Fortune cookie says: If you think this is small, then you obliviously haven't been in bed with a mosquito…


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"Talking"

'Thinking'

Stressed
Skoodge easily handed Sara a small screwdriver. He watched her eyes narrow in concentration. Skoodge pointed something out and she nodded. They had been working on a small computer drive. It had blown a fuse and it needed to be repaired. Sara wiped the sweat from her palms on a white sheet and grinned.

"We did it," Sara calmly said, she wasn't use to using the word 'we'.

"I told you I could help," Skoodge replied with a grin.

"Whatever," Sara grumbled as Skoodge smiled at her.

"Want to go get a soda?" Skoodge questioned as her eyes widened in confusion.

"Sure," Sara answered before she could protest.

Spending time with the Irken had made her realize a few things. Hate for a race could easily be changed when you met the right person to change your views. She still struggled to hate him, and yet she couldn't. Skoodge had always been kind to her despite her harsh words. His actions touched her and pissed her off at the same time. She had finally just given up and talked to him. He turned out to be more intelligent then most of the humans at the base. A loud explosion sounded and the generator quickly turned off. Red emergency lights flashed over their forms in warning.


Gaz frowned as she walked down the halls. She hadn't been able to find Zim and it bothered her. Gaz sighed and realized that she really did miss his company. She missed his rants, his touch, and just his Zimness.

'Oh no…I'm using his words,' Gaz thought as her eyes shot open.

Gaz turned around and smacked into cold metal. Before she could fall, a hand reached out and grasped her form. Thin fingers wrapped around her wrist as she looked up at the person.

"Why, hello Gaz," the dark voice greeted her.


Zim frowned as he watched the red emergency lights come on. He had heard the generator shut down. Zim figured that laser breaching the barrier and blowing up the lab with the generator was the cause. He stood up and left the small the closet he had been in. Zim stepped back as people pushed pass him. Women were gathering their children and running for shelter.

'Where's Gaz?' Zim thought as he began to push his way down the halls.

"Where's Gaz?" Zim demanded as he grabbed the nearest human.

"The Invaders entered in the North section…Gaz is there," the human hurriedly explained.

Zim dropped the human and took off running. It seemed that no one would be willing to help her. Zim pushed against the crowd as they ran the opposite way.

"Hey green bean!" Sara shouted.

Zim looked her way and caught the object she threw. He stared at the small dot size balls in curiosity. Zim looked up to her in question.

"They'll cause a surge and short out an Irkens PAK for a few seconds," Skoodge assured.

Zim looked back to Sara and Skoodge in shock. He was sitting on her shoulders. Zim shook his head and wondered if he was hallucinating again. He figured he was hallucinating. Zim took off running toward the North section with Sara and Skoodge close behind.


Purple scowled as he wandered the Massive. There was nothing more to do then just wander. He really didn't want to watch the destruction of another race. Purple sighed as he his communicator went off. He reached into his pants and pulled out the small communicator. A mini transparent screen popped up and he grinned.

"Where's my sister?"

"I see that the Resisty has informed you," Purple calmly said.

"Where's Gaz?" Dib gritted out.

"She's safe…for now," Purple assured.

"I want to know what's been going on, and if you lie…I will find out the truth," Dib assured.

"Pfff…that sounded so cliché," Klavier groaned.

"Shut up!" Tak hissed.

"I want information too," Purple stated.

"Fine," Dib agreed.

"Would you be willing to get close to the Armada?" Purple questioned with a neutral face.

"Lard Nar explained that you wish to form an…alliance," Dib carefully said.

"I'm not one to look out for others…but I don't want to be the last of my race. The Irkens are close to dying out, our DNA is old and soon it won't be enough to form smeets," Purple explained.

"Ha, this is hilarious! Your mighty empire is about to fall because of your own stupidity," Dib mocked.

Purple scowled at this and replied, "You have two options. Help me free the Irkens of the control brains, or simply watch Red kill your sister and planet."

"What condition is the planet in?" Dib seriously asked.

"Earth is already dead. The toxins in it will never vanish from it," Purple assured.

Dib thought this over with a grave look. He was pulled out of the way and Tak appeared on screen. Her mouth was set in a straight line as she gazed at Purple. He grinned at her remembering her attempt to foil Zim.

"We have a way to take down the control brains, but we have to get close enough to one," Tak explained.

