Episode 15- The Last Stand
Episode Summary– Zim and The Renegades have their skills put to the ultimate test as they face off against their greatest challenge yet: Tallest Red!
Disclaimers: I Do Not Own Invader Zim
Author's Notes: Okay guys Relax this final episode is a five parter so sit back and enjoy.
With all that said Thanks for reading and Please enjoy.
Yours Truly, RoxieDivine :)
Episode 15- The Last Stand (Part 2)
(Back with Dib…)
The Zec Super Max Prison was a lot more accommodated then he had thought it would be. Dib had honestly thought that the prison would have barely, if any livable conditions for their human prisoners. However, one the other hand he understood why the Irkens made the prison so laid back and comfortable, so much so that they allowed the prisoners to run things in their absence. It was the same reason the Science Camp was also just as relaxed. The simple reason was that humans were more willing to cooperate if they were comfortable and treated well.
The fact made Dib angry with his fellow humans, but only to an extent. When you are faced against an enemy as powerful as Irk it's hard to want to fight when doing so could put everything you love at risk. Your schooling, your upstanding job, the food on your table, the right to keep your children, and worse the right to live. The Irken Empire knew exactly what vices to cater too and what to threaten people with in exchange for their compliance.
There were times that he too was tempted; especially if it meant his family could be whole again. They had been apart for so long, and having his father with him now only made him miss his sister even more.
"So where are the human worshipers?" Rachel asked, her question pulling Dib out of his thoughts.
They had landed their makeshift ship in the docking bay and were now converging around it.
"They are in the cell blocks." Jamie answered as she and the rest of the Renegades who had been with her at the prison joined them.
Immediately there were hugs and joyous proclamation as the Renegades who were once prisoners were reunited with their families. Rachel embraced Jamie tightly. "I knew you could do it."
"Didn't doubt you for a second." Dib agreed.
"That makes one of us." Jamie joked. "Nice ship." She teased.
"Nice!" Came an insulted voice. Tak stomped over to them in a fit of rage. "It's horrid and an insult to myself and my dignity."
Dib's breath almost caught in his throat at the sight of her. Their time apart had made him almost forget about his feelings for her…almost. "Isn't that the same thing?" He managed to ask. "And I thought you be flattered that I based it off your ship."
"You did?" Jamie asked looking confused. She had seen Tak's ship before, mostly in pictures within Dib's post invasion research. "It looks nothing like it."
"And that is what makes it insulting!" Tak shouted. "To have my creation mocked in such a primitive way."
"I couldn't use the exact specs." Dib argued. "I had to make it big enough to accommodate everyone, along with our gear and weaponry."
"I still don't see the problem with using the original design." Tak hissed. "And here I had come to expect a lot more from you." She faked a sigh. "Guess I was wrong."
Dib watched as she smiled in a teasing manner, and he couldn't help but blush. If he didn't know better he would have sworn she was flirting with him. He suddenly wondered if she liked him too, if Zim was capable of falling for a human then certainly other Irkens could do so as well. Then again, he wasn't sure if this was love. He had never had a girlfriend before, and the closest thing he ever had to a relationship with any girl besides his sister was Rachel. And she was more like the second sister that he never had then an actual girlfriend. So, it was hard to know if this was love if he really had nothing to bases it off of.
Well, that wasn't entirely true, the truth is Dib had felt this way about Tak before. Back when she first came to Earth, and Dib thought she was human, the two had spent a lot of time together. Dib now understood that she did this to evaluate him as Zim's enemy and in turn a potential enemy for herself. She also did it to enrage Zim who happened to be very possessive about his foes, something he still found odd at times. Still, while her feelings may have been fake, Dib thought it was nice to have someone to talk to besides Gaz. Back then he didn't have Rachel, or their current circle of friends, all he had was Gaz. And Tak was nice to talk to, even if she had been faking the whole time Dib liked having someone else to vent to.
