Chapter 20
The Great Escape
"Stop...me...Zim. Please...!"
Zim thought his hearing was deceiving him. He could hear the voice of the real Rogue coming from the very one trying to suffocate him! And at the same time, tears brusted from the female Irkin's eyes. Her face was not the same as her feelings. She continued to cry out to him, a pleading, truthful cry for help.
"Rogue!...It IS you!" Zim struggled out those words. The cold, metal hands continued to grip tighter around his neck. He fought so not to lose conscious. He focsed on Rogue's face, but mostly on her tearful eyes.
Rogue's eyes blinked away drop after drop, but they kept on coming.
"My body is...still under the Tallest's...contr-trol..." It sounded as if it was getting harder for her to speak, as she was fighting for control of her own mind and thoughts. "I tried...I tried..."
"W-What?" Zim gasped out.
She stopped for a moment, fighting off the other voice from coming out. "...I TRIED...to resist the reprograming...but it was too...strong...that's when I...found out...that..."
"Your mind, it's cybrog too." Zim said, still gasping.
"...She's...coming...back...!" Rogue worded out. Just then, the tears dried up and she turned back to the more darker self. She looked back at Zim, and shot a cruel grin.
"What a pest that other one is." She said coldly. "Now, where were we?" Her sqeeze tightened.
Zim began to kick in the air, his face turning purple. "Rogue...don't..." His vision began to blur.
~Meanwhile...~
Dib and Gir have been wandering around the many halls and ways of the Massive, still no sight of a way for escape has Dib was hoping. One plus though was the unusual lack of guards and/or soldiers around. But the Earth boy wasn't going to let his guard down yet.
The two carefully turned a new corner, with no one behind it.
"Werid...where did all the guards go?" Dib asked himself. Gir hasn't been any help so far, After the head slamming thing, the SIR's just been following Dib, humming and what not. The boy turned to face the robot.
"You wouldn't happen to have some kind of tracker or navigator programed in you?" Dib asked, not really expecting a good answer.
"Let's see..." Gir opened his top and started feeling around inside. He pulled out all kinds of junk: A fried chicken leg, a few sqeeze toys, SOMETHING he found on the side of the road one day (I'll let you readers's imagination go with that one ^-^), a tiny figure shaped like Filler Bunny, MORE squeeze toys, and the list goes on!
"Forget it." Dib then said, and began to walk away.
"OooOooooo! I forget I had this!" Gir said, but Dib wasn't interested. That is till he felt a beam of heat fly right by him, JUST missing his head bearly! He spun around to see a arsenal of mini missiles and lasers sticking out of the SIR's head. (See: Bloaty's Pizza Hog")
"Opps...SORRY!" Gir said. He lowered the mass of weapons back into his head.
"JEZZ! You could of killed me!" Dib snapped.
Gir started to pout, but then his round eyes perked up to something. "What's that??" He pointed behind Dib where the little laser hit, leaving a burn mark on the wall.
""THAT" almost burned a hole in my head!" Dib said still mad.
"Not "THAT"...listen." Gil placed his hand to where he would have a ear. Now getting the idea, Dib placed his ear to the wall. He could hear two different voices, talking about Zim.
"Hey, it's those "Tallest"." Dib said surprised. Just then, he noticed that the burn mark was abit crumbled. The Earthling quietly and carefully picked away at it, causing the mark to break through, making a spy hole. He looked through it, and sure enough, there was Red and Purple, still viewing the ten screens, looking for Zim and Rogue.
"Where'd those two go?!" Red shouted.
"Zim's sure to be dead by now." Purple said. "And I REALLY wanted to SEE THAT!"
"But then Rogue should of come back already." Red pointed out.
Dib could hear everything the two were saying. If Zim really was gone for good, then Rogue wasn't too far behind. He had to admit now, that female alien was WAY more deadly the his rival! He wouldn't have a ghost of a chance. 'I've GOT to find a way off this thing!' He thought almost in a panic.
"WHAT YOU SEE??" Gir suddenly screamed right in Dib's ear. He jumped and slapped his hand over the robot's mouth.
But the Tallest already heard it from the other side.
"What was that?" Purple asked scanning the room. His eyes fell on the spy hole. "Hey! Somebody's watching us!"
Dib immediately turned and ran in the other direction with Gir holding onto the back of his head. But the very first corner the boy turned, there was Red and Purple glaring back at him. The room's door was right near where they were.
"We forgot about you." Red said with a look.
Gir popped up from behind Dib's head and just grined. "HIII!"
"Your both coming with us!" Purple said. He went to grab Dib, but he turned quickly and ran.
"HEY! GET BACK HERE!" The Tallest went after them.
~Back in space...~
'Getting harder to see...' Zim thought. He could no longer udder words. He continued to look at Rogue, her image becoming dimmer to him by the minute.
"That's it..." She hissed. "It's easier to just give up, isn't it?" She pulled Zim closer to herself, face to face. "I want a good look at your face before you die. I'll always remember it just the way it is."
Zim thought this was it. But then, something hit him. With what strength was left in his body, he reared his legs back and nailed Rogue right in the gut. She immediately let him loose and grabed her lower self in pain. Zim backed away, gasping and coughing in very much needed air from his air bubble.
"...You.." Rogue shot a death glare of the best kinds. "For that...your death will be much more painful!"
Zim's mind raced for a next move. He already felt bad for that last one, but he didn't have a chose. 'I don't...I can't hurt her again.' He thought. 'I cant bear it as it is. But...then HOW will I..."
"HERE I COME!" Rogue shouted, jetting towards Zim. A close dodge was the male Irken's next move. The cybrog quickly turned around and fired a twin laser. Zim positioned his jetpack and jetted away from them.
'How can I get you back?' Zim thought dodging away. 'I have to REACH you somehow! You can't help yourself on your own, can you?'
"You will DIE!!" Rogue screeched. She fired a huge stream of beams. Zim missed them, but a few skinned the side of his face. A small drop of blood dripped from his cheek.
"Blast YOU!" Rogue shouted.
"Rogue!...I KNOW your still in there!" Zim yelled out. "If you can hear me, tell me what to do! How can I help you?!"
Just as Zim said that, Rogue began to tremble and act strange. She placed her hands on her head, like she was having a major headache or something.
"......I...I'm scared..." It was Rogue's true voice again. "It's getting...harder to think....I'm so scared, Zim...! Help me...hold me...the other...is...winning!" She suddenly switched back once again.
"AARRRAAHHHHH!!!" Rogue fired towards Zim again. The beams skinned his side this time, but not badly.
'She's alone in her own mind...' Zim thought. 'How can I...wait!...Maybe if...' Zim viewed Rogue with a risky idea in mind. '...It has to work...'
With that, Zim took in a deep breath, and jetted right for Rogue. The female Irkin felt he had something up his sleeve. She raised her gems, but before she could fire, to her surprise, Zim just wrapped his arms around her.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Rogue struggled and wiggled, but Zim just hugged on tighter. "YOU FOOL! YOU DIE NOW!!" She aimed both of her gems for his head!
"ROGUE! I'M RIGHT HERE!" Zim called out. "FIGHT IT! I'M NOT LETTING GO!"
Suddenly with those words, Rogue started to go onto another battle with her mind. There was both the evil voice and her own voice coming out of her mouth! Zim continued to hang onto her with all his might.
"...LET GO OF ME!"
"I'm..not going to..let you hurt him!"
"GO AWAY!....HE MUST DIE! DIE!!"
"NO! I want you out of here now!"
"Your DOING it, Rogue!" Zim said. "Keep it up!"
The mind battle continued on like a game of tug-of-war. The evil side began to weaking as Rogue herself was beginning to take control. The whole time, Zim refused to let go of her. The feeling of him being close to her was strengthening to Rogue!
"I'm better then to let you take over me!" The good side shouted out. "Only I decide what I want and do! And what I want right now..is for YOU TO GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!"
Suddenly her body began to jerk rather violently. Within her part-organic, part-cybrog brain, the dark "reprogramed" side was, how you would say, being deleted! The jerking then came to a sudden stop, and Rogue fell limb, her head against Zim's shoulder.
"Rogue...?" Zim quietly whispered to her.
