A/N: Sorry for the late update, but I kept getting sidetracked while trying to write this chapter. But I don't want to bore you with the details of my delay, so let's just get on with it.
And a quick warning, this chapter has a few bloody bits, with the Jana vs. Elite Guard fights. So if you're squeamish, you may want to skim over those parts.
Read on!
Disclaimer: The GESS and all other original characters belong to me. Everyone else belongs to Jhonen Vasquez.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Zim's Base, Communications Room
Jana leapt into the air, narrowly avoiding the spider legs aimed at her, and deployed her own while still in midair. Latching onto a ceiling cable with two of them, she aimed the other two and fired a large blast of energy at the Elite Guards below her. One was vaporized while attempting to jump away, while his partner was thrown clear across the room and into the wall. He attempted to pull himself up, but barely managed to get on his hands and knees before Jana's energy sword – flung from her spot on the ceiling – embedded itself in his head, nearly cleaving it in two.
The assassin dropped to the floor again, grinning wildly; she was in her element, and she was enjoying every minute of it. Seeing two more of the Guards standing nearby (one noticeably more nervous than the other), she extended her hand and wagged her fingers in the classical "come get me" motion. This simple act seemed to break what little resolve the nervous Guard had left, and he ran off screaming. Before he managed to go more than a foot, Jana pulled a disk out of one of her pockets and flung it at him; seconds after leaving her hand, the outer edge split into three pieces, each connected to the center by a thread of steel wire.
The high-tech bolo hit the retreating Guard right in the knees, wrapping around his legs and pulling them together. With his limbs locked in place, the poor Irken was sent flying, crashing hard on the metal floor. Jana grinned sadistically, then turned her attention back to the other Guard, who had been watching the whole exchange in wide-eyed shock.
"Next?" she asked sarcastically.
Yelling frantically, the Guard ran forward and began wildly swinging his lance at her. Jana calmly sidestepped each blow from the electrified tips of the weapon and used her arms to block its blunt sides; after a few moments of this stalemate she spun around in a complete circle, twirling her cloak as she did so. This simple action hid her movements from the attacking Guard, causing him to pause – it also had the added effect of hiding the spider leg she launched at him until it shot out and slashed across his face.
"GAH!" the Guard screeched, clutching at his mauled face. He was so distracted, therefore, that he was unable to block Jana's roundhouse kick that sent him sprawling to the floor, or the following series of blows to the head that nearly knocked him unconscious. As his vision blurred, the Guard noticed another one creeping up behind Jana, who was focused on the target at her feet.
The other Guard crept up on the green-eyed assassin, raising his lance in preparation to bring it down on her head. Jana didn't seem to notice as she drew her fist back… and at the last second shot it backwards, slamming it directly in the face of the Guard behind her. As he staggered back, Jana spun around and grabbed him by the collar; despite the fact that the Guard was at least fifty pounds heavier than her, Jana easily lifted him over her head, and then brought him down on the Guard she had been previously beating on. Before either of the two could reorient themselves, Jana launched her spider legs and skewered both of their PAKs.
Turning away from the dying Guards, Jana glanced over at the one she had tripped up before. As expected, he was attempting to cut himself free from the bolo, but his standard-issue knife wasn't doing any good. Noticing Jana smirking at him, he once again panicked – this time, he dropped the knife and activated his spider legs, scurrying away on them. Jana rushed after him, picking up his dropped knife as she did so. When she was only a foot or so away from her target, she leapt at him, her feet hitting him square between the shoulders, her sudden added weight causing the Guard's spider legs to give out.
The Guard only had time to grunt in surprise before Jana brought his own knife down on him, cutting into the base of his neck and severing his spine – along with the cords connecting his PAK to his brain. This was as effective a means of killing an Irken as destroying the PAK itself, as this method also stopped the PAK from controlling the body's life-support functions, leading to them shutting down.
Jumping away from her newest victim, Jana turned towards the only other Irkens in the room that were still alive – Gor and two of the so-called "Elite" Guard.
"Your Elite seem to be a little lacking, oh Tall One," Jana sneered as she slowly walked towards the Guard whose head was sporting her energy sword, "I'd suggest you upgrade your selection process… but then again, you won't be around for much longer, so why bother?"
