I don't own Invader Zim okay? I have gotten some ideas on how to develop it more from where I last left off, so here it is. As I am sure you don't want a long annoying story, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!
Zim looked up at the control brains with a stern face. This was it. The chance he needed to end the Irken occupation on Earth and to have it so he and Dib were totally free once again. He did not expect real reprimand from the Control Brains for what he did to Purple and if he could lie to the entire Irken military about how he was really with Dib for the past 5 years, then lying to the Control Brains about how Christie and Gaz were freed should be pretty easy. This is it. The big moment to make sure you cement the chance given to you to unfuck this mess. "So, about these changes I want, I'm doing them and you can't say a thing."
"Well, let's get some formalities out of the way. You killed Tallest Purple. Why?" The Control Brain asked.
"He was going to stand in my way as Tallest. He was just an anchor around Red's neck and he wanted me to do what Red did. I didn't have as personal history as Red did with Purple so I just did what I thought he would if he was in a situation like that with anyone else. Great way to show you mean business isn't it?" Zim said laying on the blood lust act.
"True. And what happened to those prisoners who somehow escaped?" The control brain asked.
"Rounded them up, took them to the base and killed them myself." Zim said looking at his claws casually.
"Why aren't the bodies around you?" The control brain asked.
"Do you really think I want rotting corpses around me?" Zim asked. "Nah, if you need the bodies, I'll get them to you."
"That would be appreciated." The Control Brain said.
Note to self, clone Gaz and Christie. At least I can live my fantasy of gutting that girl for being too smart alecky this way. Zim thought. "Now back to what I was saying. I think we should be done here on Earth. From what Purple told to me before my Promotion there is little to no real strategic value, he just wanted the snacks. There's no way to make enough to send back to Irk, no do you want the general population having these, so I'm tired of wasting so much of our resources on this spinning ball of filth. There's plenty of other planets we could Invade and last I knew Meekrob was trying to take some shots at us. Are we really going to have our military be vulnerable to a race that is too cowardly to even have a physical form?"
"Hmmmmmm you make an interesting point Tallest Zim." The Control brain said.
Could it really be that easy? No way in hell. It cannot be that easy. It just cannot. I mean the argument made some sense but seriously... Dib thought as he stayed under the chair like Zim told him to. I get what Christie meant when you're forced to hide when there is a high stakes situation going on.
"Exactly." Zim said. "I've been on this planet for nearly 10 of its years. I think I would have learned a thing or two and having been a General for 5 of them before being Promoted, I have seen that the costs do not outweigh the rewards." Zim said.
"We will discuss this and contact you again in a few days." The control brain said. "End transmission."
As the screen went black, Zim wiped his brow and sighed. "Dib, you can come back now."
Dib crawled out from under the seat and sat down. "I thought with you being Tallest, I wouldn't have to hide like this anymore!"
"I have to secure my reign before I start abusing my position in the eyes of Irk. That will take some time. If you heard, I already got them mostly convinced that they don't need to be here." Zim yelled back.
Dib rolled his eyes. "And you are TALLEST now." He yelled back. "Do you think that if the Empire agrees to leave Earth for good, they will let you stay here?"
"Of course not. But I would be able to take you with me." Zim said.
"Without hiding what we really are?" Dib asked.
"Of course." Zim said too quickly for Dib's liking. He raised an eyebrow skeptically. "I mean it's not unheard of for Tallests to have lovers from other planets and they don't question them that much so I doubt there would be any real issue."
"So I'd have to leave Earth to be happy with you? What about Christie? What about Gaz? What about Zib?" Dib pleaded.
"I could give two shits about Christie. I don't like her at all. Killing her clone to present to the Control Brains would actually be something that makes me pretty damn happy. And Gaz and Zib? They can stay or come to Irk. If she would rather stay then we can arrange visits. I think you're forgetting just what Irken technology is capable of." Zim said. "Maybe if that is what causing you distress about this whole thing, then talk to Gaz about this. But I will need both of them anyway. I got to get work on those clones."
