Mary- Our Girl!
Clary- Red's Clone-Mary
Tary- Zim's Clone-Mary
(Nicknames curtesy of SleepyMangahead on AO3)
Base
Purple found himself out of sorts during the call with the massive.
He sat there, off screen as Zim gave his report to Tak while Mary was doing a good job staying alert (and not falling asleep). But that's not what threw him off.
Back then, it was himself and Red on the Massive.
Zim here on Earth.
It was supposed to be a manic Zim giving a report of his progress against Dib and he and Red would ignore, find an excuse to end the call, or just yell at him.
But here he is. Alongside Zim, on Earth instead of the Massive, trying to give a valid report of serious events. Dib, or just the Human Ranked Dib, WITH Zim instead of demanding us to give him the security codes, etc.
Is this what Zim went through with him back then? At least Tak is listening and taking him seriously.
This whole DAY was surreal.
He still can't unsee Smaller Invader Zim where Almighty Zim stands.
Well… if today's plans pull through, he owes Invader Zim one serious apology.
Earlier, Mary said offhandedly that he can keep past him and Red in line while Zim takes a vacation.
Can he?
In the chair he sat in, Purple can't help but shrink in on himself. Doubt drowning him.
He and Red were responsible for a lot of nonsensical ruling and serial murder of his subjects.
CAN he take over, even briefly?
On Foodcourtia, he gradually came to peace with the fact that Zim was a much better ruler than he'll ever be. He saw no reason to kick up a fuss about it like Red did. Purple knew his flaws. Acknowledged them even.
And now, even an offhand comment from Mary earlier…
Is he really…?
Is he ready to step back up? To take charge again?
To face who he was and knock some sense into them?
At what point are they even being sent back? Anything he has planned depends on the when.
~/~
After Mary left via transporter to the Massive, Zim and Purple rapidly worked together to copy everything they could, Tak eventually breaking away from the Gaz's to help from her end.
They were on a time crunch.
The moment Blue calls in, everything will happen fast.
Gir wandered off at some point. Zim was curious, yes, but left Gir be. His focus is on a distracted Purple...
~\~
Gir's Hideaway.
In Stell's workshop, Gir stood before the finished coat from the vision. Zim worked hard to make it in the vision, but now he's busy in his lab.
Carefully folding it up, he went back to his hideaway.
In a spot near the calendars was his old container. In it was the original, corrupted memories from before his accident.
He sat down and held it sadly.
The old him. The one who worried his mastah and made him cry.
The container shook in his hands.
He stood up and went to Blue's computer and hooked up himself and the Hard drive.
"Computer. Copy everything I have into this hard drive. Put it in a separate file."
Everything…?
He looked at the coat with a smile.
"Everything. If I can't be with Mastah… then at least I can make it so he won't cry no more."
When that was done, Gir snuck into the hangar before Stell left to quickly copy down his disguise from last night.
Putting his hoodie in Zim's Almighty measurements, he smiled and flew back down stairs with a manic grin as the group plus Tary (Zim's Clone-mary) left for the ruins.
Stuffing the hard drive in the container, he placed it inside the Hoodie and folded that, then put that under the black jacket before wrapping it up, he then left the present in the room Mary was going to hide in during the raid.
~/~
Stell and Tary
Flying in the Voot Cruiser to the ruins, Stell steered them in awkward silence.
Tary sat in the other seat, staring out the window away from her and Nova.
What can you say to someone? A clone made to die?
At a loss for words, they flew on.
~/~
Ruins
A group of teenagers were wandering the ruins.
Rumor had it, one of Zim's old devices that was here from at least 2,000 years ago.
One of the nerdy girls in the group, Miranda, found an old news article of a device that changed the weather. The guys nearby were clearly eavesdropping and joked about activating it, thinking how cool it would be to be a literal weatherman.
Practically bullying her into helping them find it, she tagged along, more than happy to flag a local Irken at the nearby barricade as a distraction so she could leave.
"Whoa guys, check it!" One of the guys, she didn't bother getting their dumb names. She called him Shorty though. Shorty pointed off in the distance to see the Mecha Blue was piloting off in the distance.
This got her excited. Mary was in her school a few grades below her. Whipping out her phone to zoom in and record the Mecha, she stopped when it was too far away.
"Aww…"
"Guys! Guys!" Cigs (the dude who is always smoking and blowing it in her direction at every opportunity…) "Let's go! Do you know how rare it is to get a close up shot of a Plot?! I have GOT to see this!" He grinned.
