It was surprisingly easy to get the gun out of the guard's hand and into Dib's, and with neither of the guards around him even holding him in place, they were quickly able to group up and get a reasonable distance between them and the guards. Zim shot back at the guards while he ran, unfortunately not hitting any. Dib saw Purple up ahead, standing alone and unprotected. Zim noticed that too, and turned slightly to the left towards him. Whether he would just kill him or use him as a shield, he'd figure that out when he got there.

Purple had a nervous look on his face, probably realizing the amount of danger he was in. He took a couple of tentative steps backward, looking to his side for something to protect himself with. Zim didn't focus on the specific words Red was saying, but he was shouting and ordering the soldiers around. Zim spotted a worker sitting at a terminal not too far away from where Purple was standing, also looking worried, but staying seated.

Zim was closing the gap between him and Purple fast. Dib was at his side, adrenaline coursing through his veins. Despite some hiccups, it seemed that they were about to, indeed, accomplish what they came here to do. And of no personal reasons, Purple would be first. Zim raised his gun and began to aim at Purple. Red was rushing closer, approaching the navigators' controls. A soldier's laser came amazingly close to hitting Zim's leg as he ran. Dib stumbled a bit as Zim's first shot at Purple missed.

And then Purple winked. Not at Zim, at Red behind him. And suddenly realizing something else was going on, he turned to look back at Red. He was leaning over a chair at the controls to flick a switch on the terminal, smiling. And suddenly, there was noise above him. He began to turn his head to look when something touched him. He jerked his arm, and suddenly he was being lifted off of the ground. Dib stood at the side, watching with dangerous, morbid curiosity and fascination. Grabbing Zim was a robotic arm, one that would have been used in any ordinary factory line aboard the Massive. Here it was, engineered longer, transplanted into the wall up above them. Zim couldn't aim his gun down at Purple. He was, again, no longer even a threat to the Tallest.

As Dib watched, recklessly ignoring what else might be happening, a guard grabbed him from behind and again ripped his gun out of his hand. He had no idea what was going on, but it seemed bad. Unnecessarily complicated, but bad. Was there any real need for a robot arm other than for the drama? Couldn't the guards grabbing them have accomplished the same thing? Given Red's laugh a few meters away, it probably was just theatrics, yet again. Dib was really starting to understand why Zim didn't like these two.

Purple and Red were standing next to each other now, looking up at Zim struggling. Zim dropped his gun as he wrestled against the arm. It collided with the ground with a clunk and slid a foot or so. Red sniggered, with Purple joining in.

"Well, you almost got him, Zim!" Red shouted up at Zim, who was about four meters off of the ground.

Purple put his hand on Red's shoulder, looking at him, before looking back up at Zim, "Yeah, you wanna try again? I'm right here!"

"Just pick your gun back up and try again!"

"Oh, oh, listen to this." Purple said to Red, lightly hitting his shoulder, "What's it like being tall for once?" Red laughed loudly.

"You know, you could be the Tallest with that height, Zim. Just come over here and we'll let you." Zim groaned as he tried to pull an arm out of the arm's grip. He continued to fail. Dib stared at the Tallest with disdain. This was just cruel. Zim, well, he really didn't deserve this.

"We'll get your PAK re-encoded for you, okay?" Purple chortled. Then, for almost a minute, amongst silent guards and a quietly struggling Zim, they simply laughed. They laughed as if this was one of the funniest things they had ever heard, and they needed a moment to calm down and collect themselves. Pleasant, perhaps even fun, without context. With it? It was disgusting to Dib.

"Oh, Purple, you are hilarious. Don't ever stop being funny," Red complimented. He was reacting so strongly not just for the drama, or because of the genuine fun he was having with Purple, but also because of the fact that the mortal threat he'd been facing was done with, essentially. His nervousness, his worries that he and Purple might be shot, their bodies left to rot; it was gone now. The relief that that brought was enough to stir up a confidence and happiness in Red that made it hard to stop being so excited— he felt the energy throughout his body, making it feel hard to stand still.

"You too, handsome." Purple, clearly, felt similarly. "Love you," he nearly whispered.

Quietly back, "Love you, too. But now's not really the time. In a bit, though…" It looked like he raised a single eyebrow. Then, the two turned back towards the arm, Purple clearing his throat. "I thought you'd try something, even after the guards had grabbed you. So I got this installed. Just for you, Zim."

"It's stupid," Zim uttered.

"It's a perfect fit then!" Red smirked, "It goes well with your PAK, actually." There was a glare of light, reflecting off of his eyes. Zim was suddenly much more nervous.

"Oh," Red continued, "are you feeling nervous now? Worried about what we might do?" Dib watched on with growing dread.

"What should we do with a traitor and an attempted assassinator?" Purple insincerely asked.

"Exactly! Look at Purple!" Red pulled Purple close. "You almost shot him! To death!" Red leaned his head against Purple's. "I can't even imagine someone despicable enough to shoot someone like him."

"What did I do to deserve that, Zim?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Purple pulled away from Red and took a couple of steps towards the terminal. Red looked to him and, with a sudden solemnness and gravity, "Do it." Purple flicked a switch.

Suddenly, the arm began to pull at Zim. Pulling him from his own PAK with the help of a smaller arm. Indeed, his PAK was being removed, forcefully, by a giant robotic arm. Red and Purple and Dib and all of the guards and navigators watched on as it began to separate from him. Then, Purple spoke, "Is it, uh, supposed to—"

And without so much as a second of hesitation, the arms separated, and with them came Zim and his PAK. Zim was hurled to the ground with great force with a thud, and he rolled across the metal floor into the other wall with a thunk, right by the guards. And on the other side of the room, Zim's PAK tumbled and bounced across the floor. It landed right in front of Dib, who, again, wasn't being held by a single soldier. He ripped his eyes from Zim once he felt the device land against his toes. His eyes widened and he hurriedly reached down and picked it up as the guards surrounded Zim's confused body. Dib pulled the PAK towards him, wrapping his arms around it as a guard approached. He stepped back, putting distance between him and the guard which held Dib's gun. Then, Red began approaching, and the guard stepped aside.

Dib watched Zim be pulled to his feet, looking back, in front of him, as Red came closer and closer, looming over Dib. He held the PAK close; he couldn't let the Tallest have it. And from what he'd remembered, he had only ten minutes to get this back to Zim before he died. Everything had become so much more dangerous, so much more fatal, so quickly.

9:49.