Dlbn: Hey everyone, and welcome to another chapter!
Nbld: Sorry for the long delay, but life sucks.
Dlbn: Not to mention that I'm currently being betrayed by someone I care very much about, and they think I'm too stupid to realize it.
Nbld: But enough of that dramatic bullshit that's going on in the real world. Let's get onto something much better and happier! The Review Corner! Thank you to Achlys for reviewing! Snacks form the Tallest's snack pods for you!
Achlys: Glad it turned out as suspenseful as I had hoped :) Hey, if you can't laugh at yourself… XD Red and Purple will make an appearance eventually. I can't reveal when yet ;) But it's not too far off from now.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own invader Zim or any other characters, themes, species, and things contained within. That all belongs to Jhonen C. Vasquez. I do, however, own Keyvine/Krill. He is mine. I make no money off of writing in this category.
000
Down on Earth, Dib couldn't sit still as he sat through class after class with no word about what was going on with Zim. His father's Public Service Announcement took place just in time for him to miss out on his last two classes; including gym. He was grateful for that fact, but it wasn't enough to rid his mind of all the things that could happen to Zim while he was out in space. He could get pulled away from his ship and go drifting through space and time forever. Or his mother could find him and imprison him. Or he could get lost or someone could accidentally shoot him. Dib's mind raced even as his father began speaking.
"Are you okay?" Keef wondered quietly, leaning in to whisper to the human. "You seem stressed."
"I'm worried about Zim." Dib said, his fingers digging into the chair he was sitting in.
"Relax." Keyvine ordered as he typed on his laptop. "I'm sure Zim will be fine. Don't worry so much. He's a bright kid."
"Still, there's a lot that could go wrong. And with the Massive and the rest of the Armada in hiding or under a cloaking device or something, how will we know where he could be? He's under a cloaking device, too. One that even your stuff and the Massive can't find."
"Seriously, Dib, you're going to worry yourself into a coma."
"That might be a good thing. Then he can't bug us about it anymore." Gaz replied. She mashed away at buttons on her Game Slave 2 angrily. "Have more faith in your boyfriend, Dib. I'm sure he has an entire illegal arsenal on him."
Dib rolled his eyes. "That doesn't make me feel any safer. They are illegal for a reason and…"
"You sound like his mother." Keyvine warned. "Don't talk like that around Zim, alright? You'll upset him."
"I wouldn't say ti around him. I'm just worried that…"
"Dib, Zim is fine." Keef put a hand on Dib's knee. "You know just as well as I do that Zim, Keyvine, and Gaz are on it together. I'm sure that if anything were happening to Zim, he would send a distress signal or something. And we haven't gotten anything of the kind, so I'm sure he's fine."
"Kids, sh." A hall monitor ordered as she passed.
The four wisely kept their mouths shut; with Keyvine and Gaz typing away at their equipment, Keef trying not to fall asleep, and Dib worrying himself sick.
000
Zim opened his eyes when he was sure that he was completely teleported. Looking around, he noticed that he was actually inside the Computer Room like he had planned. He broke into a wide grin at the sight before him. Computers lined all four walls of the room, save for a spot where the door and security hand pad were located. Blinking lights made colors dance around the room; from red to green to blue, and back. Zim pulled out the plans he had gotten from Lard Nar and looked them over. According to the schematics of the Massive's computers, there were three computers he had to shut down by pulling out specific wires and turning off certain switches. The only issue was finding the right computers, let alone wires. Looking at the schematics, Zim decided which of the computers had been marked with an 'x'; after turning the map around a couple times to figure out where the door was. With his idea in mind, he walked over to one of the computers and read the serial number off of it as '1920378'. He checked with the schematics, and one of the computers with an 'x' on it had the serial number he was reading. Smiling, he switched a few levers on the front of it and watched some of the lights flicker off. Happy that the computer was down in certain areas but not down completely, he moved onto the next one. Comparing serial numbers as he went along, Zim did the same thing until he found the second computer. Lard Nar had put red dots on the wires that had to be pulled, so Zim took his time to follow them and only unplug the ones he needed to have unhooked. Once he was sure he had all of them, and checked to be sure, he moved onto the next and last computer. This one had switches to be flipped as well as wires to be pulled. Zim followed the red dots on the papers to make it match perfectly. Happy that he had what he needed, Zim pressed a red button on another, unlisted computer. A computer screen popped out of the computer and showed what was running on the security cameras. Zim expanded the camera that showed the Massive's bridge; where he was more likely to find his mother. No one seemed to be reacting to anything bad happening fomr the computers being messed with, but Zim saw his mother pacing back and forth. She had on her uniforms of the Tallest as usual, and had the hover belt active so she was floating around instead of walking. Her arms were folded over her chest and her antennae were flat. His father was sitting in the throne next to his mother's (his being a little shorter in the height of the back of the chair) and was eating a snack. Red and Purple were nowhere to be found, which wasn't that much of a shock. They hardly spent time in the Bridge. They were either out in their own ship or in the cafeteria making castles out of straws. Zim wanted to enable the audio, but then the sound coming from inside the normally quiet room would grab attention from anyone passing by and potentially risk exposing him. Zim sighed and hit the button again to make the computer screen go back into the system. He then pressed the button on his teleporter pad to bring him back into the hall. Once back where he started from, Zim stuck as close to the wall as possible to make his way down to the Bridge.
