"Why does stupidity surround me?"


Permanent

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Stressed


Skoodge fell into the darkness giving a girlish yelp. He landed on his rear and quickly searched for the hand that had pulled him into this darkness. His antennae rose in fear and he saw fuchsia.

"Sarah," Skoodge sighed in relief as he stood.

She quickly reached out and covered his mouth as they moved away from the doorway. Two Irken guards marched by in perfect unison. Skoodge watched in confusion and broke away from her grip to resume his confusion.

"They were just guards," Skoodge sighed as he watched her. Sarah's eyes narrowed in anger and she shook her head.

"Earlier today Zim had those guards come to arrest me," Sarah bit out with a growl.

"Wha-what?" Skoodge questioned in confusion.

"I escaped them and have been hiding here ever since," Sarah sighed as she leaned against the wall. Her eyes narrowed at her own words reminding her of the past she had left behind.

"I wasn't able to run any tests on Zim…"

Sarah dryly chuckled and walked into the darkness. A light extended from her PAK and she waved Skoodge closer. He wobbled over to her and watched as she quickly hacked into the computer systems. Skoodge watched the data flood the screen and she smirked in triumph as she pointed something out.

"Zim still held remnants of the virus within his PAK and a new virus was introduced into his system. The new virus has recoded his PAK and destroyed any of his old personality," Sarah informed.

"What about the old virus?" Skoodge questioned.

Sarah grimly looked at him and said, "The new virus will fully activate it and Zim will permanently be kaput."

"How do you know this?" Skoodge asked as he watched her smirk.

"I did work with technology and most Irken technology isn't that hard to use since I know the symbols now," Sarah replied.

"We have to come up with an anti-virus," Skoodge firmly said.

Sarah sighed and her antennae flattened to her skull. Skoodge froze and watched her suddenly become depressed.

"What is it?" Skoodge questioned.

"Even if we make an anti-virus…it's still too late," Sarah softly said. "It's already done permanent damage to his personality."

Skoodge nodded in understanding and he reached out and took Sarah's hand. Her eyes slightly widened as Skoodge pulled her close and hugged her. She could hear his tears and knew they weren't for Zim, but for everyone else. Sarah reached up and openly embraced him. They had been through so much together, it was sad that everything had to end like this. They silently held each other and that's when they heard it, the steady marching of footsteps approaching the room. Sarah just shut her eyes tighter and held Skoodge as the soldiers came into the room.

"I'm not hiding," Sarah whispered to Skoodge. He smiled and softly kissed her temple as his grip tightened on her.

"Your family would be proud," Skoodge assured her.

The guns charged and all he knew was that he heard the charge and felt her go limp within his arms. He closed his eyes and heard the charge again.


Diestel slowly opened his thistle eyes. The room still seemed blurry as he suddenly shot to his feet. His eyes searched for Gaz and he cursed when he didn't see her. He pushed the dizziness to the side and looked for any clues. He rushed out of the room and found the halls deadly silent. Diestel began wandering knowing that Skoodge would know what to do. The fat Irken was always resourceful when it came to finding or building something. He leaned against the walls and heard something similar to an electrical charge.

'What is that?' Diestel thought.

He pushed away from the wall and heard the charge once more. His antennae twitched when he realized he was traveling down the hall where Skoodge did most of his work. He stood frozen as he watched something fly outof adoor and thump against the wall. It fell limply to the floor looking much like a rag doll. Diestel took a cautious step forward and he stumbled back when he fully saw it.

"Skoodge?" Diestel softly said.

His antennae stood up in shock and he quickly kneeled and tapped the shell. The crimson eyes were dull and his skin had no temperature to it. He quickly rolled the shell over and his eyes narrowed at the sight of the PAK. There were two punctures mark within the metal. He recognized it immediately. The Royal Guards would swiftly deactivate Irkens that tried to escape with this method. They would use a weapon similar to his to quickly puncture through the metal and to the power core. This would send an electrical charge into the core and overload it to the point of total deactivation. Diestel stood up and took a step back. Sarah's shell flew from the room and landed on Skoodge.