"...uummmmm..." The female Irkin lifted her arms up, and placed them around Zim. Both held each other tightly. It was then for the first time, they were fully understanding such a strange yet good emotion. What other races call "affection" or "love", it felt so new yet so right.
They held one another for what seemed like forever. And then, Rogue muddred something to Zim.
"I'm sorry..."
"For what?" He asked.
"I injured you." She said. "You couldn't hear it, but I was screaming your name from inside my own head. I could only watch, and cry. It was a nightmare." She began to cry again. "I'm so sorry."
Zim looked down at her. "Don't be...it wasn't any of your fault."
Rogue looked up at him with tears in her eyes. Both pairs of eyes locked on to each other.
"I...love you, Zim." Rogue said meekly, like a shy child.
"...I...I...love you too, Rogue..." Zim worded out.
Both Irkins never thought they would say those words, and know what they really meant.
~ "COME ON! STOP ALREADY!" Purple shouted. The two tall ones were still after the Dib monkey and broken SIR, chasing them nearly all over the ship. Hovering the whole time, Red and Purple weren't the least bit tired. But Dib was doing pretty good as well.
The chase went through door after door, floor after floor, till finally it went through a door to a place that looked too familier. Big room with tall ceiling.
"WE'RE BACK WHERE WE STARTED!?" Dib said. He immediately turned to head out, but the door suddenly closed on it's own in his face. The other door at the far end suddenly made a locking sound, and then the first door did the same.
"Got cha!" Red's voice echoed in the room. The screen from before had thier mugs on it once more.
"When you took that last left, we figured you would end up in there!" Red said. "And your going to STAY there till we think of a way to kill you, ALRIGHT!?"
"Oh! I know!" Purple said. "Let's throw them into a star!"
"We did that with the last three!" Red shouted.
Dib's skin began to crawl at the thought of what they will do to him. Gir hopped off his head, hitting the floor face first.
"But you said throwing people in stars was fine with you!" Purple said to Red.
"It got old after the first three times!" Red said. "Your STAR can wait for once!"
"One more time, with the SIR?" Purple begged.
Just then, the Tallest finally got a reading from the viewing pods outside. The middle screen brought up a image. It was far off, but something was flying towards the ship at a fast rate.
"Finally! It took her long enough!" Red said.
The image grew closer, and it didn't look like it was going to slow down.
"Hey...wait...what's-" Purple squinted his eyes to see TWO figures coming. Suddenly the Tallest could see a small, redish glimmer coming from one of them.
"What's she doing?" Purple said. The little glimmer suddenly fired a beam, blasting the side of the Massive.
"She's lost it!" Purple shouted.
"THAT'S ZIM RIGHT NEXT TO HER!!" Red shouted out. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!?"
"Is she trying to kill us?!" Purple freaked out. He suddenly noticed the view screen for the room where Dib and Gir were being held, and saw where Rogue's beam hit.
There was once again a hole in the wall, but not as big as the last time. Zim and Rogue then came flying in. After landing, Rogue reached down and picked up a piece of metal from the earlier fight. Using heat from her gems, she welded the metal over the hole she made.
"ROGUE!!!" Both Tallest yelled loudly. The cybrog, without saying a word, just turned to the screen and raised a humming gem to it.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?" Red shouted. "WE TOLD YOU TO-"
"Shut up." She said, and blasted the viewing screen into pieces. The Tallest stood speechless for a moment.
"...I don't know HOW Zim did it..." Red said clenching his fist. "...but THIS GAME IS GOING TO END HERE!!"
"NOW what?" Purple asked, just as ticked off as Red was.
Red didn't answer. He just went to the nearest control panal and started punching buttons. He had a werid look in his eye as he summoned up a few more panals and punched on those.
"I should of done this from the start." He hissed. "In about five mintures, Zim will HAVE to surrender!"
"What about Rogue?" Purple asked.
"She's totaly USELESS now!" Red said. "I don't know why, but for some reason, she's NOT going to kill Zim. So in that case..." The red Tallest pushed the last set of buttons. "We'll make it so she CAN'T use her laser for anything."
Meanwhile, Gir was reunited with his Master and Rogue. The little SIR first greeted Zim by dive bombing him to the floor and rubbing his metal face into his. Normaly, Zim would push him right off, but this time he really didn't seem to mind it. He didn't say anything, but he was glad to see Gir too.
"Is your body broken, Master?" Gir asked after getting out of the Irkin's face.
"No, I'm fine, Gir." Zim said. Gir looked him over quickly, and then faced Rogue.
"ROGUE!!" Gir screeched happyly, running right into her. The SIR wrapped his little arms around her body and squeezed.
"Great...to...see...you...too, Gir..." Rogue said with the oh so tightness of Gir. ^-^
"I was SOOOOO worried-ed-ed!" Gir said.
"How come your not dead!?" Dib suddenly asked, after he overcame a slight state of shock.
"Look, there's no time for that right now, alright?" Zim said. "You should feel lucky though. Rogue WAS thinking of just blowing the whole Massive up."
"But then we remembered Gir was still aboard." Rogue said. "If we work fast enough-"
"No, REALLY! WHY didn't she kill you??" Dib asked again. "I thought for sure you were done for!"
"TOO BAD!" Zim said. "You ask too many questions for your own good, you know that?"
"If you REALLY want to know, DIB..." Rogue said with a look. "Zim saved me from destroying him."
"Huh?" Dib didn't quite get it. "How?"
"Shut up already!" Zim shouted. He then turned to Rogue. "Rogue, do you happen to know where the escape pods are on the ship?"
"Yeah, thier two levels down to the right." She answered. Dib suddenly slapped his forehead, thinking that he KNEW he should of taken that last right earlier.
"Let's hurry!" Zim said.
"Wait a minute." Dib spoke up. "The Tallest locked both doors."
"So?" Rogue said, walking up to one door, and blasting it away.
"Oh...right." Dib said.
"Come on!" Zim said, running out the room with Rogue and Gir following.
"......HEY! Don't even think about leaving me on this ship when you blow it up!!" Dib shouted running out the door.
"Shoot, he's smarter then I thought!" Rogue said under her breath with a finger snap.
The Irkins, robot, and one human ran thier way down two levels of the Massive. Once again, nobody was guarding the halls.
"Where is-" Zim started.
"The guards? Yeah, I've noticed that too." Rogue said.
They got to the entrance where the escape pods were held. Dib caught up to them, stopping to catch his breath.
"Your (huff, huff) NOT leaving me (huff) here!" He said to Zim and Rogue's faces.
"What a pain." Rogue said. She reached for the door and opened it. But they then ran into a new problem. The area was the pod room alright, but something was missing.
"What?!" Zim walked in and looked around. "The PODS! THEIR GONE! ALL OF THEM!"
Rogue pondered for a moment. "THIS is maybe why there isn't any guards on the ship! Maybe they were all ordered to leave the ship, using the pods."
"So WE couldn't use them..." Zim made a fist and trembled with anger. "CURSE THEM!"
"The Tallest?" Gir asked him.
"YES!" Zim shouted.
"Now what?" Dib said.
"NOW would be a good time to give up..." The group swung around to see Purple and Red standing in the doorway. Red hovered forward to them. "You have no means to escape now, Zim"
"Tallest..." Zim hissed through his teeth.
"The fun's over, Zim." Purple said. "Your not going to get away from us this time."
"Who said it was fun?" Zim said in a death glare. "I'll I know is that YOU two are not fit to be leaders."
"Really? Funny, hearing that from a "little" nobody." Red said. "But seriously, it's over."
The tall ones began to move choser to him, but Rogue suddenly jumped in thier path, arms stretched out wide. Both Red and Purple looked at her with a sinister gleam in thier eyes. But even that didn't make Rogue move.
"If you want him..." Rogue said. "...you have to get through me first!"
"You know, Rogue, we wouldn't mind to learn one thing..." Red said, not taking his eyes off her. "How did you break free from your reprograming?"
"...Zim..." She answered. "...He helped me...he saved me, and I should of seened before that he's more then you two would ever think! I had a chose this time... and I choosed to fight with him, to GET you! And I..." She blushed. "...we have both experienced something new, something no Irkin has felt before."
"And what's that?" Purple asked.