Gor was sweating the equivalent of Niagara Falls, and was shaking so hard it was surprising that his armor wasn't falling off. The two remaining Guards placed themselves between him and Jana, crossing their lances in a desperate attempt to look intimidating; the only result of this action was Jana rolling her eyes.
"K-Kill her," Gor stammered as he quickly began backing away, "Kill her, kill her, kill her now!!"
The Guards extended their lances and dashed forward, but Jana was quicker. With one hand, she wrenched her energy sword free from the dead Guard's head and ran towards the two living ones, while with her free hand she pulled a long dagger out of a pocket of her cloak. The three of them grew closer and closer, and then at the last second Jana dropped to her knees, her momentum sending her sliding under the Guards' weapons and slipping between them. As the pair stopped and tried to turn around, the Shadow stabbed her weapons backwards, each one hitting a Guard in the PAK; the dagger sank in up to its hilt, and the energy sword burned all the way through the Guard's chest.
Leaving the dagger in place, Jana pulled the energy sword free with both hands and looked up in time to see Gor disappearing into a secondary elevator. Deactivating and pocketing her sword, she turned her attention to the ceiling.
"Just confirm this for me, computer," she said, "Does that elevator lead to the hanger?"
"Yes," the computer replied after a moment, shocked by the amount of carnage he had just seen a single Irken dish out, "Should I seal the hanger off?"
"Don't bother. He's not going anywhere," Jana said with a smirk. She then pressed a button on her wrist and sent a quick message to the spider drone she'd left in the hanger, telling it to initiate its mission. That done, Jana activated her cloaking field and disappeared from sight; seconds later, a vent on the upper wall was kicked in, betraying the path Jana was taking.
For a few moments, silence reigned in the room. Then, the Guard that had been knocked out when Zim threw him into the communications screen slowly pulled himself to his feet, clutching his head and groaning in pain. As his vision came back into focus, he gasped as he saw the bodies of his fellow Guards lying scattered around the room.
"Mother of Irk…" he muttered, as he began rapidly looking around the room, searching for any possible threat and a way out.
"Squeak!"
The Guard jumped, and turned around to find Minimoose floating before him with a stern look on his face… or at least, as stern as a floating stuffed moose could look. The Guard raised his antennae in confusion.
"Squeak!" Minimoose repeated.
"'Surrender or else'? To a moose? Yeah right," the Guard crossed his arms over his chest and glared, "Do your worst."
In response to this challenge, Minimoose's eyes started glowing red and his mouth opened – and out popped a laser cannon the size of an SUV. The soon-to-be-deceased Guard's eyes nearly popped out of his head as it began charging up.
"Oh, vrik na-"
XXXXXXX
Main Elevator Shaft, Same Time
Zim's spider legs latched onto the walls of the shaft as the shockwaves from a powerful explosion nearly knocked him loose. Shaking his head to clear away the stars that had formed in his vision when he had slammed headfirst into the wall, he looked down the shaft and saw smoke rising up from the main lab.
"Computer, what just happened?" he asked as he continued to climb.
"Minimoose just took out the last of Gor's Elite Guard contingent… and most of the communications room. Which hurt, by the way."
"Ask me if I care later," Zim said as he neared the top of the shaft, which was currently blocked by the elevator capsule, "I have business to take care of."
Without another word, Zim fired a telekinetic blast that punched a hole through the floor of the capsule. Launching himself upwards, the mutant Irken flew through the hole and landed in a crouch on the floor of the kitchen. Scanning the room visually didn't reveal anything, so he quickly reverted to telepathy.
"Come on, come on, why won't this stupid door open?!"
Smirking, Zim waltzed into the living room, where Dib was attempting to pry open the front door.
"Don't bother. I had the computer seal the base up before Gor arrived," Zim said, his smirk widening as Dib yelped and spun around. Before the human had a chance to do much of anything, Zim extended his hand; Dib shot through the air and slammed into Zim's hand, which closed around his throat.
"Let me guess," Zim continued, ignoring Dib's desperate gasps for breath, "You were going to escape through the front door, in order to hide your secret entrance to my base, right? Well, why don't you just tell me where that is, hmm?"
