towards his friend/enemy. He approached cautiously but confidently. Dib had always viewed Zim as a bit of a wild animal (the awesome animal you want as a pet but can't because it's too dangerous), so he approached like you would a wounded wolf.

Zim's antennae perked up as Dib's footsteps got closer and the alien snapped his head up to glare at the oncoming possible threat. Dib paused and raised his hands slowly to show he meant no harm. After a moment of Zim glaring at the boy, his antennae lowered and he returned his head to its hanging position. Dib proceeded slowly forward and eventually crouched next to the kneeing Irken.

Dib scanned Zim's form. It seemed that his PAK was troubling him. The human didn't know much about an Irken PAK, but he did know that Zim needed it to live - it was like an external brain. Which meant...Zim had a headache?

Dib wasn't sure exactly what to do, but if he looked at it from a headache point of view then rubbing his temples sometimes helped. Okay...so where was a PAK's temples? Dib scanned all around the PAK and noted the three slightly glowing, neon pink spots as well as the embedded edges where metal met skin underneath the pink fabric. If he had to guess, the spots were more temple-like but the fact that he had seen weapons come out of them kept him hesitant. Lightly with his index finger, Dib traced the pink spots, keeping his attention on both the PAK and Zim's reaction.

Zim's antenna twitched but there was no other visible response. Dib wondered if maybe he couldn't feel it. He let his hand wander to the junction of metal and skin. Zim's body stiffened, and Dib paused. When there was no indication to continue or stop, the human took the risk and started rubbing lightly. Never before had he seen Zim break down so hard, and it slightly scared him. Whatever was wrong, maybe he could help alleviate it.

As if reading his thoughts, Red spoke.

"You cannot help him." Dib looked up when he heard the cold voice, only to be meet by a colder gaze.

"I can try." 'I'm sure it's more that you've ever done.' Dib didn't want to deal with these stuck up leaders anymore. It was their attack on him that drove Zim off the deep-end. Everyone knew Zim had a screw loose, why would you test how long it would hold?

"He's a monster." Purple spat. "Defective." Zim's body cringed.

Zim had only been half paying attention - and he was never going to tell Dib how relaxing that small touch around his PAK was - but that blunt statement cut through the false security. Zim was almost fearful of what Dib would say. To find that your greatest enemy on Earth was the defective slop of Irk must be saddening, if not maddening.

"I don't care. Now, do you know what is happening to him or not?" The Tallests narrowed their eyes and Purple almost moved forward to reprimand the human before he was reminded by his co-leader not to move.

"Purple. Wait for stability." Everyone knew that he was talking about the Invader and his mental situation. Usually they wouldn't have to worry about an Irken attacking one of their one, much less a Tallest, but Zim was not unknown to kill Irkens and already had a reputation of two Tallests under his belt. If they set him off, the defective could cause an immense problem. Zim's tendency to destroy everything he touched was no longer going to be shrugged at. "As for Zim, yes, we know what's going on and, no, no one can save him." Red continued.

"Tell me what's happening. I have a right to know." Dib stayed defiant.

"You do not!" Purple almost screeched. Red just smirked.

"A PAK is a machine combined with Irken biology. The PAK records all feelings, emotions and it also controls, or at least helps, most involuntary life-sustaining processes. Zim was suited with a damaged I.D. PAK. There was a mutation in the DNA in his PAK and as a side-effect, he has the primitive emotions of our inferior ancestors that battle with the Irken training chips that tell him that he should be above such imperfections. Basically it comes down to extreme paranoia and blood-lust. The constant contradiction of orders from his PAK eventually drives the defective insane." Dib glowered at the leader who dared sound amused by such a thing.

Under his hand, the defect in question chuckled.

"You ever have an itch that you can't scratch?" Dib was a bit disturbed at Zim's words, but at least the Irken seemed to be calming down a bit. "You ever gotten one on the inside of your brain?" The dry chuckle came again.

It was only after this enlightening moment of dark mirth that Invader Zim suddenly pulled his spider leg out of Tallest Purple's, releasing it with a sharp metallic 'shhrrk' that made everyone jump. Standing, Zim brushed Dib off and stepped back, ripping the PAK cord from his shoulder. More pink blood spilled on the floor and soaked his shirt as Zim bowed to his leaders.

"I'm sorry, my Tallests. I was weak and allowed myself to act on instinct. I should not have."

Zim stayed with his head down as Purple scoffed.

"No, you shouldn't have. You shouldn't have even been allowed to survive. We have been extremely lenient with you but just haven't been able to go through the formalities to discard you yet. Your PAK should have been shut down and erased after Horrible Painful Overload Day when you clogged the Smeet Delivery Chute. Five years, Zim. FIVE YEARS of darkness for Irk just because you were born and information was downloaded into you." Purple pointed an accusing finger at the Invader.

Zim gave a tired chuckle.

"Why is no one impressed? Really, I've gone through all of the training. I became an Irken Elite and then an Invader. I also blew up the most. If Irkens are the best of the best and I can devastate them, then that makes me better than the average Irken and consequently better than anyone. I am AMAZING!" Zim threw his unhurt arm up and clenched his fist, only to get light-headed. "Ugh, Dib. I order you to remind me not to fight the urges again, it makes me tired." Zim knew he would need a good recharge after this.