And Tak always listened in ways Gaz never did.
And Dib had started to think that maybe they could be friends, and he was starting to realize he may have a crush on her. Then she turned out to be another Irken and for years after Dib still found himself wondering if he really cared. Regardless of species; Tak was still cool, strong, and confident, and he could still remember the way her hand felt in his. Dib shook his head as he forced himself to focus, but it was already too late.
Rachel, Jamie and more importantly Tak had noticed his shade of red.
"Why are you changing color?" Tak demanded.
Jamie stiffened a laugh and Rachel shook her head. "And you gave "Them" a hard time. Of course by "Them" she meant Zim and Gaz.
"So, any word from Zim?" Dib, exclaimed hoping to change the subject.
"I spoke with him after I called you." Jamie told him. "He says to tell you they are on their way."
Dib nodded. Knowing Zim he would have found a way to get to Earth as soon as Possible. He was not aware of the amount of time the initial trip had taken. However, Dib knew Zim had known clear indication of where he was going, only a direction to go towards, and now that they knew their new destination, Earth; Dib was sure Zim could make it back in record timing.
"If his fleets can successfully jump through hyperspace he could be here in less than a day." Tak cut in.
"Any chance that Hyperspeed Modules are just laying around on the abandoned worlds?" Dib asked stupidly. It was stupid because he already knew the answer, no Irken would leave anything useful behind.
"No." Tak answered bluntly. "However, a newly born smeet could create schematics for the modules and while there is no readymade ones left behind all the supplies needed to make the parts for one should be easy to come by."
"Then we haven't a moment to lose." Dib said. "We need to take the castle and make it as easy as possible to get in."
The group had been walking through the prison as they spoke, and was currently walking through the prison block. It was the fastest way to the main control room of the prison.
"Traitors!" Choi screamed from her cell spatting saliva at Tak like she was a rabid dog.
"I am not a traitor you swine!" Tak screamed. "I am serving my Tallers in relieving a deranged leader from his post. A task mind you that is stated in Irken law!"
"Lies! Tallest Red is the one true leader!" Fred yelled. "Your Tallers are false leaders just like their fake Ancients and their fake armies."
"Wow are these the lies the programing is feeding them?" Dib asked.
Jamie nodded. "I could deprogram them, but I was afraid to do it, if just one of them escapes it will tip off the Spy drones that patrol outside."
"They're up here too?" Dib asked.
Tak nodded. "And they are just as deadly. "Human casualties on the ground have sky rocketed."
"Besides, Jake told me the others wanted to serve Irk before they were even programed." Jamie explained. "Cho and the others came from poor a upbringing and never had the easy life. If Earth goes back to normal they will lose everything."
"Which only makes them more willing to try anything to stop us." Crystal final spoke for the first time since they arrived.
Dib didn't blame her, he knew this was hard on her, Jake was like a brother to her, maybe even something more.
"If we want a chance at stopping the carnage below we have to get to the Castle and use the main control brain to disable the drones." Mark stated the obvious as they entered the main control hub of the Prison.
"That maybe a problem." Bek started simply. He was currently trying to get a hold of someone over communications. "We have lost all contact with the Generals within the castle." He reported. "I fear Red may have finally went completely Berserk."
"Then this just became a rescue mission." Dib stated.
"We can face an Amon!" Tak argued. "The top Twelve know how to handle this it is literally their job to waste rogue Amons."
"None of them are nearly as powerful as Red." Dib argued. "Kazar might be able to hold Red at bay for a while, but he won't win and Zim needs them to help rebuild Irk."
Tak knew he was right, still he also knew facing an Amon would get several of them killed.
Dib could read her mind like an open book. "We don't need to beat him." He assured her. "We just need a place we can trap him, corner him. A place that keeps him away from the top twelve and us, while keeping him trap for Zim."
