8 Earth years ago.

Irk.

Stell and Blue, along with their respective Gir's, were making their way to the transporters to the Hangar. Even now, Stell still can't believe she was hand-picked by Zim himself for this mission! Stell stopped and stared at the very old Voot Cruiser that Zim loaned them for this tradition. When Zim first went to Earth, they didn't have its coordinates (Or know anything about it at all, really).

So Zim took 6 months via Voot Cruiser with Gir to get there.

She was excited now, but little did she know, various Gaz's got together every time a newbie showed up and programed Gir's 'Doom' song into the small ship… By the time the quartet arrived, they tried every code and hacking trick they could think of to shut. IT. OFF!

To this day, Zim is confused why every assigned Invader is irritable upon arrival.

(He's not aware of the Gaz prank, a recording at the start and end warned the newbies if they told, the recording will be sent to their Gir's on an endless loop...)

~/~

Today

Stell regained consciousness to a crowd cheering. She was being carried. Mentally recapping current events, she recalled herself and Mary being captured by the Resisty.

Zim warned her of this.

She and Blue usually have their guard up concerning Mary. Not because she was a Dib (well, yes, that's always a factor) but due to the Resisty making their stance clear on the Dib vs. Invader thing Almighty Zim implemented. They don't think children are qualified to take on Invaders to bring them the much-needed calm.

And now, she and Mary are captured. As far as she's aware, as well as from the cheering and bragging, the duo only just arrived on base. So, the logical conclusion is that they haven't tried to replace Mary yet.

Very slightly peeking an eye open, she's facing an unconscious Mary. She… what's the Earth expression? She looks like a drowned rat. Seeing her like that reminded Stell of her own drenched self.

Mary risked her life to help Stell in the rain after the crash.

Why did she do that?

Was it to return the favor of the party they threw for her? Her smile…

Did she… did Mary actually feel concern for her?

Why…?

They were supposed to be enemies, were they not?

This was a debate Stell had with herself before.

This was a debate, Stell brought up with Zim before.

All this brings them back to this moment.

Stell felt frustrated, in mental agony. Here she was, a chosen Invader…

Surrounded by the Resisty, rain not yet letting up, Blue nowhere to be found. She and Mary were on their own, out numbered and outmaneuvered. Stell has never before felt powerless. Not only was she alone, but she also has this sinking feeling that, if they take away Mary… Stell really will be alone.

They're going to replace Mary with someone else.

They're going to kill her and dump her body somewhere.

Forcing herself limp, Stell refuses this outcome!

~/~

Then

Upon arrival, Zim led them to a side room to explain their new mission to them.

During that briefing, he explained:

The actual Ranking system

A brief history of the Dib tradition

Her role as an Invader on Earth.

As well as information packets of previous Invaders' journal entries and vlogs.

Stell and Blue went to their assigned sleeping quarters stunned and overwhelmed. It was not at all what the academy as taught them about Zim's tradition.

The academy made it seam that Humans were mindless animals for slaughter. That they had no meaningful intellect to combine between them. Primitive.

So, when Zim explained his, uncensored, experiences with Dib Membrane and the reason behind his initial invasion… They were horrified.

It was little wonder why he snapped and attacked the Massive.

~/~

Now

While remaining hyperaware of her surroundings, Stell's PAK working overtime feeding her information, Stell kept track of Mary and waited until they were alone. Eye cracking open, the singular medic turned away to look at his laptop, she hastily used a PAK leg to stick a tiny device in her open mouth at the top of her jaw behind her teeth before quickly going back to her previous position when the medic turned back around.

Stell finally relaxed as her PAK activated the device. Relief flooded her, as both Mary's location and health scans activated, so now Stell can focus on the task at hand.

~/~

Then

Stell and Blue entered their new sleeping quarters in a daze. He elbowed her and she looked at him curiously.

"Look."

She looked.

Simply put, it was the size of a regular human master bedroom, with two beds built in the walls on either side facing the door. Between each bed and the far wall were floor to ceiling shelving units and between the beds and entry way were separate closets.

But that's not what got their attention.

It was the personal touches left behind by their predecessors…

~/~

Now

Cracking an eye open again, she looked around to plot their escape.

