Zim stood up and peeked around the corner to see if the coast was clear, all they had to do was get his voot back, which he had seen on his way to the prisoner cell, and get the heck outta here. He wasn't sure as to why they had taken his cruiser but hey, nobody had very convincing motivations these days.

The long hall was completely deserted except for the sleeping criminals, they were free to to make their way to the exit! Zim crept silently around the corner and down the hall, motioning for the other two to follow. Aneera came up behind him with Noah in her arms, she was holding him so tight that his sides were starting hurt. He could have walked, it's not like he didn't know how to be quiet.

They made their way to the opposite end of the hall, carefully passing the prisoners and making sure that none of them were awake or had woken up because of them. The door was only feet away, all they had to do after that was make a quiet run for it. But just as Zim's hand touched the small keypad to open the door he froze, someone was on the other side.

It wasn't until the smoke from the door cleared and let him see who he was facing until he breathed a sigh of reliefe, it was only Purple and some other female he didn't know... wait, it was that strange girl who looked exactly like Aneera, weird.

"Zim!" Purple almost shouted, grabbing the Irken's shoulders and shaking him vigorously. He began quickly ranting about some weird thing that involved Almighty Tallest Teal though his words were so slurred he couldn't understand what his Tallest was saying.

"M-my Tallest!" Zim hissed under his breath in a whisper. Purple stopped and smiled almost sheepishly at his actions, he was over excited.

"Zim, you gotta listen to me! You're-" Zim cut him off and stepped out of his now loose grasp.

"I'm sorry my Tallest, I'm sure it is very important but we really must be going." Zim tried walking around Purple and the other Irken but was stopped by a hand. He looked up and saw the strange female handing him something, it looked like some form of tablet.

"Here, look through it when you get a chance." She smiled and Zim noticed how much her voice sounded like his wife's, only hers was more innocent and sincere. She had sort of a chime in her voice.

"Okay." he replied slowly, taking the tablet from her and was about to store it away in his PAK but he couldn't do that... She smiled at him, bid her Tallest goodnight and bounded off down the hall with utter grace in every step.

Aneera watched as she disappeared around a corner at the end of the hall, curious as to who the strange female was. They looked so much alike, could she not be an only child? Had they been lying to her all this time? Had Zim lied to her?

Her thoughts were cut short as Zim was once again stopped by a hand that held him in place. Purple looked down at them, his eyes were pale in the dim light and his expression was of happiness.

"You're cruiser is in the north docking station, be careful." and with that he was gone, it only took him seconds before he was out of their sight and they were left alone in the hall.

Zim figured they couldn't hesitate for another second so he dragged Aneera by one of her wrists and let her and Noah towards the north part of the ship. Noah was still his his mother's firm grip as she was being dragged by Zim down the metal hallway. They had to be extra careful not to make any noise so they didn't run quite so fast.

The corridors were changing and there wasn't quite as many now as there had been, most of the front of the massive was used for communication purposes and weaponry. But there was a section for the north docking station, which, in all actuality, was pretty big compared to the rest of the ship.

Soon they were nearing the end of the hall and the giant double doors were becoming more and more visible from a distance, they were so close to freedom, Zim could almost taste it. He continued to drag them along as his pace quickened, there was nothing in their way, it was only yards away now.

He could see through the giant glass windows that the docking station's reinforced door had been closed, that was a bad sign, they would have a harder time getting into space without being too terribly noticed. He longed to see the stars again, to be out in space in his voot cruiser with nothing but blackness around him.

Zim's thoughts were ended abruptly, Aneera had jerked her hand free and Zim almost went face first into the floor but was caught by a tall and slender figure. For a moment he was horrified, but as he looked up he was yelling at himself it was Tallest Purple, when he saw who he was looking at the horror came back, it was Tallest Red.

"Hello Zim." he said with complete loathing in his voice, he said the name as if it were some form of unspeakable curse word. Zim audibly gulped and began stepping back, though in the midst of his fear the small tablet that he had been given dropped to the floor with a loud clattering noise.

"Red." Aneera hissed through clenched teeth, which were now deadly sharpened to add effect. Red paid her no mind and began walking towards Zim who continued to back away.

"W-what do you want?" Zim's voice was shakey, his entire body was trembling with such fear and anxiety he didn't realize that Aneera was right behind him, her scarred and ripped wings fanned out behind her.

They hadn't healed much since Red had taken a knife to them but at least they weren't dripping blood anymore. However, the thin membrane was no longer being held taught so it hung like rags off of the thin bones, each separate section was basically cut in half, some had been cut into thirds and then there was even more, yet smaller gashes that were dotted throughout the thin layer of skin. She knew that flying was no longer going to be an option for her, her wings would never heal properly and they were cut with so many holes and long rips that they almost couldn't heal at all.

Her eyes were once again that rare black color which made Red shiver at the sight. Zim noticed and turned around and saw his wife, he was now petrified. What had happened to her? He had goosebumps all over his green skin and he was almost as afraid of her as he was of Red.

