"The Syndicate High Council, huh?" Dib was watching Lor and Carrius as the two brothers were working on one of the many consoles that seemed to be scattered throughout the, large, white chamber that had been Lor's trial room. It seemed as if the room had some sort of adaptability. It was made from multiple panels that could be rearranged at will to change the room's general size and set-up for any purpose. Dib could only imagine CB's burning desire to access something like this, and secretly hoped the Syndicate was doing their part to keep the greedy little AI out. "So they are like your government?" Dib sat on the edge of one of the little tables that had risen from the floor.

"Yes. They are elected individuals representing each of the Syndicate planets. Every planet has a voice, that's Syndicate policy." Carrius replied from underneath one of the large, computerized panels in the center of the room. He seemed like he was trying to repair something.

"I can see why the Irkens don't like you." Dib mused.

"Actually," Lor didn't look up from what he was doing, "prior to their attempted murder, they liked us quite a bit." He frowned tapping a button and pulling up a hologram of a bunch of words in a language Dib didn't understand. "I mean, maybe not personally... but the Empire was on pretty okay terms with us politically."

"I mean that one Invader guy keeps calling us scum, but I don't think it's personal." Carrius finally slid out from under the panel, one side of his face looked rather red and swollen. "I think it's just a translation error or something because I'll tell ya, that feisty female Invader is great." Dib was only half listening, as he squinted at the puffy, raised skin.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fantastic." Carrius replied putting his hands firmly on his hips.

"Why is he asking you that?" Suspiciously, Lor turned away from the screen and realized one side of his brother's dark greenish skin had taken on a very bright, red flair. "Oh Rao!" He hissed, abandoning his post quickly. "You didn't turn of the array before you tried to do your maintenance, did you?" Lor reached on to his belt pulling off a very small metal device that reminded Dib vaguely of a bar code scanner from a grocery store.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Carrius looked annoyed, turning his head away as Lor tried to scan him.

"You're burned all over one half of your face, dumbass." Despite the fact the two were different species, Dib had never been more sure that they were brothers.

"I don't see what the big deal is. You're just gonna wave a light over it to fix it."

"I'm not gonna to just 'wave a light'. It's more complicated than that." Lor huffed as he finally got his scan, reading whatever information the screen was flashing at him, before putting that away and pulling out a slender, cylindrical, silver object from a pouch on the side of his leg. He pressed a button on the side and a bright blue light washed over the affected area.

"What's that?" Carrius raised an already arched eyebrow.

"It's a sub-dermal nano-"

"It's a fucking light."

"It's not a light!"' Lor glared huffily at his brother as the skin repaired itself under the influence of the Syndicate, medical technology.

"I'm so glad our moms spend all that money sending you to med school." Carrius smirked.

"..." Lor gave him a blank look. "School was free."

"Don't contradict me brother, I still outrank you." He patted Lor on the head and Dib couldn't help but laugh at the exchange. "But good work waving lights in my face, doc."

"And good work getting a burn because you forgot to turn off a communications console before trying to make heavy duty repairs." Lor retorted.

"Yeah I was going to ask why you guys are doing this..." Dib had enjoyed watching the argument (anything that let him see alien tech, was worthwhile in his book) however he couldn't help but wonder why a doctor and a security officer were trying to do IT work.

"Because sometimes the Syndicate gets over-eager when trying to set up for a possible invasion, and sends a lot of diplomats but no engineers." Carrius mused.

"Well, actually there were engineers here originally, but they left before we got back because everyone thought we were just heading back to Capitol Planet." Lor ran a hand through his hair as he turned back to the screen. "And technically D3R1K is with engineering."

"Wa... wait... are you saying Derick. There is an alien named Derick?" Dib still had a lot to learn about aliens, but his notebook and phone were already filled with things he had learned from hanging around Zim and the Syndicate, so he had to rely on his memory for now. But the name Derick fit in with the mundane naming scheme Allison had fallen under.

"I mean... you're right but your pronunciation is kinda... bad. It's: D3R1K." Carrius gestured to the machine that Lor was working on as it shuttered and a bunch of silvery, iridescent little insectoid aliens spilled out of it. "A Grorian swam. Also, a really great engineer who will not comment on the fact that I left an array on while doing repairs." All of the tiny insectoid creatures stopped moving, and turned as a unit to look at Carrius before letting out a series of high-pitched noises that sounded a bit like the sounds Dib's computer made when he spilled coffee on it.

