(A/N: Agh, I was so embarrassed to post the previous chapter, but it had to be done! Right, sorry for the wait, guys! Let's get to it! Oh, and thanks a ton for the +10,000 views! ENCOURAGEMENT POWER!)


Dib got to the grand meeting as quickly as he could, and all the Swollen Eyeball agents were waiting for their youngest member to arrive. They welcomed him in and he took a seat beside Agent Darkbooty.

"So, what's up?" Dib asked him.

"We're preparing to address the bane of the Swollen Eyeball Network's very existence," Darkbooty whispered back."...the government."

"I knew it."

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"...69 splatters of blood on the wall, 69 splatters of blood. Wipe one off, wring out the cloth; 68 splatters of blood on the- -"

"Zim. Stop. Singing."

"I am bored and vengeful. Zim sings when he is bored and vengeful."

"Then count your brain cells! Should be simple enough!"

"...how am I supposed to do that?"

"ARGHHH!"

Zim and Tak had stayed in their cells all day. No Swollen Eyeball members had entered the room and there was no noise coming from anywhere. Only the two Irkens could be heard by each other. And now that it was night, it was pitch black everywhere. Zim had tried to call GIR, but the robot had fallen asleep by now. Fan-freaking-tastic.

"Just be quiet and let me keep what little sanity I have left!" Tak snapped at him.

"Hey! Don't be mad at me!" Zim pounded at the wall."I wasn't the one who brought us here, and I'm planning to find a way out! ...so don't be mad at me!"

"Okay..." Tak sighed."I'm not mad at you. I just wish I weren't trapped in this cage like those other animals down there."

Down below, a sasquatch growled in its cell.

"Heh. Yeah. I know." Zim said awkwardly. He lay beside the wall and Tak did the same. He tried to think of something to say.

"...I'm hungry."

"I don't care."

"Ah! But you do, remember?" Zim pointed out."You care about me and my needs! I didn't know you were capable!"

Tak's face flushed and she cursed herself for ever telling him that.

"Okay, well...you're the one who kissed ME! You're the affectionate one now! So HA!"

"You know you enjoyed it!"

"Forget that," Tak tried to change the subject."I'm hungry too. How are we going to get out of here and eat?"

"AHHH!" Zim suddenly screamed. A crash sounded from the other side of the wall.

Tak sat up straight."Zim?! What happened?" There was no response for a few seconds, just scraping noises.

"I'm free!" He suddenly appeared in front of Tak's cell."And look, I got the key!"

"How...how did you get out there?"

"I fell through the floor of the cell and clawed my way out!" explained Zim with pride in his voice."Those pompous fools put me in a cage that had a hole in it! That sure came in handy!"

He used the master key he had found on the far wall to open Tak's cell. Then he showed her the hole in his cell. He was able to fall through, crawl through the ventilation below and go up into the cell to his right, which was open and unoccupied.

"Come on, let's go!"

"Wait. If we escape now, it'll lead to trouble later. We can't leave until we find everyone else. And we figure out how to stop these 'Swollen Eyeball' people. For now, let's just get some snacks," Tak decided.

"We'll come back for them later!" Zim tugged her arm again.

"No!"

"Ugh! Fine!" Zim just wanted to be free, but he listened to Tak anyway. It would be less trouble if they stayed for now.

The two silently snuck out of the imprisonment center.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Wow, this meeting was taking forever. Dib was getting concerned; was the goverment worth all this fuss? How were they even going to go up against the network, pass a bill or something? And why were they called the Swollen Eyeballs anyway? Couldn't they pick a more pleasant name?

But he kept his mouth shut and listened because he knew this was important.

The three most important members of the Swollen Eyeball Network were Agents Pinkeye, Eye Crust and Eye Drop. All the findings of the paranormal EVER had been traced back to them and they had discovered more than any paranormal investigators could ever dream of. Quite some time ago, they had formed this secret society, the Swollen Eyeballs, so that they and any worthy others could discover even more and share those findings amongst each other.

Eye Drop was an aged man; he had been the first to snap a photograph of the Loch Ness Monster, but unfortunately, many dismissed his discovery. He was the one who thought of founding the Swollen Eyeballs in the first place. Eye Crust was a younger man; outspoken, subdued, but very diligent. He had actually found the most paranormal evidence of anyone in the agency, but he didn't like to brag. And then there was Pinkeye, the wild card. Besides Dib, she was the youngest member of the Swollen Eyeball Network. She had wild pink locks, yet a professional appearance. She was constantly submitting her work, but it was unknown whether her sources were reliable. She was very respected nonetheless, but there was something Dib didn't like about her...

For the past couple of hours, they'd just been prattling on about how threatening the government was now and how they don't want the world to know about paranormal entities. Occasionally another member or two would chime in, but it was mainly just those three, and Dib could hardly even hear them.

So he just sat there, wondering what Zim and Tak were up to by themselves...

(A/N: That sounds kind of wrong...Dib, what are you thinking, boy?)

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"Wow, this place has an entire room just for snacks!" Zim exclaimed at the door that said "SNACK ROOM".