"And you can make them 17 and 22?" Dib asked.
"Duh." Zim said. "I can age those clones up to the right age I need them to be right down to the minute. I have access to the medical records from before the Invasion so I can get the exact time they would have been alive and send them the killed clones."
"I'll get them." Dib said as he walked out. Over this time, he had wanted to free Earth from Irk's clutches so that he could freely be with Zim and things could be like they were before. There's too much too big too traumatizing for us to simply go back to how it was 5 years ago. That's impossible. Dib thought as he headed into the living room to find Christie and Gaz talking. "Hey you two, Zim needs to see you. Something about providing clone copies to fool the Control Brains to think you're dead."
"Okay." Gaz said as she got up and grabbed Christie by the ear.
"OW! OW! OW! OW!" Christie winced. "Just what are you doing?"
"I doubted you'd come easy with how much you hate Zim. But if you want your freedom, he's going to have to fake your death. Luckily for you what he'll need is just some DNA and then you're free to go bang Seamus all you want." Gaz said as she followed Dib down to Zim's labs.
"You got an attitude problem." Christie said as Gaz turned and gave her a black eye.
"I thought you were smart enough to know better than to torment Gaz Christie..." Dib sighed as he entered the passcode for the labs. "We're here." He turned to a pager and spoke into it. "Zim, I got them down here and Gaz seems to have figured this all out already."
"I'd do it myself if I knew just how to work this stuff." Gaz said looking at the cloning machines. "I think I could figure it out, I'm not totally fluent in Irken though."
"I don't doubt you could little Gaz, but we don't have that kind of time. The Control Brains want your corpses soon and they just check age and DNA. So some hair please." Zim said as Gaz pulled out a few strands of her stiff magenta hair and handed it to Zim. She then turned to Christie and pulled out a few stands of her hair forcefully and handed them to Zim. "There. Now make a copy and kill them."
"OW! Seriously do you have to be such a bitch about this?" Christie said. With that Dib and Zim looked at each other and started backing away slowly. "What are you two doing?"
"Getting to safety." Dib said.
"You just don't know when to shut up do you?" Zim said as Christie turned to see an enraged Gaz. "I'm not stopping this one."
"Nope." Dib said.
Christie was then face to face with Gaz who looked at her with extreme rage. "You little brat. I've done my best to put up with you but that is it!" She said as she gave Christie another black eye. "Now you match."
"Your doom is just beginning." Dib said.
"Why don't you help me get this started Dib?" Zim said motioning for them to go to the cloning facility in the lab to get started.
"I need some more space." Gaz said as she dragged Christie out.
I hope Gaz won't get mad when I talk to her about the plan. Wonder what she will have to say about this all and that idea. I mean she is pretty good with tactics. Dib thought as he started up the machine and Zim got to work making the clones. The process was relatively quick. All he had to do was to put Christie and Gaz's hairs into the machine which would then use a Vortian liquid substance to copy their genetic codes and form the clones. Once this was done, the babies made from this substance would then be transfered to an aging chamber that made them the ages they needed to be. Once this was done, Zim put his hand on Dib's shoulder. "You may want to get out of here. You and I both know these two," he motioned to the clones that were standing in the room silent and clueless. "Are clones, not the real Gaz and Christie but the image may hurt you more than you are. I'm not as attached to Gaz as you are, even though I respect her greatly, and I have always wanted to do this to Christie and this will be as close as I can get. Hopefully Gaz is done dooming Christie and you can talk to her about what may have to happen."
"Good idea." Dib said looking determinedly forward. He knew what Zim would have to do, and didn't want to see it. It would be just too hard to disassociate the clone from the image on the real person. He headed back into the living room to find a Gaz contently reading a book and an injured and sulking Christie walking to her room.
"Just how did you survive that as a kid?" She asked with a limp.
"Just did." Dib shrugged as he sat down beside Gaz.
"What is on your mind this time Dib?" Gaz said not looking up from her book.
"A lot. I was in when the Control Brains first made contact with Zim." Dib began.
"Well how did that go?" Gaz asked.