Tak looked thoughtful such a plan was still risky, but trapping Red vs trying to end him, would result in less casualties. Additionally, a fully devised plan coupled with their number could work in their favor. Still, there were several variables like… "We'd have to find a way to get in without tipping Red off. Then we'd have to get in position, again without tipping him off. Afterwards we'd have to find a way to pull his attention away from the other Amons and towards our trap."
Bek was pulling up a schematic of the castle as she spoke. "It's undesirable but the seward line connects every building on Zec. We could use it to access the castle, it will no doubt be guarded by drones though."
"We can use an EPM to momentarily disable them." Dib thought out loud.
"It would have to be sonic." Tak revealed. "A regular EMP is not going to cut it." We have a few here." She went on.
Dib looked surprised.
"It's standard protocol." Bek explained. "Just in case they malfunction and start going against standard protocol and begin targeting Irkens."
"We are able to control the drones here." Tak explained further, but the control brain in the castle will trump any clearance we have."
Dib nodded his understanding.
"So, say we use the Sonic EMPs to take out the drones guarding the seward system, then what?" Rachel asked. "Won't there be more in the castle?"
"Not if Red values his life." Bek explained. "If Red has truly lost it completely not even the computer brains will be able to deny his condition. The drones will target him, so it is likely that only two are present in the whole structure."
"And they will both be where we plan enter." Mark groaned openly. He could tell the next 24 hours are so was going to be a long and hard fight. It wasn't that he was didn't want to take this seriously, but now that they were so close he just wanted rush it to finally be done with all of this! But they couldn't rush this, not when it could lose them nearly 2 years of hard work to get this far. Not when it could cost them this war, and more importantly their freedom. And not just theirs, but the freedom of the entire known universe.
No this could not be rushed; they simply could not afford it.
"If we time it right, we can wipe them out, and with any luck the computer brain won't be tip off." James assured them. "And if so it can't do anything but alert a staff that is too busy dealing with Red." He reason further. "And if the brain manages to get more drones inside they will see Red and only further our chances of winning."
"James is right, in this case tipping off the Brain might actually work in our favor." Dib looked thoughtful. "If we could the brain first we could disable the drones in town and redirect the ones on Zec to converge on the castle and help us corner and trap Red."
It was a good plan, just one problem.
"The control brain is in the center of the Castle, we can get in through the seward, but that entrance into the castle is nowhere near the control brain."
"So, we'll still have to dodge Red." Mark added.
"Not to worry." Goalit spoke up. "We can use the Pak tracking System to view their movements."
"Of course!" Tak pulls something on the computer. "The Pak tracking System Tracks the Paks of all Irkens."
"You mean Red could have tracked Zim this whole time?" Dib asked fearfully.
"No, this system is fairly new." Tak revealed. "Once a defective Irken is killed their Pak is deleted and its serial Number is deleted from the system. This is why the Tallest could never track or locate the Irken rebels. Once they were labeled defective they were deleted from the systems, even though they were kept alive and experimented on. The Tallest never considered they would escape because it had never been done before."
"The same can be said for Zim." Goalit explained further. "Once Zim was sentence to death and his Pak was removed, he was already deleted from the system. I personally managed to disabled my own."
"So, we use this system to Track the moments of the generals and Red." Dib said taking over. "This will help us avoid them and reach the center where the control brain is waiting."
"Where we will then have to hack it." Tak pointed out. "A task only a Control Brain maintenance drone knows how to do."
"Luck I was supposed to be one." Tesi spoke up. It was the first time any of the Irken rebels have spoken and Tak jumped as if she just realized they were there.
"Did you receive your full training?" Bek asked before Tak could gather herself.
Tesi nodded. "I was marked Defective just before I could take my final exam." She answered.
"Your scores?" Bek continued to question.
"I was top of my class." Tesi answered. "I would have gone the initial mission to the Main control brains on Irk with My commander and the others had I not been injured days before."
"The we will use you to hack the brain." Tak finally found her voice.
Half of us will help Tesi get to the brain while the rest of us ready the Trap for Red and get in position." Rachel suggested.
