Hey, sorry for the delay, been doing art for deviantart lately, chatting with megadoomingir and lithium muse, so but now I'm back! And there'll be hell to pay for the scientist that was bribed by Dawn...
Just to clear things up, the DNA readout Red had the nursery Irken print out revealed that the DNA Mona had been mutated WITH happened to come from Mookie, so Mookie's DNA is what mutated her. Mona's cells, both human and Irken, were then combined with Red's, hence Maize was created, so Maize is technically mostly Irken with some human thrown into the mix. For example, as seen in Lithium muse's older elite version of Maize, she has small human-like breasts and a slightly feminine human shape, even though she appears to be full Irken... this is what I mean.
Anyway, read on, thanks to my most loyal reviewers, to all the newbies out there, PLEASE REVIEW!!
Again, for safety purposes, Dawn and Peter's names have been falsified. You'll never know their REAL names, lol
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Red arrived in the underground labs to see the scientists all getting ready to leave and attend to other matters. He blocked the way to the lfit on purpose and held his arms out, barring them all. It was so NEAT being a tallest.
"No one leaves this room until I find out who got bribed by who!" he announced sternly. Better to keep things simple.
Most of the scientists all looked at one another, confused and curious. All, Red noticed, except one towards the back who was slowly backing away, looking skittish. He recognized him, not by his face, but by the numerous bruises, cuts and half-healed abrasions on it.
"HEY! YOU! Rome!!" he commanded. The others stepped aside and there stood Rome, not dead but still clearly hurting from Mona's severe beating.
"Y-yes, my Tallest?" Red was glad to hear that he was afraid... oh, so very afraid. It looked like he had found the weak link among the scientists. First the stunt with Mona and the DNA tack, and now Maize's illegal-not-authorized-creation. It was time to take him to trial. He would arrange one with Purple and one of the two control brains tomorrow. For now...
"Come with me!" he demanded. To make sure he obeyed and didn't run off, he grabbed the scientist by the front of his torn robe and tucked him under one arm. He wasn't very heavy because he was so short, but it was still a struggle.
"Where are we going, sir?" he asked.
Red steooped off the lift and into the main containment room of sleeping humans. He leaned his head down so they were almost face to face, smiled sweetly and said, "WE aren't going anywhere. YOU are going in THERE."
He pointed one long finger to an empty cage up against one corner of the room.
"No! P-please, sir! My T-tallest, please no!"
It was too late. Red had unlocked the cage and thrown him in. For good measure, he pressed a button that made all the cages shock, fire and bang proofed. Not even he could escape these cages.
Immediately Rome grabbed at one of the bars on the cage and pleaded with him.
"P-please, Sir! It wasn't me, it was the human girl! I swear, it was her! She threatened me with something horrible if I didn't do it!" he begged.
Red stopped in his tracks. Finally, a confession. He loved it when they broke.
"Go on," he insisted.
"The human female, the tall one Mona spared from enslavement... she, she insisted I mix the cells to form the freak hybrid, to distract you... I think she already got to these humans in cages, Sir she's planning a rebellion!" he admitted.
Red just stared.
Suddenly, the humans in the caegs, whom he'd thought were asleep, sat or stood upright and started in on him at once, demanding that they be let free at once, to go home and be with their families. They weren't helpless anymore; now they looked angry. Mona had been right about one thing; it appeared that as feeble as humans were, they had fight in them.
He glared at Rome hatefully and, ignoring the angry outcries of the corrupted humans, left the building, turning his back on both the Irken double-traitor and its human inhabitants.
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Mona sat on her beaten down couch next to Joanna and GIR, watching a movie on VHS for lack of anything better to do when Tallest Red burst in without knocking.
" Mona, where's Dawn?" he demanded right away, looking breathless.
Mona was speechless. GIR, on the other hand, put one metal finger to his lips, glared at them all and said, "SSSSHHH!! The good part's comin' up!"
