It was as if he just woke up from a coma even though he'd only spaced out for a minute. His vision was stilled blurred as the tears continued to pour from his eyes, but he had the slightest sense of movement, like someone was shaking him awake.

Then it hit...

He sprung to his feet, baton in hand, and took off towards the tall red blur ahead of him, screaming furiously.

Red backed away and tunred to run, knowing that he was now in danger. The look Zim had was enough for him to realize his mistake, because even though he may be mentally unstable, he was violently enraged and he had a weapon. Red could see that the door much too far off and he wouldn't make it, his guards were his last chance.

Zim readied the baton, pulling it back behind him and pushing his right shoulder forward. As Red turned to face him and dove behind his guards, he pulled his baton around, burning through the whole right side of Red's PAK and grazing both his antennae and face.

With a shriek, Red fell on his back and slid to a stop, hitting his head against the wall. When he looked up he saw that his two largest guards and grabbed onto Zim by the arms, who was now desperately trying to jerk away. "WHAT'S THE MATTER! ARE YOU ANGRY!" He yelled mockingly, content when Zim continued to howl in protest. "Kill him." he ordered, rising to his feet.

The guards looked at each other, then back at Red, refusing to move.

"Kill him! You saw what he did to me!" Red shouted, pointing to the damage he had suffered. He was appalled when both shook their heads and glared at him.

"You killed her," one of the guards pointed over to Aneera's body. "She never did anything to you."

The other guard nodded in agreement and said, "Almight Tallest Purple was right, you are not fit to rule."

"WHAT! I AM your Tallest! You will obey me!"

"No." they stated, gently setting Zim on the ground where Bryan pulled him away. They then pushed by Red and marched down the hall. "We're getting Tallest Purple back."

Red stood in total disbelief, gawking at the guards until they disappeared around a corner. Once they were gone he stormed back into the ComRoom and was about to open his mouth to yell at someone, but a short, purple haired demon shoved him aside and continued forward towards Zim.

"What happened!" Gaz slid to a stop and knelt down beside Noah, gasping when she saw the large gaping hole in Aneera's stomach. "Oh no... Is she...?"

Zim leaned over and hung his head, gently touching his nose to hers. As he pulled away he felt a tiny whisp of air graze his skin. His eyes snapped open and he looked at her carefully, bringing a hand over her mouth. It was faint, but she was breathing in short, periodical gasps. "She's alive!"

Bryan held her upright while Gaz checked her for a pulse. Noah sat down next to Zim, watching hopfully as his mother's eyes slowly fluttered back open.

"She needs a doctor." Gaz jumped to her feet and ran off, trying to remember where she saw the medical wing.

Red floated over and looked disdainfully upon the group, staggering to stay upright. "She's not dead yet!"

Bryan quickly handed the girl to Zim and pulled his blades from his belt, standing protectively between the two. "Neither are you, and you should be!"

"Then kill me!" Red held his arms out and surrendered, knwoing the boy wouldn't, though he wanted to.

He snorted and took a step back. "I'd rather see you tortured and beaten. I want to watch you suffer like all your victims did."

"So would I."

Everyone turned around, their eyes fixating on Tallest Purple as he walked into the room. He marched over to Red and stared him down, making his authority perfectly clear. "You have been stripped of your position and are no longer Tallest."

Scoffing, Red crossed his arms and smirked. "Says who?"

"I do, and when the Control Brains hear of your damdaged PAK I'm sure we'll agree that you can be relieved of your duties."

Red's face fell, and for a moment he was confused. "Then who the hell is gonna be Tallest! YOU! You never could make a single desicion by yourself! I did everything for you because-!"

Purple held up a hand and shook his head. "It is not my place to be Tallest anymore."

There was a pause. "You're joking..." Red started laughing between his words, hardly able to form them cohearently. "You honestly believe that he can take over? Have you LOST your MIND!" He then looked around and whispered, keeping the conversation between just them. "I just killed his wife, proved that his entire life has been a lie and you expect him to be Tallest!"