Everyone quickly agreed. By doing both Task at the same time, they would complete their ultimate goal that much quicker, and would also lessen their chances of getting caught by Red.
"We still need some kind of bait." Mark pointed out.
"What do you mean?" Dib asked.
"Look we are depending on Red to be so focused on the other Amons in the castle he won't notice a bunch of rats that start crawling around in it." Mark pointed out. "And if he is so focused on killing them with enemies like Dib and us creeping around a few spy drones are not going to rip his attention away from them. He will see them as a nuisance and bat them away as he keeps coming for them."
Mark had a point, they depended on the Amons to unknowing distract Red from their objectives, and with no way to contact them they could clue them in on their plan and have them help out. So, what do they do? They use bait, but what kind of bait could they possibly use? What was one thing that Red hated more then anything? Something that would make him lose all interest in the other Amons.
The first thing that came to Dib's and probably everyone else mind was the one person who wasn't here. "Zim…" Dib whispered.
"Taller Zim isn't here." Bek reasoned.
"No." Goalit agreed. "But perhaps we can make him think he is."
"How?" Tak asked. "Even if we use a perfectly convincing holographic disguise their will still be miniscule differences."
"Yes, differences a normal Irken could point out." Goalit seemed to agree. "However, a deranged Berserk Amon engulf in the abyss of madness will not. All he needs is to see someone who looks and smells like Zim, and he will give chase."
"So, anyone in Zim's old close and close to his height can do it?" Mark asked.
"Not just anyone." Tak said. "Red knows Zim like the back of his hand, and even in his deteriorated state he will expect Zim to act a certain way. If our decoy doesn't it will tip him off and as mindless as we make Berserk out to be they are still quiet cold and calculated to a degree."
"We simply cannot risk him finding out." Goalit continued. "Which means there is really one person that can do it."
He already knew the answer, no doubt they all did. Still Dib had a hard time finding his voice. Was it fear…yes he decided almost instantly? Remembering just how deadly Kio had been was enough to instill fear in all of them. And Koi was still developing, while Red was fully developed and had over a hundred years of experience. Still, he could not get cold feet now; Dib stood and with a shaky breath he said. "It's me."
"Dib." Membrane looks ready to scoop him up and run as far away as he can, but naturally Dib argues.
"It has to me Dad." Dib reasoned. "I've known Zim longer then practically any of you. I know what to say, what to do, and what to wear." He looks to Gir as he says this. "Gir hand it over."
Gir looks fearful. "But it's master's." Gir whined. Gir had been holding on to shirt that Zim had worn recently. Dib had figured it was to comfort the robot while his master was away. It made since to Dib, while Zim had once been without Gir, the Sir unit had never been without his master. Even when Zim pretended to be the Human Joseph and Gir was forced to stay in the Dome, his master rarely went more than a day way from their secret HQ. "It's all I have." Gir cried confirming his suspicions.
"Nope." Dib smiled reaching into his bag. "I brought something else just in case you got out of hand." He pulls out Gir's Pig. "See Zim got you these right?"
Gir's eyes go wide as he reaches for the pig.
Dib pulls way slightly and says. "Trade?"
Gir looks back at the shirt and then again to the pig, back and forth several times as if thinking it over. Finally, he settles on the Pig. "PIGGY!" He cried, dropping the shirt, and snatching up the pig.
Dib smiles as he picks up the discarded clothing, he holds it out to Goalit. "Will this do?"
Goalit sniffs and smiles. "Oh, this will do marvelously." He said with a sly smile.
Dib puts the shirt on over his own clothes knowing the disguise will make him appear to wear whatever he wanted. "Alright troops we have our plan, and we have our targets." He said, half-jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.
It had little effect, still everyone appreciated the effort.
There was just one thing left to do.
With that thought fresh on his mind Dib gave the final order. "Next stop; the castle!"
To Be Continued