000
After about half an hour of walking around until he reached the Bridge on the other side of the ship, Zim sat on a window ledge to relax and watch the stars go by slowly. He recognized a couple planets passing. The Massive was getting closer and closer to Earth. Hopefully the information the three computers were feeding to the Bridge would steer them in another direction. Keeping an eye out for constellations that he recognized, Zim kept his antennae at the ready for anyone passing by or at least coming too close. He heard two familiar voices and stood up on the ledge. He held himself standing upright to prevent himself from losing grip and falling to his face. His breath caught as his brothers walked down the hallway together, seeming to bicker a little as Red lightly shoved Purple into a wall.
"Watch it, Red." Purple sneered. "You may be a couple minutes older, but I can still kick your ass."
"Maybe if you had Zim here to help you." Red laughed.
Purple glared. "Watch it. Don't say the 'Z' word when we're this close to mom. You know what her response would be."
"I wish she'd just get it through her head that he isn't coming home any time soon." Red sat on a window ledge next to the one Zim was on.
Purple stretched. "Maybe if you and I talked to him, he would come home? She wouldn't be able to talk him into it, with how upset he was before he left."
"All this over a guy." Red shook his head sadly. "I almost wish we never brought him to that party. He wouldn't have met Krill and this wouldn't have happened."
"Don't sa the 'K' word too close to mom either. She hates him more."
"I can't believe he didn't report in like she said to." Purple folded his arms over his chest. "He completely broke Invader code and disrespected the Tallest."
"Hopefully she decides to go easy on him whenever she finds him."
"If she finds him."
"Yeah, I know." Red leaned back against the window. "He's going to get killed."
"Maybe word of the threat of that will happen to him will get to Zim, and Zim will come home to defend him or something."
"That's a horrible plot." Purple replied.
"I know, but I think Zim would come back if he knew his boyfriend was in danger."
"He's not my boyfriend." Zim muttered, glad for the noise canceling bubble surrounding him.
"He's probably worried something would happen to him if he came back."
"The only thing mom would do is ground him and have guards stay near him 24/7."
"Yeah, because doing that worked oh so well in the past." Purple rolled his eyes.
"Well, what would you do to punish him?"
"I'd just talk to him about the situation." Purple stated. "I don't think Mom ever tried to just talk to him about the issues between them. I don't think he hates mom, I think he just wants to be heard and given a chance."
"Not that I don't agree with you on that, Pur, because I really do agree, but this stuff wouldn't be happening if he didn't make those illegal weapons. They started arguing and not getting along when he started making and selling them and got caught finally."
"Yeah, but I don't think mom told him why he can't do it, other then 'because I said so'. And you know that doesn't work with him."
"Mom should let us discipline him. Or dad. I think we'd do a better job of it."
Zim didn't argue with that. The doors to the Bridge opened and their mother hovered out. "You two are aware that I and the rest of the crew can hear every single word you're saying, right? And I don't approve." She stated.
"Sorry, mom." Red stated. "We were just talking about everything."
She didn't seem amused. "We think we know where Zim might be. There's a planet that has Irken technology on it out there."
"So what are we going to do about it?" Red asked, standing. "Are you sending scouts to find him?"
"I'm sending no one. I'm going personally."
"What!?" Red and Purple looked as shocked as Zim felt. "You can't be serious!"
When they spoke together, Zim couldn't help but chuckle to himself about how much they were alike. Which wasn't a surprise, considering that they were twins.