"What did they say?" Dib looked eagerly at Carrius.

"I cannot repeat that while representing our ship." Carrius straightened himself up. "Is that the sort of language you use when addressing a superior officer?"

"It's the language they use after watching a superior officer burn half his face." Lor retorted dryly. Dib really, really wanted to know what the alien swarm had said.

"Oh go back to light waving, doctor."

"I should have just left your face burned." Lor rolled his eyes as the swarm known as D3R1K began to shutter and jolt, moving rather erratically as it zipped from the console into a coat that had been hanging by the door, filling it out as if there were a body inside. Gloves swelled up, boots lifted off the ground, and a mask took on a vaguely "head" shape. It was only by carefully looking at the fabric, that Dib could see the unnatural movement of the swarm underneath. The swarm picked up a little briefcase and headed back out into the hall.

"So... your maintenance guy was just an alien swarm in a trench coat named Derick?" Dib had to make sure he had this right.

"It's D3R1K." Carrius stressed the name but Dib heard no difference. "And not always. Sometimes they wear dresses instead of trench coats."

"Well... our engineer was supposed to be Ron, but Ron ended up being Tenn." Lor added as the panel he was working on illuminated with bright blue lights. "We could send for another engineering group to come from one of the close satellite planets, but the paperwork involved would be... just... awful. Aside from that our only other way to meet with the High Council would be by going to Capitol Planet and just meeting in person."

"Yeah... I was sort of wondering why you didn't just go back when you finished on Irk. I mean," Dib felt his face grow a little warm as Lor looked over at him with a bemused expression, "I'm glad you didn't, but like, this seems like the face-to-face option would be a little easier."

"Honestly it's because no one wanted to spend another year in that ship to get to Capitol Planet. We could try to go to the closer satellite planets, but on the off chance this is a colossal misunderstanding, we'd rather stay in neutral ground." Lor replied with a shrug.

"Also, in case it is real and the Irkens try to take this planet," Carrius whipped out a laser gun from his belt. "We can fuck them up."

"Right..." Dib nodded, not really sure if Carrius was the best choice if they wanted to maintain the peace between Irk and the Syndicate- then again, it didn't seem like Irk was interested in keeping the balance since they had tried to kill them. "So... why is Q here?"

"Simple." Lor gestured to the white and red alien that was lying, curled around the lighting fixture high above their heads. "We can't keep him out. We keep throwing him outside but he manages to wander back in so we're giving up."

"Didn't the Syndicate give you your freedom?" Dib looked up at the (currently) humanoid form for Q which looked back at him, all seven eyes half-lidded and sleepy.

"Yes. And I freely chose to attend."

"Why though?" Dib really would rather not have to deal with Q ever again.

"Because I feed on negative emotions and this is a War Council. You're smart, put the pieces together and figure out my motivations for yourself." And with that Q curled back up on the light. Dib wasn't sure how exactly he was staying up there, but he also didn't care.

"How is our signal, crew?" Captain Rose's boots clicked loudly on the tile floors as she entered the room, surrounded by smaller robots each with a screen displaying different forms that she was reading and signing as she walked. "And what got into D3R1K? They are in quite a mood today."

"Your First Officer took a laser to the face." Lor immediately called his brother out.

"Oof what a dumbass. Did you wave a light over it?"

"It's more complicated than that!" Lor huffed. Dib laughed, he had not seen much of the Captain's personality when she wasn't trying to lead a crew, or stop a war. It seemed when it was just her crew and herself, she was a lot more colloquial and easier going.

"I know it is, Doctor." She signed another form. "So tell me, are we online or not?"

"We should be. Systems show a strong connection to Capitol Planet. All of the arrays are functioning at maximum efficiency." Carrius reported with a salute.

"Excellent. Let's run a test call to the Council."

