A/N: Oh my gosh you guys I'm so sorry it took so long to get this chapter finished! I've been so busy with school and I had a bit of block on this story but after having a 3 hour train ride to think I managed to break that and I basically know where it's going now. I can see the ending! ... through some very thick fog.

A ton of stuff will happen this chapter I'll finish this author's note at the end of the chapter so for now... Here's to hoping that this chapter isn't crap! Enjoy!

Chapter 21 – Choices Made

Gaz sat back against the wall, too scared to move. What the heck was M talking about? Zim killed her dad?! Sure she didn't like the alien but blaming him wouldn't stop the actual culprit.

"That's why they made that special exception for Dib… Bill was right!"

"Leave now Bill! My father's work has nothing to do with you!" Dib's angry words rang in her ears. That man… M was with him!? Gaz pushed the thought aside to listen. M had suddenly stopped yelling and the room was quiet.

"Bill huh? So the one hunting me is named Bill? Zim thanks you for the information. Now you will tell me where to locate this Bill."

"I'm not going to tell you anything." M sounded shaken but defiant. It was starting to piss Gaz off that she couldn't see what was happening. There was a thud from something falling but she had no way of knowing if it was M or something else. And what the hell was that high pitched whistle?

"I don't think you understand human. You don't have a choice. Unlike you I have real weapons and I have no reason to fear getting caught. You see, should Dib or anyone else walk in I only need to return to the terrified child that they've been protecting for the past two weeks."

"So that really was all an act…!"

"Not at all. That was indeed the true Zim. As is this. I was trained to defend my life and fight for my species. And as of now, you and this Bill human have become a threat to both."

"What about Dib Zita and Gaz?" M's voice was soft. Gaz held her breath to listen.

"What about them? They've done nothing to harm me. Even the sister monster only did the things she did in order to protect her family. In that way I respect her." There was a pause. "I even thought she might make a strong ally. It is unfortunate that I must now part ways with them." M must have done something because Gaz heard Zim's laughing response. "Still trying to use that disgusting water? Well, if you're scared I'd be willing to let you go; as long as you tell me where to find the Bill human."

M still said nothing and a moment later the high pitched whistle was replaced by a PEWSH sound. Gaz took a risk and slid up to the side of the window where she could barely see through a tear in the curtains. M was on the ground with a dark smoking circle on the wall behind him. Zim had his laser in his hand.

"Last chance human. I can find him without you if need be."

"You… you won't find him…"

"Never underestimate an Irken." M said nothing. "Have it your way."

Zim was raising his laser to M's head. Gaz jumped up and shoved open the door. "DON'T!" For a moment Zim froze unsure what to do.

"Dib sister… Why are you here?" His voice was back to the soft terrified child. "Where is Miss Zita?" Gaz stood with her arms in front of M, just staring down the alien. She clearly knew he was faking; there was no point in hiding it. Zim sighed and scratched his antenna. "You protect those close to you, an admirable trait, and your fearlessness is outstanding even by Irken standards. I do not wish to fight you."

"Then don't." She couldn't just let this go. She hated him… and now she had an ally. "Work with me."

Both M and Zim voiced the same thought, "What…?"

M shifted himself to his knees. "Gaz… What are you talking about? He's here to destroy earth. You can't trust him." Zim said nothing. His eyes remained locked on Gaz who was shaking her head.

"I never really cared about earth or humans anyway. As long as Dib is safe and I can get revenge on the one that killed Dad, that's all that matters."

"Are you Nuts!?"

Gaz ignored M. "Well alien…" she hesitated then did the thing she had refused to do since Dib had first called on the phone about him, "Zim… I know who Bill is. If I help you find him. Will you help me kill him?"

Zim tilted his head. "You want to kill this human why?"

"Do you agree or not? If you kill M, Dib will be angry."

Zim shrugged. "You misunderstand. While I have no reason to hurt you or your brother, as I am now I have no… no…" His eye twitched as if he were forcing his words out. "No reason to obey you." Zim grumbled under his breath but Gaz couldn't make it out. "But then again, I suppose it would be a nuisance if Dib were to get in my way." He thought about it for a moment more before agreeing. "Very well human. I will help you get your revenge. However, you will obey my orders as commanding officer."