"I can figure that out," Purple responded. Klavier snorted in the background.

"I don't trust you with what we have…this must be done by Zim or Gaz," Tak firmly said.

"They'll never get close enough to a control brain," Purple said with a chuckle.

"Find a way to get them close," Tak growled.

"They'd never trust me either," Purple reasoned.

"That's easy!" Dib said. "Mention The Curse of the Shadowhog to Gaz."

'Shadowhog?' Purple thought in confusion.

"How many humans are left?" Dib questioned as the screen focused on him.

"We currently have ten thousand in the cryolabs…the rest have been purged," Purple replied.

Dib held his chin in thought. Purple calmly hovered in the area waiting to finalize this deal.

"We have a ship that can hold the humans. I want those humans," Dib declared as Purple nodded.

"Understandable," Purple replied with a shrug.

"I'll enter earth's orbit in about six days, by then I want the humans moved onto that ship…then I'll give you the weapon to destroy the control brain," Dib explained.

"Red's planning to destroy the remaining humans…you better hurry," Purple sang.

"Hold it off or else…"

"Just hurry…I can easily do this without your useless group," Purple declared.

"If you could do it without us…then why'd you ask for help?" Klavier questioned as he pushed Dib out of the way.

Purple fumed as Klavier kept repeating 'huh'. Purple felt his antennae twitch in anger as Klavier began to laugh.

"Hey," Klavier suddenly whispered.

"I'm going to make you hurt," Purple darkly promised.

"You look like Googia," Klavier whispered as his eyes glazed over in memory.

"We'll contact you once we enter your galaxy," Tak assured as she pushed Klavier away from the screen.

The transmission ended and Purple blinked. Mun had mentioned that the Irken female had been called Googia. He wondered if that Irken knew something about his past. Purple snapped out of his gaze and quickly floated down the halls to halt the extermination of humans.

'Red would never delay his plans,' Purple thought. 'Looks like I have to get Red out of the picture.'


Red grinned as he held onto Gaz. He had been waiting for this moment. The taste of victory was already in his mouth. He squeezed her wrist and wondered what he should do to her. She was in his grasp and he was too excited to think straight. He knew that he wouldn't kill her right away, which would leave an unsatisfied feeling. Red quickly grabbed her other wrist as she raised it to strike him. He chuckled and slammed her against the wall. A grunt of pain left her throat and he madly grinned.

"Too good," Red mumbled as he roughly held her.

"You've snapped…talking to yourself is never a good sign," Gaz mockingly warned.

Red snapped out of his thoughts and glared down at her. His features twisted into a scowl as he gazed at her. He loathed every fiber of her being. He detested that smirk upon her pink lips, he hated the way her hair reached her lower back, and he mostly despised the air of confidence she carried. Red couldn't understand how such a weak creature could carry an air of power. It wasn't right that she had such power.

"Invader Zig!" Red snapped.

"Yes, my Almighty Tallest Red," Zig saluted as he stepped up to Red.

"Wow, you have mindless drones," Gaz mocked with a soft laugh. Red shook her causing her head to thump against the wall.

"Invader Zig is what you help created. He is the first in my quest to obtain perfection," Red explained.

"You're speaking stupid," Gaz growled as she watched him fume.

"It's your fault that I'm here…it's your fault that I have to purge this pathetic race…your fault that I'm reshaping the Irken Empire," Red hissed as he brought his face closer to her.

"You're insane," Gaz gritted out.

"But I do owe you some gratitude," Red stated as she glared up at him. "If it wasn't for you then I would have never seen how weak my Empire was."

"If you're going to give me some long speech…then just skip it and kill me now," Gaz groaned as Red chuckled.

"Who said that I was going to kill you?" Red questioned. Gaz's eyes snapped open at this and gazed into his eyes. "Your father didn't want to die so quickly."

"Bastard," Gaz growled as she struggled to pull her wrist from his grip.

"Do you want to know what happened to your father?" Red mocked as she growled. "Do you?"

"I'll kill you!" Gaz shouted.

"Before we tore him open, we attached a PAK to him and downloaded most of his knowledge," Red began. "He did scream…we kept him awake as we attached everything to him."

"Grrr…I'll get you!" Gaz threatened as she continued to struggle.

