Chapter 16

That 4 Letter Feeling

"…Rogue?"

An unknown feeling suddenly took over Zim. He stood there staring into Rogue's empty eyes. His body lost all its feeling from the hips down and he fell to his knees. Without thinking he reached his hand out and touched her face. Her skin was cold to the touch.

In the background Dib and Gir watched and waited to see if Rogue was going to stand back up. But the more time that passed the less that seemed likely.

"I had a feeling it would have come to this…" Red spoke up. "She's a danger to us in the first place."

"What did you do?" Zim exploded. His outburst took the Tallest back a bit.

"What is it to you?" Purple asked. "I wouldn't be so worried about some cybrog if I were you right now, Zim."

The small Irken deployed his metal legs and rose above the Tallest. "You may have authority over all of the Irken army but you don't have the right to annihilate one of your own fighters!"

"Fighters?" Red said. They started laughing to Zim's little speech. "What makes you think we cared about that machine in the first place?"

"Yeah, we don't even know when she was created!" Purple added. "And if you knew just what she can do, you'd want to have her shut down yourself."

"Wait…" Zim suddenly calmed down and called back his metal legs. "…Did you say, 'shut down'?"

"Haven't you been listening?" Red said. "Of course you haven't. Rogue is a cybrog; a battling weapon. That was the most we could get out of her for not knowing where or what happened to her real data report. We discovered this shortly after she was found…"

FLASHBACK

The Irken Training Bay on Planet Devastis.

In the main training vicinity stood one of the largest battle domes; used to test Irkens training to be the elite soldiers for the Irken army.

In the center stood Rogue; her head down, eyes close, focusing. Up above her behind glass were the Tallest a small team of observers.

"Are we ready?" Red said. The observers nodded their heads. "Begin."

A steel door opened below and a horde of Rat People came crawling out. There stood to be about fifty or more swarming around Rogue who still had her head down. The Tallest above watched and waited.

Out of no where one of the Rat People screamed in pain and fell dead on the floor. The Tallest had to look twice. Seconds later three more rats were slaughtered in the same manner. Rogue was standing on top of one of them with her gems glowing. The rest of the rats came after her in one group. She opened fire without moving from her spot. Minutes after the monsters were let loose on her she had killed every last one, and without breaking a sweat.

The Irkens behind the glass were speechless. The Tallest as well. Rogue turned up at them and they flinched. She looked up at them with the same focused glare she used on the rats.

'We knew then we could test her even further…'

The next flashback is set in space. A small drop pod exited from a Irken transport ship and headed for a large asteroid belt. It stopped at the edge of the belt and its hatch doors flew open. Rogue came jetting out and advanced into the asteroids. In any other situation this would be a stupid move but that didn't turn out to be so.

Once in the belt, the cybrog began to fight off the rocks; punching and blasting them into space dust. Each one that came after her was bigger then the last but that didn't seem to make a difference at all.

Suddenly one the size of a planet came on to her by surprise and Rogue was rammed with it. She was carried a few hundred feet before there was a blinding glow and then an exploding blast from her gems. She reduced the rock into pebbles.

From a far and safe distance within the Massive, the Tallest were watching Rogue ever move on screen. The other Irkens there were frightened by the power this female alien was displaying. No one in their right mind would go in the middle of a asteroid belt and expect to defend themselves like she was doing.

The Tallest watched carefully as Red then says, "She's good."

"She very good." Purple added.

The crimson colored Tallest thought to himself. 'She could be very useful…'

END OF FLASHBACK

"…And that just what we used her for." Red continued. "She's done numerous small jobs as well as Organic Sweeps on smaller planets along our route! And not once did she asked or question where she came from. But we knew that wasn't going to last."

"We had a feeling sooner or later she would realize she is very powerful, a little too powerful." Purple started. "We were going to find a way to destroy her but we then decided she had to do one more job."

Zim grit his teeth. "You send her to Earth to kill me!"

"Yup." Purple answered.

"And it would have gone perfectly!" Red said an irritated tone. "We didn't think she would catch on and return like this, along with you, Zim."

"Now that you're done with your little story, undo what you did to here!" Zim shouted.

"No." Red said flatly. "We're still not done with her." He hovered over to Rogue and picked her up by the back of her uniform. Her body was limp and lifeless.

Zim stared at her and suddenly got a sick feeling in his insides. He almost felt like throwing up seeing Rogue like this. It was slowly becoming unbearable for him.