"How convenient," agreed Tak."Okay, I'll go in there to get some, and you stay out here to warn me if the meeting ends or you hear anybody coming."

"Ooh! I want to go get the snacks!" the other Irken piped up, waving his arms.

"Uh...okay, I guess it doesn't matter who gets the snacks," Tak shrugged.

Zim hurried into the snack room and Tak began her patrol for any approaching Swollen Eyeballs. She could hear the voices from the meeting echoing down the hall.

If she concentrated, she could almost make out what they were saying...

"...so...after...Irkens...whole..."

Unconsciously, Tak moved away from the snack room and down the hall towards the meeting room. The voices got louder and clearer.

"...it...that won't work. You all know how they've opposed us in the past. At this point, we need total global support."

Tak quirked an antenna. So these "Swollen Eyeballs" were being opposed by somebody? That sure was good to know...

"So, what are we going to do?"

Dib's voice.

"It's simple," said a young woman."We eradicate them. It should be an easy task, what with that cannon you've been setting up at NASA, right, Agent Darkbooty?"

"A...Are you suggesting that I- -"

"Come on, man. Everyone here knows it. Show us the cannon, Darkbooty. Let us use it."

"Hey!" Dib cut in."He doesn't have to go that drastic! We just need more time!"

Tak sure wished she knew what the heck they were getting at.

"No," who Tak assumed was Agent Darkbooty spoke again."You're right. I'll...let you use the cannon. Just give me a week or so."

"That's what I thought. Now, if you excuse me, I need to use the little girls' room."

Tak darted around a nearby corner that had a safe distance from the bathrooms in the other corridor. Agent Eye Drop stepped out of the meeting hall and leaned against the wall. Tak saw her pull out her cellphone and dial a number. Somebody picked up, but she couldn't hear who was on the other line from where she was standing.

"Yes, it's all going perfectly," Pinkeye boasted over the device."Soon, everything will be running our way. We just need to wait about a week to work in the next phase...okay. I'll call you again later."

The young agent hung up and blew her rose colored hair out of her face. Then she sashayed off to the bathroom.

Tak couldn't tell whether Pinkeye was good news or bad news, but she didn't want to stick around to find out. She and Zim only had at most one week to escape from this prison.

She quickly returned to the snack room. As soon as she did, Zim emerged with a bunch of boxes and bags and such in his arms.

"I got the nourishment!" He held it out."I am so great!"

"Good for you. Quickly, let's get back to our cells before we're caught."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dib was put in charge of Zim and Tak, and he hated it. It was bad enough he was restricted in the HQ for a week, but now he had to check up on them every hour, ON the hour. It got so repetitive just seeing them in their cells not doing anything all the time.

For the extended stay, he had called his father and sister to tell them where he would be staying and all that, but of course they didn't care much.

"So, it'll only be, like, five more days until I'm free to come home, Gaz," Dib told his sister over the phone.

"Uh-huh."

"Don't forget the list of stuff I mailed for you to do."

"Pshh," scoffed Gaz."I'm not doing your chores for you just so you can run off chasing aliens. And if you think I am, then you're even crazier than I thought."

"Look! All I want you to do- -wh-who is that talking in the background...?"

"Oh, just some guy I invited over," came Gaz's nonchalant reply."I found him in the street. He said he had some used retro games he was gonna give me for free or something. Well, bye."

"What?! NO! Gaz! You do NOT invite strange men over to the house when I'm not there!"

She hung up.

"..."

"You know, the next time you're making one of those calls, could you kindly do it elsewhere?" Zim asked in annoyance."Every time, it ends with you yelling."

"Yep," agreed Tak, eating a cookie. She tightly shut one eye."Pretty annoying."

Dib turned around and looked into her cell. "...can I have a cookie?"

"No."

"UUUGH!" Dib stomped off to see if he could get some from the snack room.

He had no idea that Zim and Tak had been sneaking out at night and during meetings to steal food from there. Whenever he asked where they got all that, they just said that the Swollen Eyeballs apparently fed their prisoners. It seemed to be enough for Dib, considering all the other stuff they were keeping from him. Plus, Zim had managed to cover up the hole in his cell floor with all the snacks he was stealing.

And he returned the favor of being a dick by constantly calling Gaz right in front of them and reminding her to record Mysterious Mysteries for him. So annoying...

"Okay, he's gone!" the female Irken rushed over to the wall."Now, have you come up with how we're going to get out alive?"

"Indeed I have!" Zim said from the other side."I have come up with a brilliant scheme, and here's how we're going to do it," he pulled his communicator out of his PAK again."GIR!"

"Yes, Master!" GIR saluted over the line.

"Do you still have that piggy that shoots lasers?"

"PEW! PEW!"


(A/N: That's a sorry excuse for a cliffhanger, isn't it? Well, I wouldn't call it the best chapter, but it suited my needs. Trust me, this is all important stuff, so sorry for the downplay of comedy. I shall make up for it!

Next chapter, everything goes WRONG.

Please review, fave and follow and check out my profile for more! Sorry for the breaks!)