Hurtling towards a planet was not my most relaxing activity of all time. Sprinkle in a universal war, burning ruins, and the fact that the hurtling inevitably had to end, and I don't think my screaming, "I want to go home!" is terribly inexcusable.

Ruza's arms had me in a death grip, so I couldn't brace myself. A simple warehouse finally came into focus ahead, racing towards us. I barely had time to be grateful the atmosphere had slowed us before there was crashing, shattering, we fell, slammed into something, tumbled apart, and I hit a wall that halted and rendered me breathless.

Silence settled. A few minutes passed before I sat up, waiting for the spiking pain. Everything hurt; but amazingly, nothing felt broken. The silence permeated the air, closing in around us, making me, for once, feel isolated from the battle outside the warehouse walls. I moved and felt something caked on my face and arms—oozing from the few wounds that had just opened. My head was heavy, my thoughts retarded. My eyes strained to make anything out in the darkness. When I moved my foot, a searing, white-hot pain exploded in my ankle. I gasped. "Ow!"

"…Hannah?"

Relief drew my breath from me. "Oh, thank Earth."

"H-help."

And the breath quickly moved back into my lungs again. "Where are you?" My brain and ears felt like I was underwater as I swung my head back and forth.

"Window. Take your time."

Getting to my feet…was a feat. Getting across the room was a mental gauntlet. To my horror, a large, metal beam had fallen along with us and lied atop Ruza now, across her hips. "I don't think it broke anything…" came her soft tone. "I just can't move."

I exhaled. "…Ummm…" It took five minutes to inch her out from underneath the gigantic piece of metal; and when it finally clanged to the floor, my eardrums, hands, and everything else were raw. Ruza cradled her arm. "Is it broken?" I probed it gently.

A scream, pure reaction, erupted from her. I stepped back, struggling to stay on my bad foot, and fought the urge to start crying. A very long silence ensued, until I forced the words from my mouth. "At least we can still walk." Kind of…

"Yeah." Ruza's voice was softer than I'd heard it in a while. "We need to get out of here."

The first thing to greet us as we exited the warehouse was the chaotic light show in the sky—ships visible and invisible, small and large flashes of lasers, distant screams of distant battles on this…On Callnowia. We were on Callnowia.

"Zim and Tenn?" Ruza ventured.

I gave a helpless shrug. "…Wait. Can't we lock onto their signatures from here?" When I lifted my arm to my line of vision, though, the webbed crack crawling across the blackened screen made my heart sink. "…Oh." I wished Red and Purple were here to protect us.

"Who were those guys who targeted us, anyway?" Ruza asked.

I threw my arms up in answer. For about twenty minutes, we suffered walking the streets, which had already been decimated. Horrifying exhibits: stilled bodies with hidden faces, abandoned weapons, dirt lying where ammo had flung it: all assaulted us. Smoke curled, thick, black, from shells of vehicles. Our steps pattered shallowly on the asphalt, and I felt guilty for invading this silent, menacing scene, already shut down, already through with its performance. I felt very young.

I didn't understand why it had had to be cast in the first place.

A sudden cluster of buildings towered before us—wreckage still abounded, and I knew we'd have to be careful. "Okay, parking garage…we need a way off…" The nearest visible one was five blocks away. We groaned. "Okay, we're almost there. They're probably desperate for help now; so, let's go."

Once inside the garage, the dilemma arose of how we were to jack another cruiser. Ruza asked, "Do you see any Irken ones?"

"…No." The unspoken ending to this scene.

"Okay…any unlocked ones?"

A short inspection of the first floor revealed every vehicle owner in this theater had sense. "Damaged ones?"

"We can't exactly fly with a broken window or something!"

"…Oh…right."

Ruza smirked. "Hello, miss common sense." She turned to inspect another one. "…Hey—this one has an open passenger side."

"Really?" I crossed to the other side of the cruiser and tried the door. Amazingly, it opened.

"Yes!" We chorused. In moments, we were both inside, staring blankly at the controls.

"Ummm…"

"Know how to…?"

"Nope."

"…Experimentation."

A stab of guilt shot through me. "…Experimentation."

