"That's great news…" Vem said over the phone to Tak. His tone was tinged with a slight amount of fear but was otherwise dull. Tak's voice asked if something was wrong but it sounded faded in the distance. He told her everything was alright, said his goodbyes and hung up.

'Vem…' The voice whispered out again. Vem closed his eyes, attempting to shut the voice out. 'Come now, Vem… You can't turn yourself away…' The voice spoke with a soft, though curiously malevolent tone. Vem was sweating as he opened his eyes. His mismatched orbs were wide with fear at the sight before him.

It was Bird, his old SIR unit, but with mismatched purple and red eyes like his and a jagged-toothed smile painted where the mouth should be… in blood. Every scar was in the correct place, scratches in the metal laced with dried Irken blood. The only different scar was a long one across its torso from being cut in half years ago.

Vem took a step back. "You're not real… You blew up." Vem said to himself rather than the SIR. 'Did I..?' The SIR asked in that whispery, metallic snarky tone. Vem was breathing heavily. His remaining antenna was twitching slowly and spastically, like the legs of a freezing fly as its life sputters out. The objects of his house seemed to shift and melt until he looked at them and they came back into focus.

"You're a delusion… nothing more." Vem spat. Bird took a step forward and Vem took one back. It wasn't the first time he'd seen the SIR. He'd been showing up every now and then since his breakdown a few years ago. His appearance became regular and more menacing ever since the battle with the computer a few weeks ago. He'd begun avoiding his friends, worried the delusions might drive him to harm them.

'You locked me away… Hid me in the recesses of your mind… But you can't just ignore what you are… what we are…' Bird was shifting now, his form contorting, lengthening. His scarred, metal body became broken and flaking darkness, the scars and eyes glowing red. His body began to wisp and wane around the edges. The jagged smile stayed in place. It was like looking at some demented Cheshire.

Suddenly Vem spat up a good amount of green blood as a sharp pain exploded in his torso. He looked down to see the daemonic SIR jamming its shadowy arm into an old scar that broke into the squeedily-spooch wound. Vem let out a sharp howl of pain as he felt a twist and then blacked out.

When he came to, he noticed his augmented hand was cusped loosely around an Irken military dagger that was lodged where the shade had punched through. He noticed he was bleeding lightly, apparently the wound being mostly superficial. He also noticed he was drenched his own sweat.

Vem stood and walked towards his couch, weakly. He sat, catching his breath when he suddenly heard the phone ringing. He realized it had been ringing for a few moments and he just now began to hear it. Answering it, he was surprised it was Larz calling for an emergency meeting. Something about a fleet and the Resisty and Zim. Vem wasn't all there and agreed to meet them at a prearranged location: Bloaty's.

As Vem stood to leave, he cleaned himself up and made for the door. He stopped and looked over his shoulder back into the darkness of his base. There were two faint glowing circles and a sinister, jagged smile. Vem gulped and left quickly.

…

Gaz wasn't hungry after hearing the news. That was the first sign that something was horribly wrong. Nobody was hungry after hearing it.

"Can you repeat that?" Vem asked. He'd been having trouble hear due to a ringing in his ears that had a faint cackle to it. "I said the Irken Armada is here in full strength to destroy Earth." Larz repeated. Vem nodded, understanding the seriousness of the situation, but still horribly distracted by his inner daemons.

"The Resisty is holding them off, but they're outmatched ten to one." Larz continued. Curses in different tongues went up around the table. "There has to be some way to help…" Zita muttered. "Nothing short of a damned army is going to stop them…" Larz said.

Dib smiled. "An army we have…" He muttered under his breath at first. "Huh?" Tak asked. "We have an army: the Membrane Labs Security Force." Dib explained. Gaz thought about it. "Yeah, but they'll never deploy against an alien fleet. They'll consider it a 'perceived threat' and just call us crazy." She argued.

Dib laughed. "Gaz, they'll go wherever we tell them to. They're fiercely loyal to the Labs and quite frankly, if you order them, they'll probably do anything." Dib said. "So, what? We just send an army into space to fight off an invasion?" Zim asked. "Pretty much." Dib replied. Zim grinned.