"I think this little conversation is over with…" Purple said. "Guards!"

The remainder of what Rogue took care of earlier burst in with armed lasers. Two Irkens grabbed Dib from behind. The human struggled but to no avail. Gir just stood there and waved at the guards while one of them picked him up by his antenna.

Two more ran up to Zim and aimed their lasers at his head. "Move and we will shoot!" One of them warned.

Everything finally started to crumble down around Zim. His insides were twisted. He started to sweat and tremble. He was so confused at that moment and all because he was watching Rogue's lifeless looking body hanging from the Tallest's grip.

Zim curled his hands into fists.

"I said don't move!" The guard repeated. They placed their artillery closer to his head.

"NO!"

Zim's metal legs shot out from his PAK and smacked both guards in the face. The lasers went off and just missed Zim's head by inches. He rose high above Red and Purple glaring down at them.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

One of the last two Irkens ran up and fired at Zim's back metal legs. The laser melted the limb and caused Zim to lose his balance. He fell flat on his back and got pined down by the guard. He flailed and thrashed while screaming and cursing at the Tallest.

Never in his life has Dib seen Zim react like this even after all the battles and verbal fights he's been through with him. He wasn't being the dense and thick-headed alien he knew and been trying to expose to the world. For the first time he saw Zim anger; really very angry.

"Take them away!" Red ordered.

The Irken guards exited the room with the three at gunpoint. As Zim left he took one last look back at the Tallest and then at Rogue. He felt like someone had just took his innards and ripped them out then stuffed them back in again. He couldn't explain what just happened that cause himself to lose it like that at the risk of getting killed. For that one instant, he didn't care if he got killed. He just didn't know why.

The Tallest watched until Zim and others disappeared from their sights. The Irkens at the controls breathed a sigh of relief at see it was finally over and none of them got fired or blown up.

Red looked down at Rogue with sharpen eyes. "…Things got a little out of hand."

"What should we do now?" Purple asked.

A smirk appeared on Red's face. "I think we can fix this, and I know just how…"

"RELEASE ME!" Zim shouted.

Zim, his SIR and Dib were thrown into one of the small prisoner rooms aboard the ship, which are used for any opposing aliens the Irkens might pick up during planet sweeps. The small Irken has been ranting and raving since they were put in there and didn't look like he was about to stop.

"I order you to set me free! Right now!" Zim commanded the two guards standing outside the room.

"Forget it." One of them answered.

In a rage Zim started to slam his fist on the door which was completely futile. His PAK was damaged during the struggle with the guards and he couldn't get his extra legs or built-in lasers to work.

Dib sat in the corner watching his rival. He wanted to ask him about what happened back with his leaders and just what was all this about. He didn't know if he had any chance of escape but he was still drawn to understand the situation he was in.

As for Gir he was hopping on his head in the other corner; total unaware of the condition they were in.

"…Let…me…out!" Zim collapsed to the floor. Utterly exhausted, he stood up on all fours and kept his head towards the ground. Now that he looked worn out, Dib felt now was the best time to start asking questions.

"…Something isn't right." He started.

Zim slowly lifted his head and looked at him. "What was that, human?" He didn't sound interested at all but Dib continued anyway.

"I mean you. You seem a little more…How do I say this…?" Dib placed his hand on his chin. "…Angry."

Zim leaped to his feet and got in the boy's face. "Of course I'm angry! You foolish meat-child!" He back off and went back to the door. He kicked it to relief some more rage.

"…You were a fool to hide in my ship." Zim suddenly spoke. "You do know there's little to no hope of you getting out of here alive."

"..Yeeeah." Dib didn't want to admit that Zim was right about that. "But I'm still not clear on what is going on with you and your leaders. Did you betray them or something? Or is this about that other Irken?"

Zim didn't reply right away to that. He debated to himself weather or not it would matter to tell Dib anymore. "…I could you could say I betrayed them, yes. And maybe you could also say this about Rogue." He stopped and the image of Rogue hanging from Red's claws came back to him. He felt like throwing up again.

Gir came walking up to Zim and grinned at him. "I think you miss Rogue!" He cooed

"Nonsense, Gir! Irkens don't miss anything!" The way Zim said that didn't sound like him. He didn't mean to say that but it came out anyway.

"You did get really upset when your leaders did what they did…" Dib said.

"What do I care!" Zim shouted. Once again, didn't sound like he wanted it to.

