As requested, Stell vs Red again.

Would the real Dib Membrane PLEASE stand up! *Starts Crying*

Mary= Our girl in a purple dress and red coat hiding with Clone-Dib
Clary= Red's Clone-Mary hiding in the vents
Tary= Zim's Clone-Mary who helped prank the Resisty, wearing Mary's old clothes.

Dib was inwardly proud.

Here he was listening to Mary about everything Zim told her the last few days, and he can't help but be happy for Zim.

Ignoring the whole 'taking over the Earth' bit, Zim made himself a family. A support group. An increasing number of people who see Zim and understand him and what he's trying to do.

Everything Zim did was a result of what he, Zim and Gir went through way back when.

And…

Here was this little girl all but bragging about Stell and Blue and what they went through.

Zim was right, they did remind him of themselves a little.

He can definitely see Zim being practically a father figure to these kids (from how Mary described Zim yesterday and today).

Dib was proud of Zim and his 'family' in all but blood.

And now, they're just missing him.

The REAL Dib Membrane.

As a clone, he's to die in Dibs place in case a paradox happens. The real Dib will go back farther WITH Zim.

They can start over.

As friends or-

Dib and Zim lay on his roof, asleep under the stars. As dawn approaches, he feels Zim pull his hand closer to give a soft kiss.

-Or more…

The thought made him smile.

More.

Focusing on this little girl, excitedly rambling of anything she can think of, his gaze softened.

She's going back with them. To the past, the farther past she mentioned.

He can see himself adopting her as his -THEIR- daughter.

Mary Membrane.

It has a nice ring to it.

She stopped talking to boggle at him.

Oh… He must've said that aloud.

His smile widened.

~/~

Meanwhile, Galloway silently growled.

He checked his ammo. Seeing plenty, he readied his gun.

He just needs the right moment.

Those Irks are fast after all.

~/~

Mood cheered as he put the last panel in.

He figured it out! What Zim did.

Apparently he somehow made it so only a Gaz can get through. And by Zim's own descriptions of it, that also explains Purple and Mary. It's common knowledge that she's almost half Irk, so that filled in the Gaz requirement alongside her mental state.

By making it for Gaz's it disabled the original function of just objects. I.e. the Gir Units.

A tweak here, a new sequence there and BAM!

Good to go.

New parameters to accept: A Gaz (he kept that), objects (their backups, Gir Units), clones (Dib-Clone), Dibs DNA sequence (so they can ACTUALLY switch the two without the whole mess of finding the old device in younger Invader Zim's lab) and Mary's DNA sequence.

He couldn't figure out Stell and Blue though.

The only thing he could think of was making them both Gaz's.

But...how?

~/~

Clary took one look at a veritable army of pissed off Irks crawling around and noped right out of there.

That was how she wound up crawling around the vents.

Up ahead she saw a taller Irk and assumed it was Zim at first. But he dressed differently (why is he crawling around the vents?) and promptly found an opening downward and silently snuck out into the room below.

She quietly got closer to peek down and heard a fight break out.

"Red."

"Purple."

"Who?" She whispered, having no clue who either are, but recognizing 'Red' as the one who killed Gir.

Seeing movement in the vent before her, on the other side of the vent opening, she looked up to see a shocked Zim staring at Gir on her back. He shook his head and gave her a grateful smile, he put a finger to his lips.

She nodded back with a smile

She mouthed 'I couldn't just leave him there' causing him to sigh in relief. They both peeked down to spy on them.

~/~

The two former Almighty Tallests stared each other down.

"Why are you here, Red?" Purple huffed as he stood to cross his arms.

Red twitched as he stood straight as well.

"I could ask the same of you, Pur."

"I came here to apologize to Zim and to start over. See if I could help, if he'll let me." With a shrug. Refusing to give even a hint of what they're really doing here.

"APOLOGIZE?! To ZIM?! He's the one who banished us! Or did you forget where we were the last few millennia?!"

Purple just blinked slowly at him.

He sighed. "To be honest, Red. I'm glad he removed us from the throne."

Red looked like he was slapped. (Clary slapped a hand to her mouth so they couldn't hear her laugh at Red's face.)

(Zim wasn't much better)

"GLAD-?! Wha-? HE BROKE OUR SOCIETY! He he-"

"Broke it?" Purple raised a brow. "How do you know it was Zim who broke it and not us?" He asked calmly.