Gaz nodded.

"No, Gaz! I can't let you do that!" M shoved the girl to the side and threw the empty cup. Zim swatted the cup away with a flick of his wrist and swung a pak leg out at M's head. Gaz jumped in between Zim and M again.

"ENOUGH ZIM! LET'S LEAVE NOW! BEFORE DIB COMES BACK!"

"GET OUT OF THE WAY GAZ! HE'S A MONSTER!"

"PLEASE ZIM!"

Zim sighed and made one last shot at M. The Pak leg that missed continued on and smashed through the window. Gaz was grabbed like a piece of luggage and carried past the broken glass. She looked back to see M jump out the window after them. From across the street Zim saw him also. Gaz had no chance to argue before Zim turned is laser back and shot M in the stomach.

Zim carried her away over the rooftops, even as M fell to the ground.

XXX

For the first minute of being carried, Gaz had struggled, demanding that Zim go back and they take M to a hospital, but she quickly found that she couldn't break the Irken's grip and quit trying. By the time they stopped in a wooded area outside the city Gaz was furious. "Why did you shoot him!?"

"He was going to follow us."

"How was that a reason to kill him!?"

Zim sighed folded his hands behind his back. He was starting to regret bringing the girl with. She's just scared, the small voice reminded him. "I made a decision that prevented him from following us. End of story." He stowed his laser away in his pak. "You should be glad that Dib won't be able to find us now." Gaz was staring at the ground with an angry scowl, but she wasn't making any further arguments so she must have accepted at least that point of logic. But something was still bothering Zim. "Why were you back at the motel?"

Gaz glared at him. "No reason. I just wasn't feeling well."

Zim guesses she wasn't being truthful but saw no reason to press the matter. "Fine then. Where is Bill?"

"I don't know…"

"What!?" Zim yelled and the girl flinched back. "You said you knew! Then for what reason did Zim bring you with?!"

"Hey! I said I knew who Bill was. I never said I knew 'Where' he was!"

Zim clenched his teeth and made a noise of groaning frustration. "Then what good are you?!"

"I don't know exactly. But I do know some places that he used to be. That's a start right?" When Zim only glared at her, she added, "better than if you had gone alone."

That's true…

The strength growled not liking the fact that Zim had been tricked by this weak human girl.

There's no helping it now. She's not so bad. I think I can work with her just fine. The small voice said pushing its way towards the surface. The strength only allowed it because the girl was more likely to trust the small voice, but it made the thought very clear that if Zim became in danger that the strength would take control again. The small voice agreed. "So where do we go first?"

Gaz noticed the change in an instant. His antennae had drooped and his shoulders relaxed. He wasn't the scared child of before but he wasn't the same as when he shot M either. 'What's with this kid…' "We should head to NasaPlace first. They've got a few rooms with computers that they don't use anymore. Bill was always paranoid and was constantly bugging the place. If we can find one of the bugs you think you could trace it to him?" Zim thought about it before nodding. "Alright, let's go."

XXX

Red: "You awake?"

The message came to Skoodge's Pak right on schedule. No surprise there. Other than when turning in homework, Red was never late.

Skoodge: "No. I went to sleep on the most dangerous night of my life."
Red: "Alright. No need to get snippy. I'm in the vent over the guard room. We've got 90 minutes until Curfew notices that my room is empty. You ready?"
Skoodge: "As ready as I'll ever be…"

Skoodge leaned over and pressed the help button on the wall beside him. As they had guessed, only one guard came down the hallway to his room. He rolled to his side and prepared for the biggest acting performance of his life.

"What is it?"

"My… my side… it hurts. Aaagh…" Skoodge remained shaking on the ground with his hands pressed to his side.

The guard sighed and punched in his security code to open the door. The moment the door was open and the guard stepped inside, Skoodge took a deep breath and held it. Three seconds later a sparkling purple gas exploded in the room. A single breath and the guard collapsed on the floor unconscious. Skoodge didn't dare open his eyes and waited until Red dragged him from the room.

"Blorch that stuff works well. Where on irk did you learn to make it?" Red asked, deactivating his bubble helmet.