"I can't believe I'm saying this…" Waving away the smoke again in disgust. "But I agree. I would rather watch that than… this."
She waved at the two brothers roughhousing in the sand. She didn't even bother telling them about the broken glass, hoping they get impaled. Shorty egged them on.
"Hey look!" Smart Leader (he actually had brains and common sense which, legit, surprised her) "Is this the device?"
They all gathered around the thing he just yanked a few tarps off of.
Cigs let out a long whistle that had her nodding in awe.
Even in the early days... with Zim, it's go big or go home.
Now… to see if it works.
~/~
Mecha
Blue and Teal co-piloted it up ahead to the ruins. On his radar, he spotted a small group of Humans a few miles away.
Probably another dare…
Paying them no mind, he went to focus.
Blue made sure to check the weather beforehand, and it was as he thought: Clear skies leading to a freezing nightfall. So where did that storm come from?
On a side note:
In the Alternate vision it was to cheer up Mary from a crappy birthday.
Well, technically Tary was born today. And it is STILL Mary's birthday, right?
He and Teal definitely snuck the party supplies in here when Stell went upstairs for lunch.
~/~
Resisty Lookout
Grover stood at the lookout gazing at the ruins they flew to. But at the same time, he looked at his hand. In it, he grasped the holo disc from the meeting.
Dib Membrane.
All this because you stood up to Invader Zim when no one else even noticed…
The hologram showed not a boy, but a young man. His attire is familiar, about half the kids wore clothes like this, suspecting an advantage over Zim.
Although, hearing the former leader, Reds summary of clearly edited events, their suspicions were correct. Those who wore this strange attire of the Original, did, in fact, have an advantage. Reports of Zim hesitating. Taking a sort of soft spot for these kids.
Reports of similarities between these kids.
Hearing Red's reports make a sad sort of sense. Zim clearly held respect for Dib Membrane as a rival. And that carried on down all these years. He invented a Rank in his honor for fucks sake!
So… is he simply trying to relive the glory days with Dib? Is it some extended form of grief?
This happened before Zim took over. He practically destroyed their planet! Mary's reports were surprisingly detailed, he'll give her that.
Red was tight lipped about something, but… most of what he said, he got the feeling was at least mostly truthful.
But which parts... were the lie?
And then there's Purple. Co-Ruler with Red. He also mocked Zim.
What happened?
What was left out of Red's recap?
Or… was it whatever happened that sparked Zims rage in destroying their world in the first place?
In the corner of his eye, he saw Doon sneak away.
Hmm…
Grover followed him.
~/~
Ruins
Miranda knew better. She knew the only reason they were helping is because if they didn't get it to work, it was a unanimous decision to sneak over to watch the Plot.
After all, the Voot Cruiser (with Cigs confirmation of Mary inside) gave them the energy needed to get the damn thing to turn on.
An engine roaring to life and spewing sand and smoke everywhere made them cheer and cough in equal measure.
"Wow… We actually have a working Plot device in our hands…" Mrianda stood in awe as it lit up and the screens for the consul lit up showing a cracked screen and distorted settings. It was even waterlogged in one corner.
"Uhh… I don't think it's supposed to look like that." One of the brothers spoke up.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious." She facepalmed. Dragging her hand down her face, she stared deep in thought.
On one hand, they were in the middle of nowhere. If this thing went berserk no one would get hurt.
On the other…
There was no one around to rescue them if this thing went berserk!
"Hey leader! Why don't you try?" She smiled sweetly.
He looked at her funny as she backed away to give him room.
She discreetly backed as far away from the thing as she could.
Cigs raised a brow.
She mimed sneaking away to see the fight.
He grinned and backed away with her. They ran for it unnoticed.
~/~
Tary was pleasantly surprised they STILL held the small birthday party anyway.
She giggled at Blue explaining that she was born today, it was still Mary's birthday.
Win-win.
~/~
Smart(?) Leader and the two brothers settled for pushing random buttons. Lightning shot out enough to light the room.
Lightning shot into the sky as clouds started to form overhead.
~/~
Before the fight, she asked for a group photo with all of them. She may be a fake, but she's still in Mary's clothes. They can pretend she's her.
Trying not to get emotional over it, the Irkens agreed.
Nova set the timer and a flash as the photo took:
Standing before the Voot Cruiser, Blue had the two girls in a hug, one in each arm. In mirror poses, the girls had their arms crossed while smirking back at each other. Nova and Teal were doing the same, but grinning at the camera.