"L-O-V-V-E!! HUGS AND KISSES!! SMOOCHEY SMOOCHEY!!" Gir suddenly brusted out in loud, embarrassing babble. Both Zim and Rogue turned beet, BEET red in the faces. The female Irkin continued to stand motionless with a frozen, blushing expression, wide eyed and a embarrassed smirk. Zim was like that as well. (Think of it like something you would see in a anime! ^-^)
"GIR!!" Zim suddenly yelled, still RED.
"AWWW, ya don't have to HIDE it!" The SIR cooded. He then walked over, grabed Rogue's hand and Zim's hand, and brought them together. "Iiiit's LUV!!...(*Insert cricket sounds here*)...IT'S ALL SO BEAUTIFUL!!" Gir started to tear up.
".........*snicker* *snicker*, WHAA HAHAHA HAAAA!" The Tallest exploded in laughter.
"THAT'S the STUIPDEST thing I've heard!" Purple said. "They "LUV" each other. HA HA HA!!"
"That's...HA HA...THAT'S..*snicker* BWAA HA HA HAAA!" Red couldn't finish his sentence on that.
Thier loud laughter finally quieted down when they both almost stopped breathing. Rogue and Zim were still flashing red, but were just as serious as before this little detour in the situation.
"Alright already!" Zim said. "It's true! We have discovered this thing called...AFFECTION. AND I..." He was now "glowing" red, "...I LIKE it, OKAY!?"
Rogue just couldn't help but smile just then to Zim's words.
Red and Purple, completely recovered from laughing now, both put on thier strin looking faces again. Just then, Red looked up towards where the pods are lanched off. There was a large, round window right above it.
"Oh, by the way, Zim..." He said. "...Could you just, turn around?" He had a evil little grin on his face.
Zim scowled, but slowly began to turn. "If this is some kind of a siniter trick, I-SWEET JIGGLY CRUD!!!"
Staring back at him through the window was a ENORMOUS MASS of Irkin ships, all armed with blasters guns and missiles. It looked like there were HUNDREDS of them! And in each one was a Irkin, posed and staring right back at Zim.
Suddenly, one of the ships hovering in the front turned it's speakers on and up.
"IRKIN ZIM! WE HAVE YOU COMPLETELY SURROUNDED! SURRENDER, OR WE WILL FIRE!"
"What!? But then they would be firing at the Massive itself!" Dib spoke up.
"Are you INSANE!?" Zim shouted at the Tallest.
"No...of course not." Red said sarcasticly.
Rogue began to power up her gems.
"Oh, I wouldn't do that..." Red said. Rogue stopped. "We ordered ALL of them out there to open fire if YOU try anything. And the first thing they'll hit will be Zim."
"You sick..." Rogue growled.
"And Rogue...we want you to come quietly as well." Purple said. "You've become just as useless as Zim here. Sooo...we won't be needing you anymore."
"You want to kill me now, is that it?" Rogue asked, already knowing the answer.
"We know it's abit sudden..." Red said in a fake tone of voice. "But there's just nothing YOU can do about it."
"Come with us quietly and we promise your deaths won't be because of the missiles and guns waiting outside." Purple said.
All four just stood thier ground. Zim and Rogue kept looking back out the window. There was enough ships to call it a small army. The odds weren't looking too good. The Tallest began to hover closer. Everbody backed up, huddling into a group with Rogue and Zim side by side.
"Any ideas?" Rogue whispered to Zim.
"Not yet." He answered. "It can't end like this! If only we had our ship! But that's back on Irk!"
'The cruiser?...THAT'S IT!' Rogue suddenly thought. Slowly to make sure to not look too suspicious, she brought her hands behind her back, and glided her metal fingers across her right hand. The gem began to lightly blink off and on. "I got it covered." She whispered to Zim. He gave her a little confused look.
~At the same time back on Irk...~
At the planet's parking area, inside the voot cruiser, a little light flashed on the control panal.
"AUTO RECALL SYSTEM ACTAVATED." The ship's computer stated. The engines then fired up and the voot took right off into space.
~Back in the Massive~
"Hang on, you'll see." Rogue whispered back.
Suddenly, moments later, there was the sound of lasers going off from outside. Dib immediately hit the floor thinking the forces outside were firing, but it turned out it wasn't them. Looking out the window, everybody, except Rogue, was surprised to see a large voot cruiser blasting away at the other ships! The Irkins running thier ships were freaked to see that nobody was flying in the uninvited craft! A battle of ships exploded with missiles flying and blasters blasting, making the Irkin forces too distracted to watch Zim and Rogue!
"Where'd that ship come from?!" Dib said. Zim moved his eyes over to Rogue to see that she still had her hands behind her back, and a little grin in her face.
'She's controling it!' Zim thought. I then hit him. Back when him and Rogue were beefing up the voot, one of the parts that they used that survived her crash was a recall device that's driectly linked to Rogue's cyborg arms. And in addition to that, she can take control from outside the ship.
"Who's flying that!?!" Red shouted. He looked at Rogue who was facing her back to him. That's when he noticed the little movement actions she was performing over her gems. Not saying anything, Red slowly hovered up behind her.
But the female Irkin's long antennas shot up in hearing something coming up behind. She stopped what she was doing, and without turning around, grabed Red's arms and THREW the tall one across the room! But with the interuption, the voot suddenly halted to a stop. The other ships turned thier attention back at the Massive.
Red got off the floor and shot a look to Rogue. He then looked out the window to the ships and pointed at the cyborg, telling them she's behind the "ghost" voot.
The head ship began to power it's blaster.
"Rogue, watch out!" Zim shouted. He ran up and dove, knocking her down as the blaster fired. It went right through the window and JUST missed both Irkins by inches.
"...Thanks." Rogue said getting up unharmed.
"IDIOTS! START FIRING!" Red suddenly shouted.
But before the ships were going to do so, Rogue took control of the voot again. She made it run right into the ships causing thier aim to swary and hit some of the other ships! At that time, a few got chicken and flew away.
"Bye-bye!" Gir called out to them, waving.
Just then, one of the ship's missiles suddenly went off, heading for the Massive. A driect hit as the huge ship jerked violently. Everybody fell to the floor.
"This is getting SERIOUS!" Zim pointed out.
"THAT'S IT!" Red suddenly shouted and lunged at the male Irkin. Zim jumped out of the way, but then Purple went to grab him, getting hold of the back of his uniform. Zim immediately shot out his metal legs, which smaked Purple in the face, causing him to let go. The other Tallest made a dive at the Irkin, but Zim leaped in the air and grasped onto the ceiling with his legs.
"Missed me!" Zim shouted at the Tallest with a sarcastic grin painted on his face. But he forget one little thing.
The tall ones hovered right up towards him. But suddenly, another hit shook the Massive, making Zim fall to the ground.
"I think that hit was on perpose!" Rogue said, still controling the voot. There wasn't alot of ships left outside. They've either got shot down or ran off scare.
"We're getting out of here!" She said. With some rapid finger movement over the gems, the voot suddenly came flying towards them. It crashed right through where the window was, the cockpit sticking out of the wall.
"Zim!" Rogue called out. He was busy trying to get the Tallest off his back. In the meantime, Dib took the chance and got right in the ship. He looked back at Zim and Rogue, actually hoping they can get in there and away from this before...
The cyborg Irkin jumped in to help Zim by firing her laser, skinning the side of Purple's face. He backed off, and so did Red.
"Zim, get in, quick!" Rogue pointed to the voot.
Zim quickly ran towards the ship, grabing Gir by his one antenna on the way. He then chucked the SIR inside, which nailed Dib in the head when doing so, and then he got in himself.
"Come on, Rogue!" Zim said.
Rogue began to run for the ship and Zim. But she was suddenly cut short as Red and Purple blocked her way. She charged her gems up and aimed them at them. But before she could fire, the Massive started to suddenly show signs of malfunction. Another sudden blast from outside caused the ceiling to crack and a mix of live wires and metal came crashing down around Rogue. A lone, sparking wire made contact with one of her gems, the same one she was using to control the voot. It flashed and sparked with blinding light and suddenly malfunctioned. The recall program in the voot mistakely went into auto pilot mode. It automacticly lifted out from the wall, and started to fly away from the Massive, leaving Rogue behind!