Dib kept his mouth shut, though he grinned slightly when Zim shot him a frustrated glare. It was at this point though, that something strange happened. Zim narrowed his eyes to slits, and as he did so Dib's vision began to swim, and the image of his makeshift entrance passed through his mind's eye. Then it was gone, his vision was back to normal, and Zim's face was covered in ammonia-based sweat. Despite that, the Irken was sporting a triumphant grin.
"Computer," he said, "There is a breach in the exterior wall of storage chamber 5. Seal it up."
As the computer gave the affirmative, Dib stared, the shock – combined with the vice-like grip on his throat – keeping him from shouting in surprise.
'How did he do that?'
"I forced the image from your mind," Zim said casually, and Dib's eyes widened in surprise. Noticing this, Zim chuckled before continuing.
"Yes, I can read your filthy mind, human. I've been able to for quite some time… among other things, as I'm sure you've noticed. Although, the whole 'pulling stuff from your head instead of just listening' thing is new – I suppose my powers are evolving. Go me."
"H-How?" Dib managed to choke out. This only made Zim smirk wider, and he pulled Dib closer, so that they were eye-to-eye.
"Why, Dib – I have you to thank for that."
Dib merely stared in confusion, making Zim mock-frown.
"How quickly you Earth-slime forget things," he said as his lips curled into a smirk that would make the Grinch jealous, "Remember the last time you broke into my base, when we fought in the GESS lab? How you shattered that one container and washed me away in its chemicals? Well, those same chemicals seeped through my wounds and spread throughout my body, changing my DNA and awakening dormant genes, granting me these powers."
Dib's eyes went wider and wider during this explanation, as the realization of what he had inadvertently done hit him. The thought filtered through his mind, and was therefore picked up by Zim, who released a full-scale maniacal cackle as he heard it.
"That's right, Dib-Worm! This is all because of you! Your foolish attempts to stop me have only made me stronger. No longer am I merely Zim the Invader; very soon, I shall be Zim the God!"
The cackling continued for several minutes, during which time Dib desperately tried to claw his neck free from Zim's hand; unfortunately, the Irken's grip was too strong. Eventually, Zim stopped laughing and raised his free hand.
"So Dib-Human, let that be the last thing you ever know – that your own actions have sealed your species' fate. Now then, I believe it is time for you to, as the old expression goes-"
Zim's hand clenched into a claw, and then burst into flames before Dib's terrified eyes.
"-Burn, baby. Burn."
As the burning appendage inched towards his face, Dib lost all conscious control of his bodily actions, his limbs flailing wildly as his self-preservation instincts kicked in. Just as the outstretched fingers were about to make contact with his head, Dib's leg shot out in a vicious kick that came up right between Zim's legs.
The flames on Zim's hand suddenly went out, and the other hand went limp, dropping Dib to the floor. As he gratefully took in large breaths of air, Dib looked up and saw that Zim's eyes were bulging and his face was contorted in pain – alien or not, he was still male, and that was a very sensitive spot that Dib had just slammed his boot into. After a few seconds, the pain finally seemed to fully hit him, and Zim fell to the floor, clutching himself.
"FRAGGING ETCHUTA!!!" Zim howled in pain, the air shimmering around him as he began to lose control of his powers, "VRIK NA TISHANTI!!! KISGAREE SHOO-SHEN!!!"
Dib half-considered kicking Zim while he was down, but that was before the couch and television suddenly flew through the air and the monkey painting on the wall burst into flames. Deciding that it would be a better idea to regroup elsewhere, Dib began to run towards the door, only to remember that it was sealed shut. As the burning picture fell to the floor, spreading the fire as it did so, Dib ran into the kitchen. Grabbing a chair from the table, he threw it as hard as he could, smashing the window open. Quickly clearing away as many of the glass shards as he could, Dib then crawled out through the broken portal as smoke began filling the room.
Falling out onto the lawn, Dib scrambled to his feet, ignoring the cuts on his hands from the many small pieces of glass that he hadn't had time to sweep away. As the nearest security gnome turned towards him, Dib dashed away; the energy beams just barely missed the young human, who jumped over the lawn fence and kept running as fast as he could.