Dib began to notice this. "…I think you're lying." He said with a slight curiosity look.

"NEVER!" Zim snapped back.

"You say Irkens don't care or miss anything, yet you went crazy when you saw what the 'Tallest' did to Rogue." Dib debated. "What would you call that then?"

Zim was growing more and more irritated with all the human's questions. If his lasers were working he would have blasted Dib into the wall. But nonetheless, he gave the only answer he could give.

"…I don't know."

Dib became even more interested in Zim's response. He tried to put two and two together and the only thing that came out of it seemed apparent, yet it couldn't have been the case.

"No, it can't be." Dib said out loud.

"What can't be?" Zim said with a weird look.

"Nothing. Forget it." The human said.

"You know what's ailing me, don't you!" Zim said spontaneously. "You know!"

"Ailing you?" Dib answered.

Zim grabbed Dib by his shirt and got back into his face. "You putrid Earth stink! Did you unleash some kind of Earth sickness on me! DID YOU!"

"WHAT! NO!" Dib said. A sudden realization hit Dib. "…Wait a second! …Then I was right!"

"With what!" Zim shouted. He shook Dib. "ANSWER ME!"

Before Dib could respond Gir did that for him.

"IT'S L-O-V-E!"

"What!" Zim dropped Dib and faced the little robot. "What is this about, Gir!"

"Master and Rogue! Sitting in da tree!" Gir shouted. "S-M-O-O-C-H-ING!"

"Gir, stop being idiotic!" Zim barked. He didn't understand what Gir was clearly implying.

"Don't tell me you don't get it?" Dib said getting back up. "Don't Irkens have…you know?"

"What is it I know?" Zim asked.

Dib slapped himself on the forehead. "…Ok, let me ask this then. How are Irkens born?"

Zim gave Dib a funny look. "I don't know what the point of asking that is, but if you want to know, we are all born from birthing tubes and claws."

"Tubes and claws?" Dib said puzzled. "Are you saying Irkens aren't born…in any other way?"

"Of course not!" Zim answered. "We can't be produced in…" Zim stopped and let it sunk in. "…Eeew! Are you asking if we-"

"Yes!" Dib said.

"NO! Irkens have no mean for that!"

"But it's pretty clear now with Rogue…"

"And that would be…?"

"LOVE!" Gir shrieked in Zim's face. "RED HEARTS AND MUSHY CARDS!"

"Mushy? Hearts?" Zim repeated. "…Love?"

It finally hit him.

Zim screamed and went into a panic. Dib and Gir just watched and found this kind of amusing.

"IT'S A LIE!" Zim screamed at the top of his lungs. "This isn't right! I can't be feeling affection! It's all wrong!"

"Hey, don't tell me that." Dib said.

"It's all so beautiful!" Gir cooed

"SILENCE GIR!" Zim shouted.

On the other side of the Massive was a small research lab. During some travels there would often times be samples picked up from random planets for study.

The sliding doors to the lab opened and the Tallest hovered in. The Irkens in lab coats looked up surprised to see their leaders in this area of the ship.

One of the Irkens went up and greeted them. "My Tallest, what can we do for you?" She asked.

Red held up a still unconscious Rogue to the scientists. Everyone in the room looked at one another murmuring something. The Tallest placed her on the floor in front of the Irken's feet.

"This cybrog has been reposing against her orders." Red said. "We want to so she won't do it again."

"Isn't this the Irken known as Rogue? The 'Living Weapon', or something like that?" The female scientist asked.

"Yeah, we found her a few years back on that rock, remember?" One of the others said in the background.

Red brought his arm up and took something out from the pod around his hand. He handed a small microchip to the Irken. "Fix this so she can only act on our commands only, got it?"

The scientist displayed a slight stunned expression. She took the chip and agreed to do so. The Tallest then left.

A male Irken came up and asked the female, "What's the matter?"

"…They want us to make it so Rogue is completely under their control." She answered. She looked down at Rogue. They knew the Tallest must had used the built in override to make she shut down.

"She must have done something big to want them to go this far…" The male Irken stated. "We better get to work."

Back in the prisoner quarters Zim had finally started calming down. Gir was grinning from ear to ear seeing his Master acting the way he was. Dib was still trying to pry more information from Zim.

"So…Irkens don't have nor understand the feelings of-"

"Will you fasten that hole in your head!" Zim shouted. "I have enough to be sick about right now and I don't' need your disgusting questions to make it worst!"