"NO!" Zim shouted. He looked down at the control panal. "Computer! Turn around immediately!"
But the ship's computer only responded saying, "COMMAND REJECTED... COMMAND REJECTED..."
"DO IT!" Zim shouted back. But the computer just kept on repeating itself. That's when Zim had a sick realization.
"The voot is still under Rogue's control!" He said. "But her arm is too damaged to control it now!" All Zim could do was watch the Massive get smaller and smaller as the voot flew farther away.
Back inside the huge ship, Rogue was just realizing what happened. She looked at her right arm. It was now completely fried, sparks flying out and even the gem was cracked.
"Zim! Can you hear me?!" She said, trying to contact him, but the voot wasn't even responding.
"Well, well...looks likes you just missed your ticket off here." Purple said. Rogue looked up at the Tallest's faces.
"Your crazy to think that you can escape now, Rogue." Red said. He and Purple started to back the cyborg Irkin into a corner. And at the same time, the reminder of the ships were all eyeballing her now, waiting for some kind of signal no doubt. Her back hit the wall. She felt around it in a nervous sence. Her right arm twiched abit. The only function it was able to do now was move.
As Rogue stood there, looking back at her former "Masters", she did her best to think of a way out of this. But at the same time, she had Zim on her mind. She wondered what he was thinking right now. Is he trying everything in his power to get back to her, even though the ship wasn't going to listen to him? Is he worried about her? Maybe even crying? She closed her eyes and tried to invision his face in her mind. Just seeing him, even in thought, made her feel strong. He's become a new strength for her. And the more she thought about Zim, the more her nervousness and fear began to melt away, With eyes reopened, all of that was now gone.
"Well, Rogue? Do you have anything to say before you come wiht us?" Red said, thinking for sure he and Purple was finally in control again.
Rogue just stared at them at first. She formed her eyes into a more tilted state and opened her mouth to speak.
"Yeah...I have something to say..."
Slowly, and quivering abit, she lifted her damaged arm, looking like she was going to try and fire with it. The Tallest snickered, knowing she couldn't use it. But that wasn't the idea.
With one swing, Rogue threw her fist into and through the wall behind her. The moment she did, the wall started to crack and spit out sparks like crazy. She nailed a main energy circuit to the ship! Even though it was beginning to give her pain, she continued to plow her arm deeper into the wall, damaging the circuit even more. And no sooner when she did, the whole ship itself began to fire sparks and totaly malfunction!
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Red shouted as the whole room they were in started to rattle and tremble around them. "If you keep this up-"
"The Massive is going to blow, I know that." Rogue said in a emotionless tone. There was then the sound of something exploding somewhere on the ship, and the smell of fire entered the air. The whole time, Rogue didn't remove her arm for anything.
"Your out of your mind!!" Purple shouted. "You have nowhere else to run and THIS is what you do?!"
The female Irkin began to tremble in pain, and glared back at the Tallest.
"Let me tell you something...you had me at your comannd in the beginning, and you had me brainwashed hoping I would be some feelingless "robot" just to do whatever your sick minds think up...but THAT'S all gone now..."
The Massive was reaching critical .
"You may have the whole Irkin race around your boney, little fingers, but do you ever fear that one, or TWO of them would raise up and show what your both really made of one day?...And if not, do you fear what your seeing before you right now?" Rogue shot a bone chilling grin that even made Red and Purple back away quivering.
"Remember THIS, TALLEST!" Rogue shouted out as the energy from the wall to her arm was now effecting her whole body. "There will ALWAYS be someone out there more powerful, way better then you both know!"
The explosions in and around the ship were now more louder and closer. Rogue grinned wider at the Tallest at it all like she was psycho or something.
"And one last thing..." Rogue said as a fire began to ignite right in that room.
"RUN FOR IT!" Red suddenly shouted heading for the other ships. Purple followed him as Rogue yelled out her "one last thing"...
"I WILL NO LONGER BE A PUPPET TO YOU!!"
At those words, the mighty Irkin ship suddenly was engulfed in light and exploded with a powerful force, the sound of the blast reached the ears of the three in the voot.
"What the heck was that!?" Dib said.
Zim looked out the glass in instant horror. There was nothing but floating pieces of burnt metal where the Massive was. The Irkin stood in dead slience, face frozened in a souless expression. Dib looked at him, raising a brow. Gir walked up and peeked out the glass as well. He blinked and then looked at his Master. A singal, shining tear began to roll down Zim's face. Gir somehow knew what happened. He quietly began to cry too. Suddenly, Zim fell to his knees and rested his hands on the panal, his head hanging downwards. The tears began to come more rapid, forming a little puddle on the voot's floor.
Dib's eyes then widened. "...Did...Rogue...?"
"NO! SHE CAN'T BE!! DON'T EVEN SAY IT, EARTH PIG!!!" Zim shouted, pounding his fists on the control panal. He kept pounding away, then slowed down to a pat. "...She...can't be..."
Suddenly, a lit light on the panal went off, followed by, "AUTO PILOT OFF", which in turn was then followed by, "INCOMING VOICE TRANSMISSION"
"What?" Zim's eyes and antennas perked up to the computer. The transmission was staticy at first, but a voice then emerged.
"...Zim!..*crackle*..Can...*crackle*..hear me?"
"ROGUE!" Zim jumped to his feet. "Where are you?!"
"...Zim, *crackle*..catch me!"
Immediately, Zim grabed the controls and swung the voot around. Seconds after he did, he saw Rogue flying right at them! He opened the glass bubble as she flew in, hitting and knocking Zim down with entering. She was covered in cuts, burns, and bruises, but was alive!
Rogue looked up at Zim. "Hey..." She said with a weak smile.
Zim was so shocked yet happy at the same time. He looked her over, suddenly noticing something.
"Rogue...your...your arm.." He was speechless. Rogue's right cyborg arm was completely gone!
"What happened?" Dib asked, just noticing this as well.
Gir suddenly came running up and jumped on Rogue and Zim, hugging Rogue's head. "Me thoughts yous go explody!" He said. "Your SO ALIVE!!"
"How did you survive, Rogue?" Zim asked.
The female Irkin got off the floor and dusted off. "I thought I wasn't going to at first. I wasn't sure if my body was going to be able to take the blast. My arm was blown clean off during it, but as a result of that, I was blowned right out of the ship just before the final explosion!"
"What about the Tallest?" Zim asked.
"I blacked out for a few seconds just before the last blast, but the last thing I saw was them heading for one of the other ships, so I don't know." She rubbed on her shoulder were her arm was. "They could still be alive..."
Zim could see she had a look of defeat on her face. He got to thinking. "...Rogue...You know...right now, I'm just...glad to see you safe."
Rogue looked at Zim abit surprised, then blushed.
"Maybe...we did all we could for now, "Zim said. "I have a feeling, even if the Tallest are still alive, we won't be seeing them for a while, with thier Massive gone."
"...I guess your right." Rogue said. She suddenly quivered alittle in pain, rubbing her shoulder more.
"Can that be repaired?" Zim asked in concrened.
"...Yeah, but I would need your lab...and your help..." Rogue said with a smile.
".....Then we'll set a course back to Earth." Zim said. He walked to the controls and programmed the route.
Rogue looked over at Dib who was standing next to her. She stared at the Earthling for a few seconds. "...Why didn't you just stay on the Massive?"
Dib glared back at her and crossed his arms. "You can't get rid of me that easily."
"Noooo, your right..." Rogue said in a thinking state. She looked at Gir and grined. "Keep an eye on him."
"WHEEEEEE!! PLAYTIME!!" The SIR screeched.
"Wha?..NO! WAIT!" Dib said just before Gir dove on top of him and wrapped his arms around his head, and SQUEEZED!
"GET HIM OFF!!" Dib shouted running in a circle. Rogue laughed to this and headed to sit next to Zim in the cockpit.
As she sat down, she looked right at Zim, and he looked back at her. They both exchanged smiles. The background noise being Dib's cry for help to get away from Gir was just so sweet to thier unseen ears. They both felt so happy for some reason. A pleasant mood in the air perhaps. It just felt so perfect to them as they headed back to Earth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~
*RogueStar*: HOLD ON PEOPLE! THERE'S A EPILOGUE!! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! CLICK TO IT! ^0^
"Stop...me...Zim. Please...!"
