Bryan carried a blade in his right hand and stayed well behind Gaz, always keeping her in his line of vision. She was brutal and an excellent killer, he had to admit, but he wouldn't trust her, not yet.
As the two rounded a corner into an abandoned corridor and side-stepped the fallen bodies, the walls of ship began to vibrate as a bellowing roar exploded through the air.
Noah's head perked up, twitching his antenna to the right, picking up a faint muffled snarl. "Mom..." he whispered, feeling the weight of impending doom leave his shoulders instantly. As they came to the end of the hall he jerked his head to the right and peered down the corridor, hoping to see the familiar black figure bound into view.
"This way." Gaz took off, pulling out her gun. "It'll be a bloodbath down there."
Bryan stopped and gawked at her, half thinking she was crazy. "Are you kidding me? Did you hear that... THING!"
"Hey!" Noah elbowed him in the ribs and hissed at him. "Don't call her that!"
"... her?"
Gaz huffed and twisted back to scowl at him. "You'll find out." Without another word she marched off down the hall, not looking back to see if they followed or not.
With reluctance in his step, Bryan kept pace with her, blade at the ready. The closer they got to the sounds of screaming the more he wanted to plunge head-on into the brawl.
"Get down!" Gaz grabbed the front of Bryan's coat and jerked him to the floor, covering her head as a bright red ring of fire cut through the air above them.
Bryan looked up and followed the razor-like flame, watching as it engulfed a soldier a few hundred yards down the hall. His head whipped back around towards the killer, his eyes fixating on a small, thin female. "Auzie!"
She stared back at him, her blank expression turning to a snarl. "Where HAVE you been! Dad and I have been looking everywhere for you!" She put her hands on her hips and leaned in closer as he stood up.
Gaz stood with him and pointed the plasma gun at the girl's head. "Who are you?"
Auzie looked at the end of the gun and back up at Gaz, gently wrapping her hand around the tip. The metal began to sizzle and melt, creating a small puddle on the floor at Gaz's feet. "Auzie... Don't ever point a gun at me... ever."
"Alright, that's enough."
Aneera sprinted down the halls, her padded feet making deep thudding noises against the metal. They didn't come across soldiers often anymore, as most were dead, but the few they did run into were either ripped in half, electrocuted or set on fire.
Zim could actually count the number of soldiers they saw on his fingers, until they got to the first sector of the ship where the ComRoom was. After that they poured in from everywhere, and at one point Zim thought they were coming from the ceiling.
They had debated on setting the whole corridor ablaze, but decided that blowing the ship up wasn't a great idea. Instead they settled for mauling and beheading, throwing in an occasional exploding mini bomb they found laying around.
It didn't take but three to four minutes before the soldiers were all dead, piled neatly in a corner amongst a pool of blood. They had put the bigger ones on the bottom, saving the scrawny, bony ones for the top.
Aneera licked her snout and pawed the rest of the stray droplets off her. Once she had flicked her tail clean she took off down the hall, leaving behind a trail of massive bloody paw prints.
Bryan hissed violently as he watched his father appear from around the corner carrying his bow staff.
"God, did I walk into a family reunion or something? What's the matter with you?" Gaz looked back at other who had taken a defensive stance, slightly crouched.
"Where is he!" Bryan spat, glaring daggers towards the other.
Zephyre glowered back at him. "Don't you think I'd like to know!" He snatched the front of Bryan's jacket and jerked him up off the floor, looking him over. "Who are they?"
Bryan looked past his father and stared at his sister, who still had an unamused scowl plastered on her face. "Why did you bring her here? You knew how dangerous it was going to be!" He stood up fully and clenched his fists around his blade and Noah. "Why didn't you leave her at home?"
"Because I would've never been able to find you! And I don't fight like I used to, you know that!" Zephyre glanced back down at the smeet in his left arm. "Who does he belong to?" he asked sternly, pulling away the jacket so he could see.
At this point Bryan was so fed up with just looking at his father that words couldn't form to explain how he felt. His face reddened intensely and he stormed off, shoving past his father and flicking his right blade at Auzie, telling her to come along. "You should know." he called back. "You liar."
Gaz stood helpless in her spot and watched as the father took off down the hall after them. Once they were all out of view she dropped her useless chunk of metal that was formerly her gun, and whipped out her baton. Once she heard the chorus of screaming soldiers she took off, a malicious grin spreading across her face.