(Zim was curious where he was going with this. Yes he apologized, but mostly for what he did to Zim)

Purple sighed and looked at Red like a teacher trying to drill in a lesson to a toddler.

"WE are the ones who basically made our race almost extinct, Red."

"Extinct? We had the largest population on record when we were in charge!"

"Yes, but… at the time of the Florpus incident, how many of them were…" He thought for the right word. An old word that made him taste bile just thinking it. "How many were 'Defective' like Zim?"

(Clary raised a brow at Zim.)

(He gestured he'll explain later)

"Oh, that's easy. Roughly 2,000 of the 300 billion." He stated with pride. As if the small number was something to celebrate.

Purple stared at him in horror having genuinely forgotten the stats for the Defective Irks.

"I know, remember how the number was higher when we started out? We had a lot of fun killing them off. We shot them out of airlocks, sent them to dangerous jobs, denied them basic rights and made the rest servants."

As Red continued to remember with a fond look in his eyes, Purple tried to hold back wanting to puke.

"How much…?" Purple had to know.

"Hm?"

"How much higher was the number of Defects when me and you first became Tallests?"

Confused on why he wants to know, Red thought about the number.

"I guess… around 2 million or so?"

(Unknown to both groups, the Computer is broadcasting this conversation throughout the base so everyone can hear it. Thankfully, the Gaz's understood Purple was stalling…)

(Mary wanted to cry. Why Purple was so upset all day made perfect sense)

(Dib wanted to cry. What Mary told them -him and the Irks in the room- about how Zim saved the remaining population, etc ran in their minds.)

(Stell, Tary, Blue and Doon -having met up in the transporter room- could only stare in horror. They counted their blessings Zim took over when he did!)

"2 Million… 2 thousand…" Red gazed at him concerned as Purple started to have a panic attack.

Purple then screamed. (Startling everyone)

"WE REALLY WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR EXTINCTION!"

Red took a few steps back. "What are you talking about? You mean the Defects? That's what we were supposed to do! The Control Brains gave us an order to kill them off because they were a disease that needed to be wiped out for the betterment of our species. They were mentally unstable and made numerous mistakes that dropped efficiency exponentially. They hindered us in our quest to rule over the other primitive planets."

Purple just stared blankly at this point. Just…. Numb.

He slid to the floor in an ungraceful heap.

"Pur. How were we responsible for our extension if killing the Defective Irks was us simply weeding out the weak? Why are you behaving like this? Was it something Zim told you?"

Red was genuinely concerned for his old friend now.

"You remember how Zim was right? He made a Shmillion mistakes and he just wouldn't die! He kept coming back!"

Purple looked up at that. Old briefings kept popping up in his mind.

"And then he went to Earth! He couldn't even kill a Smeet!"

Purple smiled. Zim excitedly talking about Dib earlier echoing in his head.

"And then there was this Mary everyone is going on about! I cloned her to see just what makes these 'Dib's so special."

(Zim looked at her as she raised her hand at 'clone'. He smiled reassuringly, mouthed back that he already knew and it was ok.)

(Dib stared at Mary confused, she just told him to listen)

(Tary stared at the others, remembering from the Alternate Device about Red making a clone. They were now outside their door with Blue hacking in to the door, waiting for their cue to bust in)

"Oh? And what did you find out?" Purple asked numbly.

"Nothing!" Red threw his arms up exasperated. (This shocked the three Mary's)

With the two parental units keeping an eye on him, he started to pace.

"Like most humans, she's a hybrid of various species: 50% Human, 40 and 10."

(That genuinely shocked everyone, even the three Mary's)

(Dib asked her if that was true, she said yes and that it was rare these days to be all Human)

(She just didn't know that was her actual percentage, let alone the other species. She was aware of the Vort, the Irk surprised her)

"But statistics in DNA such as hers is common. So I looked in other areas. From my research, she's healthy, if more physically fit. She has a higher intelligence than most in her age group, but every other attribute is average." He started to mutter.

Purple blinked.

Red focused on intelligence and physical traits.

What about personality?

"What about her personality? Her interests?"

Red waved him away. "Not important."

And that's why Red is so confused and frustrated. Purple just smiled.

"Then you will never know their importance. You'll simply never understand." Purple calmly got back to his feet. Brushing himself off, he faced Red.

"You just… After all this time, you just… don't get it. And, honestly? I don't think you ever will."

Red started to get pissed.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" This time, Purple waved him off. Red reared back at the dismissal. "Hey! Just what does that mean, Pur!? Answer me!"