Zim thought his hearing was deceiving him. He could hear the voice of the real Rogue coming from the very one trying to suffocate him! And at the same time, tears brusted from the female Irkin's eyes. Her face was not the same as her feelings. She continued to cry out to him, a pleading, truthful cry for help.
"Rogue!...It IS you!" Zim struggled out those words. The cold, metal hands continued to grip tighter around his neck. He fought so not to lose conscious. He focsed on Rogue's face, but mostly on her tearful eyes.
Rogue's eyes blinked away drop after drop, but they kept on coming.
"My body is...still under the Tallest's...contr-trol..." It sounded as if it was getting harder for her to speak, as she was fighting for control of her own mind and thoughts. "I tried...I tried..."
"W-What?" Zim gasped out.
She stopped for a moment, fighting off the other voice from coming out. "...I TRIED...to resist the reprograming...but it was too...strong...that's when I...found out...that..."
"Your mind, it's cybrog too." Zim said, still gasping.
"...She's...coming...back...!" Rogue worded out. Just then, the tears dried up and she turned back to the more darker self. She looked back at Zim, and shot a cruel grin.
"What a pest that other one is." She said coldly. "Now, where were we?" Her sqeeze tightened.
Zim began to kick in the air, his face turning purple. "Rogue...don't..." His vision began to blur.
~Meanwhile...~
Dib and Gir have been wandering around the many halls and ways of the Massive, still no sight of a way for escape has Dib was hoping. One plus though was the unusual lack of guards and/or soldiers around. But the Earth boy wasn't going to let his guard down yet.
The two carefully turned a new corner, with no one behind it.
"Werid...where did all the guards go?" Dib asked himself. Gir hasn't been any help so far, After the head slamming thing, the SIR's just been following Dib, humming and what not. The boy turned to face the robot.
"You wouldn't happen to have some kind of tracker or navigator programed in you?" Dib asked, not really expecting a good answer.
"Let's see..." Gir opened his top and started feeling around inside. He pulled out all kinds of junk: A fried chicken leg, a few sqeeze toys, SOMETHING he found on the side of the road one day (I'll let you readers's imagination go with that one ^-^), a tiny figure shaped like Filler Bunny, MORE squeeze toys, and the list goes on!
"Forget it." Dib then said, and began to walk away.
"OooOooooo! I forget I had this!" Gir said, but Dib wasn't interested. That is till he felt a beam of heat fly right by him, JUST missing his head bearly! He spun around to see a arsenal of mini missiles and lasers sticking out of the SIR's head. (See: Bloaty's Pizza Hog")
"Opps...SORRY!" Gir said. He lowered the mass of weapons back into his head.
"JEZZ! You could of killed me!" Dib snapped.
Gir started to pout, but then his round eyes perked up to something. "What's that??" He pointed behind Dib where the little laser hit, leaving a burn mark on the wall.
""THAT" almost burned a hole in my head!" Dib said still mad.
"Not "THAT"...listen." Gil placed his hand to where he would have a ear. Now getting the idea, Dib placed his ear to the wall. He could hear two different voices, talking about Zim.
"Hey, it's those "Tallest"." Dib said surprised. Just then, he noticed that the burn mark was abit crumbled. The Earthling quietly and carefully picked away at it, causing the mark to break through, making a spy hole. He looked through it, and sure enough, there was Red and Purple, still viewing the ten screens, looking for Zim and Rogue.
"Where'd those two go?!" Red shouted.
"Zim's sure to be dead by now." Purple said. "And I REALLY wanted to SEE THAT!"
"But then Rogue should of come back already." Red pointed out.
Dib could hear everything the two were saying. If Zim really was gone for good, then Rogue wasn't too far behind. He had to admit now, that female alien was WAY more deadly the his rival! He wouldn't have a ghost of a chance. 'I've GOT to find a way off this thing!' He thought almost in a panic.
"WHAT YOU SEE??" Gir suddenly screamed right in Dib's ear. He jumped and slapped his hand over the robot's mouth.
But the Tallest already heard it from the other side.
"What was that?" Purple asked scanning the room. His eyes fell on the spy hole. "Hey! Somebody's watching us!"
Dib immediately turned and ran in the other direction with Gir holding onto the back of his head. But the very first corner the boy turned, there was Red and Purple glaring back at him. The room's door was right near where they were.
"We forgot about you." Red said with a look.
Gir popped up from behind Dib's head and just grined. "HIII!"
"Your both coming with us!" Purple said. He went to grab Dib, but he turned quickly and ran.
"HEY! GET BACK HERE!" The Tallest went after them.
~Back in space...~
'Getting harder to see...' Zim thought. He could no longer udder words. He continued to look at Rogue, her image becoming dimmer to him by the minute.
"That's it..." She hissed. "It's easier to just give up, isn't it?" She pulled Zim closer to herself, face to face. "I want a good look at your face before you die. I'll always remember it just the way it is."
Zim thought this was it. But then, something hit him. With what strength was left in his body, he reared his legs back and nailed Rogue right in the gut. She immediately let him loose and grabed her lower self in pain. Zim backed away, gasping and coughing in very much needed air from his air bubble.
"...You.." Rogue shot a death glare of the best kinds. "For that...your death will be much more painful!"
Zim's mind raced for a next move. He already felt bad for that last one, but he didn't have a chose. 'I don't...I can't hurt her again.' He thought. 'I cant bear it as it is. But...then HOW will I..."
"HERE I COME!" Rogue shouted, jetting towards Zim. A close dodge was the male Irken's next move. The cybrog quickly turned around and fired a twin laser. Zim positioned his jetpack and jetted away from them.
'How can I get you back?' Zim thought dodging away. 'I have to REACH you somehow! You can't help yourself on your own, can you?'
"You will DIE!!" Rogue screeched. She fired a huge stream of beams. Zim missed them, but a few skinned the side of his face. A small drop of blood dripped from his cheek.
"Blast YOU!" Rogue shouted.
"Rogue!...I KNOW your still in there!" Zim yelled out. "If you can hear me, tell me what to do! How can I help you?!"
Just as Zim said that, Rogue began to tremble and act strange. She placed her hands on her head, like she was having a major headache or something.
"......I...I'm scared..." It was Rogue's true voice again. "It's getting...harder to think....I'm so scared, Zim...! Help me...hold me...the other...is...winning!" She suddenly switched back once again.
"AARRRAAHHHHH!!!" Rogue fired towards Zim again. The beams skinned his side this time, but not badly.
'She's alone in her own mind...' Zim thought. 'How can I...wait!...Maybe if...' Zim viewed Rogue with a risky idea in mind. '...It has to work...'
With that, Zim took in a deep breath, and jetted right for Rogue. The female Irkin felt he had something up his sleeve. She raised her gems, but before she could fire, to her surprise, Zim just wrapped his arms around her.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Rogue struggled and wiggled, but Zim just hugged on tighter. "YOU FOOL! YOU DIE NOW!!" She aimed both of her gems for his head!
"ROGUE! I'M RIGHT HERE!" Zim called out. "FIGHT IT! I'M NOT LETTING GO!"
Suddenly with those words, Rogue started to go onto another battle with her mind. There was both the evil voice and her own voice coming out of her mouth! Zim continued to hang onto her with all his might.
"...LET GO OF ME!"
"I'm..not going to..let you hurt him!"
"GO AWAY!....HE MUST DIE! DIE!!"
"NO! I want you out of here now!"
"Your DOING it, Rogue!" Zim said. "Keep it up!"
The mind battle continued on like a game of tug-of-war. The evil side began to weaking as Rogue herself was beginning to take control. The whole time, Zim refused to let go of her. The feeling of him being close to her was strengthening to Rogue!
"I'm better then to let you take over me!" The good side shouted out. "Only I decide what I want and do! And what I want right now..is for YOU TO GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!"
Suddenly her body began to jerk rather violently. Within her part-organic, part-cybrog brain, the dark "reprogramed" side was, how you would say, being deleted! The jerking then came to a sudden stop, and Rogue fell limb, her head against Zim's shoulder.
"Rogue...?" Zim quietly whispered to her.