The red Tallest twitched. He guessed there was some logic in that...

"But..." Tallest Red paused, "You've not had this much trouble before. We did not figure you to show these signs for many years to come." Zim looked off to the side, he did not want to tell his Tallests about the effect they had had on him.

"When I was...on Earth between your two important calls, my PAK had an overload. It reset and remolded my emotions to fit Invader training protocol as a self-preservation tactic." Tallest Red made an "o" face. It was understandable, Invaders had a strict emotional guard to handle what they would inevitable see and it was bound to make Zim crazier than usual if the PAK tried to curb his paranoia and massive blood-lust to fit that.

"That's no excuse! Before that you blew up stuff you weren't supposed to! You might as well be a traitor, you've killed a Tallest before - TWO of them! We've all seen your Replay when we had you on trial. You were sentenced a defect. We even tried to drain your PAK - and would do it again if we didn't know that it would fry the Control Brains!" Tallest Purple almost roared. Zim looked hurt, his antennae were flat against his head and he cringed away from his leaders. Dib looked on in anger - how could Zim's own leaders be so ungrateful?

"In fact: screw formalities! I say we just rip off your PAK now just to get you out of the way." Purple bared his teeth and unleashed his impressive spider legs, planning on ripping the smaller Irken to shreds.

Dib ripped his borrowed laser out from its hidey spot in the top of his pants, under his shirt. He aimed for the threatening leader and every pair of shocked eyes were on him.

"You wouldn't dare." Tallest Purple sneered and Tallest Red made ready to intervene.

Dib dared and fired a warning shot that singed Purple's mechanical PAK legs. The leader screeched and jumped back, pointing an accusing finger.

"He's crazy!"

"Shut up! Are you so ungrateful to him? He might have caused you trouble in the past, but he left my planet and came all the way here just to save your sorry asses! I've seen the transmission you sent! You asked for his assistance and now you stand here - after it's all done and you don't need him anymore - calling him a defect? Well tell you what, this defect just saved this civilization! Can't you just call it even?" Dib yelled nearly at the top of his lungs. He'd had enough of this shit. Zim simply stared in awe (and slight pride in the boy) while noting that Dib had a scary temper that they would need to work on. He really shouldn't go around shooting lasers at almighty leaders.

A murmur went threw the crowd. While peeved that he had threatened their leader's life, this gutsy non-Irken was right. For those who had arrived with Zim, in the excitement of everything else, they had forgotten that Zim was asked to do this as a special request from the Tallests themselves. For the ones who had been on the Massive, they had known that the Tallests made a call for backup but hadn't known it was to Zim specifically.

It was also true that this so-called defect almost killed off the Irkens in the past, but now he had saved them. Dib went over to the railing with a feeling of purpose- he could feel a current of air coming from the ceiling and it calmed him a bit. Zim had once stood before his race to advance Dib's standing and now maybe he could return the favor. Dib didn't believe he would ever get a chance like this again, and he was on an adrenaline high right now anyway.

"I know that I am not Irken and that you think of yourselves as superior to me. While that might be true, you should still listen to what I have to say. I've come here and seen how great this race is - it's advanced, smart, and completely different from mine in great ways. But my race calls me insane as well and it makes me hate my kind. Now I see you calling Zim insane, and it makes me realize:" He paused for dramatic effect. "Irkens are no better than my race! You're both stupid enough to not realize that insanity might not be a bad thing!" Dib might have gone on, but the audience will never know because he was interrupted by two voices.

"Dib..."
"Enough!"

Zim called Dib's name the moment Red boomed. The twitch in Zim's PAK flared as Red hovered menacingly over to the human and slapped the laser away. The invader would have attacked if not for Purple slamming a spider leg into his chest, knocking him back against the far wall near the door they had come in.

Dib swung his head around as he heard the impact. He saw Zim slide down the wall and the alien look up to glare at Red. The Irken's gaze landed on something above them. His expression changed from enraged to terrified.


Cloaky and Goatee Bug watched the meeting carefully. They were now aware that this pink alien and Zim seemed to have a strong relationship - it seems this thing was not Resisty at all. At least they didn't have to worry about not hurting him - a friend of Zim was an enemy of theirs. Cloaky cursed her previous thoughts of potentially saving the thing (although she had to admit, it had spunk).

The rebels watched the argument and the unknown alien make a persuasive stand for the defective invader. They watched the crowd share a collective contemplative murmur and Red approach the thing at the railing.

Both of the duct-dwellers tensed as the Tallest got unknowingly into position. They unsheathed their short knives (as it was all they had left to fight with) and got ready to break through the grate to drop on their target.


Dib looked up when he saw Zim's expression. He saw a grate above Tallest Red and himself, and his eyes connected with softly glowing white ones. Dib's mind clicked.

Resisty...

...Assassination!

There was a loud, thundering boom as two pairs of boots slammed against the grate, followed by creaks as it gave way.

Without thinking, Dib lunged forward.

"NO! DIB!" Zim's voice echoed in the dead silence as Dib's world exploded into pain.


Holy Shizzy, I know what happens and I'm still nervous for the Dibbeh. All is not well, my friends and if you want to know why, you'll have to give me a review - it makes me update faster if I know that people are actually reading and what they think. :P

Stay tuned next time for the new chapter : To Kill a Dib