"So far well enough. He managed to make a good case for the Irken Empire to leave Earth and they seriously are considering it." Dib said.
"Good." Gaz said. "But I am assuming that if they agree with his reasoning, he'll have to head back to Irk."
"You're catching on quick." Dib said.
"Only makes sense. Why have your leader of your Empire in some planet your military just abandoned? Bring him back to the home world. And I guess you would have to go with him." Gaz said looking over at Dib. He nodded. "Well, that may be the price you have to pay for love."
"What about you and Zib?" Dib said.
"I can make it on my own and look after him. He'll be safe. Did Zim say you couldn't visit?" Gaz said.
"No, he said you could either move to Irk or visit." Dib said.
"So you won't lose me entirely. Not to mention you probably could call no issues." Gaz said simply. "Dad is dead. Mom died when we were little. We only had each other to this point. And even if you have to go to Irk to be with Zim, you won't lose me. I'll figure out where I want to live and you can still call at any time. Enjoy the perks of being with royalty on an technologically advanced planet. You deserve it after having to act like you two didn't love each other for god knows how long. But if the control brains say yes to Zim's reasoning, then we've done it. We won. Objective achieved. The rest of it, will need some adaptation but what has been done and what has happened is just so much that the pre-Invasion normal is gone forever. I'm going to have to live under an assumed name in public because it will probably be told that Zim killed me, so I can't go out as Gaz Membrane to them. No big deal. I can live with having to restart under an assumed public identity." Gaz said looking over at Dib.
"It's not right that you'd have to do so." Dib said though.
"Sometimes the endings can't be all happily ever after." Gaz said. "This one we can say ends up happy enough. No more death than there had to be. Earth can go back to being ruled by humans again and adapt to the new normal. And you can have Zim back as your man in front of everyone again. Have to take what you can get."
Zim headed over to the message center with the cloned corpses and sent them the the Control brains. "You get them?" He paged.
"Yes Tallest Zim. Next time you have to send enemy of the state corpses, please warn us you are doing so next time." The control brain said slightly disgusted. "A quick scan shows indeed these are the two that we needed. "Reviewing your request, it is agreed we should leave Earth. You will have to move back to Irk though. There can be no other way. We need a strong leader back on the planet. You know there will be some factions that will not be pleased but it can be handled better back there."
"Fair enough." Zim said as he headed up to the living room. "Dib, it's over. The Irkens are leaving this planet alone. I do have to go back to Irk."
"Just like I said would happen." Gaz said as she turned to her brother. "It's your decision. You've loved Zim forever. Are you going to throw away all you had for some clingy memories or use this new chance you've been given to be happy?"
Dib looked from his sister to Zim and back again. "We don't have to leave this very second?"
"Of course not." Zim said. "I can work it so we won't have to leave till the new year. That'll give us time to get Gaz and Christie set up in this new Earth. Least I can do for you."
"Then I'll go with you." Dib said hugging Zim, tears flowing happily from his eyes. "I have waited so long for something like this."
The molt had passed with minimal incident as soon as the declaration was made that the Irken military was to retreat, most all of the Irkens who would have been affected had already left. Zim had made it through with only a slight itch, no major molting. It turns out that the conditions were placed on the definition of home not birth planet. The new year came and Zim and Dib headed to Irk to begin their lives there.
"Ready for this new adventure?" Zim asked.
"Always." Dib said as the ship began to take off. "May not be a fairy tale ending, but it's the best I'm going to get." With this he kissed Zim and began the long flight.
So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. This is the final chapter of this story and it is now (finally after starting it literally 12 years ago) complete. I may if there is enough demand and likes do a sequel but it will have to be able to stand on its own without much back story as well, so I don't know. Much like the situation with Taboo, the sister story to this one. But I have so far 16 other stories I want to work on too. (Although some of them I am thinking of hiatusing but that's for another discussion) So feel free to read my other stories as I have a ton of variety and fandoms too. Anyway thank you readers for following, faving and reading my work and remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,
otherrealmwriter
aka
Realm.