"...uummmmm..." The female Irkin lifted her arms up, and placed them around Zim. Both held each other tightly. It was then for the first time, they were fully understanding such a strange yet good emotion. What other races call "affection" or "love", it felt so new yet so right.
They held one another for what seemed like forever. And then, Rogue muddred something to Zim.
"I'm sorry..."
"For what?" He asked.
"I injured you." She said. "You couldn't hear it, but I was screaming your name from inside my own head. I could only watch, and cry. It was a nightmare." She began to cry again. "I'm so sorry."
Zim looked down at her. "Don't be...it wasn't any of your fault."
Rogue looked up at him with tears in her eyes. Both pairs of eyes locked on to each other.
"I...love you, Zim." Rogue said meekly, like a shy child.
"...I...I...love you too, Rogue..." Zim worded out.
Both Irkins never thought they would say those words, and know what they really meant.
~ "COME ON! STOP ALREADY!" Purple shouted. The two tall ones were still after the Dib monkey and broken SIR, chasing them nearly all over the ship. Hovering the whole time, Red and Purple weren't the least bit tired. But Dib was doing pretty good as well.
The chase went through door after door, floor after floor, till finally it went through a door to a place that looked too familier. Big room with tall ceiling.
"WE'RE BACK WHERE WE STARTED!?" Dib said. He immediately turned to head out, but the door suddenly closed on it's own in his face. The other door at the far end suddenly made a locking sound, and then the first door did the same.
"Got cha!" Red's voice echoed in the room. The screen from before had thier mugs on it once more.
"When you took that last left, we figured you would end up in there!" Red said. "And your going to STAY there till we think of a way to kill you, ALRIGHT!?"
"Oh! I know!" Purple said. "Let's throw them into a star!"
"We did that with the last three!" Red shouted.
Dib's skin began to crawl at the thought of what they will do to him. Gir hopped off his head, hitting the floor face first.
"But you said throwing people in stars was fine with you!" Purple said to Red.
"It got old after the first three times!" Red said. "Your STAR can wait for once!"
"One more time, with the SIR?" Purple begged.
Just then, the Tallest finally got a reading from the viewing pods outside. The middle screen brought up a image. It was far off, but something was flying towards the ship at a fast rate.
"Finally! It took her long enough!" Red said.
The image grew closer, and it didn't look like it was going to slow down.
"Hey...wait...what's-" Purple squinted his eyes to see TWO figures coming. Suddenly the Tallest could see a small, redish glimmer coming from one of them.
"What's she doing?" Purple said. The little glimmer suddenly fired a beam, blasting the side of the Massive.
"She's lost it!" Purple shouted.
"THAT'S ZIM RIGHT NEXT TO HER!!" Red shouted out. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!?"
"Is she trying to kill us?!" Purple freaked out. He suddenly noticed the view screen for the room where Dib and Gir were being held, and saw where Rogue's beam hit.
There was once again a hole in the wall, but not as big as the last time. Zim and Rogue then came flying in. After landing, Rogue reached down and picked up a piece of metal from the earlier fight. Using heat from her gems, she welded the metal over the hole she made.
"ROGUE!!!" Both Tallest yelled loudly. The cybrog, without saying a word, just turned to the screen and raised a humming gem to it.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?" Red shouted. "WE TOLD YOU TO-"
"Shut up." She said, and blasted the viewing screen into pieces. The Tallest stood speechless for a moment.
"...I don't know HOW Zim did it..." Red said clenching his fist. "...but THIS GAME IS GOING TO END HERE!!"
"NOW what?" Purple asked, just as ticked off as Red was.
Red didn't answer. He just went to the nearest control panal and started punching buttons. He had a werid look in his eye as he summoned up a few more panals and punched on those.
"I should of done this from the start." He hissed. "In about five mintures, Zim will HAVE to surrender!"
"What about Rogue?" Purple asked.
"She's totaly USELESS now!" Red said. "I don't know why, but for some reason, she's NOT going to kill Zim. So in that case..." The red Tallest pushed the last set of buttons. "We'll make it so she CAN'T use her laser for anything."
Meanwhile, Gir was reunited with his Master and Rogue. The little SIR first greeted Zim by dive bombing him to the floor and rubbing his metal face into his. Normaly, Zim would push him right off, but this time he really didn't seem to mind it. He didn't say anything, but he was glad to see Gir too.
"Is your body broken, Master?" Gir asked after getting out of the Irkin's face.
"No, I'm fine, Gir." Zim said. Gir looked him over quickly, and then faced Rogue.
"ROGUE!!" Gir screeched happyly, running right into her. The SIR wrapped his little arms around her body and squeezed.
"Great...to...see...you...too, Gir..." Rogue said with the oh so tightness of Gir. ^-^
"I was SOOOOO worried-ed-ed!" Gir said.
"How come your not dead!?" Dib suddenly asked, after he overcame a slight state of shock.
"Look, there's no time for that right now, alright?" Zim said. "You should feel lucky though. Rogue WAS thinking of just blowing the whole Massive up."
"But then we remembered Gir was still aboard." Rogue said. "If we work fast enough-"
"No, REALLY! WHY didn't she kill you??" Dib asked again. "I thought for sure you were done for!"
"TOO BAD!" Zim said. "You ask too many questions for your own good, you know that?"
"If you REALLY want to know, DIB..." Rogue said with a look. "Zim saved me from destroying him."
"Huh?" Dib didn't quite get it. "How?"
"Shut up already!" Zim shouted. He then turned to Rogue. "Rogue, do you happen to know where the escape pods are on the ship?"
"Yeah, thier two levels down to the right." She answered. Dib suddenly slapped his forehead, thinking that he KNEW he should of taken that last right earlier.
"Let's hurry!" Zim said.
"Wait a minute." Dib spoke up. "The Tallest locked both doors."
"So?" Rogue said, walking up to one door, and blasting it away.
"Oh...right." Dib said.
"Come on!" Zim said, running out the room with Rogue and Gir following.
"......HEY! Don't even think about leaving me on this ship when you blow it up!!" Dib shouted running out the door.
"Shoot, he's smarter then I thought!" Rogue said under her breath with a finger snap.
The Irkins, robot, and one human ran thier way down two levels of the Massive. Once again, nobody was guarding the halls.
"Where is-" Zim started.
"The guards? Yeah, I've noticed that too." Rogue said.
They got to the entrance where the escape pods were held. Dib caught up to them, stopping to catch his breath.
"Your (huff, huff) NOT leaving me (huff) here!" He said to Zim and Rogue's faces.
"What a pain." Rogue said. She reached for the door and opened it. But they then ran into a new problem. The area was the pod room alright, but something was missing.
"What?!" Zim walked in and looked around. "The PODS! THEIR GONE! ALL OF THEM!"
Rogue pondered for a moment. "THIS is maybe why there isn't any guards on the ship! Maybe they were all ordered to leave the ship, using the pods."
"So WE couldn't use them..." Zim made a fist and trembled with anger. "CURSE THEM!"
"The Tallest?" Gir asked him.
"YES!" Zim shouted.
"Now what?" Dib said.
"NOW would be a good time to give up..." The group swung around to see Purple and Red standing in the doorway. Red hovered forward to them. "You have no means to escape now, Zim"
"Tallest..." Zim hissed through his teeth.
"The fun's over, Zim." Purple said. "Your not going to get away from us this time."
"Who said it was fun?" Zim said in a death glare. "I'll I know is that YOU two are not fit to be leaders."
"Really? Funny, hearing that from a "little" nobody." Red said. "But seriously, it's over."
The tall ones began to move choser to him, but Rogue suddenly jumped in thier path, arms stretched out wide. Both Red and Purple looked at her with a sinister gleam in thier eyes. But even that didn't make Rogue move.
"If you want him..." Rogue said. "...you have to get through me first!"
"You know, Rogue, we wouldn't mind to learn one thing..." Red said, not taking his eyes off her. "How did you break free from your reprograming?"
"...Zim..." She answered. "...He helped me...he saved me, and I should of seened before that he's more then you two would ever think! I had a chose this time... and I choosed to fight with him, to GET you! And I..." She blushed. "...we have both experienced something new, something no Irkin has felt before."
"And what's that?" Purple asked.