"Listen Red," Tallest Purple inched closer and spat his name. "I'm going to give you eight seconds to get out of my sight, after that you're fair game to anyone who wants to kill you." He stepped aside and hissed at him, telling him to move it.

As Red disappeared through the door, Purple rushed over to the huddle of Irkens, gently laying a hand on Zim's shoulder as he knelt down. "If she's going to have any chance at all we need to get her medical help, now."

Zim abruptly sprung to his feet, Aneera hanging limply in his grasp. He turned to Purple, ready to follow and obey any command. "Lead the way..."

Auzie and Bryan took off in front of them, still ready to fight. They kept at pace with Purple so he could lead them around the Massive, hoping that anyone who was with Red would either see to back down or take an unfortunate end.

"How do you expect to save her?" Bryan stopped at the end of a hall and peered around the corner, then glanced back at the Tallest.

"You'll see." He tunred the corner and looked around. "Take a left down at the end and then the last right, the hall will dead end to med bay." he explained, knowing that if they could get there first and fend off anyone who was still there less time would be lost for Aneera.

Zim let out a breath, the tears continuing to stream down his face. He took in another deep breath and continued down the halls behind Purple, keeping a firm grip on his wife. Once they reached the med bay doors they flew open, a semi-tall Irken landed a few yard away from them and staggered to his feet, a baton in hand.

Bryan burst through the doors after him and screamed, jumping to the wall and bouncing off to attack him from the side. The two fell back to the floor and rolled around, the unknown Irken proving to be quite an opponent.

The unknown soldier was wearing a distictive Fighter Pilot's uniform, but the color was too dark to be Tiz's. He pushed Bryan's arms out from under him and was rolled onto his back ."Get off me!" With one last attempt he twisted his arm around and shoved the other away.

Zim's eyes widened at the sound of the voice, he knew who that was. "Here, you go on." He handed Aneera over to Purple, turning away so that he couldn't be refused. Once he heard his Tallest leave he went up to the other, glaring harshly. After the other had taken notice of him he swiped his baton across the Irken's chest, knocking him to the ground. "Ix, if you EVER try and shoot my Cruiser down again, you won't wake to see the light of day."

"You two know each other?" Bryan stood and straightened out his trench coat, sliding his blades back into his belt.

"Unfortunately." Zim crossed his arms with disgust, looming over the pilot.

Said Irken picked himself back up, huffing with irritation. "Oh please, you always knew I was the better pilot, so-"

Scoffing, Zim said, "Is that why I always finished the training courses first and got perfect scores on all the exams?"

"Tch, that's all you ever did right, but on the field you screwed everything up!" He took a step forward and started yelling at his rival. "You caused a planet wide blackout twice before you ruined Opporation: Impending Doom I, you nearly killed your entire species! Not to mention-!"

Zim, having had enough, yanked a blade from his brother's belt and sliced it across Ix's throat, beheading the shorter Irken. He then casually handed it back saying, "He was irritating me."

Bryan looked down at his blade, eyeing it unsurely before taking it back. "Really?" he said sarcastically, carefully putting it back so that he wouldn't get blood all over himself.

Auzie then appeared, intantly spotting the headless body. "That's nice." She didn't care to ask who had done the deed, still irritated that there was a duplicate of her already difficult brother. "Hey," She pointed to Zim. "We think that your girlfriend or whatever is gonna live."

Without a second thought or explanation Zim darted past her, disappearing into the medical labs. Once inside he skipped around table and chairs, trying his best to dodge whatever happened to be in his way. "My Tallest!"

Purple called him over, waving a hand so he made sure that the other saw him, rushing him over once he was in view. "Now I'm not going to guarantee you anything, she very well may die... but what we can do is keep her in here. She's in a coma right now but this can hook up with her PAK and try to keep her alive while it mends the... gaping hole... in her... stomach..." He slowed down when he got a good look at Zim's face, which was still pained but it looked so lost. Purple reached out a hand and gently rubbed Zim's back, resting his hand on his shoulder. He gave the other a minute before continuing, "I don't know how long it'll take, but by the size of her wound it may takes quite a few months if not a couple years..." He trailed off again as one of the Medics came up to them, eyeing the situation carefully.