Red immediately shook off his fear and smirked at the female, though she did look quite menacing he was not going to show that. "Well look here, don't you look pathetic! It must have been hard for you, though I had fun." Zim stared at Red a moment longer, quite confused as the words made no sense to him.

Aneera took a small step forward, clenching her fists, barring her fangs and narrowing her eyes so much that they were almost closed. Zim staggered away from his wife and went to Noah who had been set on the ground.

"Ha, you think what you went through was painful? Well it was, but maybe not quite as bad as what he went through, it was almost hard to watch! Hahahahahahahahaha! I mean, you really should have seen the look on his face, he was mortified! He actually began to panic when he woke up! Hahahaha! It was priceless!" Red could now hardly control himself from laughing so hard, though he did stop when someone spoke.

"What did you do to him." Her voice was low and she almost growled the words, they sounded dark, even Gaz would be proud. Red smiled, he would be able to tell the tale of the mighty "Invader Zim" and how scared he was.

"Well you see, we weregoing to make him watch what I did to you but there was just no time so I decided to put him through surgery as I dealt with you, you know, you save some time." As Red paused Aneera stole a quick pleading glance from her husband before returning her attention to Red as he started again.

"As for what we did to him, well, it looked pretty painful, if you know what I mean." Red gestured towards his PAK to give her a better hint, that's when the trouble really began. "Hahahaha! What are you gonna do!? Kill me!? HAHAHAHAHA! As if you could!" Aneera lashed her tail out and flexed her hand to prepare her claws for battle, this would no doubt be a blood bath.

"Hopefully, but compared to what I'm gonna do to you first you'll be begging for death!" Then she lunged at him, streatching out her arms to rip his flesh with her deadly claws. Red was frozen in his position as the attacker made her move, he was going to be too late no matter what he did now.

Aneera knocked both of them into the double doors, Red's head broke the fall and unfortunately there was no cracking of bones... yet. He yelped out in pain and threw Aneera into the wall, just about the only reason he could do that was because he was much taller than she was. When she hit the wall with a loud 'thud' a small, hardly noticeable whimper escaped her throat.

Zim's head instinctively snapped to her direction, he wanted to help so badly, it pained him to see her like this but he knew if he were to get in the middle of this he would only end up hurting himself. Thankfully she stood back up and flashed him a short, reassuring glance before turning her deadly glare back to Red.

He had already stood up but once he had focused on Aneera her mouth was open, her teeeth bared and he could see the faint orange glow within her throat. This time he was able to dodge as the jet of fire passed him and hit the wall behind him, though he was now once again on the floor.

Noah looked up and for the first time in his short life, he was completely terrified of his mother, he was now cowering behind Zim for protection. He had never seen this kind of rage before, sure, what he saw in the torture chamber was pretty gruesome but now that he was able to get a good look into her eyes all he saw was total hatred, even though it was not meant for him specifically for him somehow it scared him, like she was going to do something to him if she were angered again.

Red was now off the floor and had maneuvered so that Aneera was closest to the door, it would be easier for him to make a run for it should he need to do so, which was a high possibility. He glared at Aneera who was in a stealthy attack position, fists clenched, body low to the ground, she was quite menacing.

Red suddenly smiled to himself, this would really piss her off, he would need to run but he wasn't sure how far she would follow, on his part this was pretty stupid. "Sheal Har'Kavich." he mutter smugly, now he turned to run, he wasn't really wanting to know what her expression was.

Aneera suddenly lost all of her control, and her entire body began to tremble and she broke out into a run. It wasn't about five feet before she threw herself into the air and exploded into the giant, fire breathing dragon that he had vowed to never ever let Noah see. Once he saw this, her true side, he may never want to have anything to do with her again. She was so afraid that he wouldn't come anywhere near her again, never love her again, but she was mostly afraid that he wouldn't see her as his mother anymore.

Those were the exact thoughts running through Noah's mind at that moment, he was now so terrified of his own mother, if she really was his mother, that he couldn't bear to look at her, she was a monster. He screamed and hid his face in his father's uniform, tears began streaming down his cheeks as horrid images clouded his mind of the giant beast that had once been his mother.

Aneera stopped in her tracks and turned her head to face the awful sight she was bound to see, not even remembering her fight with Red as he sped down the hall. What she saw confirmed her thoughts, Noah was cowering away from her, he wouldn't even look at her. She shifted her posture so she was slightly turned towards them at a diagonal, once paw raised in a stance where she would be ready to turn and run should the need arise.

Zim turned to look at her, the sickened expression in her eyes was enough tell him what she was thinking, though Noah's reaction was plenty enough to say it. He continued to stroke Noah's antennae to calm him down while he continued to desperately cling to his uniform. He saw just how much time it would take for his son to get over his fear of his mother, that is, if her ever did.


Aneera: Why that no good, evil little-!

Zim: Clam down, we don't need an episode.

Aneera: I'm gonna rip him to shreds for what he called me!

Zim: Sigh, for those of you readers who don't exactly understand Irkenese the translation for "Sheal Har'Kavich" is "Filthy half-breed", that's why she was so upset.

Aneera: AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!! HE WILL PAY!!

Zim: Sigh, let me go deal with this.