"Affirmative." Carrius and Lor began operating their specific consoles. The lights on the side pulsed evenly as a large, scanning light swept the room before a hologram of a beautiful, ornate chamber began to manifest. The three-dimensional quality on the room was incredible. Dib could see every detail, even the slight pinkish tone of the sky outside of the window. In the center of the room was a blue skinned woman, the same species as the Captain only she dressed in beautiful, ornate white robes. Her hair was adorned with glistening gemstones, styled elegantly, revealing her pointed ears. She looked older than the captain, and small dots of gold could be seen flecked over her cheek. Immediately the three Syndicate members dropped to one knee, saluting to the woman.

"High Council Chairman Tiriana, we are honored to report to you and the noble members of the High Council today. I am Captain Allison Rose of the G.S.T Nova."

"At ease, Captain. We are all eager to hear your reports from the Massive. We read the briefing and understand the severity of the situation. The Council Members are gathering outside the chambers and we are readying ourselves to begin." The woman had a very gentle, almost melodic voice. Dib knew they had called her a chairman but the lavishness of her hair and dress all suggested that she was more of a queen.

"Is that a fucking Parasite?" Dib nearly jumped as a second Tangean had entered the room. This one was dressed similar to the Captain- in the blacks and reds of a Syndicate military uniform- only this woman had quite a bit more decoration on her uniform. Her hair was cut very short, nearly shaved to one side, her build was a lean, and a little sturdier despite the fact that she was easily half a foot shorter than the High Council Chairman.

"Language, darling." The Chairman remarked, sounding more amused than upset.

"Sorry it just took me off guard." The second Tangean responded.

"General Andromeda!" Again, the Syndicate members dropped to one knee in respect for the military woman before them. "My sincerest apologies. We have tried ridding the room of the Parasite but it keeps letting itself back in."

"Huh... never seen one that close before..." She didn't seem mad, more intrigued. "Oh!" She saw everyone kneeling and quickly nodded to them. "At ease, at ease." Finally, the two seemed to notice Dib, who had awkwardly tried to mimic the Syndicate salute (Lor had showed it to him before, but the positioning of the hand over the chest was weird and honestly it was kind of difficult to just drop to it at a moment's notice). "Huh..." The General tilted her head to the side, clearly sizing him up. "Is this Dib Membrane?" Dib was a bit taken aback. They knew his name? Even the Tallest whom he had (briefly) met over a video call had not bothered learning his name. She turned to her (wife? The Chairman had called her darling, but Dib was unsure of the relationship between the two) lowering her voice, "are human heads supposed to be that large?"

"My research indicates that they are not." Lor answered. "However, there is nothing medically wrong with him, so to speak."

"General, with all due respect, my head is not big." Dib protested. The General narrowed her large blue eyes and Dib immediately regretted talking.

"Did I say you could speak, maggot?"

"N-no-"

"I'm just messing with you kid," The general burst out laughing the anger nothing more than a façade. She turned to Lor who was (strangely enough) looking rather embarrassed. "Lor, where did you find this guy?"

"Aw, I think he is sweet looking." The Chairman smiled gently. "His head is not... so... large..." She frowned, tilting her head. "I mean it is a little..."

"You're right though, the people of this world do share a weird resemblance to you, kiddo." She shrugged. "And Carrius! How are you holding up? I heard you got promoted to First Officer! Told ya it would happen!"

"Well yeah but that's mostly because our previous First Officer was actually an Irken in disguise." Carrius replied with a shrug. "But hey, a promotion is a promotion."

"I'm sorry." The Captain spoke up, like Dib, she had quietly been watching the exchange as it unfolded. "But do you two know the General and Chairman?"

"Yeah, they're our moms." Lor and Carrius replied almost in perfect unison.

"WHY was this never brought to my attention!?"

"It's in our personnel files." Carrius shrugged. "I guess it all just got delayed when we transferred into your unit. By the time they got to you. We were probably already on the mission."

"Is that gonna be a problem, Captain Rose?" The General arched an eyebrow, hands behind her back, sizing up the Captain (who was also taller than the General, but not quite the height of the Chairman). The Captain coughed.

"Of course not!"

"So that's how you knew my name!" This made a lot more sense, though Dib was a little disappointed that it was not his excellent rescue of the Captain that had earned him recognition from these Syndicate higher-ups.