Thankfully, some controls are almost universal. This one had a rounded steering apparatus, which made me happy. The ignition was a given, though Ruza had to fumble with the controls for a good five minutes to hack them. The engines rumbled to life, and I carefully steered us out of the garage.

Ruza tried out the interface, which, apparently, had the ability to lock onto alien signatures on other ships—something our old one had been able to do as well. Almost humorously, an ocean of Irken dots showed up on the screen; but Ruza spotted two on the outskirts of the battle, a healthy distance away, both flashing—distress signals.

"Hey! Look!"

"There they are!" I agreed. "Okay, okay—"

"Okay, we got this!"

"They're only about ten minutes away!" I turned our vehicle in their direction and whipped up the ignition to full power. Ruza and I let out joint squeals as we re-entered the atmosphere of Callnowia.

Zim and Tenn had flying problems of their own. It must be observed they were making do exceptionally well without weapons. Zim, for example, was using the girth of his planet to his advantage by gracefully knocking it against the rebel legions. "Hah! Take that, you rebel scum!"

"Mercury to Zim! It's asking me the publication dates of Earth novels—over!"

"Do I seem—" CRASH. "—like I know—" SMASH. "—publication dates?" A symphony of explosions from his left.

"2035!" Gir yelled.

"Quiet, Gir!" More explosions as Zim swerved. "Yes! Take that! I'll feed your heads to my Skool teacher!" He yanked the joystick to the left and Mars spun in a slow, elegant donut maneuver that wiped out the rest of the immediate rebels. Fiery detonations sprinkled space, Mars swinging amongst them like a gargantuan merry-go-round. The rebel funnel dissipated.

Tenn's voice came over the line. "That was awesome! I think I've discovered the answer to the photosynthesis question—over. Also, Lio says to tell you there are about thirty headed your way."

Zim perked an antenna to listen to nine more satisfying explosions. "…Why did you say 'over' halfway through your message?"

"…Gir, smack him for me." The robot simply blinked at Zim. "We've got a lone cruiser. That's weird: it has a Callnowian signature."

Zim frowned. "…But they're not even…"

A blast sent Zim flying and bouncing across the red dirt. He slid to a stop. Another landed in the soil near him.

"Zim, you all right, over?"

"Uugghh."

"Zim?"

Another explosion. He coughed. His hands were covered in orangey-red dust.

"Zim? Zim?! Over!"

Eyes half-closed, gaze fixed skyward, Zim beheld something unexpected, and murmured, "Light."

"…No! Zim, don't go into the light! Whatever you do, don't go—!"

"No." Zim pointed a finger upward. "Light."

Callnowian cruisers had strong headlights. This one descended, two familiar faces shining in the window. When it landed, it spat out two familiar girls. "Hello Mars!" Ruza looked at him. "That sniper was annoying, huh? We got him for ya."

Tenn scoffed. "You scared me!"

Zim smirked. "You're frightened too easily. Hello. What happened to your arm?"

Ruza sighed. "…A warehouse."

Zim quirked an eyebrow before another force picked him up in a hug.

"Hey!" Hannah said. "Long time no see!"

"Why are you limping?" he asked. "And put me down!"

She complied. "…Warehouse. Okay, let's get to work."

Back at the steering apparatus, Zim pressed the infuriating button that conjured up the holographic head. "Welcome, pilot! How—?"

"Shut up and make with the question asking!"

It frowned. "Well, that's rude. If you want…Welcome to the Milky Way Galaxy Examination of Personal Knowledge and Overall Intelligence!"

Zim leaned forward. "I am so ready for this."

"In 1492, on planet Earth…"

"Christopher Columbus!" The girls chorused. Zim stared at them but didn't question it.

"That is…hideously correct! Next!"

Zim cackled. "Hahaha! Take that, you miserable hologram head!"

"…Nestled in scenic Albania, on planet Earth, is the Erzen River."

"Oh, no!" Hannah cried. Zim had never learned anything about that country. Tenn hadn't known it existed before the security system asked her for its capital.

"This river's source lies in some very specific mountains."

Zim frowned—the girls looked horrified…

"What are the two main elements that comprise the substance of this river?"

Everyone stared.

Zim finally exploded. "What kind of pointless, half-brained examination is this you're insulting us with?"

