Zim's House
It was around lunch when Stell finished and Mary woke from her nap. When Stell came up to the House to find Mary digging through the cabinets for food, Stell was once again struck with the strangely pleasant oddity of Mary wearing different clothing, even if she wore it just this morning.
"You'll be lucky if you find anything not taco or pudding related." Stell teases as she sits at the table.
Mary shuts the cabinet doors and bangs her head on the doors as Stell cackles. Glaring in jest at the Irk, Mary turns to face her fully.
"True. But what I really want to know is WHY is there a toilet in the kitchen?!" Mary dramatically points to said toilet right next to the cabinet.
Stell just continues to cackle as Mary goaned.
"Here. Computer! Would you please get our guest here a Human-made breakfast?"
Ugh… fine! Processing Human food… Cooking. Cooking! COOKING~! Done.
Mary just sat bewildered as she listened to the strange robotic voice of the computer. Then a tube came from the ceiling to give…
A surprisingly normal breakfast of eggs, toast and OJ. Warily watching the tube retract and vanish again in the wall, she returned her focus to stare suspicily at the meal.
Seeing her suspicious stare at the food, Stell put her arm on the table to rest her head on her hand. "I asked for breakfast because you skipped earlier so you must be hungry."
"Thanks?" She lifted her fork to poke at the eggs. Stell just rolled her eyes.
"Look, how long have we been on Earth?"
"You or Zim?"
"Both? But lets just go with Zim."
"I guess around 3,000 years?" Mary answered, wondering where this was going.
"And SINCE he's been here for so long, it would make sense for him to figure out a Human's diet, yes?"
"I guess.."
"So, it's safe to assume that that is what it actually appears to be, yes?"
Mary just sighed, feeling silly for being suspicious. She nodded and started eating.
Stell smiled.
~/~
Resisty
At this point, Red checked the readings on his Dib-copy. Not even bothering to know her name. She's just an expendable pawn to him.
Gathering up all the files from the cloned computer connected to this filthy Human, Red just downloaded them into its brain. Sincerely doubting it would make a difference in their primitive brains.
But…
This was Dib he's talking about.
He definitely remembers that word and the Human who stood in Zim's way of conquering this planet. Again, not saying much since Zime was such a failure at being an Invader. The only reason he was sent here at all was to get him away from them so their Operation had even an ounce of success.
And now, after spending sooo long on Foodcourtia…
He growled at the mere THOUGHT of that place! So humiliating!
After being sent there, he thought Pur had his back! They were BOTH banished there!
But after what felt like a century at least! Pur started acting strange and distancing himself from him. Always reading the news the customers bring in, listening in to what Zim was doing…
Pur actually started smiling!
Like… like he actually approves of Zim shredding apart their very way of life! Even though they shared a room like they always have since they became Tallests, it seems Pur is on another planet entirely!
And since WHEN did Pur even CARE about our subjects?! He never did!
But the longer we were there, Pur kept pulling away, doing his own thing in the restaurant, fixing and messing with the equipment (very much to Siz-Lorr's approval at how much more money they brought in!) And actually talking to the Irks that came in. At first they came in, mocking and belittling them, but after a while, the regulars started to actually LIKE being around Pur!
The more Red was in that damn restaurant, the more it felt like everything was turning on its axis!
Did… did he ever really know Pur at all..?
All this… over a Dib.
Red glared at the thing in the container, fully formed and ready to wake.
Just WHAT is it with these Dib-Humans?!
Starting the sequence, he watched as the liquid in the tank drained and she sank to the bottom.
~/~
Clary (Red's Clone-Mary) POV
Fogginess. Everything sounds distorted and far away. I feel sick. Why is everything out of whack? I'm under water, why?
Feeling it pool beneath me, my vision slowly returned.
Holding back the strong urge to hurl, I blearily looked up to see a tall Irk
ZIM?! Wait… No. He seems different somehow.
His clothes are different. He's wearing a red skirt and hovering..? What? Definitely not Zim. So who..?
Where even am I?
He's saying something, but he sounds muted. Wait, no, slowly I regain my hearing.
He yanks on my arm and drags me out of the tank and drops me on the floor.
My hair keeps getting in my face, it's longer than it normally is. Usually , it's past my shoulders, now it's almost to my waist. I think. It's soaked and sticking to my skin, so it's hard to tell.
And WHY do I have a tattoo on my hand with the number 403?!
He tosses something at me. A hospital gown?
He leans over me.
Trying to intimidate?
Something about getting dressed. In front of him?!
He clearly means it.
And he's clearly pissed. Deciding to just play it safe until I figure out what's going on, I turn sideways for SOME privacy and slip it on.
He just crosses his arms and taps his fingers impatiently.
As I get changed, new bits of information are going across my mind.
Plots with Stell, I don't remember. New research about the rank, but no answer yet. Dangit!
Yanking me by the arm again, he literally drags me behind him.
He's tall enough where I'm lifted off the ground and I start to struggle because it feels like my arm is being ripped out!
Getting frustrated, he lifts me up by the gown and holds me at arms length. Examining me. Glaring at me...
I cross my arms and return his glare, blushing furiously as I'm practically naked like this.
Just who does he think he is?!
Seriously, who is he?
And where-?
Hearing voices down the hall, I see people and random aliens pass by.
Oh HELL no!
I'm in the resisty!
Wait!
My eyes widened in horror as I connected the dots.
I woke up in some strange tank in the resisty by some strange grumpy Taller Irk. Irks are rumored to be experts at cloning. Rumor yess, but not impossible all things considered.
I turned back to face the now grinning Irk.
"Let's get started shall we? Mary."
You could practically hear the finger quotes around my name.
~/~
Base.
After Zim and Blue talked, Zim got a notification about an coming call. Silently walking away to one of his labs, Zim connected the call to one of the monitors.
Blue's eyes widened at recognizing the Gaz that arrived during the raid in the Alternate vision. And… Invader Tenn?! Blue squinted at the little girl, not placing her, but recognizing her as a Gaz as well from the uniform.
Doon updated them on his findings from Red and Purple's computers and a strange clone of the current Dib.
Zim and Blue were well aware of the clone, but played dumb to learn of their findings.
According to Red, he used a blood sample shortly after their arrival on earth. It was around the time Mary went into surgery a while back and the subsequent missing Humans.
Zim and Blue shared a smirk, feeling nostalgic.
The other Irks just rolled their eyes. Skali may be protective of these Dibs, but NO ONE holds a candle to Zim. No. One.
Moving on, the original purpose of the clone was because Reds failed attempts to capture Mary.
That surprised the duo. Mary made no mention of someone ELSE after her!
Continuing on, Doon followed up with that saying that Red made the clone to figure out what made these Dibs so different. So special to Zim.
Red was almost borderline obsessed with the answer it seems.
After that it was just the three checking in then saying goodbye.
Zim dismissed Blue to grab lunch before finding Purple for more answers on Red.
Blue crossed his arms, deep in thought before making his way upstairs to find Mary poking at her eggs and Stell laughing.
Blue smiled at the two.
He had his answer.
Computers response to making food was inspired by Enter the Florpus when he was tying to be 'sneaky about it'
If youre confused about Clary- Mary's blood was taken from the building left behind after Blue took all the humans. The memories after are from the notes and vlogs on Mary's laptop that the resisty long sense cloned.