"Oh yes, Lor talks about you all the time. He's quite fond of you." The Chairman smiled brightly. Dib saw Lor's face get rather bright. "We also heard briefly from Captain Rose of your exploits aboard the Massive. Those Hyperspheres and that blast-absorbing armor your parents created is rather impressive technology given Earth's... situation." Dib wasn't really sure to which 'situation' the Chairman was referring, but he assumed it had something to do with the near-miss Apocalypse fifty years prior. "We would actually be interested in discussing further technological research with your parents, if they are at all willing."

"They... don't really believe in aliens..." Dib replied hesitantly. Well... his dad didn't. He wasn't sure about his mom, to be fair.

"How sad. They seem so smart." The Chairman shook her head sadly. "Before I was elected Chairman, I was head of our scientific development facility."

The sound of knocking interrupted the conversation and the Chairman turned her head to look at the beautiful, marble-like doors behind her.

"Ugh, we have to do this meeting thing, don't we?" The General made a face. "I mean the Irkens attacked our people. I don't see why we can't just call this a war and move on with our lives." Dib was starting to see where Carrius got his lust for combat.

"Because, my dear, that is not how things are done." She leaned down a moment, affectionately grasping both the General's hands and pressing their foreheads together. "We are the Syndicate: Be Free, be proud, be unified." The General let out a sigh.

"Fine. But I'm complaining about it tonight when we get home."

"That's fair." The Chairman released her wife's hands as the doors behind them slid open and a colorful array of aliens began filing in. Dib had never seen so many at one time- not even in the prisons of Moo-Ping-10. Soon the room was lined with strange creatures Dib had never seen. The general muttered something in a language he did not understand, and withdrew to sit in the back. Lor and Carrius took a position on either side of the Captain before kneeling in greeting to the members of the Council. "Captain Allison Rose, hero of Gaowei 9, You stand before the Syndicate High Council to present word of treachery by the Irken Empire. Please rise and tell us the tale of the attack on the Massive. You have the ears of the Council."

"Thank you, Chairman." The Captain stood up, her posture ridged, stiff. She seemed nervous. "As you are aware, we made a trip to the Massive- the home of All Mighty Tallests Red and Purple. We had discovered Irken weaponry on our routine trip to the Milmerth base. We also discovered infiltration by an Irken Invader. These are all in direct violation of our treaty but when communications attempts were made- they failed. It was decided we would venture to the Massive itself."

"I thought only Irkens were allowed on the Massive, you did you get on board?" One of the many aliens on the Council spoke. This was a very tall, skeletal creature without facial features that had many eyes floating in an orbit around it. Dib was in awe by the many different species on display in the hologram- however- he was a bit disappointed that this meeting was... well... a meeting. He's been to investor meetings with his father that were more interesting than this.

Hell, his father's wedding had been more interesting than this- especially when the cake had exploded. This was just a lot of talking.

"We had assistance from Invader Skoodge?"

"THE Invader Skoodge?" An olive skinned, bald creature with markings down the front of its face spoke up. "Conqueror of Blorch?"

"We believe it to be the same Skoodge, yes. I have invited him and his bonded Zim to speak with us here today. Though, I'll warn you that he looks nothing like the guy on the poster." The Captain replied, her posture never wavering. Dib had to admire the intensity in her voice and expression, but just like in class he found himself too distracted by the aliens around him to pay much attention. (He hoped she wouldn't drop a pop quiz on him about the briefing).

The meeting dragged on for a bit. Once the novelty of the aliens wore off, Dib was trying his best to not yawn or check his phone. (It was even harder because CB was texting him funny pictures he found online).

The doors flew open and Skoodge walked in looking like a frazzled parent who had only just barely managed to shove all of his kids in the minivan for the parent teacher conference. He looked completely exhausted. But that was of little interest to Dib who was too busy staring at the long, lean forms of the All Mighty Tallests.

The room had gone dead silence. You could have heard a pin drop.

"What..." the Captain narrowed her eyes. "Is the meaning of this!?"