Gir walked up and tucked on Zim's uniform. "Luv not sickie…"

"Gir, please…not now." Zim pleaded. He could feel another headache coming on.

"Warm fuzzy is good!" Gir continued. He wrapped himself around Zim's legs and didn't let go.

"GIR!" Zim tried to shake the SIR off.

"Master don't like being alone…" Gir added.

The line made Zim stop. Dib looked up with cocked eyebrow.

"Master like Rogue cuz he then not lone!" The little robot proclaimed.

"…I can't believe I'm saying this…" Dib started. "…but maybe he's right."

"How?" Zim asked sternly.

"Your leaders and I bet the rest of your race, hate your guts." Dib said. Zim didn't like that. "So maybe having someone that…you can relate to is something you…like, or something/" He stopped knowing he wasn't making much sense.

"Rogue isn't hated by…" Zim stopped midway. He thought about it for a moment. The Tallest called her a weapon, not an Irken, and they didn't care what happened to her. In fact they're afraid of her. She's different; maybe even an outcast to some.

Zim sunk to the floor. Finally a few things started to make sense to him. He's hated by most; Rogue is feared and misunderstood. He's much smaller then normal; Rogue is different in an organic view, being part robotic and all. All this and a few other factoids add up to one thing…

"We both stand out from the rest." Zim said out loud. "…And no matter what we do, we're not appreciated!"

"Soooo…" Gir looked up at him with wide glossy eyes. "Do you like her!"

Zim suddenly froze up. He looked down at Gir, then at Dib. He could feel his face getting warm.

"……AAAAHH!" Gir abruptly screamed.

"WHAT! WHAT!" Zim jumped.

"Yer RED!" Gir stuck his finger in Zim's face.

Zim felt his face. It was hot and flush. Dib's eyes grew wide; he's never seen his rival look like this before. He couldn't help be start snickering to Zim's utter embarrassment.

"BE QUIET!" Zim shouted, but it only made it funnier with his red face.

Outside the prison where the two guards stood another Irken came up to them with a message.

"The Tallest have ordered to take Zim over to hanger one." He said.

"Hanger one? They aren't planning to let him go are they?" One guard asked.

"Hey, I'm just a delivering the message." He said. "Let's see him."

The doors opened and the guards walked in aimed. Zim was still red in the face but stopped his ranting when he saw them walk in.

"Irken Zim, come with us."

"Where are we going?" Zim asked with sharpen eyes.

"Shut up and let's go." They said pointing their lasers. Zim complied.

They walked out with the one Irken leaving Gir and Dib in the cell.

"Hey! What about me?" Dib called out.

One guard looked back and answered, "Don't worry, I sure you'll be next!"

That didn't settle well on Dib's ears.

Zim was lead to the front hanger bay of the Massive. The area was completely empty; there weren't even any ships in the parking sections. The guards left him alone in there with no clue as to why.

"What is going on here?" Zim asked himself.

He walked towards the front where the ship opened up and the ships took off. A large glass window displayed the wonders of space outside. It was an eerie quiet.

"Well, well Zim. I bet you're confused now, uh?"

A voice boomed into the room that caused Zim to spin around. A huge hovering screen came down with the Tallest's faces on it. It was Red's voice he just heard.

"What is this about!" Zim shouted at the screen.

"Relax, we just have a little surprise for you, for all the hard work you've done for us and the Empire." Purple stated.

"…" Zim glared up at the Tallest. "…Somehow, I don't think that's the case here, is it?"

"Ok, yes. All that before was a big lie, but we just thought you'd be used to it by now." Purple mocked.

"But we do have a surprise for you…" Red added.

The doors to the hanger suddenly swung open and a lone figure walked in. Zim immediately recognized her.

"Rogue!" He stood his ground as the female Irken walked closer to him, not saying anything. "…How did you get away from them?" Zim felt a rather pleasant emotion seeing she was alright. He started moving towards her.

Rogue raised her left arm. Zim stopped just has a hot beam of light flew pass his face. The beam left a minor burn across his face.

"Rogue! Why did you?"

"Silence!"

Her voice thundered throughout the bay. On the hover screen the Tallest had evil looking grins on their faces.

Zim touched the side of his face and cringed. He looked at Rogue again and that's when he noticed her eyes; they were still empty and lifeless.

"By orders of the Tallest…" Rogue's voice was as cold and hollow as her eyes. "…Irken Zim must die."

TBC…