Red looked disgusted and yanked on her wrist, begging her to get up and follow him into her kitchen. She did.
Her table held all the extra house-making gadgets that hadn't been used, a total of two. Red absentmindedly pocketed them.
"You wouldn't believe it but these are expensive on Irk," he muttered. She nodded.
"What's this about?? Why do you need Dawn??" she demanded. Red had never looked so serious, so... agitated. She wondered where Purple was.
"It's Rome! HE's the one who crossed our cells! The woman you spared bribed him into doing it, to distact us, and it worked! Rome says she got to the humans in containment building two!" he hissed worriedly.
"How do you know?" she insisted, folding her arms across her chest.
"They were screaming for my head when I was walking out of the place!" he insisted.
"Oh no..." she muttered. This was bad. This was so very very bad. If she knew Dawn, the woman was not at home anymore; she had probably set up base someplace else. She would not put it past her and her resourcefullness to set up base someplace in the freaking woods. She could do it. She knew her.
"Well? What do we do??" he demanded.
Mona stopped looking worried right away, unable to believe her ears.
"Do?! You're asking ME?? Your're the Almighty Tallest! Why ask ME??" she demanded shrilly. She was no leader!
"Because YOU know her better than anyone else, that's why," said Red more calmly then before.
Suddenly a head poked into the room. It was Joanna, looking mullish.
"Sorry... I overheard you guys talking. Why would this Dawn person do this?" she asked. She stepped more fully into the room, wearing her hair in two tiny pigtails at the back of her neck and a long black nightshirt she'd borrowed from Mona.
Mona sighed.
"Because she forgave me for helping the Armada "destroy" human civilization but she couldn't accept its fate. She probably wants to fight back and regain human control," Mona guessed.
"And she bribed a scientist to create a baby Irken to distract you so she could? That's disgusting! Babies aren't meant to be used as distractions! This bitch is DEAD. Where can I find her?" Joanna demanded.
Red and Mona both stared.
"Uh... nowhere. If I know Dawn, and I do, she isn't home anymore. She's taken Peter and ran off someplace else to make a different base of operations," Mona admitted.
"Irken smeets can take care of themselves from birth, the only reason they don't is because they all go through standard proceedure training and downloading," Red added.
Joanna drew a blank and sat down heavily in a kitchen chair. From the living room, GIR giggled maniacally.
"So what about Maize?" asked Jo softly, looking at Mona. She had told her best friend all about everything so far.
Mona shrugged and Red looked embarassed.
"Biologically and genetically speaking, we are her parents. DNA run confirmed it, I checked with the smeetery Irken earlier," Red admitted quietly, as if he'd rather not have said anything.
Mona looked conflicted. Torn between thoughtfull, and stunned.
"Have her raised as any normal Irken, I guess..." she said slowly, "and after she's done with Irken training, teach her about human history so she isn't completely stupid."
Red nodded in agreement.
"But... you're her mother, Moany.. aren't you going to... y'know, raise her yourself? And Red is her father... what about him?" Joanna asked.
If he had looked uncomfortable before, it was nothing compared to the look on his face at that. Mona, too, felt distinctly uncomfortable.
"Jo, Maize wasn't created for any reason more than to distract us. We can't let ourselves be distracted or Dawn won this round. I know she's biologically mine and Red's child, but think of the implications. She would grow up forever in his shadow," explained Mona, pointing to Red, who gave a mock bow," or a control brain would find out and have her deactivated."
Joanna's gaze fell, but Mona understood her friend perfectly. She had no problem with plans for Earth, the Armada or the downfall of the human race and she didn't have a problem with Mona "abandoning" her ill-begotten daughter after an explanation. For the child's safety, it was better that she, like all other Irkens, didn't know her parentage until she was older and ready to fight.