Bryan had one blade extended outward and slightly behind him, cutting through throats as attackers charged them from ahead. Auzie took the liberty of burning the dead bodies beyond recognition, arguing that it would "help," even though it was only because she was never fast enough to catch a stray soldier before her brother.
Watching from close behind was Zephyre, trying to catch up to them before they got too far. Every corner they passed he inched closer until he was just millimeters from reaching distance. but he knew it wouldn't be enough, he could see the door getting closer, the threshold heavily lined with troops of all shapes and sizes.
As they closed the distance Bryan and Auzie slid to a stop just as the soldiers pulled out their weapons, preparing to fire. Bryan swiftly turned his head, his father nearly crashing into him. He was grabbed by the collar and whipped around, still clutching Noah tightly in one arm.
Zephyre shifted his eyes from left to right, surveying the squad from soldier to soldier. He had to admit that select few that Red had picked for his Elite force were becoming thinner and weaker than he remembered.
The soldier on the their far right aimed his gun and took the first shot, causing everyone else to chip in. In the brief moment of confusion Bryan had pulled free of his father's grip and disappeared into one of the ventilation shafts, ricocheting himself off the walls and climbing to the top of the floor.
"Where is he going!" Auzie ducked down and flicked her wrist, sending another spinning fire disc towards some poor soul that burst into flames and ran down the hall screaming. "He can't just LEAVE us here!"
Her father looked at her and scowled. "He just did! And be careful!" He turned his attention back to the baton twirler charging him, knowing this was only going to end one way, bloody.
Aneera turned down an unused hall and drug her feet until they came to a safer location. Once there she flung herself to the ground, spreading her arms and legs out and dropping her dragon form. "Oh my god, would it kill you to lose five pounds?"
Zim turned his head and glared. "Where! It's all muscle, I've got nothing left to lose!"
"You're head doesn't have to be so big does it?" She snickered, giving him and innocent smile as he sat down against the wall at her feet.
"You weigh a ton, I know, I measured." He pulled out a portable screen and sent a quick transmission to the Moon Base, sighing as the effects of his exhaustion rushed to his brain.
Her head jerked up and she raised her foot, kicking him in the shoulder. "Yeah well that's all muscle too, and I know you know that." She yawned and rolled over, resting her head on her hands.
The screen flickered for a moment before Dib's face lit up on the screen. "You're not dead yet?" he asked sarcastically, adjusting his glasses.
"No, and I've told you a million times that you I'm not giving the rights to my technology when I dodie, so forget it." He gave him a quick glare before changing the topic. "So how's everything at base?"
Dib's face fell into an irritated scowl, his nose scrunching up in frustration. "Tak's here... How do you think everything is? I can't believe you trust her!"
Zim scoffed at him and waved a hand. "I don't but she's got access to things that even I couldn't hack into. And I've got every eye in that facility on her at all times, its impossible for her to get away with anything without me knowing about it."
"You better be right, because I'm sick of her. But onto a lighter note, how is everything over there? And why are you laying around!"
"BECAUSE HE'S FAT!" Aneera shouted, gently shoving the other.
Zim's head snapped towards her. "Nobody asked for your input!" He turned back to Dib and smiled. "Great! We've seen over three hundred head bodies and I haven't seen anyone since Gaz had her fit over whoever was killing off the soldiers before she got to them."
"So nothing yet?"
"Nope." Zim sighed and sunk lower to the floor. "I can't even smell him anymore, it's like he;s not even here..." His voice trailed off sadly, his eyes drifting off into the distance.
Dib's shoulders slouched and he tried to smile hopefully. "I'm sure he's in good hands, and even if he's by himself I wouldn't worry. Besides, he's related to you, chances are he's either remained completely elusive or he can fight better than you think." He smiled wider.
Zim didn't smile back, he didn't even look. "We'd better get going, the sooner this is over, the better. How many have gotten to Earth?"
"Only seven are on the surface, but we've got people taking care of them. They landed on the Victorian Islands, Brazil and one went to China, but I wouldn't worry."
