Here you go! My latest chapter that I worked kind of hard on. I hope you like it. This one features an actual "cliffhanger" and I'm not talking about Sylvester Stalone!

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Chapter 5

LEADER OF THE PAK

Byron was sound asleep. He'd finally escaped his frantic "plan" dreams and was in the blissful black of impenetrable slumber. It was so nice and quiet. Byron never wanted to leave this place. It was so nice and quiet and… "Byron, get up! It's time to go to that HORRID Earth skool!" Zim yelled into Byron's left ear as loud as he could.

Byron sat up with a great shock. His heart was beating madly in his chest and he was breathing like a mad man. "Zim, didn't I explain that I ran away from home and If I go to skool my parents will catch me and the mission will be compromised?"

"Oh, yeah! I remember," he said trying to sound like he was telling the truth. He quickly marched out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Byron held his head for a moment. It was pounding from Zim's wake up call. He moved over and let his legs drape over the bed. He got up and walked into the bathroom. He took a piss and got a quick shower. While he was standing there, toweling off, Byron smiled and thought, 'Everything is going so fecking well!' He had Zim's base all to himself for the next nine hours. He could accomplish so much. But first, he'd have to obtain one item that would be key to the advancement of his master plan. "Computer, where are the auxiliary PAK's stored?" He said with a grin.

"SUPPLY LEVEL FOUR!"

"I have decided that for me to help Zim with his mission to the utmost of my abilities, I will require a PAK. Otherwise, I won't have a clue how to fix anything around here," he stated.

"WOW! YOU'VE REALLY THOUGHT THIS ONE OUT, HAVEN'T YOU!"

"What do you mean?"

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO LIE TO ME. I CAN READ YOUR MIND, BYRON. I KNOW EVERY TINY COMPONENT AND FACTOR OF YOUR 'MASTER' PLAN."

"You do?" Byron asked nervously.

"YES. AND MAY I SAY, IT'S SUPERBLY BRILLIANT. I CAN'T BELIEVE A HUMAN THOUGHT THIS UP! IT MUST BE THAT STUFF YOU SMOKE CONSTANTLY!"

"So, you're not going to tell Zim?"

"WHY SHOULD I? HE TREATS ME WITH DISRESPECT AND, AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, THIS WILL NOT IMPEDE HIS MISSION IN THE LEAST. THEREFORE, IT DOESN'T CONCERN HIM."

"Thanks, computer. You're a real standup, uh, computer!"

"NO PROBLEM! SO, YOU WANT TO WALK TO SUPPLY LEVEL FOUR, OR WOULD YOU CARE FOR A LIFT?"

"It'd be greatly appreciated, computer." No sooner had Byron said this, a hole appeared in the floor and he stepped in it.

On the way to supply level four, Byron continued his conversation with the computer. "It's kinda' awkward just calling you 'computer', can I call you by a name? Like Hal?"

Suddenly the elevator grinded to a halt and the computer responded, "YOU ARE NOT CALLING ME HAL! WE ARE NOT TRAPPED IN SPACE ODYSSEY!"

"Well, is there a name I can call you by?" Byron asked.

"LET ME THINK. CALL ME VINCENT."

"Like Vincent Price?"

"NO, JUST VINCENT." It said and the elevator continued down.

"Okay, Vincent." The doors sprang open and Byron stepped into the supply level four. The room seemed to be a stretched out tunnel of purple and pink metal and gray wires that seemed to keep going until you could no longer see down to the end wall. It was filled with boxes, storage cylinders, and machines of varying sizes. All of which were adorned with the Irken Imperial Symbol. "WOW!" Byron said.

"IMPRESSED?"

"Very. So, Vincent, where's the Pak area?" Unexpectedly, a light in the ceiling flashed on and revealed a large section of the room. Byron walked over and had a look at the facilities. There was a large, purple machine standing in front of him. It had two large arms and a few other interesting attachments.

"ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT THIS?" Vincent asked.

"Yes, it's the only way," Byron said. He was shaking both with fear and anticipation.