"If you get killed, what are we going to do?" Red wondered, folding his arms over his chest. "Let Pur and I go to the planet instead."
"And what am I going to do if you two get killed?" Miyuki questioned. "I'm going with a cloaking device enabled until I can get enough information to make a holographic watch to blend in. I'm sure that even if Zim isn't there, Krill is."
Zim gulped.
"And what are you going to do if he is?" Red wondered. "Bring him here?"
"Kill him." Miyuki shrugged. "I told him what was going to happen if he didn't report in. I gave him a choice, and he made that choice. He didn't report in, so now he has to face the consequences."
"But what if Zim is there too and finds out?" Purple wondered. "He'd be devastated."
"If Zim is there with Krill, then that just solidifies that he kidnapped Zim or Zim ran away with him." Miyuki stated. "Without Krill, he'd have no reason to stay on that planet and we could bring him home anyway."
Yes, he did have reasons to stay. And his main one was named Dib.
"But if you kill Krill, won't that just make Zim madder?" Red wondered. "That's his boyfriend…"
No he isn't.
"Maybe you two should talk to him. He might listen to his siblings better then his mother." Miyuki stated, ignoring her son's completely logical question. "But make it clear that he's in trouble."
"He probably just wants someone to listen to him instead of everyone telling him that he's doing wrong and what he needs to do." Purple informed.
"He's only fourteen." Miyuki stated. "He needs to be told what to do so he won't get hurt."
"But that doesn't make him a kid."
It felt more like orders of what he had to do or else, instead of statements of what he should do. And that was probably what bothered him most. Plus, like Red said, he wasn't a kid but he was treated like one.
"Look, end of discussion for now, okay?" Miyuki smiled softly. "I have to get prepared to go to the third planet."
"Third planet?"
"It's the third planet from the sun. We have no name for it yet."
Well, that was a good as a description as any…
Red and Purple shared a look. "Mom…do we know if we can even breathe down there?"
"We've sent probes to test each planet for sustainable life. This is the only one that can do so. I'll be fine. You two stay with your father and the ship and don't interfere no matter what, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am." Red and Purple spoke at once.
She smiled at that. "Alright. Now no more arguments. Go to the Bridge while I go prepare to leave."
They nodded and stood still as she went past them. Neither of them spoke, and the silence in the hall was deafening. The only noise came from Miyuki's hover belt. Zim waited until he could no longer hear the hover belt's him before getting down off of the window ledge. Red and Purple shared a look.
"She's never going to get it through her head." Red stated. "We are Princes. They will be upset if we die, but if we lose the Tallest, our planet will be devastated."
"Well, dad's the next closest in height, as far as we know, so he'd just take over until a measuring could begin."
"I guess." Purple shrugged. "But still, out planet lost Tallest before and it wasn't pretty. Even if someone was there to take their place for the time being."
"She's as stubborn as Zim is. Now we know where he gets it from." Red snorted.
Zim had no idea how his brother had managed to do that without a nose, but it wasn't that important; just odd.
"Yeah, I guess so." Purple sighed. "And now I see why he got so frustrated with her so easily. There's no talking to her once her mind is made up."
Zim sighed softly to himself as he made a decision. He disabled the soundproof bubble that had once been surrounding him.
"Which is why I had to leave…" He spoke softly. "I felt like I was being suffocated…"
The twins jumped at the sound of his voice.
"Did you hear that?" Red asked.
"Yeah, did you?" Purple wondered.
"Yeah…so I'm not crazy and I didn't just imagine our little brother's voice talking to me?"
"No, I heard it clear as day…" Purple looked around. "Zim?"
Zim hesitated a moment before making his final decision. He shut off his hologram and watched the looks on his brothers' faces morph from complete shock to astonishment.
"Zim?" They asked as once.
Zim put a finger to his lips and motioned for them to follow. He took off down a hallway and his brothers gave chase. Once at a snack pod, Zim pulled open the door and escaped inside. He left the door open a crack and heard it creak open and then shut as his brothers entered the pod. Zim turned around to greet them, but was interrupted by both of them pouncing on top of him and holding him tightly.
"You're back!" Red greeted.
"Where have you been?!" Purple wondered.
The two of them pulled away to look down at their little brother. Zim looked up and smiled, seeing their eyes brimming with tears that they were trying so desperately to hide.
"Does it matter now?" Zim wondered. "I'm home."