Zim nodded his head and let his eyes meet Dib's. "I'll call you again when we're safe, I don't know when that'll be, but if it takes too long feel free to send in some back up, just in case." He reached around to the edge of the screen and shut it off, exhaling heavily. "Come on."
Aneera groaned and pushed herself up off the floor, stretching her shoulders. "It's not much farther is it?" she asked, leaning forward onto her paws and shacking the blood back into her legs.
"No." With a quick jump Zim crawled onto her shoulder and situated himself comfortably. "Let's go."
Red paced boredly in the middle of the room, aimlessly turning in circles to keep himself busy. "This is ridiculous, I know they aren't this slow." He turned to the ComTech sitting directly in front of him. "Where are they?"
The Irken turned in his seat and began typing in commands, pulling up two active security cams. One showing Zephyre and Auzie backed into a corner fighting for their lives and the other showing Aneera trodding down one of the main halld with Zim on her back.
"Wait..." Red moved closer and looked over the small Irken's shoulder. "What happened to Bryan? Why don't we have a visual of him!"
The ComTech fidgeted nervously, pulling up any camera that would give him a clue. "I-I don't know... Sir..."
Tallest Red spun his chair around so that he was facing the other. "You don't know?" He watched him shake his head. "It's your job to know!" He backhanded the smaller Irken across the face and floated a few feet away before turning back to him and clenching his fists. "Do you have any idea what he's capable of!"
He pulled at his collar and slowly shook his head, cringing away as his Tallest started yelling.
"He is one of the most talented Irkens alive! Why do you think we've been losing so many soldiers! They don't just fall over dead! I would kill to have him on my Elite force, I have never seen anyone brutally slaughter people like him."
The ComTech swallowed harshly and grabbed the edge of his chair for support, leaning away as Red floated closer.
"If I could get my hands on him and make him one of us he'd be perfect. We'd just have to take away the basic emotions and make him obey." Red swiftly spun around and floated over to the middle of the room. "But you don't even know where he is! We're dealing with a devil and you can't even keep your eye on him! If you can't-!" He stopped, slowly turning his gaze upwards.
The others in the room did the same, twitching their antennae to adjust their hearing. At first it was silent, with just the humming of the ship, but after a moment they all heard it, the banging of metal above their heads and the faint sound of heavy walking.
"It's him..." Red whispered, backing away towards the front of the room. "Assume your positions."
The remaining four Irkens readied their weapons and stood behind Red, waiting for the mysterious killer to appear. After a moment of nervously looking around a figure fell from the ceiling and landed gracefully on the floor.
Bryan slowly rose to his feet and brought his balde to his torso, hiding Noah under his coat. "I'd say hello but I hate you and don't feel like looking at your face." He surveyed the room and lowered his blade, giving anyone who looked directly at him the evil eye.
"Well aren't you charming. It's nice to finally see you." Red smiled and cocked his head to the side. "What are you hiding?" He moved closer to get a better look, but Bryan crouched down and backed away.
"Where's my brother?" he asked defensively.
Red rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I don't really know, I'm surprised he's taking so lo-" His head jerked to the right as he was cut off.
The double doors flew open, Aneera bounding in with a deafening roar, her wings flared and claws spread to kill. She dug her them into the floor to stop herself, making the metal screech beneath her talons.
"Speaking of the devil!" he called to Zim, smiling wider upon his dismount. "We were just talking about you. Good to see you finally stopped by, I was getting bored."
Zim waved Aneera off and she entertained herself with mauling anyone she could get her teeth into. He pulled out his baton and charged it up, stopping a few yards away from the Tallest. "I hope you weren't insulting me."
Red's eyes slowly followed one of his soldiers who had gotten behind Bryan, whose face was riddled with both admiration and horror for his brother. When Red nodded to the soldier Noah was yanked from his grip. "Thought so."
Aneera stopped what she was doing and snarled, making the soldier jump in fear.
Zim hissed at him and narrowed his eyes. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was wondering why Noah was half the size he used to be. "Put him down."
Red held up a hand to silence him, looking Noah over with a close eye. When he was satisfied he dismissed the guard and watched the little smeet cower behind his father. "Pathetic."
"Jerk." he replied, looking angrily at the taller one.
Zim shushed him and nudged him over towards his mother, scowling at him. When he was safe his scowl turned to a glare as his eyes met Red's. "So how do you want to do this?"