"Woah woah woah!" Tallest Purple shoved his way to the front of the group. He kept looking back to Tallest Red, as if trying to communicate something with him, as Purple cleared his throat walking straight to the center of the room. He turned to face the stunned member of the High Council who were watching with mouths agape (that is, for those who had mouths). "You see Syndicate," he drew himself up to his full height, surprisingly graceful in his movements. "We've had an absolute doozy of a day." His purple eyes scanned the shocked expressions as he continued. "It seems there is treachery, betrayal, and underhanded plotting taking place on our beloved planet and we are, honestly, just as surprised as you are about it."

Silence.

The Council members were looking at one another, but no one was moving to speak. Captain Rose looked back to Dib to see if he knew this was coming but the Membrane clone just shrugged, completely at a loss.

"So... the Irkens that attacked our landing party, were not acting on your orders?" Finally, the High Council Chairman spoke, but her voice was very tentative.

"Absolutely not." Tallest Purple seemed to enjoy being the focus. "We have always respected our friends in the Syndicate. You are one of Irks oldest alliances. Tallest Miyuki herself made our treaty and Red and I have no desire to disrespect her wishes."

"The orders were given by the Control Brains." Finally, Tallest Red spoke up. Slowly he walked to join Purple in the center of the room. "We were not consulted. They acted on their own and against the interests of Irk."

"So, you have come all this way... to apologize?" The Chairman looked rather skeptical. Whispers flooded through the room. Dib heard a very distinct noise overhead as he looked up to see Q had stirred and was now sitting upright.

"Not... exactly..." There was a very distinct hesitation in Tallest Red's response as he looked to Purple and nodded for him to continue.

"As I mentioned before, there was treachery on Irk. The Control Brains, it seems, have other ideas for how our planet should be run." Dib leaned forward in his seat as he watched Purple's expression turn very serious. "We ask not only for your forgiveness toward the Irkens who attacked your people... but we also come to you... our allies... our friends... for help."

"You come to us for help!?" A spiked reddish creature with burning hot lava dripping from eyeless sockets and a gaping mouth, stood quickly, slamming a hand on the table before it- singeing the solid marble-like rock. "After your Irkens assaulted a Syndicate Captain- a Syndicate HERO! We're not stupid, Tallests. Your Control Brains take orders from you!"

"They're supposed to take orders from us." Tallest Red spoke, his tone severe. "We never ordered an attack on the Syndicate. We were preparing for a fair trial to discuss the matters of the weapon and the Invader. We did not order that infiltration. The Control Brains have been acting without our knowledge trying to cause war between our people."

"Why?" The Chairman kept her calm expression, though she was one of the only ones to do so. "Why would they want a war with us? We are not some small planet with basic defenses. We actually stand on even grounds." Dib saw Zim open his mouth but Skoodge very quickly covered it with his hand and the ex-Invader fell quiet.

"They want us to do the war thing." It seemed Tallest Red was struggling under the pressure of giving such a speech.

"Enact the War Protocol." Tallest Purple interjected, helpfully.

"Yeah that. It is quite frankly a disgusting concept. They want to turn us into an unthinking, hive-minded, swarm."

"Of course they want that, they're Control Brains, after all. They want to control. It's in their nature; it's in their names." Dib looked up. Q was practically leering over the scene unfolding beneath him, perched like a predator, ready to pounce.

"Why should we believe any of this?" The General finally spoke. "These are awfully big claims and you have very little to back it up."

"We came all of this way because we had to forcibly exile ourselves. The Control Brains tried to kill me. You have the technology to scan my PAK, so if you want proof..." Tallest Red was so looming, he had to kneel down for even Captain Rose to reach the PAK on his back, connecting it to the same machine Dib had seen before.

All at once the room was filled with the image of red-eyed machines, watching, speaking. The rhythmic dimming and brightening of the lights- the ominous, emotionless tone of voice. It sent chills down Dib's spine into the very pit of his stomach. He heard the screams in his head once more- the ones Q had played for him...

Memories of a near disaster he had never witnessed caused the image to hit a little too close to home. By the time the room returned to normal, an icy sweat was clinging to Dib's sallow skin. The room felt freezing despite the fact that his face felt as if it were on fire. He was slightly hunched trying to rid himself of the nausea that had swept through him. He felt an arm on him and weakly looked up to see Lor. He had not even noticed the medic had left his post. "You don't look so good..." Lor whispered, his voice barely audible over the gasps and whispers of the Syndicate High Council as Red removed the wires from his PAK.