"L-O-V-V-E!! HUGS AND KISSES!! SMOOCHEY SMOOCHEY!!" Gir suddenly brusted out in loud, embarrassing babble. Both Zim and Rogue turned beet, BEET red in the faces. The female Irkin continued to stand motionless with a frozen, blushing expression, wide eyed and a embarrassed smirk. Zim was like that as well. (Think of it like something you would see in a anime! ^-^)
"GIR!!" Zim suddenly yelled, still RED.
"AWWW, ya don't have to HIDE it!" The SIR cooded. He then walked over, grabed Rogue's hand and Zim's hand, and brought them together. "Iiiit's LUV!!...(*Insert cricket sounds here*)...IT'S ALL SO BEAUTIFUL!!" Gir started to tear up.
".........*snicker* *snicker*, WHAA HAHAHA HAAAA!" The Tallest exploded in laughter.
"THAT'S the STUIPDEST thing I've heard!" Purple said. "They "LUV" each other. HA HA HA!!"
"That's...HA HA...THAT'S..*snicker* BWAA HA HA HAAA!" Red couldn't finish his sentence on that.
Thier loud laughter finally quieted down when they both almost stopped breathing. Rogue and Zim were still flashing red, but were just as serious as before this little detour in the situation.
"Alright already!" Zim said. "It's true! We have discovered this thing called...AFFECTION. AND I..." He was now "glowing" red, "...I LIKE it, OKAY!?"
Rogue just couldn't help but smile just then to Zim's words.
Red and Purple, completely recovered from laughing now, both put on thier strin looking faces again. Just then, Red looked up towards where the pods are lanched off. There was a large, round window right above it.
"Oh, by the way, Zim..." He said. "...Could you just, turn around?" He had a evil little grin on his face.
Zim scowled, but slowly began to turn. "If this is some kind of a siniter trick, I-SWEET JIGGLY CRUD!!!"
Staring back at him through the window was a ENORMOUS MASS of Irkin ships, all armed with blasters guns and missiles. It looked like there were HUNDREDS of them! And in each one was a Irkin, posed and staring right back at Zim.
Suddenly, one of the ships hovering in the front turned it's speakers on and up.
"IRKIN ZIM! WE HAVE YOU COMPLETELY SURROUNDED! SURRENDER, OR WE WILL FIRE!"
"What!? But then they would be firing at the Massive itself!" Dib spoke up.
"Are you INSANE!?" Zim shouted at the Tallest.
"No...of course not." Red said sarcasticly.
Rogue began to power up her gems.
"Oh, I wouldn't do that..." Red said. Rogue stopped. "We ordered ALL of them out there to open fire if YOU try anything. And the first thing they'll hit will be Zim."
"You sick..." Rogue growled.
"And Rogue...we want you to come quietly as well." Purple said. "You've become just as useless as Zim here. Sooo...we won't be needing you anymore."
"You want to kill me now, is that it?" Rogue asked, already knowing the answer.
"We know it's abit sudden..." Red said in a fake tone of voice. "But there's just nothing YOU can do about it."
"Come with us quietly and we promise your deaths won't be because of the missiles and guns waiting outside." Purple said.
All four just stood thier ground. Zim and Rogue kept looking back out the window. There was enough ships to call it a small army. The odds weren't looking too good. The Tallest began to hover closer. Everbody backed up, huddling into a group with Rogue and Zim side by side.
"Any ideas?" Rogue whispered to Zim.
"Not yet." He answered. "It can't end like this! If only we had our ship! But that's back on Irk!"
'The cruiser?...THAT'S IT!' Rogue suddenly thought. Slowly to make sure to not look too suspicious, she brought her hands behind her back, and glided her metal fingers across her right hand. The gem began to lightly blink off and on. "I got it covered." She whispered to Zim. He gave her a little confused look.
~At the same time back on Irk...~
At the planet's parking area, inside the voot cruiser, a little light flashed on the control panal.
"AUTO RECALL SYSTEM ACTAVATED." The ship's computer stated. The engines then fired up and the voot took right off into space.
~Back in the Massive~
"Hang on, you'll see." Rogue whispered back.
Suddenly, moments later, there was the sound of lasers going off from outside. Dib immediately hit the floor thinking the forces outside were firing, but it turned out it wasn't them. Looking out the window, everybody, except Rogue, was surprised to see a large voot cruiser blasting away at the other ships! The Irkins running thier ships were freaked to see that nobody was flying in the uninvited craft! A battle of ships exploded with missiles flying and blasters blasting, making the Irkin forces too distracted to watch Zim and Rogue!
"Where'd that ship come from?!" Dib said. Zim moved his eyes over to Rogue to see that she still had her hands behind her back, and a little grin in her face.
'She's controling it!' Zim thought. I then hit him. Back when him and Rogue were beefing up the voot, one of the parts that they used that survived her crash was a recall device that's driectly linked to Rogue's cyborg arms. And in addition to that, she can take control from outside the ship.
"Who's flying that!?!" Red shouted. He looked at Rogue who was facing her back to him. That's when he noticed the little movement actions she was performing over her gems. Not saying anything, Red slowly hovered up behind her.
But the female Irkin's long antennas shot up in hearing something coming up behind. She stopped what she was doing, and without turning around, grabed Red's arms and THREW the tall one across the room! But with the interuption, the voot suddenly halted to a stop. The other ships turned thier attention back at the Massive.
Red got off the floor and shot a look to Rogue. He then looked out the window to the ships and pointed at the cyborg, telling them she's behind the "ghost" voot.
The head ship began to power it's blaster.
"Rogue, watch out!" Zim shouted. He ran up and dove, knocking her down as the blaster fired. It went right through the window and JUST missed both Irkins by inches.
"...Thanks." Rogue said getting up unharmed.
"IDIOTS! START FIRING!" Red suddenly shouted.
But before the ships were going to do so, Rogue took control of the voot again. She made it run right into the ships causing thier aim to swary and hit some of the other ships! At that time, a few got chicken and flew away.
"Bye-bye!" Gir called out to them, waving.
Just then, one of the ship's missiles suddenly went off, heading for the Massive. A driect hit as the huge ship jerked violently. Everybody fell to the floor.
"This is getting SERIOUS!" Zim pointed out.
"THAT'S IT!" Red suddenly shouted and lunged at the male Irkin. Zim jumped out of the way, but then Purple went to grab him, getting hold of the back of his uniform. Zim immediately shot out his metal legs, which smaked Purple in the face, causing him to let go. The other Tallest made a dive at the Irkin, but Zim leaped in the air and grasped onto the ceiling with his legs.
"Missed me!" Zim shouted at the Tallest with a sarcastic grin painted on his face. But he forget one little thing.
The tall ones hovered right up towards him. But suddenly, another hit shook the Massive, making Zim fall to the ground.
"I think that hit was on perpose!" Rogue said, still controling the voot. There wasn't alot of ships left outside. They've either got shot down or ran off scare.
"We're getting out of here!" She said. With some rapid finger movement over the gems, the voot suddenly came flying towards them. It crashed right through where the window was, the cockpit sticking out of the wall.
"Zim!" Rogue called out. He was busy trying to get the Tallest off his back. In the meantime, Dib took the chance and got right in the ship. He looked back at Zim and Rogue, actually hoping they can get in there and away from this before...
The cyborg Irkin jumped in to help Zim by firing her laser, skinning the side of Purple's face. He backed off, and so did Red.
"Zim, get in, quick!" Rogue pointed to the voot.
Zim quickly ran towards the ship, grabing Gir by his one antenna on the way. He then chucked the SIR inside, which nailed Dib in the head when doing so, and then he got in himself.
"Come on, Rogue!" Zim said.
Rogue began to run for the ship and Zim. But she was suddenly cut short as Red and Purple blocked her way. She charged her gems up and aimed them at them. But before she could fire, the Massive started to suddenly show signs of malfunction. Another sudden blast from outside caused the ceiling to crack and a mix of live wires and metal came crashing down around Rogue. A lone, sparking wire made contact with one of her gems, the same one she was using to control the voot. It flashed and sparked with blinding light and suddenly malfunctioned. The recall program in the voot mistakely went into auto pilot mode. It automacticly lifted out from the wall, and started to fly away from the Massive, leaving Rogue behind!