"Well I really don't want to do anything until the others get here, we've got important business to take care of." Red clasped his hands behind his back and began shifting his gaze from one to the other, amusing himself.
After a moment of total silence Zim stood lax and stared at Red. Then his gaze fell upon to the other male standing in front of him. He vaguely had the feeling of looking into a mirror.
"What're you looking at?" he asked, leaning his head back. He followed Red's stare at looked the other in the eye for the first time.
Red stopped and snickered. "The two of you, I just can't get over the irony." He looked back over at Bryan, who pulled out his second blade and glowered back. "Oh come now, it's not all my fault."
"It's ENTIRELY your fault! I have half a mind to kill you right now!" He then lowered his weapons and looked hatefully at the doors. "I just want an explanation before you die."
Zim stood silently, not understanding enough to make any comments. Just the fact that he was being suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia was enough to keep his mind busy.
"Well I suppose I could..." Red turned around and gasped. His remaining soldiers had been all reduced to half eaten piles of bone and shredded flesh. He scrunched his face as the smell hit him, nausia following soon after. "That's disgusting."
"Thank you!" Aneera replied, smiling proudly.
"Sir!" The ComTech that was still alive spun around in his chair and addressed his Tallest. "The others have been captured, shall I bring them in?"
Red smiled gratefully and waved him off. "And have them send in more Elites." He then turned back to the Irkens at hand. "Looks like you'll be getting your explanation. And I'm sure you'd," he looked at Zim. "like one too?"
Said Irken lowered his baton and moved his to his left hand. "It'd be nice to know where the sudden nostalgia came from."
The Tallest crossed his arms and smiled wider. "Well I wasn't planning on having you two even see each other, but since you really don't have a clue I guess it won't harm anything." He looked away and thought to himself for a moment, finding something might help. "Been having any strange nightmares lately?"
Zim stepped back and looked at him suspiciously. "How do you know about that?"
"You still haven't made the connection yet? I thought you were smarter than that." The doors burst open and a dozen Irken guards marched in, four occupying Zephyre and Auzie. "Oh good! We can get started!"
Auzie looked angrily at Red and started wriggling in the guard's grip. "When I get out of here you are SO FRIED!" The guards flicked her in the head and glared at her.
"Be quiet, squirt."
She looked up him and narrowed her eyes and flexed her hands, which burst into flames. She watched smugly as the guard's face went from nervous to red hot and in pain. Auzie put her feet up and pushed off his chest, sliding to a stop next Bryan.
Once the guard had shaken his hands cool he looked up, meeting Red's furious gaze. "It's not my fault! You saw what she did..." he said defensively.
Red made a mental note to throw him out the airlock later. After he'd made sure to remember that he looked over to Zephyre and grinned. "Oh how ironic. I guess you're quite impressive attempt at lying failed in the end, didn't it?"
"I wouldn't have to have lied if it wasn't for you! You brought this on yourself!" Zephyre wriggled angrily and hissed, glaring at him threateningly.
Auzie's interest piqued and she looked up at her brother. "What's he talking about?"
Bryan snorted unhappily and folded his arms across his chest. "He's been lying to us, that's what."
"Is that why you left! So what!" She punched his arm. "We thought you DIED!"
Red grew impatient and jerked his head towards the child. "Enough! I'm tired of dealing with you, the sooner I can get this over with the sooner I can kill you all!"
Aneera jumped up from her seat and leaped back into her scaled figure, crouching low behind Zim and keeping her violet eyes locked onto Red's.
"Oh don't worry, I've got plenty to tell you." He smirked as her head raised a little. He then addressed the two other in front of him. "I'm actually surprised that this hasn't happened sooner, I was expecting this to be more difficult."
Bryan's hands began to tighten around his swords, his temper rising. "What did you expect! You brainwashed him! Of course he's not going to remember anything!" He pointed one of the blades at Zim, still looking hatefully at Red.
"What ever do you mean?" Red asked mockingly, seeing his opportunity.
Bryan then swung his hand around and jabbed the tip of his blade at the Tallest's throat. "You took him away from us!"He stepped closer, his blue eyes fading to the familiar Irken red they used to be. "If you hadn't sent your soldiers to our planet he wouldn't be here!"