"Got to get help," he muttered as he ran, "Got to do it fast, before that maniac sets the GESS free. Got to stop him, got to stop him…"
XXXXXXX
Zim's Base, Hanger Room, Several Minutes Earlier
Gor stumbled out of the elevator as it was racked by the shockwaves of an explosion, startling the two Guards who had been left behind to mind his ship.
"Sir, are you alright?" one of them asked, only to be pushed aside as Gor ran up the ramp into the ship.
"Launch the ship! Get me out of here now!" the Third Tallest shouted.
"But what about the others?" the Guard asked, "We can't just leave them here."
"Yeah!" the other Guard agreed, "Keger owes me fifty monies!"
The first Guard rolled his eyes, but both of them then yelped in surprise and pain when Gor grabbed them by their antennae.
"The others are all dead! And if we don't leave right now, we will be too! Now get me out of here – that's an order!"
The two startled Guards were dropped to the floor, but quickly ran into the ship and towards the bridge; Gor went in after them, closing the ramp behind him. By the time he got to the bridge, the Guards were frantically typing away at the piloting consoles, quickly rushing through their pre-flight sequence as they prepared for launch.
"C'mon, c'mon," Gor snarled as he sat down in the command chair in the center of the bridge, "We need to get out of here."
"Don't worry, sir, we'll be in the air in a few seconds," the first Guard said.
"Powering up engines now," the second Guard added.
The bridge was filled with the humming sound of the engines flaring to life, but a few moments later the sound became irregular and then stopped altogether; this was followed by a jarring thump as the cruiser fell back down the few inches it had lifted off the floor.
"What just happened?!" Gor shouted as he pulled himself back into the chair he'd fallen out of.
"Something's wrong with the engines," the second Guard said, reading the information on his screen.
"Well then go fix them! We don't have time for this!"
Both Guards rushed out of the bridge and down the hall that lead to the engine room. The door slid open and the two of them ran in – only to stop short and stare at the sight that greeted them.
The reasons the engines weren't working was quite apparent – holes had been torn open in all the major components, wires had been ripped out, and vital circuitry had been smashed. With all that damage, the engines were completely useless, meaning that the occupants of the cruiser were now stuck on the planet. And the cause of this problem soon came into view, chattering and whistling as it climbed out of a hole in the side of one of the engine pods.
The spider drone's single optic stared at the shocked Irkens for a few moments while its simplistic A.I. assessed the situation. Jana had ordered it to sneak aboard the newly arrived ship, infiltrate its engine room, and await the signal to proceed with its further instructions. If and when that signal came, the drone was ordered to sabotage the ship's engines to prevent it from leaving, and it had done so… but there had been no orders about dealing with anyone who intruded on its work.
"What is that thing?" the first Guard finally spoke up.
"Who cares? It sabotaged the engines, so it's obviously a threat," the second Guard said as he pulled out a blaster, "And you know what we do to threats."
The drone knew what to do to threats, too. As soon as the Guard pointed his weapon at it, its self-defense protocols activated, and it launched itself at him. The Irken didn't even have time to realize that this was happening before the electrified tips of the drones legs dug into his face. Screeching in pain, he dropped his blaster and began blindly running around the room, vainly attempting to pry the drone off his face. His partner raised his own blaster to try and help, but was suddenly grabbed by the throat and slammed into the wall.
Jana grinned savagely as she applied more pressure to the Guard's throat, forcing his mouth open. She then reached into a cloak pocket and pulled out a plasma grenade; shoving it into the Guard's mouth, she hit the activation button and then threw the unfortunate Irken into his partner. She then jumped out of the room, and seconds later the grenade detonated, releasing a fireball that consumed both of the Guards, the drone, and most of the already damaged engine equipment.
Smirking at her handiwork, Jana took off down the hall towards the bridge. Activating her energy sword, she leapt through the doors before they had even fully opened, bringing the blade of her weapon up to block the blast of energy that was shot at her as she entered.
Gor was cowering behind his command chair, aiming a blaster and his spider legs at his assailant – he had heard the explosion and had quickly realized what was happening. He knew, of course, that he had no chance of winning if an entire unit of Elite Guards couldn't, but he didn't intend to go down without a fight. He charged up the points of his spider legs and fired them all simultaneously, but Jana leapt into the air, dodging the blasts and landing right next to her target.