"My Tallest? Is everything alright?" he asked, pulling his thick, blue goggles from his eyes.

Purple just adverted his eyes, resting them on the girl he had always felt to be his own. "She needs help."

The Medic closed the gap and peered over the edge of the table, instantly jerking his head back and gasping. "My Lady...?" he asked softly, holding a hand up to his mouth.

There was a brief pause before Purple looked back at the Medic hopefully. "She's dying quickly, and I know this is the only chance she has, can you help her?"

With a swift salute and confident smirk the Medic introduced himself. "Medical Bay Officer and Special Cases Expert Niles, at your service." His gaze slowly trailed from Tallest Purple's tired face to Zim's sickly pale and hollowed features. "Oh my... You're..."

Zim quietly hissed and looked away, not knowing what form of shame he was in for. He'd heard it all anyways; liar, defect... traitor... It never really made a difference, but he'd rather have the only person who could save his wife not think too lowly of him.

Niles righted himself and adverted his eyes, quickly looking over Aneera. He noted the size and position of her wound, instantly relaxing once he knew it didn't hit her vital organ. "Well," he started, getting both of the other Irken's attention. "The only thing that needs repairing is tissue and nerves really, she should recover." Niles looked up and met Zim's face, still pale but a little more flush and lively. "Mind you, I don't know how long it may take, I'd estimate between two to three years due to the type and amount of damage." He watched as Zim's face fell again, instantly feeling a sort of pity for the other. "But at least now we know that her chances of survival are quite a bit higher."

"Ew! Don't poke it! It's making squishy noises!... Bryan! THAT'S GROSS!" Auzie smacked her brother in the shoulder and glared at him harshly.

He chuckled and proceeded to poke and prod at Ix's disembodied head, flinching whenever blood unexpectidly oozed from his mouth and neck. "Don't act so squeamish."

Auzie huffed and stood up, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall next to him and gazed into the medical room. "Hey, shouldn't we go check on them?"

Bryan looked up and watched the door. "Nah, give him a minute," he said as he stood back up and wiped the rest of the blood from his blade. "Besides, I've got all the time in the world..." He looked down and his face fell at his reflection in the metal sheen of his weapon.

As the two waited quietly for the the others Gaz had walked by, holding Noah securly in her arms. She wasn't interested in staying with the two and had mentioned a nice room for everyone to meet at once everything was over. After her short lived visit passed, Purple emerged from the dimly lit room, gently nudging Zim forward as they walked.

Zim looked around and held the front of his uniform tightly with his right hand, trying to steady his irregular breathing. As he glanced around his eyes briefly fell on Bryan, but when the other looked up and met his gaze he quickly adverted his eyes.

"Um," Auzie held up a finger to get the Tallest's attention. "Some girl named Gaz came by, she said something about a really nice empty suite for us to meet at when you were done." She quietly ended her sentence and looked at Zim with pity she knew he didn't want or need.

"Thank you," Purple said softly. "Did she say where it was?"

"I know where it is," Bryan pushed himself off the wall and joined them, leading the way down the hall and around the Massive. Every so often he peeked back the others to make sure they kept up and see how Zim was holding up, but other than that he kept a steady pace and dealt with the last few stragglers of Red's followers. Once they reached the door and Purple pushed open the doors he and Auzie walked inside.

As Zim started to enter he felt a strong hand grip his arm and he stopped, then looked at him with sad, empty eyes. He kept very still as the other gently pulled him into a hug, and as his breathing slowed he allowed himself to hang his head and nuzzle the other's shoulder.

Bryan hugged him tighter and tried desperately to fight back his tears as he whispered. "I told you I'd come back for you," he said as he slowly pulled away to look at his brother.

Zim stared lifelessly into the other's gaze and quivered, fully remembering the night he had been taken. "I feel like... I hardly know you anymore..."