And~

That's their cue.

The kiddo's burst through the door to defend Purple. The parental units were already on the opposite side of Red, boxing him in. But Red was faster and grabbed Tary in his grasp.

"Mary!" Stell screeched as she whipped out her laser guns, before Deja Vu made her stumble slightly.

Rising to full height, he easily held Tary's neck with one hand as she gasped for air. Desperately trying to find her footing.

Blue stood beside Stell, grip on his own gun steady. (Clary wanted to intervene, but Zim held her back. If this was anything like the Alternate vision, this is how Stell became a Gaz.)

Red loomed over Stell and Blue.

"That is enough!"

~Tary POV~

"Stell?!" I screamed as I watched my long time (heh) rival succumb to her Taller.

From the memories the PAK gave me this morning from the original Mary, I remember Zim telling her about it. Tallers used to think themselves superior. Even the Control Brains were on their side. Smallers like Zim and Stell were left as cannon fodder.

As I struggled to breathe, I realized Stell struggled as well.

Her antennae drooped and she seemed to shrink in on herself. I've never seen her look so small.

It was no secret she was a Smaller, especially standing next to Zim and Blue. But… It honestly never even crossed my mind. Why? When I looked at her, I didn't even have to try to look her in the eyes.

In the hall. Across the road. In our class.

We were the same height.

Her gun lowered.

"Stand. Down. Now." Red ordered.

The PAK memories showed me when Zim picked Mary up as he carried her to and from the old Membrane house. When he held her, it felt like seeing my classmates being held by a parent. She felt safe.

Being held by a pissed off Taller Red though?

I struggled to breathe! And for the first time…

PAK memories, or memories of today, I had to look DOWN at Stell. An intense sense of wrongness took over at that. Just earlier, it was the other way around after the picnic. It was fun. We were having fun!

Red forced me to look down on her, seeing as Blue never wavered. (He IS a Taller after all)

We loomed over her causing her to lean back to retain eye contact.

"Stell!" C'mon girl! Snap out of it! This isn't you!

Stell startled as if finally coming to her senses. She looked at us and… and… I've never seen that look before.

"I said stand down! As your superior, I order you to-!"

My 'Danger Sense' just kicked in.

"You are not my superior."

If I wasn't struggling for purchase I'd crack a joke about burns! I inwardly cackled at Red's face.

Only plus side to this grip, I had a glorious view of Stell firing at Red so he could drop me.

Stell didn't miss.

My instinct is still screaming.

For a brief moment as I looked up at him, I saw past him on the ceiling.

Zim was up there like a spider waiting to pounce. I gave a subtle nod when he gestured for me to run towards the others.

"Stand. Down." Stell commanded Red.

"She ordered you to stand down, Red." Purple sighed as he gave Red a dry look. "For once in your life… do as you're told."

Red growled.

Then made a move towards me.

In a flash: Purple, charged at Red while Zim dropped from the ceiling.

Everyone watched on as Tary ran to Stell.

They all watched in morbid fascination as Zim and Purple worked together to kick Red's ass and subdue him.

.

.

.

Awareness that these two are an actual threat to the cosmos, is a bitch.

And yet, I have never felt so safe before…

~Norml POV~

With Zim behind Red, hacking directly into his PAK, Red knew he was done.

He glared at Purple.

"So… does this mean...you're Defective now too?" Red spat. Purple didn't even flinch.

Purple sighed. "You know something, Red?" He wiped off the spit like one would wipe off imaginary dust.

Red glared as Zim paused at the last sequence. Giving Purple a nod, he faced Red again.

"I was Defective from the start. Declared so right out of the Smeeteries! The Control Brains wouldn't DARE harm a precious Taller however. No one knew. Not even you. And even back then you bragged at how easy it was to spot them!" He grinned. "And you never even noticed." Purple punched him.

Zim typed out the last sequence and Red fell limp, PAK greying out.

He's dead.

Zim stood as Purple slowly backed away.

Giving a loud scream, Zim kicked Red, hard. Red flew to the other side of the room.

Heaving heavily, he jumped at a hand on his shoulder.

Purple gave a small smile before pulling Zim into a hug.

~/~

Meanwhile, Dib stood before the activated Device.

Ready to switch.

Looking back, he gave Mary one last smile before stepping through in…

And one bleeding Dib Membrane appeared at the bottom of the ramp. Black coat and all.

"DIB!" They all ran to him and quickly got him to the Medbay.

All that's left is Blue to earn his rank...