Red's smile grew wider as the boy's voice continued to rise, his eyes darting to Zim every few seconds. Once Bryan was screeching at the top of his lungs the Tallest jerked his towards Zim and he yelled over the other. "Isn't this familiar! I recall you having the very same anger management problems!"
Zim's face reddened as his temper, too, started rising. "Will you get on with it before I decide you're not worth listening to!"
"That!" he said, leaning in closer. "That right there. You never could control your anger, could you? That's not normal behavior, it's not even common in defects." Red sneered as Zim's eyes twitched. "Is that what you think you are? A defect? Well then, would it make you feel better if i told you that that's not what you are?"
Zim's face instantly went blank, paling until he was a sickly pastel color. "Wh... what?... Then what the hell am I!"
Red pointed his finger at the captive, who was still jerking helplessly. "Why don't you ask your fatherWHAT YOU ARE!" His lips curled into a deadly grin as he saw the realization hit him square in the face.
Slowly, Zim's head turned to look at Zephyre, who took one look at him and hung his head in shame. He then looked back at Red. "You're lying..." he whispered. "Tell me you're lying!"
"No! I'm not lying, that would be pointless. You're anger is hereditary, it always ran in the family." Red began to walk towards the front of the room to his ComTech.
Zim racked his brain for and sort of explanation he could come up with. "They are not my family." he stated, making Red stop and turn to look at him. "I remember being born in the hatchery, I remember going to the Academy, I remember single handedly destroying the first Operation... I remember being banished, and the way you hated me..." He voice got quiet as he continued. "I've counted all the times you tried to kill me, and how you acted like I was your favorite so I wouldn't know."
"All of those are true..." He said, watching Zim's face lighten. "Except for the first part. You were never born in the facility, you were brought to the hatchery for your PAK, which I'm glad to see has done it's job."
Bryan could feel his blood boiling at this point, plotting how to bring Red down with minimal effort. "You're a monster." he hissed.
Red looked to him and smiled apathetically. "I take that as a compliment. And actually, he was turning out quite well at first, banishing him was probably where I went wrong. But I can imagine why it-"
"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT DID TO ME!" Zim stepped forward and brought his baton up to strike. "Of all the things you did to me, to all of us, I would rather have gone to Hell and back! I can barely function on my own because you TORTURED me until I was all but dead!"
"And look how strong you are now. You may not be able to function like a normal Irken, granted you aren't one, but you're stronger than some of my best. If anything you should be grateful for that, at least." Red turned to face him fully. "But none of this changes the fact that you aren't who you think you are." He pulled a small round disc from his PAK and handed it to his ComTech. "This is what your mind used to look like."
The ComTech placed the disc onto the scanner and pulled up a screen on the front window. The screen flickered and shook as the static cleared away, revealing a series of short memories, which were played from the vision of a smeet.
One was an earlier memory of the two of them sitting with their mother outside. The next had the two of them in what looked to be an underground base, much like the one Zim had, playing around with what Zim thought was a mutant dog.
These random memories continued playing for a good five minutes before Red paused it at a longer, drawn out memory. He looked to Zim and spoke. 'You'll remember this one, our brain surgeon failed to remove this one." He started up the memory and let it play out.
It was dark outside and a dull orange glow flooded into the house from the windows. The smeets were huddled into a corner behind their mother, cringing when the door was kicked open.
"Oh my god..." Zim knew what this was, he had dreamed it hundreds of times, and he knew every little detail of it, except the last split second when the other called out to who he now understood to be himself. The screen began to flicker again as the soldiers hoisted him from the ground. He grabbed the back of his collar, feeling it start to choke him like it did that night.
The father was busy with mauling the two officers while the mother was thrown against the wall. There was more yelling and screaming for help, accompanied by the cries of pain from one of the other soldiers as blood poured from his hand. He staggered and was struck down by the one carrying the smeet. The other called out to him and reached his hand forward, his eyes full of tears. 'Zim!'
"Bryan..."
Red shut off the screen and removed the disc, tossing it to Zim. "You can keep that, they belong to you." He let out a huff and surveyed the room. "The secrets out, Z. You might as well give up your little charade."
"Wait a minute!" Auzie held her hands up and silenced the room. Her eyes shifted to her father. "Why didn't Bryan remember this earlier?"