The other nodded slowly and gave his brother's arms one last squeeze before they headed inside. The room hadn't changed since Bryan and Noah stayed there, except the bed had been made and the pillows put back on the couch. He laughed internally as he thought of the maid drones making their rounds in the middle of the earlier fight.

As the two entered inside the room they were met with with Gaz, Noah, Aranarth, Kassandra, and Zephyre. Noah squirmed away from Gaz and ran after his father, clinging to him once he had been lifted from the ground.

Noah then pushed away and jerked his head around. "Dad..." he looked up into Zim's dull eyes and gripped the fabric tighter. "Where's Mom?" he whispered as fresh tears fell from his eyes.

Zim gently covered Noah's mouth and sat down, pulling his son closer as the smeet began to sob and scream for his mother. He ignored the looks of sadness that the others gave both of them, knowing that they meant well but refused to truly look at their faces.

"I called my brother," Gaz stated quietly, who had waited until the cries had stopped to tell anyone. "He said he'd leave as soon as he could."

With a nod of his head, Zim thanked the girl and shot her a glance, but only to let her know that she'd been aknowledged. Otherwise he held his gaze to the ground and let the others whisper amongst themselves.

He caught a few bits and pieces from everyone, but never listened long enough to make much sense of any of it. Most of what he heard was bickering anyways, which didn't lift his mood in the slightest. But he was suddenly jerked back to life when his comunicator went of in his uniform pocket. He yanked it free and blew the screen up so he could see the bright blue eyes that peered at him.

"Hey... I heard about what happened..." Tiz's eyes softened as he knew it was an extremely tender subject. "I'm on my way in, but before I head out I wanted you to know that I got a notification about five minutes ago about another unidentified ship." He watched Zim carefully, knowing he was at least trying to seem interested or concerned. "When I told them that they were in a restricted area and that I'd need IDs they sent me a promp 'Kiss my ass' and ported in station eight... I didn't know if you wanted anything done about it..."

Zim was the only one in the room who had anything less than tiny smirk, but internally he had smiled. "We'll keep an eye out, dock with their ship and see if you can find anything."

Tiz noded. "Will do, Sir, I'll be there in a few."

The call was ended and rest of the group looked at each other, wondering who had the guts to tell off a Fleet Commander.

"Uh, Dad?" Kassie, who had otherwise been quiet, looked up at her father questioningly. "You didn't tell Mom where we were going, did you?"

Ara was about to protest but immediately realized that he had done no such thing. "No... But she didn't ask, so I can't be blamed."

Kassandra nodded to herself knowingly and slouched back into the couch. "I knew it sounded like something Mom would do."

"Attention all onboard soldiers, there is an unauthorized craft and personel on board the Massive." The intercom rang in everyones ears and antenna, causing some flinch and others to groan in agoney.

"Suspects are unidentified in species, but please make any unusual behavior known to the Advisor."

Zim looked up and quirked and antenna. "Advisor?"

Purple sighed and slid back into his seat. "Since Red is gone and no one is in contact with me the Tallests' advisor has been put in charge... she's such an idiot..."

Auzie had grown bored of the useless bickering and whispering, and soon found that staring down the hall was much more exciting, even if she only ever saw half the amount of people. A few minutes went by and a pair of figures appeared down at the end of the hall she was looking at. She could tell they were female by the way they walked, and one was deffinately Irken, but she wasn't sure about the other, it seemed pigmentless. But as they drew nearer she made them out instantly, both her and Kassie's mothers. She turned around and gently closed the door, then backed against a wall.

Bryan looked up at her and the room got silent. "What?"

His sister held in a laugh and forced herself to speak. "You're about to get you're ass chewed SO bad."

He furrowed his brows and looked at the door, both hands ready by his weapons. As the door flew open he flinched and paled, his stomach lurched and his throat went dry.

The Irken mother stomped over to him and yanked him down to his knees by his antenna, instinctively making the rest of the Irkens in the room cover their own protectively. Once she had a good hold on him she started the yelling. "BRYAN! Do you have ANY idea how worried SICK I was about you! I cannot BELIEVE you had the NERVE to even THINK about going off like that! You have absolutely no IDEA what they could have done to y-!"