Just then, a very tall Irken dressed in red strolled in and picked up Mary before leaving.

And someone else came in with another little girl in a hospital gown.

They had the girl lie down and the doctor exited.

As Stell silently seethed in FURY, a purple clad Irken rushed in and did something to Not-Mary.

~/~

Then

The walls were practically cluttered with framed photos and random things. Jewelry, tickets, brochures, maps, keychains, you name it. The ceiling has Fairy lights dangling in a cool light display, a mermaid nightlight was plugged in beside the bed on the right, there was a customized coat hanger with a couple coats and hats put on it. And so much more.

Stell and Blue stared at what amounted to 3,000 years' worth of their predecessors hoarding things from Earth.

Were these related to past Dibs?

~/~

Now

"You are not my superior." Stell spoke calmly.

She saw Purple sneaking behind the Guards at the door.

Not taking her eyes off of Red, she fired backwards at the guards while Purple got them from behind.

Within seconds it was just three Irkens and a struggling Not-Mary.

"Stand. Down." Stell ordered Red.

Red startled and Not-Mary lost her foot hold.

"She ordered you to stand down, Red." Purple walked in the room. "For once in your life… do as your told."

In shock -for some reason- Red lowered Mary to the ground, but kept his hold.

~/~

Then

"My Tallest-!" Stell trembled before him the next day. Zim was sitting down in his lab, head on his fist and legs crossed.

"I'm not the Tallest." Zim corrected, forever amused. In all actuality, he is not the current Tallest Irken. He takes great amusement in others' frustration on that due to deeply ingrained cultural habits.

She gave a high-pitched growling sound, as e snickered. "How can I help you Stell?"

"I'm confused sir!"

"On what?"

"On this mission! I was trained to believe that these Dib-Ranked Humans were our enemies! But your briefing completely contradicted that! MY ROOM contradicts that!"

He simply grinned.

"What-?! What, what, what is it?!"

"That was fast. I'm impressed on how quick you caught on."

"Eh?"

"It's true, the academy says one thing and I say another. There IS a reason for that."

~/~

Now.

As Stell's PAK dutifully tracked Mary's location and Health Status (fine for now), she focused on here and now.

And that was here standing in a room with the former Almighty Tallers', Red and Purple. She recognized them instantly from old files from Zim's Invader days. But something isn't right.

For one, they're glaring at each other, are they fighting? Red was the one who dragged out Mary before Purple rushed in and-

Is that a PAK on Not-Mary's back?!

But… weren't PAK's incompatible with Humans?


'Phase 1 of my apology to Zim.'


Wait… are Red and Purple working separately from each other? Is Purple not aware of the switch? If so, then… that Pak was meant for the REAL Mary. But why…? What does that have to do with apologizing to Zim?

Why did he feel the need to give her a PAK at all?

Nothing is making sense here.

Granted, nothing made sense since she arrived on Earth altogether!

So, simplify.

Mary is missing, a fake is in the room with her, Purple seems to -maybe- be on their side (If he's serious about apologizing to Zim, that is.)

Conclusion?

Escape with Purple and find Mary-

Her Health Status just spiked before going critical.

Then nothing.

No.

Nonononoononn, NOOOOOO!

~/~

Then

Zim uncrossed his legs, stood and then kneeled before her to look her in the eyes.

"The reason for such trickery is because most Irks couldn't handle the truth."

"The truth?"

"In my day, we were all about invading, taking over, destroying worlds, and so on. We didn't care about anyone but our selves. Due to the control brains' influence we began to lose our sense of self. A sort of Hive-mind, so to speak."

She was about to answer, 'But that's a good thing, yes? More efficient?' but closed her mouth, thinking about it.

"With the Tallers looking down on us Smallers as inferior, we began to lose our sense of self-worth. Self-anything really." He continued, pleased at her thoughtful expression. "We were trained since birth that emotions were beneath us. If you made a mistake you get terminated. If you make decisions or express yourself, you are considered Defective."

"You've got to be kidding." Blue spoke from the entryway.

"I kid you not, Blue." Zim stood and pulled out a container from his pocket. Held in both hands, he looked at it sadly.