"You're immune system is almost perfect Gaz…your father knew this. This is why I've had my best scientists work upon your race," Red softly said as he grinned at her.

"You sick…"

"We've taken your species immunity and adapted it to ourselves…your DNA inspired me," Red continued.

"Twisted…"

"I'll adapt parts from every species to make the Irkens perfect…"

"Bitch," Gaz finished.

Red laughed at this and turned his gaze to the still saluting Invader Zig.

"I'll let you be the first to witness the rise of my new reign," Red decided to honor her. "Invader Zig, state your loyalty!"

Invader Zig dropped his hands to his side, wiggled his antennae before he looked directly into Red's eyes, and firmly recited his oath.

"I swear to thee, my Tallests,
As leaders and commanders of the Irken Empire,
Loyalty and bravery.
I vow to thee and to superiors
Whom thou shalt appoint
Obedience unto death,
With all my heart, mind and soul."

"Until death," Red said. "Now go and serve the Empire!"

"Yes, my Almighty Tallest!" Invader Zig shouted. "Invaders move out!"

Gaz watched as the elite group of six entered the building and followed the path of the normal Invaders.

"I'VE GOT TACOS!" Gir happily shouted as he fell through the vent and landed on Red's head.

Red growled as he reached out to remove the machine. Gaz pulled out of his grip and moved out the way. Gir held the taco in one hand and held onto Red's antenna with another hand. He laughed as Red shook his head.

"Get a move on little Irken!" Gir laughed as he rode Red's head.

"Get off!" Red shouted.

"Aww, you're mad," Gir sighed. "EAT THE TACO!"

Red went to shout and Gir jammed the taco into his mouth. The Irken leader froze before he began to scream. Smoke began to pour out his mouth as he began to spit out the food. Gir chuckled and grabbed him. Red fell to the ground as he continued to purge his mouth of the horrible food. Gaz's eyes narrowed as she noticed his PAK. She dropped Gir and made a dash for his Pak. Her hands gripped it and she pulled.

"Gaz!" Zim shouted. "Come to Zim!"

She held the PAK in her hand and turned to find Zim. Sara and Skoodge were no longer behind him. They were helping the rest of the humans. Zim ran over to her and noticed the PAK in her hand. Red growled as he stood up and lunged for her. Zim quickly pulled her away and threw the little dots Sara had given him. Red yelped as electricity shot through his body. Gaz grinned at this and Gir chuckled as the electricity shocked him.

"Get out of their Gir!" Zim shouted.

"Okee-dokee!" Gir responded. His head opened and mini-moose floated out.

"Squeak."

Gir jumped on him and they took off floating.

"I was going to make you a pet," Red growled. "But now I'm going to stuff your head full of stuff and hang you on my wall!"

"I think you mean stuffing and mount," Purple calmly said as he floated through the hole in the wall.

"No one stuffs Zim's head with stuff! No one!" Zim shouted as he shook his fist.

Purple grinned and helped Red up. He could already see that Red was beginning to lose intelligence. Purple noticed Red's PAK in Gaz's hand and grinned.

'Perfect,' Purple thought with a grin.

"What are you doing here?" Red questioned with a suspicious look.

"I'm here to save our species," Purple replied with his own grin.

'He's going to help,' Red thought with an inward smile. 'I never wanted to hurt him.'

Purple reached into his pants and pulled out something similar to the small dots Zim had thrown at red. He clinked them together and tossed them at Zim. Gaz's eyes widened and Zim pushed her out of the way causing her to drop Red's Pak. A wave of electricity shot out of the dots and coursed through Zim's body. The shock was so powerful it blew his PAK off and left him retarded. Gaz ran toward Zim and Purple floated closer to them.

"I just want to get my friend," Purple replied as he reached down and grabbed a PAK.

"Destroy them now!" Red argued.

"Let them suffer for now," Purple reasoned with a smirk.

Red remained silent before he nodded in agreement. Purple ordered the soldiers back and hoisted Red up. He held the Pak as Red slowly began to power down. A soft grin fleeted on his features as they boarded the ship and left. Gar reached out for Zim's PAK and knew that he would have to have another shock to go back to normal.


Author's Notes:
The Irken Loyalty Oath was created by Invader Sideos(much thanks for letting me use it)
I think you might be able to see where I'm taking this...and if you do I'll give you a cookie!