The group was getting a little stirred and rallied to fight off an alien invasion, but Vem was still distracted. "What's wrong with you, Vem?" Tak asked. "Oh, nothing Tak-saviour. I am just nervous. It'll pass." Vem lied, but the others believed him.

"Let's move out." Dib said, unchallenged.

…

"And so that's the situation." Dib finished to the amassed officers of the Membrane Labs Security Force and several generals from various countries and PMCs. The MLSF members stood attentively and loyally, taking in the information while the generals and PMC leaders began to question the mission.

"Do you honestly believe an alien fleet from an advanced empire light-years away from here is fighting just outside of orbit?" A general from the UN asked. Dib smirked. He saw this coming.

"I've had the Membrane Labs take photos of the scene with the Membrane Telescope. As you can see, the fleet is a reality." Dib pointed out as images of the fleet and the battle played out in images on the screen.

There were murmurs and observations, arguments and prayers braking out all throughout the meeting. "Representatives of the UN and PMCs!" Dib shouted to get their attention and the murmuring ceased, "Our private military is more than capable of aiding our allies in this space battle, but I figured the UN, NATO, the NCO and the rest of the world should know about this and might want in on the fight."

The officers looked at each other. "Germany shall join you in saving our welt!" A general from the German Heer stood up and decreed. "And so is Russia, Comrade!" A Russian Federation general also stood up. "And America!" Another general. Then another, and another, and another. Soon all the representatives were standing and pledging their allegiance to this sacred mission: the mission to save Earth.

Dib smiled. This could actually work. He had the ships, he had the manpower, and he even had the weapons. All that remained was setting up communication with the Resisty and getting the Membrane Telescope to finish its scans of the fleet so the general staff could finish plans.

"I do have one last bit of news." Dib informed the generals. They looked up to him, smiles on their faces like he was some sort of god. "Not all aliens, not even the ones from the Empire, are evil conquerors hell-bent on conquering us." Dib informed. The general staff waited patiently as he wheeled his four alien friends, Tak, Zim, Vem and Larz, out for them to see.

"These four are aliens who've pledged their loyalty to this planet and its wellbeing and call this Earth home. Please deactivate your disguises now." Dib said. Tak and Vem's forms shifted before deactivating and Zim merely removed his wig and contacts. There was a lot of gasping and arguing amongst the generals, but again the MLSF members stood loyal and true, never raising their voice in speculation.

"Your own wife is one of them?" A general demanded. Dib frowned. Another war where immediately one side referred to the other as 'them'. That was refreshing. "Listen! The Irkens are not our enemies! The Irken Empire is our enemy! They practically enslave their own people like they enslave the rest of the races in their empire!" Dib explained.

The generals were still riled up. "Pathetic meat-sacks!" Zim called out to them and there was silence as the officers gave questioning looks at the term. "I am Zim! I came to this world for the Empire to conquer it and enslave your race or to destroy it!" He explained. Dib facepalmed and the officers were riled up once more.

"However!" Zim called out and there was silence again, "After being on this world for nearly a decade, I see a more beautiful side to its life and to human culture. I eat Chinese cuisine and watch the Scary Monkey Show like any other pitiful worm-creature, and I admit I enjoy it, too! Zim will be fed to the jiglar beasts of Mikado before he has this world conquered by those who would seek to ruin its life forms, and you would all be doomed fools to let something like an interspecies relationship keep you from fighting for the same cause!"

The officers sat in contemplative, stunned silence for a moment before all standing and cheering the Irken. Dib smiled, surprised that had worked. Tak, Larz and Gaz were all surprised that had worked, too. Vem was too distracted by the metallic cackle in his ears.

"Let's go save Earth!" Dib shouted and another cheer answered him. "Für Erde!" "Pour la Terre!" "Dlya Zemli!" "For Earth!" The battlecries rang out across the officers deck and everyone began to sing anthems and ran off to brief their men.

Earth now had a fighting chance.

Chapter 36 Completed, please R&R

I just revealed Zim, Tak and Vem as aliens to the public and Zim's half-minded speech convinced the stuffy old general staff to get over themselves and let aliens fight for Earth. Nothing brings a planet together like an alien invasion :D