"I know exactly what they could have done to me!" Bryan swiped his mother's hand away and stood up, glaring hotly at her.

"Bryan! You deliberately lied to us!" She went on, pointing her finger at him.

He narrowed his eyes and dangerously lowered his voice. "Don't talk to me about lies... DON'T YOU DARE GO THERE WITH ME!" He watched his mother flinch away from him, but she held her steady glare. "I MIGHT AS WELL HAVE GONE THROUGH HELL AND BACK COMPARED TO THE LIES YOU'VE TOLD ME!" He saw his father stand up and make his way towards himself, but as Zephyre approached Bryan swiftly held out a blade, the tip barely grazing the skin of his neck, and hissed. "Stay away from me." he warned, silently daring his father to take another step.

"Put it down, Bryan," his fahter hissed, narrowing his eyes at the other.

Bryan glared back just as hard and pushed the tip of his blade father into his father's throat. "Make me."

Zephyre snarled and gripped his son's wrist, his eyes never faltering. "I am your father and you'll do as I say."

The Irken ripped his hand away and stepped closer to the other. "You are NOT my father! You lied to me, you tricked me into believing I was an only child, and you didn't even go attempt to get him back!"

Ara's wife had watched with the others once she slapped him upside the head, then sat on the couch and kept quiet. Purple had backed away and moved everyone else a little farther from the fight. When he was sure everyone was safe he placed a hand on Zim's shoulder and whispered to him, "I know this doesn't make much sense now, but I want you to talk to him, ok?"

Zim's head shot around and he looked disbelievingly at Purple. "Are you crazy? He'd kill me!" Zim whispered back, stealing a quick glance at Bryan.

Purple elbowed him and glared harder. "If you don't he'll end up slaughtering half the crew members on the ship!"

Bryan hissed and shoved his father away, then stepped around his mother and stormed out of the room. He took a left and disappearerd around the door, silencing the rest of the room.

After another violent smack from Purple, Zim handed Noah off to him and made his way out of the room without saying a word. Once he was out of the room he picked up the pace and stayed on his toes, keeping the noise down so that he could hear the hateful growls of his brother.

Zim followed the noises around the Massive for the good portion of the next hour, eventually ending up in the observatory dome overlooking the training arena and weapons storage. When he walked in he stopped by the doorway, keeping still so as not to alarm the other.

Bryan paced back and forth on the edge by the railing, dragging his claws across the metal. He mumbled to himself and curesed beneath his breath, which made him dig his claws deeper into the metal and create a loud screetching sound.

The other flinched and held the tips of his antennae in his hands, watching his brother silently. As Bryan swung his legs over the edge of the railing and sat on the creaking metal Zim slowly walked up behind him.

"You know," Bryn started, making Zim stop suddenly. "for a long time I believed every word they said to me... They made me believe it was a dream, that I had always been this way... a freak." He lightly chuckled to himself, slouching forward.

Zim stayed quiet and desperately fought to find a reply. After a moment he internally sighed in relief as Bryan continued to speak.

"I don't even really remember how I found out... I mean, I knew certain things they did were a little off... We weren't allowed to watch the news, we couldn't go down the street without them putting up a fuss, and we weren't allowed to have friends that were the same species." He looked down and fiddled with the hem of his coat.

"So you're the one that trashed my base." Zim replied with a smirk, taking a spot on railing next to his brother.

Bryan glanced over and smiled. "Yeah, I'm... sorry about that, I was kind of... put off."

"You must've been, you terrified my robot. And it's alright, I'm actually quite surprised it hasn't been detonated yet... Besides, I can have it clean itself."

"You can do that?"

Zim slightly shook his head. "You've obviously been living under a rock."

Bryan scoffed and held his head up. "At least mine was a nice rock."

They sat around and talked easily with each other for a while, sharing small bits of stories and histories. At some point the conversation entered the relm of how Auzie had almost burned down the whole house in her sleep.