They were lit by the sun's bright golden twilight from one side, a hint of darkening clouds on the other…
~/~
Miranda and Cigs made it over on their hoverbikes just as Stell took off in the Mecha and a gleeful Mary gave chase.
"Yes! Made it!"
"C'mon, I see a better vantage point over there!"
Grinning she followed.
~/~
Outside Zim's House
A small group of brave (dumb?) Resisty members camped outside Zim's house after the report of the others leaving. The only ones unaccountable were Zim and Gir.
They were trying to decide when to start the raid. Most wanted to go now, others wanted to wait until dark.
A few countered due to fear.
Zim was terrifying on a good day! Attacking his base… at NIGHT?! That's like attacking a legit haunted house! Forget props, these things are real~!
The debate lasted longer than it should have…
~/~
Massive
Skooge stared at Tak.
No… Boggled is more like it.
Because here's his anti-social friend… eating up the attention Mary is giving her. Tak practically glowed as she regaled Mary with tales from back then.
The rest of the Gaz's were in equal shock and wariness.
Soon, the last Gaz has been backed up in a large storage device roughly the size of a game console. Momento's safely tucked away in a duffel bag alongside the device.
They made their way back to Earth.
All of them (even Tak and Skooge).
~/~
Base
As Zim got ready for the raid, followed by heading to the Resisty Base to back up Stell and Tary, Purple awaited Tak and her Gaz's.
Fidgeting with his hands behind his back, he stood nervous.
First to arrive was Mary and Gir. She had a duffle bag she held up with Gir's help.
He sagged in relief and smiled at her.
"Hey Purple! Tak told me to go first and she and Skooge will be last. Now that I'm done, I'll go hide in that room. Can you lock it up behind me, please? We need to make sure no one goes in or out while the raid and stuff happens tonight."
"Of course. Once Tak arrives, I'll lock it up."
"Thank you. We should have a few minutes, I'll grab some light dinner and eat it there. Good luck tonight!" She and Gir saluted him and then carried off the duffle bag.
Purple waved and turned back to the transporter.
~/~
House
Zim grinned as he stood in the living room. Tonight will be fun…
Turning back to a sound in the kitchen, he sees Mary sitting at the table.
"Mary?"
"Hey Zim! Don't worry, I won't be long. I was going to ask the computer for dinner and then I'll eat it down in that room with Purple locking me in."
"Good."
After Zim ordered her meal, he even snagged a water bottle too. Holding the takeout meal she made her way back to the elevator to the base. She made a quick detour to grab her pillow and her laptop and charger to keep her entertained and then went into the room. She left the door open for when Purple came back.
~/~
Ruins
Miranda and Cigs could (barely) hold back cheering.
Mary was awesome!
"How is she doing that?!" Cigs had his hands gripping his hair at this point.
Miranda, like most kids, grew up on stories about the Human Ranked Dib. They were legendary! Just imagine being picked to defend the planet against aliens! But those were kids' stories. Getting older, you start to lose the rose tint.
They were kids.
Child soldiers with the fate of the planet on their shoulders.
At Skool, there's an entire class dedicated to their history every grade level. When you get to high Skool, they stop censoring things.
News reports of the last battle, smaller ones in between. The Dib sometimes wins, others losing.
Sometimes… Zim kills the Invader.
Whatever it is they did to disappoint him, caused Zim to kill them viciously in the Last Battle against their respective Dibs. Seriously, Some Invaders do something to piss off Zim where he has Gir tell Dib to stay back as Zim HUNTS the Invader and murders them in cold blood.
Other times, when an Invader loses, he's sad.
It was later discovered that the ones he is sad over he brings to the Field.
After the current Dib kills the Invader, he goes to the current Dib and knocks them out. He brings them back to his Base and apparently heals them.
Zim himself sends the then-healed Dib home to declare the Dib winning.
All the Aliens (barring the Irks keeping watch at the barricade) leave for a decade or two before returning and doing this all over again.
As Miranda watches Mary fight Stell in the Mecha, with EASE!
It really sinks in just what these kids go through.
She's dodging laser fire easily, dodging in and out of sight without even trying! She even has a perfect aim for Stell's head, but the reinforced dome repels the shot.
Miranda slumps in her seat literally watching history unfold before her.
She feels a drop on her arm.
A rumble behind her causes her to close her eyes with a groan.
"Please no…"
Looking back-
Yup.
Those idiots figured out the machine.
That storm looks massive…
"Well, looks like it's time to go, huh?" Cigs tipped his hat and she nodded.
They flew their little ships back to the city like their lives depended on it!