Ruza flicked a hand. "Hydrogen and oxygen."

"That is…correct! On to your third and final question!"

"What the heck?!" Hannah asked.

"What is the sixth farthest planet from Mars' sun?"

The girls started rattling off planet names, which culminated in them both shouting, "Saturn!"

"That is… incorrect! Where did you learn your planets? Please try again in ten seconds, or restart the exam with new questions."

"What d'you mean?!" Ruza's face was a mask of panic. "Mercury, Venus, Earth—!"

"Wait!" Hannah said. "These two aren't there anymore!"

Realization dawned on Zim as Ruza began talking again. "So then, Mercury—no, Venus—"

"Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune!"

Everyone screamed the word at the hologram, which then proceeded to frown back. "You're all obviously sure you're very important. Hah, very well: since you obviously know so much about the entire galaxy, I'll unlock your weapons systems. Just don't ask me to do anything ever again." The head fizzled out.

"I'm gonna fly a planet!" Gir plopped down in the chair before Zim yanked him out and threw him off the console.

"Excellent! Now, you two!" Zim pointed at the girls. "Good work—time to wipe out some rebels." They all cheered, but then stopped, the sudden realization that they didn't know what to do dawning on them.

The holographic voice spoke again, though no head appeared. Its tone was doleful. "Take the teleporters to the deadly plasma cannons." Two shafts of green light appeared. The girls waved at Zim, walked into the shafts, and disappeared. Zim focused his attention on the console, now open to entire networks of information and contacts. He grinned. "The Tallest will be so proud to see my conquest!" Zim chuckled.

Mars was not the only setting in this chapter that held screaming people. The exclamations of a separate party, though, were less…cognitive…and more along the lines of,

"What the hell just happened? What happened?!"

Red and Purple, for all intensive purposes, might as well have been running a marathon around Control for the number of times they traversed its levels. The technicians attempted to continue their work; but after forty-five minutes, anyone, even a loyal Irken technician, is liable to get fed up.

"Hey," one of them spoke in hushed tones to her neighbor. "Do you have any hearing inhibitors?"

The other shook his head. "Sorry. I left them in my quarters."

Then, another, even more grating sound, poured into the room via the big screen. "Greetings, my Tallest!" Zim cawed and saluted as if he had just singlehandedly won the war. The Tallest quit their hysterics to gaze at the screen before going at it again. "I'm reporting on my tremendous success—no doubt you'll both be pleased to see that—"

"Zim!" Red was breathless. "Did you find—?"

"The weapons—yes—they're all fully functional and—"

Purple shouted, "No, you idiot! Have you seen—?"

"I can see you're quite proud!" Zim beamed. "Rest assured Tenn and I are obliterating rebels by the duodecillions!"

"Zim—!"

"Sorry, my Tallest—I'm going to have to keep the comm link off to focus on piloting Mars—but I'll send you a full report the moment Colossal is mine!"

"Wait!"

"You don't understand!"

"Zim!"

Several technicians also began calling out to him.

"Stop—!"

"Invader Zim, signing off! With my first conquest," he added gleefully.

As the screen went black, Red pounded the console. "No! No! No!"

"Zim! For the love of Irk!"

"Testing, testing—one, two three. Ruza, Zim, Tenn, can you guys hear me—over?" It was good the Mars console had extra communicators stored. I could barely see outside of the turret casing in which I was buried.

"Ruza reporting in! Martian weapons are retarded—over!"

Zim's voice: "Focus! Those thirty are coming up quickly!"

"Zim."—Tenn's voice—"I'm going to circle around behind and see if I can pick some off, over."

"Okay, no one else is allowed to say 'over' for the rest of the mission! Understand?"

Ruza's voice, protesting—"Who put you in charge?"

A scoff. "I'm in charge bec—"

BOOM!

"Shoot, now!"

Like I said, I could hardly see out, much less get a lock on any rebel ships. Primitive Martian technology…I aimed my best, and my training turned out not to be in vain—I made contact with a few that erupted in flames and sunk in the sky.

"There are seven billion over here!" Ruza whined.

"We're going left!" Zim informed us. All at once, the air felt much, much heavier.