"That was too easy," Diestel heard a guard laugh.

His thistle eyes narrowed and he began to reach for his weapon.

"Wonder why our Tallest is on a war path," the other guard mused.

Diestel's PAK opened and the spider legs shot out and he quickly gripped onto the ceiling before the guards came out. He watched them stop by the shells of his former friends and quickly reached down to drag them away. Diestel turned away reasoning that now was not the time to procrastinate. He had Tallest Gaz to find and Tallest Zim to deal with.

Diestel dropped back down to the hall once the coast was clear and began his search. His eyes narrowed and he realized he had no clue where to begin his search. Diestel sighed as he thought about this. Gaz was kidnapped and Irk had so many underground rooms that it would take to long to search them all. He kicked the wall in anger and softly growled. This was one thing he didn't want to fail at because his failure would affect more than one person.

'Skoodge would know what to do,' Diestel painfully thought. 'Even Sarah.'

Diestel began walking down the halls intent on entering into the core of Irk. He didn't care how long it took he would find her.

"What cha doing?"

He jumped and blinked when the voice broke through his thought.

"Gir?" Diestel questioned in confusion. "Where did you come from?"

"I don't know," Gir sighed as he goofily smiled.

Diestel shook his head and began to walk away from the crazy bot. Gir whined and lunged at Diestel. He attached himself to the back of Diestel's head as he continued to sob.

"What is wrong with you?" Diestel growled in mild aggravation. He reached behind his head and quickly pulled Gir off and held him in front of his prying eyes.

"Master's gone all crazy!" Gir quickly said.

"Tallest Zim?" Diestel questioned as Gir nodded.

"He was talkin' all bad in the little room with some creepy skinny Irken," Gir babbled.

'Another Irken,' Diestel thought in confusion.

"What was the Irken's name?" Diestel questioned.

"I don't know," Gir drawled.

Diestel sighed and dropped the bot to the ground. Gir clinked against the ground and turned his cyan eyes to Diestel.

"Useless…now I have to find Tallest Gaz," Diestel muttered as he began to walk away.

Gir's eyes lit up and he flew at Diestel. He jumped on top of the Irken's head and held onto his antennae as he insanely laughed.

"Tallest Gazwas with Dok Scolex," Gir suddenly laughed.

Diestel tensed when he heard her name. He reached for Gir but the bot jumped away from him and onto the ground.

"Dok Scolex has Gaz in a dark room," Gir continued.

"How do you know this?" Diestel questioned.

"I followed him," Gir replied with a giggle.

"Can you take me to her?" Diestel questioned Gir with a hopeful look.

Gir smirked and replied, "Only if you dance with me!"


Gaz groaned in pain and softly yelped. Her head ached and her stomach was still aching. Her amber eyes slowly opened and she glared at the Irken she saw. She had never seen him before and something told her he was evil. Gaz went to set up and found herself strapped to the table. A wire traveled across her chest and her legs were separately tied down. She struggled and groaned as she felt a kick within her stomach.

"Magnificent!" The strange Irken beamed. "You're awake!"

"Who the hell are you?" Gaz growled.

The Irken looked taken aback at her statement. He slowly grinned and took a deep mocking bow at her. His black goggles hid his eyes from her, but she did notice his lack of antennae. His choice of dress reminded her of her of Professor Membrane. She shook the idea from her head and resumed glaring.

"I am Dok Scolex," he introduced, rolling his 's.'

"Irken's don't have two names," Gaz bit out at him.

"Pardon me, Dok is my former title," Scolex corrected.

"Former?" Gaz questioned.

"There's no need to worry about that," he assured with a chuckle.

His fingers reached out and gently prodded her stomach and she grimaced. Scolex loudly laughed when he felt a kick against his hand.

"Your smeets seem to be doing fine," Scolex assured.

"And how the hell would you know?" Gaz growled. They had kidnapped her, knocked herand Diestelout, and Zim was going crazy, it was safe to say she was pissed.