Skoodge held out his hands so Red could remove the cuffs, "Not so bad being a Teacher's Pet is it?" Red laughed and the two of them went sprinting down the hall. They jumped over the second unconscious guard and climbed into the air vent.

"Okay, I've got my map routed to the nearest hanger bay but…"

"What?"

"Are you sure you don't want to get your Pak supplies back?"

Skoodge rolled his eyes. This was the eighth time Red had asked this during the three days they had spent planning and even if Skoodge wanted them back they didn't have time to retrieve them and clear the planet before they were noticed. No one would worry if Red was gone, but when a criminal scheduled for decommissioning disappears… the whole planet goes on lockdown. "You grabbed the spare weapon right?" Red nodded hesitantly, "Then its fine. Let's go."

It was tough moving through the vents, especially for Skoodge who began wishing for the first time that he actually was tall and skinny. When Red had done trial runs through the vents the day before, he had timed it relatively faster than their current pace; and as Skoodge shoved his way through another tight grate he mildly wondered how he had been talked into trusting Red so much. Well it's not like I have anything to lose.

They were nearly out of time when they finally reached the hanger. "You downloaded the operator's manuals?" Skoodge asked.

"Yeah… I'm still not sure on how to set coordinates… but Zim and Pur helped me learn take off procedures a long time ago." Red's antennae drooped. Skoodge nodded and took some of the knockout gas preparing to jump from the vent. "What if he doesn't forgive me…?"

"It's a little late to be worrying about that now. Besides, he's been alone in space for almost 8 weeks already. He's bound to hate me also." Red didn't look reassured. Skoodge sighed and reached out to pat Red's antenna like the way Red had done for the crying smeet a couple weeks ago. "It won't get easier if you don't try." Red scrunched up his face and pulled away. He slid out the grate grumbling about being treated like a child by a shorty. Skoodge laughed for the first time in weeks. 'What on Irk has gotten into me?' He shook his head and followed Red out.

Five minutes after they had cleared the atmosphere the alarm was sounded that a dangerous Shorter had escaped and a smeet tallest-candidate was missing.

XXX

Dib arrived back at the motel, sweat drenched and out of breath. He threw open the door only to find the room completely empty. The chair was toppled over and the window was smashed. "Damn it… no… M what have you done…"

"Agent Mothman."

Dib whirled around to see a woman with short brown hair standing at the stairs. "You?! Where are Zim and M!? What have you done with them!?"

Agent Kelpie sighed. "Really now Dib… When am I ever the one that does anything?"

"Then who was it!? Greenman? Chupa?! Where have you taken my friends!?"

"Calm down. No one did anything with them." She held up her hands showing they were empty. "I can explain what happened but I need you to come with me."

"Why should I go with you?" Dib was still angry but it wasn't like Rachael to lie.

"As of now the situation has changed. It's not safe to talk here."

"No. Explain now."

Rachael, aka Agent Kelpie, the master tracker of the SEN, sighed. She looked all around before leaning in closer to whisper, "M is in the hospital, shot by the Irken who is now MIA with your sister."

"But that's…"

"There's more." Her eyes were deathly serious. "One hour ago, a second Irken craft entered an orbit around the planet."

A/N2: Okay then. Hope you liked it. If anyone is confused about what weird shit just happened with the timeline here's the explanation:

~Warning! Contains some spoilers.~

Zim's trip to earth took 6 months. His ship was moving slowing. Approximately 2 weeks passed after he landed on earth up to this point.

Purple was deactivated 2 weeks after the first chapter. Skoodge helps Tenn cut class to check on Red 6 weeks and 6 days after chapter 1. Red and Skoodge's fight happens at 7 weeks. The two steal the ship and leave Irk at 8 weeks, while Zim has only been in space for 2 out of 6 months.

Red and Skoodge's ship is faster than Zim's little escape pod so they close the gap some but not enough to catch up before Zim crashes into earth. This is how, only 2 weeks after Zim's arrival, Red and Skoodge are landing on earth. ~Spoilers! Yay!~ Not really. You should have been able to figure out what that 2nd irken ship was.

Okay on to the last week of school! Wish me luck!