"Hey!" Ruza spoke. "Do you mind piloting this thing with a little more competence?!"

"Yeah, Zim." Tenn's voice. "I can see your horrible driving from back here!"

"SHUT UP!"

"Zim, they're coming closer!" I warned, unable to breathe. The squad that had shot Ruza and I down was back. They'd isolated us—we weren't near any of the other fighting. That gave them clearance to land, if they had the skills to do so.

"Everyone brace yourselves!" Tenn said. "They're landing near the turrets!"

"Are we allowed"—Ruza's voice—"to abandon our turrets?!"

I answered. "They're probably the safest place—" A rebel made a huge webbed crack in my turret's glass. "Let's go!"

"I'm gonna drive closer to the heat of the battle, so that—"

KZZRRTT.

Tenn picked up the conversation. "Uh, Hannah? I think one of them landed near Zim, too."

"Thanks, Tenn." I opened up the exit to my turret and took off running—ahem, gracefully limping—toward a nearby structure hopefully good for some shelter. "He'll probably be able to handle them on his own. I'm going to head for the thing that looks like a smashed face."

Deafening pops—blinding sparks—on the rock beside me. I dove behind the nearest rock, and dragged myself under an overhang. Engines keened overhead.

Trapped.

"Hannah?" The voices were all but drowned out as the rebel ship circled into view. I curled inward, tensing my muscles, waiting for the bullets, and hoping the small opening between the overhang and the ground wouldn't let any of them in. "Hannah?!"

My breath caught as I saw the rebel's guns glowing.

"Hey!" A streak of gray and blue, onto the hood of the aerial ship, into the center of its front window. "Hey!"

"Gir?" I mouthed.

The robot banged on the glass, and the ship swerved and fired, trying to shake him off. I ducked beneath the rock, shielding my face as much as possible. …CRASH. I peered over the top of the rock to see Gir leap through broken glass into the cockpit. Two Vortians flew out onto the reddish ground, grunting and cursing. Gir shouted something along the lines of, "I like the humans!" before leaping out after them.

"Whoa," one of them said.

"Hannah!" Ruza's voice. "What's going on?!"

As the Vortians slowly got to their feet, I shrieked across the barren space. "Gir! Weapons!"

He seemed to think hard for a few moments—too long, as the rebels were recovering—before opening his head and throwing out an egg beater, a chainsaw, and…

"A shield!" A minimal weight lifted off my chest. I just had to get to…and my laser! The screen was broken, but maybe…the rebels were up. "Gir, attack!"

"…This thing on?" Zim tapped the mic. "I'm back—who's giving my SIR orders?"

"Guys, this doesn't look good," Ruza said. I had a moment to wonder where she was before I slipped out of my hiding place and bolted for the shield. Adrenaline stemmed the pain. Gir occupied the guards near the now-flaming cruiser.

"What is this thing?" One of them tried to shake Gir off. "Get off!"

"It's a stupid SIR unit!"

"Get it off!"

Gir removed a tennis racket from inside his head and whacked them on the head with it.

"I wasn't trained for this!"

"Help me!"

"I don't even know you! I'm from accounting!"

"Get it off of me!"

I hefted the shield, tapped my laser button a few times, and turned to see one of them throw Gir off.

I turned and ran.

"Hannah, what is going on—?!" Ruza sounded winded.

"I've got two on my heels!" I was panting.

"You okay?" Zim asked.

"No!" More popping, sparks. I ducked behind another rock, shield over my head, eyes shut, ankle throbbing.

"I've got some nearby, too," Ruza whispered.

Tenn's voice. "Stay in hiding. Hannah, are you okay?"

Footsteps, closer. "No, help!"

Zim. "Do you have a weapon—?"

"Shh! Yes!"

"Try to pick them off."

When I peered over the rock, I wasn't in their direct line of sight. My left hand clenched the laser so hard it hurt. They're trying to kill me. They are trying to kill me. They shot us out of the sky.

My arm trembled. One of them turned, stared right at me, and my hand was on the button before I could think.

He fell silently. I saw him hit the ground, his friend turned, and I made to shoot him but was almost too late—he aimed at me. Thankfully, he never had the opportunity to shoot.