"NO!" Zim shouted. He looked down at the control panal. "Computer! Turn around immediately!"
But the ship's computer only responded saying, "COMMAND REJECTED... COMMAND REJECTED..."
"DO IT!" Zim shouted back. But the computer just kept on repeating itself. That's when Zim had a sick realization.
"The voot is still under Rogue's control!" He said. "But her arm is too damaged to control it now!" All Zim could do was watch the Massive get smaller and smaller as the voot flew farther away.
Back inside the huge ship, Rogue was just realizing what happened. She looked at her right arm. It was now completely fried, sparks flying out and even the gem was cracked.
"Zim! Can you hear me?!" She said, trying to contact him, but the voot wasn't even responding.
"Well, well...looks likes you just missed your ticket off here." Purple said. Rogue looked up at the Tallest's faces.
"Your crazy to think that you can escape now, Rogue." Red said. He and Purple started to back the cyborg Irkin into a corner. And at the same time, the reminder of the ships were all eyeballing her now, waiting for some kind of signal no doubt. Her back hit the wall. She felt around it in a nervous sence. Her right arm twiched abit. The only function it was able to do now was move.
As Rogue stood there, looking back at her former "Masters", she did her best to think of a way out of this. But at the same time, she had Zim on her mind. She wondered what he was thinking right now. Is he trying everything in his power to get back to her, even though the ship wasn't going to listen to him? Is he worried about her? Maybe even crying? She closed her eyes and tried to invision his face in her mind. Just seeing him, even in thought, made her feel strong. He's become a new strength for her. And the more she thought about Zim, the more her nervousness and fear began to melt away, With eyes reopened, all of that was now gone.
"Well, Rogue? Do you have anything to say before you come wiht us?" Red said, thinking for sure he and Purple was finally in control again.
Rogue just stared at them at first. She formed her eyes into a more tilted state and opened her mouth to speak.
"Yeah...I have something to say..."
Slowly, and quivering abit, she lifted her damaged arm, looking like she was going to try and fire with it. The Tallest snickered, knowing she couldn't use it. But that wasn't the idea.
With one swing, Rogue threw her fist into and through the wall behind her. The moment she did, the wall started to crack and spit out sparks like crazy. She nailed a main energy circuit to the ship! Even though it was beginning to give her pain, she continued to plow her arm deeper into the wall, damaging the circuit even more. And no sooner when she did, the whole ship itself began to fire sparks and totaly malfunction!
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Red shouted as the whole room they were in started to rattle and tremble around them. "If you keep this up-"
"The Massive is going to blow, I know that." Rogue said in a emotionless tone. There was then the sound of something exploding somewhere on the ship, and the smell of fire entered the air. The whole time, Rogue didn't remove her arm for anything.
"Your out of your mind!!" Purple shouted. "You have nowhere else to run and THIS is what you do?!"
The female Irkin began to tremble in pain, and glared back at the Tallest.
"Let me tell you something...you had me at your comannd in the beginning, and you had me brainwashed hoping I would be some feelingless "robot" just to do whatever your sick minds think up...but THAT'S all gone now..."
The Massive was reaching critical .
"You may have the whole Irkin race around your boney, little fingers, but do you ever fear that one, or TWO of them would raise up and show what your both really made of one day?...And if not, do you fear what your seeing before you right now?" Rogue shot a bone chilling grin that even made Red and Purple back away quivering.
"Remember THIS, TALLEST!" Rogue shouted out as the energy from the wall to her arm was now effecting her whole body. "There will ALWAYS be someone out there more powerful, way better then you both know!"
The explosions in and around the ship were now more louder and closer. Rogue grinned wider at the Tallest at it all like she was psycho or something.
"And one last thing..." Rogue said as a fire began to ignite right in that room.
"RUN FOR IT!" Red suddenly shouted heading for the other ships. Purple followed him as Rogue yelled out her "one last thing"...
"I WILL NO LONGER BE A PUPPET TO YOU!!"
At those words, the mighty Irkin ship suddenly was engulfed in light and exploded with a powerful force, the sound of the blast reached the ears of the three in the voot.
"What the heck was that!?" Dib said.
Zim looked out the glass in instant horror. There was nothing but floating pieces of burnt metal where the Massive was. The Irkin stood in dead slience, face frozened in a souless expression. Dib looked at him, raising a brow. Gir walked up and peeked out the glass as well. He blinked and then looked at his Master. A singal, shining tear began to roll down Zim's face. Gir somehow knew what happened. He quietly began to cry too. Suddenly, Zim fell to his knees and rested his hands on the panal, his head hanging downwards. The tears began to come more rapid, forming a little puddle on the voot's floor.
Dib's eyes then widened. "...Did...Rogue...?"
"NO! SHE CAN'T BE!! DON'T EVEN SAY IT, EARTH PIG!!!" Zim shouted, pounding his fists on the control panal. He kept pounding away, then slowed down to a pat. "...She...can't be..."
Suddenly, a lit light on the panal went off, followed by, "AUTO PILOT OFF", which in turn was then followed by, "INCOMING VOICE TRANSMISSION"
"What?" Zim's eyes and antennas perked up to the computer. The transmission was staticy at first, but a voice then emerged.
"...Zim!..*crackle*..Can...*crackle*..hear me?"
"ROGUE!" Zim jumped to his feet. "Where are you?!"
"...Zim, *crackle*..catch me!"
Immediately, Zim grabed the controls and swung the voot around. Seconds after he did, he saw Rogue flying right at them! He opened the glass bubble as she flew in, hitting and knocking Zim down with entering. She was covered in cuts, burns, and bruises, but was alive!
Rogue looked up at Zim. "Hey..." She said with a weak smile.
Zim was so shocked yet happy at the same time. He looked her over, suddenly noticing something.
"Rogue...your...your arm.." He was speechless. Rogue's right cyborg arm was completely gone!
"What happened?" Dib asked, just noticing this as well.
Gir suddenly came running up and jumped on Rogue and Zim, hugging Rogue's head. "Me thoughts yous go explody!" He said. "Your SO ALIVE!!"
"How did you survive, Rogue?" Zim asked.
The female Irkin got off the floor and dusted off. "I thought I wasn't going to at first. I wasn't sure if my body was going to be able to take the blast. My arm was blown clean off during it, but as a result of that, I was blowned right out of the ship just before the final explosion!"
"What about the Tallest?" Zim asked.
"I blacked out for a few seconds just before the last blast, but the last thing I saw was them heading for one of the other ships, so I don't know." She rubbed on her shoulder were her arm was. "They could still be alive..."
Zim could see she had a look of defeat on her face. He got to thinking. "...Rogue...You know...right now, I'm just...glad to see you safe."
Rogue looked at Zim abit surprised, then blushed.
"Maybe...we did all we could for now, "Zim said. "I have a feeling, even if the Tallest are still alive, we won't be seeing them for a while, with thier Massive gone."
"...I guess your right." Rogue said. She suddenly quivered alittle in pain, rubbing her shoulder more.
"Can that be repaired?" Zim asked in concrened.
"...Yeah, but I would need your lab...and your help..." Rogue said with a smile.
".....Then we'll set a course back to Earth." Zim said. He walked to the controls and programmed the route.
Rogue looked over at Dib who was standing next to her. She stared at the Earthling for a few seconds. "...Why didn't you just stay on the Massive?"
Dib glared back at her and crossed his arms. "You can't get rid of me that easily."
"Noooo, your right..." Rogue said in a thinking state. She looked at Gir and grined. "Keep an eye on him."
"WHEEEEEE!! PLAYTIME!!" The SIR screeched.
"Wha?..NO! WAIT!" Dib said just before Gir dove on top of him and wrapped his arms around his head, and SQUEEZED!
"GET HIM OFF!!" Dib shouted running in a circle. Rogue laughed to this and headed to sit next to Zim in the cockpit.
As she sat down, she looked right at Zim, and he looked back at her. They both exchanged smiles. The background noise being Dib's cry for help to get away from Gir was just so sweet to thier unseen ears. They both felt so happy for some reason. A pleasant mood in the air perhaps. It just felt so perfect to them as they headed back to Earth.
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*RogueStar*: HOLD ON PEOPLE! THERE'S A EPILOGUE!! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! CLICK TO IT! ^0^