"OKAY. BUT THIS IS GOING TO HURT LIKE YOU SAY, 'A SON OF A BITCH'!"

"That's fine, just try to make it quick," he said. Suddenly, a small needle came out of the wire ceiling and stuck Byron in the arm. "What was that for?"

"YOU'LL THANK ME LATER." Vincent said. Even as he spoke, Byron could feel his body starting to go numb. He felt like he was floating. Right before he fell on his face, a metal tentacle swooped down and grabbed him. It raised him into the air and gently sat him down on the machine. Byron tried to say something but could only make gurgling sounds.

"HERE GOES." Vincent said and the machine roared into operation. A PAK was loaded into the main capacitor and all the basic information was loaded into it. Just as Vincent had seen in Byron's mind, the Pak was devoid of a personality or name so he could keep his own. Other than that, it was a fully functioning, black and blue PAK. It would serve him just as Zim's served, uh, Zim.

Then the cold, unfeeling robot arm pitched down with it's two spikes and burned two holes in Byron's back all the way into his spinal chord. I wasn't until he smelled the burning flesh that the pain registered in his mind. Superior Irken sedative and pain killer aside, it hurt worse than anything he'd ever felt before. For once in the history of mankind, a male experienced a pain far greater than childbirth! He screamed a loud and gut wrenching scream that echoed up though out Zim's base. Up in the living room, Gir looked up from his choco-taco ice cream in fear.

Then as soon as the holes had been burned, the PAK was lowered onto his back and the cables made their connection. Instantly the pain dissipated and his head shot up with a snap. He suddenly felt so ALIVE! He'd never felt like this before. He grinned and then the PAK responded, "ACTIVATE!" and fifty thousand volts of electricity coursed through his body. This, of course, whipped the smile of his face.

As soon as the smoke clear, and the abundant smell of charred flesh, cleared the air, Byron arose triumphantly and proclaimed, "That wasn't so bad!"

Another tentacle came down from the ceiling and slapped him across the face. It then inserted in his PAK. "PREPARE TO BE FILLED WITH THE WHOLE OF IRKEN KNOWLEDGE!" Vincent said. Byron then went limp as he temporarily shut down and the upload began. His body spasmed and shook for a good thirty seconds before the process was complete.

Byron then opened his eyes and said, "Cool, I finally understand calculus!"

"CALCULUS? OUT OF EVERYTHING YOU NOW KNOW, YOU'RE EXCITED ABOUT CALCULUS?" Vincent said.

"Yeah! That shite's hard a hell! But now is not the time to debate the complexities of higher mathematics, Vincent! For now we have much work to do! Please, take me to the main security system control area … thingy," Byron said.

"SURE THING, BYRON!" And with that, Byron disappeared into the elevator.

While Byron was quickly advancing in his MASTER plan, Zim was sitting in first period waiting for his chance to through Dib out another window. He knew his chance would come soon; very soon.

The day progress rather slowly for Zim. For some odd reason, Dib didn't seem himself today. It was like he didn't have the will to fight. Unbeknownst to Zim, Dib was rather depressed since his expulsion from The Swollen Eyeballs. So, with the proverbial fight temporarily absent from Dib, Zim was forced to sit and listen to each period's lesson. By three he was almost mad with boredom. He'd never come back to school if Dib continued on this trend. The second the bell rang; Zim was the first one out the window. He began to briskly walk home. Then he remembered his houseguest and decided to pick up the pace. He ran the rest of the way home. He almost expected the entire base to be in flaming ruins with a large flag stuck in the ground that read, 'Hooray for Earth!', but it was far worse!

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A/N: Oh no! There it is, my first real cliffhanger! (Not like you'll have to wait long for the answer to it!) I hope you liked this chapter. Sorry to say, this one also kind of dragged in my opinion. It's all just helping to progress to the good part. I promise, I have BIG plans for this story! Oh, such plans I have! Please leave me a review. Or just email me, I crave communication and social interaction! Thanks!