Before Gor could turn, Jana brought her sword down and cut the legs in half. As the severed metallic limbs fell to the floor, Gor raised his blaster and attempted to shoot it point-blank – but before he could pull the trigger, Jana once again swiped her sword, taking Gor's arm off at the elbow.
"GGAARRHH!!" Gor screamed, collapsing to the floor and clutching the cauterized stump of his arm.
Jana sneered down at her fallen foe. "Pathetic."
Gor attempted to crawl away, but Jana placed a foot on his back, pinning him to the ground. As she pulled back her sword to deliver a finishing blow, Gor looked over his shoulder and gave her a pleading look.
"Whatever Zim's offering you… I'll double it," he choked out. Jana's antennae lifted in confusion for a moment, then realization dawned and she burst out laughing.
"You think that I'm being paid for this?"
"If Zim isn't paying you… then why are you betraying the Tallest and siding with him?"
Jana bared her teeth in such a sadistic smile that for a moment, Gor thought he was looking at a demon.
"How can I be betraying them, if I was never loyal to them in the first place?"
Before Gor could even fully process that rhetorical question, Jana gave a mighty swing of her sword that took the Third Tallest's head clean off his shoulders. As the head rolled away, Jana gave the body one last kick for good measure. She then marched off of the bridge, deciding to report to Zim on her success.
XXXXXXX
Zim's Base, Living Room, A Few Minutes Later
Jana blinked in surprise as she entered the living room; all of the furniture was wrecked and the place was covered with flame-retardant foam. Zim was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, groaning in pain and clutching the Irken equivalent of an icepack to his…
Jana blushed as she realized what part of her master's body she had just been staring at. Quickly averting her gaze to his face, she asked the question that had formed in her head when she entered the room.
"Master, what happened?"
"Dib," Zim hissed as he removed the icepack and carefully sat down on a more-or-less intact chair, "I had him in my grasp, but before I could kill him he kicked me in the… uh, you know…"
Zim trailed off and looked away as he felt his face heat up in embarrassment; he had too much pride to discuss problems with that particular part of his anatomy with a female. Clearing his throat, he quickly steered the conversation towards something slightly less humiliating.
"Anyway, after I was, uh, wounded, I lost control of my powers – you can see the results of that around us. And while I was recovering, that little shoo-sen escaped."
"Is there anything I can do, milord?" Jana asked, moving to stand next to him.
"Well, there is one thing," Zim muttered. He looked up to give Jana a glare, and the next thing she knew she was being telekinetically pinned to the wall.
"I'm curious," Zim continued, "How exactly did Dib manage to show Gor that recording if you destroyed it?"
"I-I don't know," Jana stuttered as she futilely attempted to pry herself off the wall, "I searched all over the human's home, but there were no other copies of the recording."
"Well obviously there were," Zim snapped as he got to his feet with a slight grimace of pain, "Now we have to do things the hard way. So bare this in mind – next time I tell you to do something, do it right!"
With that said, Zim stomped towards the elevator that lead to his bedroom, limping slightly as he went. Jana, meanwhile, slid to the floor, her eyes distant and filling with tears that threatened to spill down her face.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Zim paused as he heard that, but forced himself not to turn around. He got in the elevator, and began descending into his inner sanctum.
"Not to point metaphorical fingers, sir," the computer said, "But it's your own fault any of this happened. If you had just killed Dib when you first caught him, your coup would still be on track. There's no reason to blame Jana."
"Shut up, computer. Just shut up," Zim said as he leaned against the wall of the elevator. Guilt had been building in him from the moment Jana had apologized; the last thing he needed was the computer adding to it.
"Are the GESS awake?" he asked after a few moments of silence.
"Yes sir. And the tunnel should be complete in an hour or so."
"Good," Zim said with a nod, "Let me know when it is."
He'd have to deal with his own complicated feelings regarding Jana some other time. Right now, he had a planet to conquer.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
A/N: There you go, one of the longest chapters I've ever written – at the rate this is going, this story's going to be longer that "Reckoning" was.
Anyway, I once again apologize for the long wait, and hope that it was worth it.
Next chapter: Dib attempts to recruit help, as the GESS are unleashed on the city.
Read and review!