"So she's litarally an explosion waiting to happen?" Zim asked, a look of total amazment on his face.

With a laugh, Bryan nodded. "Yeah... So who's that little kid that you walk around with? How did Red get hold of him?"

"Ah, this gril that was staying with us pretended to be on our side, and so she kidnapped him since getting her hands on me failed as soon as her face hit the frying pan." Zim smirked, remebering the look on Tak's face when Gaz pulled the pan away.

Bryan cringed. "Ouch... So why does he follow you around? I mean he said something about you being his..." Bryan trailed off, really hoping he had been lied to somewhere in the mix.

Zim looked down at his hands thoughtfully. "He's my son..."

"... Uh, you're serious?" Bryan asked, looking into Zim's eyes as his brother lifted his head again and nodded. "But... that would mean... And you're the... AW COME ON!" he yelled, suddenly irritated with the whole conversation.

"What? Why?" Zim furrowed his brow and slightly leaned away, not sure exactly what button he had pressed.

The other scowled and huffed in Zim's direction. "You broke the most sacred rule in the Brother Code of Conduct... The most important!"

Zim just sat and blinked, utterly lost in the void of confusion. "Eh?"

"You're my little brother! And I'm the virgin here!" He flung his arms up to emphasize his point and looked sorrowfully into Zim's eyes. "How could you?"

"I didn't kno-!... Wait..." Zim suddenly looked just as irritated. "I'm the little brother?... As in... younger than you!"

Bryan nodded and smiled happily, no longer caring about the previous argument. "Yep!"

Zim flung his legs over the railing and stood back on the platform. "I don't believe this." He continued out the door and beckoned for the other to follow. "Come on, we're going back. It's going to get late soon."

"Pfft, I'm not going back there." Bryan walked up to the other and hisses. "Not after what they've done to me."

"Look," Zim started, dragging his brother along. "You're going to have to go back eventually. And you might as well hurry up and get over now, besides, it's not like I haven't been lied to."

Bryan huffed but otherwise stayed quiet as they walked back towards the suite.

Once they arrived they walked into a heated discussion over weather or not narwhals really were a descendant of unicorns. This was going back and forth between mostly Auzie, Kassandra, and Dib, who only arrived a moment ago. Everyone else was sitting back and eithe ignoring or silently taking sides.

"ALRIGHT THAT'S ENOUGH! I'M TIRED OF THIS!" Gaz slammed both of her hands onto the table in the middle of the living area and glared evily at the three. "You're all irritating me, so shut up before your bodies are found floating in the cold vacuum of space tomorrow morning."

That was plenty of reason for the other to shut their mouths and find somewhere to sit quietly, until Zim and Bryan showed up.

"Zim!" Dib took off and nearly tackled the Irken to the floor. "I thought you were gonna die!"

Said person gently, and with as much kindness as he could muster, shoved the human away. "You don't give me much credit anymore, do you?"

Dib opened his mouth to argue the opposite, but was quieted again when a loud booming voice called them back in. Purple stood over them as they silently made their way in, indicating that he was the one who nearly deafened them all. Once he handed Noah back over to his father he held his hands up to stop the whispers.

"We're all here for a reason, albiet they may be completely different. But, now that they've more or less been resolved, we have some important business to attend to, but mostly, we need to figure out who's going to be Tallest."

Aneera: Hey, what'dya know! I updated again! I don't know how much of a cliffhanger this is, but I needed to find a place to stop and this seemed more than adequate.

Zim: Hey, look at you using big words.

Aneera: Bigger than your-

Zim: Watch it.

Aneera: ... Ego... Anyway, It's almost summer, so I should have this story updated sooner! Which makes me happy! And I'm sorry for making all of you depressed and sad... It gets better!

Zim: No it doesn't, she's lying to you.

Aneera: Liar.

Zim: That's what I said!

Aneera: *hold up frying pan* I will beat you... Also, spellcheck is now built-in to , and I don't write these in Word, so excuse any errors I didn't pick up.