"How would I know?" Scolex questioned with a laugh. "I was the one who programmed the Control Brains…I remember birthing smeets as the Doctor."

"Impossible…you would have to be…"

"My original body died, but before it passed I had created this shell to keep going. Leader Rig sealed me within a room deep within Irk before we created everything within the core," Scolex explained with a smile.

"What do you want with me?" Gaz questioned.

"How egotistical you are," Scolex teased with a grin as he patted her stomach. "You can die for all I care, because we just need your hybrids."

Gaz's eyes narrowed and she softly growled at him as she cracked her fingers. Her amber eyes shifted to a darker shade. Scolex chuckled at this and shook his head.

"You won't live long enough to harm my smeets," Gaz assured as she frowned at him.

"And you won't live long enough to hold your smeets," Scolex assured.

"Pff…I'm still going to kill you," Gaz replied.

Scolex raised a brow ridge at her before he chuckled and patted her stomach once more. Gaz darkly smiled at him as she watched him walk away from her and exit the room. She was definitely going to kill him.


Zim floated in the conference room. It had been five hours since he had assembled Irk's top soldiers. They were the best and they would be the first step in the revival of the Irken Empire. Zim raised his hand to the glass and tapped his claws along it. He listened to the steady taps and closed his eyes. Zim kept his eyes shut as he listened to the taps. The action was calming and he sighed.

'Gaz,' Zim suddenly thought.

His eyes snapped open and instantly narrowed. The thought of Gaz was a stray thought. Zim glared out the window mentally wondering where she was. An antenna raised and pain traveled throughout his mind. Zim gripped his head and gritted his teeth together as he softly growled. He floated back and knocked into a table. It was a constant pounding and he fell to the floor. He banged his head against the wall and softly hissed. The pain suddenly stopped and cautiously opened his eyes. His vision was blurred once more. Colors ran together as the objects phased from his view. His antennae twitched and he heard a door open.

Zim quickly stopped up and gripped the table to keep his balance. He blinked and his vision was normal once more. Zim mentally growled at this and turned the Irken that had entered. He was tall, not as tall as him, but close enough. His form was skinner than normal making him appear as skin just covering bone and nothing else. Zim searched the Irken and found that his eyes were hidden behind black goggles. An antenna slightly rose in question when he saw no antennae.

"Identify yourself," Zim demanded.

"Pardon my disrespect," the Irken began. " I am Dok and have just arrived from Research Station seven."

Zim carefully looked at Dok wondering why he had never heard of him. Shaking his head, he turned a glare to Dok. He watched the Irken slowly begin to smile. Zim shivered; there was something wrong with that smile.

"What do you want?" Zim snapped as he pulled out a seat and sat. He began to pick at his claws.

"I am the Irken that monitors the DNA sequences," Dok explained as he watched Zim suddenly stop picking his claws.

"What do you want?" Zim questioned once more.

"Since the Control Brains are no longer functioning," Zim winced at that, "I wish to know if I can add a new sequence to the pattern."

Zim raised his eyes to Dok with a board look. His eyes traveled to the small Irkens running along the surface.

"What will this new sequence do?" Zim questioned.

"I wish to make the Military Elite…more advanced," Dok simply replied.

"Do whatever you wish," Zim replied as he continued to gaze out the window.

"Thank you my Tallest," Dok replied with a soft chuckle.

"But I warn you," Zim began as he turned his gaze to Dok. "Screw up my Empire and I will do more than deactivate you."

Dok's goggled covered eyes widened a bit before he chuckled. He nodded and quickly left the room. Dok traveled down the halls knowing that it was only a matter of time before Zim quickly broke down. Dok loudly laughed not caring about the Irkens that stared at him. He couldn't want for insanity to set in.


Author's Note:

I finally realized how I'm going to end this, can't say anymore than that.

As for the typos, I still have no beta, but I plan to go through these chapters once the story ends and edit them. Plus I have to change Sarah's name...I made a mistake. In Xenocide it was 'Sara' and in Xenophobia it's 'Sarah'. So that's an error.

Thanks and please review.