"After my initial take over on Earth, I felt numb. For almost an Earth century, I wondered if this was what the Control Brains or even our Tallers wanted of us? Perhaps. For so long I felt… nothing."

"Nothing?" Stell whispered.

"Nothing."

~/~

Now

Stell rapidly shot at Red, grabbed the fake and knocked her out, leapt to her PAK legs and yanked on Purple's arm to drag them behind her.

"Wait! What about-?" He startled.

"THAT'S NOT MARY!" Stell cried, dragging the unconscious fake behind her, not caring about scrapes and the like.

"What?! But I thought-!"

"I put a tracker in her when they weren't looking. Her vitals just peaked before stopping altogether!" Stell panicked.

Startled, before looking determined. Purple lifted them up and put her on his back like she's piggy-back riding him.

"It's faster if I carried you!" He countered her protests, she gripped the fake to her side.

And, he was right. He's going at least five times faster on his PAK legs than she was going. He also knew the base better. That helped tremendously. Syncing her PAK with his, they followed it to the last known coordinates in record time.

Kicking open the door, they were met with-

~/~

Then

"Nothing at all." He mumbled. All were silent at this.

"What happened next?" She whispered.

"At some point, humans started reappearing at random intervals. Mechanically, I kept firing. I sent in troops to kill them all. Then… something happened. A small Smeet of a Human challenged us and won." A small smile appeared.

"You felt something again, didn't you?" Blue asked softly.

"I did, yes. It was small, fleeting, familiar. I couldn't place it. But it was gone again shortly after. I didn't feel it again until the next time."

"Wait…" Stell started in realization. "This was that first Dib you ranked right?!"

"Indeed." Zim grinned. "I remember gripping the railing facing the display on the Massive and feeling my Squeedily Spooch race. Gir started jumping around before declaring that that young Smeet reminded him of Mary."

"Who's Mary?" the younger Irkens asked.

"Back when I was an Invader, Gir couldn't get Dibs name right. He kept calling him 'Mary' or 'That Big Headed Kid'." Zim snickered. "The Dib had a GINORMOUS head!" He leaned back and cackled.

The younger Irkens snickered at the mental image too.

"So… If I have this right," Stell started, hand to her chin in thought. "It's because of these young Human Smeets that you felt emotions again?"

"In a way, yes. But that wasn't all."

~/~

Now

Purple kicked the door of its hinges and several feet away to be blinded by various outside spotlights.

Adjusting to the lights…

It was an open fenced in roof with 4 helicopter landings and several tall searchlights mechanically spinning around. On the roof, the old Voot Cruiser parked on the opposite end of the door. Tallest Zim kneeling before it, holding Mary across his lap. The three Gaz's were rapidly killing off the remaining guards still trying to shoot them, and Gir stood before Zim standing Guard.

All sounds seemed muted to Stell as Purple gently set her on the ground. Fake plopping in a puddle.

Gir noticed their arrival as red optics faded to cyan.

"Stell."

Zim looked up. Eyes devoid of emotion.

Mary had a bullet wound to the skull and lay still.

~/~

Then

"These Humans I ranked 'Dib'… they make us feel alive. They see us in a way others don't. My dib noticed I was an alien right off the bat. He chased me, he challenged me, he put me through a roller coaster of emotions I have never felt before! We started as rivals, and… after I finally came to terms with my mockery of a mission, we became… friends. He cared about me. He was there for me. He understood me. I felt for the first time, that someone noticed me. That someone saw me for me. And accepted Zim."

"Zim…" she whispered.

He then opened the container to reveal its broken contents.

"I started the Dib ranking to feel alive again, yes. But also, I realized there were other Irkens like me out there. There were other Dib's out there. I realized there can't be a Zim without a Dib."

~/~

Now

One step, then another, Stell started to run across the roof and dove into Zim's arms to hold her 'rival'. Her Dib.

It was that moment.

It was as the Gaz's completed their termination of the Resisty on the roof.

It was as Blue fell to his knees before them.

It was as the mist on the roof evaporated into the night as the rain slowed to just light sprinkles.

It was then that Stell understood.

There can't be a Zim without a Dib.

.

.

.

.

There can't be a Stell without a Mary.

As Stell screamed and wailed, Zim wrapped his arms around them both.

He was too late.