I exhaled. "Got 'em."

"You're okay?" Zim checked.

"Hannah," Ruza spoke, "did they hurt you?"

"No, but—"

Ruza screamed. A chill crawled through my veins. "Oh my Earth, get it off, get away from me!"

"Ruza!"

"Ruza!" Zim exclaimed.

I dug my feet into the soil as I bolted back in her direction. "Where are you?"

"…I managed to get away." Her voice, less panicked. "They're hot on my trail. Oh my Earth, I was almost… they were right around the corner, a minute ago."

"Wait…" I tried to process everything over the emotion. If they were singling us out, it was either because of Zim and Tenn, with the planets, or…but they'd shot us out of the sky…and if they'd wanted to wipe out Zim and Tenn, they'd be sending more people.

…Was it because of what happened on the Colossal?

She wished for a weapon more than anything. Her heart slammed in her chest, her ears, her arm. She'd lost sight of her companions. Without a weapon, she was forced to duck behind vermilion stone. One of them had almost clipped her. One of them had gotten a fist to the face; but there were so many.

She was prey. Not since Earth had she wanted so much for someone to come to her aid—and never more than the moment when an arm yanked her back, held her against a wall.

She hadn't seen this one.

She hadn't seen this one coming.

Ruza screamed. The eyes above her held no trace of indecision—he'd come with a purpose.

"Hello, hyuman," the nameless rebel spoke. Ruza's thoughts flew. Beg for mercy? Threaten him? That's out—no weapon. "The last time you were captured, we were made aware of exactly what liabilities follow. So I have a better idea."

Ruza turned her head away from his eyes and breath.

"You know, that file gave us quite a shock. You don't understand anything, do you?" Ruza finally mustered the bravado to stare back—she could at least represent Earth well. "You're going to pay for that stunt you pulled in the prison."

"Let me go." With gritted teeth, she fought to maintain her firm facade. "People are coming for me."

The momentary flicker of worry drained from his eyes as quickly as it had appeared. "I know who you're talking about; but he wouldn't leave the safety of the Massive for your sake. I wish we could see Callnowia from here. You'd put up less of a resistance—" he re-adhered her flesh to the stone, more forcibly, "if you saw how we've already won that planet, if not this battle. Oh!" He grinned. "That's right. You already saw it on your way down."

"Looked pretty even to me…you've burned three planets so far: are you satisfied? Do you feel better now?" She tried to mask her confusion. This "he"…she didn't understand. Was he referring to Red, Purple, Zim…?

"I have to say, your file was quite interesting. It gave us something to work on in between all the killing and war nonsense. Lard Nar was also beside himself with rage; so there's that."

"Please, I don't know what—"

"You know how many times she said please?" His eyes narrowed. "He didn't keep count."

Who was "he?" Who was "she?" What was this file?

Zim's communicator was down…No, mine was. If anything could go wrong today!

I'd had to take out three or four others on my way, trying to get back to the console. If we could get help, we could take out the other rebels. It was up to Zim to contact help; but I hadn't heard from him in so long I feared his communication line would be down, too. Nothing gave away the position of the rebel in front of me before I rounded the corner and saw Ruza in his grasp.

Immediately, I spun back behind the rock. I listened for a moment and peered around the corner. His profile was turned from me. His barrel pinned Ruza against the rock. There were words.

Then, every other explosion became absolutely nothing.

It took me a moment to register my proximity. Back around the rock, I slipped to the ground. That scene consumed me. My body refused to work. Footsteps moved away from me. Everything blurred as I attempted to move air in and out of my lungs.

Oh…my…For a while, I simply was. Anger gradually seeped into my consciousness. Ru…Why her? Why us?! I was the one who had formulated the escape plan…!

Unknowing of any other danger, I sobbed, tightened my arms around myself, and tried to scrape from my mind the image I knew lied around the corner. I couldn't move, think, process…

And my communicator was out.

Help…Ruza…

Something told me to get up. I remembered the rebels were here.

Help.

I remember leaning on the rock. I remember offing more people automatically. I remember crying for help—luckily, no one dangerous heard. I remember seeing the Massive in the sky, miles away, and falling to my knees. Falling apart.