Zephyre saw every eye in the room peer at him questioningly, except for Bryan's, who looked disgusted. He looked back broken heartedly, ashamed of what he was about to tell them. "We gave him a sedative to put him to sleep. A close friend of mine who'd been caught in the attack had property on the neighboring planet that was ready for us to move into. We told him it was dream and that he had suffered from memory loss."
Red's antennae perked up. "Really? And how about his appearance?"
The other sighed and hung his head lower. "I knew someone who used to work with me in the black market, we were afraid that if we didn't do something about that he'd find out sooner."
"True, twins are hard to come by." Red looked around thoughtfully, his eyes landing on Zim's pale face. "I know you heard me, Zim."
"I don't believe this... I don't know whatto believe!" He sunk to his knees and dropped his baton, his hands falling limp by his sides. He could feel Aneera breathing beside him, focusing on that he knew he wasn't going mad.
"Oh don't feel bad," he said, meeting Zim's blank gaze as he lifted his head. "It's not like it makes much difference, you'll be dead soon anyways."
All eyes and snarls were directed at him, Aneera going so far as to snap her jaws tow inches from his face.
Auzie brought her hand down and pulled up a fire ball. "Will someone give me a half decent reason as to why we haven't killed him yet!"
"Because I've got more to say, after that feel free to try and fail." He walked past Zim and wrapped his claws around one of Aneera's horns, roughly pulling her forward. He avoided her snapped and pulled harder when she resisted. "It's your turn." he said, letting go of her and joining his ComTech.
Aneera looked up, nudging Noah over to his father. Whe he was gone she peered back at Red, her eyes thinning dangerously as her lips pulled back into a snarl, growling threateningly.
Red leaned over and whispered to the Irken next to him, watching as he followed orders. Another screen appeard and the image flickered to life. "Zim," he waited for him to look up and pay attention. "This is another one of your memories, and thankfully we removed it completely."
The memory played out like the others had, except this was on the Massive, in room full of defective smeets. Over the door hung a sign that read 'Holding Cell 12'. For the first few minutes it was just him him sitting against the wall surveying the little Irkens.
Zim watched closely, recognizing a younger Irken then, Tiz. This must have happened after Operation Impending Doom I, I didn't even know Tiz back then... "When did this happen?"
"After you were banished. This was your week off from Foodcourtia. Sizz-Lor needed a break from you so he sent you here for work." Red explained, smirking.
The scene continued to play out, staying fairly normal. About three minutes in a pair of guards stormed in, scaring the smeets together in a corner. One stepped forward and pointed his gun at the group, calling for one of them to step up. 'Aneera! The Tallest have called for you.' A smeet standing behind her shoved her forward where she was scooped up by the other guard.
Aneera snorted at the screen, lowering her ears in defense against what she was seeing. Zim trembled lightly as he faintly remembered this happening, while Noah was tucked under his arm in fear.
As the memory continued, Zim's vision followed the guards, watching them leave through the doors. He proceeded to follow behind them, staying well away so he wouldn't be found. A few mor minutes in they ended up in a small dimly lit room with both Tallest standing being a metal table, similar to the one Zim owned. The smeet was forced down onto the table with electrical restraints.
A low hiss poured from the dragon's jaws as she backed away, lowering her tail and wings, straining her ears backwards.
'Go get the syringe, she can't get away.' said Purple, nodding over to a table off screen. When the guard returned he handed it over to Red, then busied himself with opening the fron of her uniform, exposing the skin above her heart. Red leaned over the now crying and yelling Aneera, watching happily she wriggled helplessly under him. He found the main blood vessel and plunged the needle through her skin, forcing the black liquid into her system.
Aneera had to paw her ears shut as she heard herself cry out with a deafening and shrill scream. At this point the screen was shut off, leaving the room deathly quiet, save for Aneera's whimpers and grunts of frustration.
Red turned around to look at everyone's reaction, pleased to see that it was nothing but hate and disgust. Then he let his gaze float to Aneera, who was violently shaking and poised to jump him.
Before he could say anything to piss her off even more, the door swung open again, crashing into the wall. Marching in was a very irritated and fed up Tallest Purple. "RED!" he yelled, glaring hotly at his co-Tallest.
"Oh my," Red said sarcastically. "I'm so frightened."