"If I know Dawn, she'll drag this rebellion of hers into a full blown war between humans and Irkens. I'm not sure who'd win since the human military was practically destroyed, but I know it won't be an easy fight. There are other ways to fight, not just hand to hand and Dawn can be sneaky when she wants. Plus she's smart," Mona explained forlornly. Red perked his antennae up in question.
"You mean if this gets out of hand, there could be a war for control of Earth?" he asked.
Joanna looked to her as well, both waiting for an answer.
"I don't know. All I'm saying is, we better find her and shut her plans down before it DOES get out of hand."
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Dawn led her tired, small group of stragglers through the nearby woods, towards Lake Michigan nearly fifty miles away. They had been walking fior several hours now and dawn was fast approaching. Winter was definitely coming; the sky this early was slowly turning from deepest blue to a pearly, opaline winter white.
She had Peter and had managed to convince four children who could wriggle out between the bars of the cages. Three were small, no older than six or seven and the fourth was a bit older but very skinny. He had an unusual hairstyle, scythe shaped and pointy and he wore glasses. The alien's treatment of them all was deplorable.
They were all underfed, cold, tired and sweaty so she set down her backpack and rifled through it, looking for canned food and some spoons. Time to eat.
As they ate canned ravioli and pears, they looked at their surroundings. No one said a word but every once in awhile, the pointy-haired boy would mutter under his breath. His frowny face shirt was covered in mud and his jacket was torn. Dawn herself wore filthy clothes and her hair was a tangled mess of leaves and twigs.
"Where do we go from here?" asked Peter solemnly. The sound of the woods were starting, first squirrels scampering about, then the birds. The sun began to rise, bringing warmth with it, but only a little bit. It was November, after all. And getting closer to December by the day. Very soon walk on foot would be made impossible with children because of snow, ice and cold, but for now it was the best they had.
"As far from any alien-controlled civilization as we can, I suppose. Once we have enough people, I guess we grab what weapons we can and fight back," admitted the ragtag group's leader.
It was as good an answer as any..
Meanwhile...
Dib sat on a rotting log and grudgingly ate his canned ravioli. He didn't know anyone here, but at least they were all human. This was all Zim's fault. If he hadn't come to earth in the first place, they would all still be here! His dad, his classmates, even Gaz and her video games... all gone now. Just him left. The thought saddened him and he hastily wiped a tear away.
"Poor Dib-stink, crying in the middle of nowhere," sneered a voice he had no trouble recognizing.
He jerked his head up and looked around frantically. Zim?
"Only you can hear me, Dib filthy. The pathetically inferior adult human ears can't even see me for now," said the voice.
He dropped his can of food and clapped his hands to his ears. No way was he hearing Zim's voice, now here, not now. Zim was DEAD, was gone, wasn't here anymore, and good riddance.
"Au contrair, filthy pig smelly! You think ZIM can be dead for good?! I made SURE I left something behind of myself before the Tallest came and killed me and I DID! Behold!"
Before Dib, right in plain sight leaning against a dead birch tree, there flickered something... a pale shadow of sorts... it flickered in and out like a badly tuned television and finally, there stood his sworn enemy. ZIM. He looked much the same as the last time Dib had seen him, except he looked paler, more flimsy. He could see right through him, in fact.
"Zim... you're a ghost? Oh, COME ON!" Dib cried out loud.
The people around him all jumped and looked around, worried.
"Uh... there's no one there, kid," said Peter, looking bewildered and a little relieved.
"FINE. If that's the way he wants to play, then fine," he muttered under his breath. Everyone who'd thought him crazy before was either dead or not here and he didn't want to recreate that stigma with a fresh start. Even if said fresh start came at such a high price.
Zim;s plae shadow of a body sneered at Dib and laughed, his voice ringing in his ears like some nightmare version of hell from which there was now no escape. Dib alone knew about this... and he alone could do nothing about it. He was powerless.
Unless...
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Uh oh!! I reintroduced Zim and Dib!! What's he got on his mind and up his sleeve this time?? You'll have to wait!! HA!