When Purple reached him he was just an inch from the others face, eyes equally narrowed. "You disgust me, you aren't fit to be Tallest anymore!"
Red simply pushed him away and shoved past the quivering Aneera. "What're you gonna do about it? You don't have the authority to demote me! Only the control brains do, and they agree with everything I'm doing!"
Zim suddenly snapped out of his temporary trance and snatched up his staff, ready to charge Red. But Purple held up his hand and motioned towards Aneera, silently telling him he'd take care of the other Tallest.
"You know, they aren't the only ones who make up the rules." Purple said matter-of-factly. "They may be old, but the Order is still in play." He watched as Red stopped in his tracks and jerked around.
He hissed and floated up to Purple. "No one listens to the Order, it was written by a bunch of fools! That piece of parchment is the reason why the original Irkens never lasted!"
"That doesn't mean you don't have to obey it!"
"Oh listen to yourself!" Red snarled, waving him off. "You're becoming one of them! I may not be fit to rule in your eyes, but you're not the majority of the population!"
Purple stood his ground and squared his shoulders. "No, but I am Tallest, and both I andthe Second Tallest agree that you're unfit to rule, that's more than enough to relieve you of your position."
Red stood where he was and quirked a brow at the other, waving in two other guards. "Sieze him, put him in one of the empty cells."
Two of the guards standing by the door took each of Purple's arms and hauled him off to the prisoners wing.
Aneera shook her head and snapped at Red, advancing on him quickly. However, once she got too close he pulled his gun and back her up a few feet. She grunted bitterly and slinked back over to Zim and where Bryan was now standing with Auzie.
"You might as well take him away too." He shooed away the two guards holding Zephyre, who suddenly started putting up another fight as he was dragged out.
Auzie ran after them, ignoring her brothers cries. She gave him one last reassuring look as she disappeared through the doors after their father. Once she was gone the room fell silent again, leaving Red to speak first.
He pulled out his baton, the ends glowing with an electrified purple light. "So, which one of you wants to die first?"
Letting instinct kick in, Zim charged him, bring his staff around and swing harshly at his Tallest. Red took a short leap backwards and quickly flicked Zim aside, bring the end of his baton across across Zim's midsection, sending him flying ten feet across the room. The whole right side of his uniform had been burnt away, leaving his bare skin red and seared.
"DAD!" Noah clawed away from his mother and got about five feet before Bryan pulled him away and held him down. He looked to his brother and watched Zim push himself up onto his elbows.
Aneera had finally snapped and launched herself at Red, spreading and aiming her talons for his face. As she flared her wings and let a out thundering bellow her eyes widened, she had made a grave mistake. She made a last second attempt to pull away, but her wings didn't move fast enough, and she felt it.
It pushed through her skin easily, like she was nothing but air. The only thing she could comprehend was the sound of her flesh burning and the smell of her blood falling to floor as her body slid down the shaft of the baton. Her eyes stared into Red's, and she could just make out his evil smirk before she was tossed aside.
She felt so numb that the pain was no more than a dull thumping in her antennae. Everything else was muffled, the screams from her son and helpless cries of her husband.
Red watched Zim rush to her side, the tears pouring from his eyes. He saw poor little Noah sit in fear by his dying mother, too dazed to say anything. He felt satisfied for the first time in days, even though it may not have been Zim.
"No..." Zim pulled her up into his arms and shook his head, trying to focus his eyes. "You can't... I... I need you..."
Aneera sucked in a deep breath and smiled at him, bringing a hand up to his face. "I know...but..." She filled her lungs back up, letting the air out slowly. "You'll be fine... I know you..." She then turned her head to her son, holding her hand up to him, who gladly took it. "I'll be back." she whispered, letting her eyes close and body fall limp.
All Zim could hear was his heart beating, his vision glazed over from his tears. And suddenly, he forgot how to breathe.
Author: ... There it is... THE CHAPTER... The one chapter I've been planning for two years.
I understand that this was long and drug out, but if only just to let out the thing you're thinking this instant, I need reviews. This is where I'll know whether or not you guys really want to see this through to the end.
You don't have to review for any other chapter unless you really want to, but this is the most crucial of all chapters, and I need to know what you guys are feeling right now.
It's right there, and you only have to say a few words.
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