"You gonna wave a light over me?" Dib tried to force a snarky grin. Lor put a hand to his forehead, looking concerned.

"Nah, you need something different." He took a small patch from the pouch on his leg and fiddled with it for a moment before placing it on Dib's palm. He instantly started to feel better. He gave Lor a little half smile.

"Thanks..." He looked back to the center of the room. The High Council were in quite a state, many different species all scrambling to speak. The Chairman cleared her throat, and all at once everyone fell silent.

"Tallest Red, thank you for sharing this information. Your situation is very serious indeed. However... how can we be sure this war protocol has not already been enacted."

"The failsafe of Tallest Dayleah."

"It seems they need permissions, but I don't know much else on the matter." Tallest Red grimaced. Dib blinked, looking up again.

"It's the Failsafe of Tallest Dayleah." He said at last. He knew that Q could talk to the Syndicate if he chose, but Q had a distinct habit of speaking mostly to Dib.

Again, the room fell dead silent.

"Wait, how do you know about Tallest Dayleah!?" Tallest Purple's antennae stood straight up as he reeled back with indignation. "Did Zim tell you!?"

"Zim probably did at some point." Zim acknowledged with a shrug.

"No, no. I don't know anything about them." Dib admitted. "Q said it." He pointed up to the ceiling and the Tallests followed his gaze. Purple let out a cry nearly falling back. Q leapt off the lighting fixture, hovering in the air, the scarf like appendages floating around him as if he were under water as he landed lightly before the Tallests. They dwarfed him with their heights but he seemed rather unphased by the massive Irkens.

"What do you know about this, Q?" Captain Rose gestured to Lor. "Medic, give the Parasite a voice. It seems our little friend has been withholding information." Lor was fumbling in his bag eventually grabbing a metallic, bandage looking apparatus with a series of small, pin-prick, blinking lights. Lor carefully approached Q who bowed his head allowing Lor to wrap the bandage around his neck, very loosely. All the lights flashed at once and Q turned to look at the Captain.

"It is not 'withholding information' if you never ask me anything, Captain." Dib blinked. Q was talking. All this time of him having to deal with that voice in his head, translating for Zim and Skoodge and the Syndicate had a way to allow him to talk? Dib wasn't sure if he should be pissed off or not- but he was, regardless.

"How does a Parasite like you know about our great and mighty Tallest!?" Therron looked abhorred by the very thought.

"Insulting me is not a super great way to get me to talk. However, you Irkens all must forget how old I actually am. I know you Tallest because I met her."

"You would have to be thousands of cycles old..." Tallest Red looked completely at a loss as Dib could see him visibly trying to do the math. The Parasite merely let its too-wide mouth snake into a sharp-toothy grin. Tallest Purple shuddered.

"Well you look awful."

"Don't insult it, we need its help." Tallest Red shushed him.

"When Irkens first got their PAKs and the Control Brains were created to maintain the 'Collective' as you call it, Tallest Dayleah feared they may one day try to act on their own accords. She had seen what Irkens could do, she had seen your war protocol in action. She decided that it could only ever be used in times of great urgency. In order to assure the Control Brains could not activate it without reason, she made a failsafe. Only the Tallest- or Tallests- when they are of sound mind and body, can activate the War Protocol."

"Why are you giving us this information?" Tallest Purple gave Q a rather distrusting look. The Parasite grinned wider.

"Honestly? Because the more this spirals, the more anxious and unhappy everyone is. I win no matter the outcome."

"You are... just delightful, aren't you?" Skoodge didn't look particularly surprised by the motivations. "A little fountain of information."

"I'm a fucking delight."

"So only a Tallest can activate the protocol... but our communications with Irk are still down and if you have been exiled, you probably don't have information either." The Chairman rubbed the bridge of her nose. "This... this is a lot of new information. I'm afraid we need to call in a few new members before we can truly give a verdict on the situation."

"Wait wait wat!" Purple held out his hands trying to stop her. "You can't just put this on hold! Did you not hear the thing about our planet being attacked by unfeeling robots!?"

"You know to most races, you Irkens are unfeeling robots."

"Take the talking thing off the Parasite now! I do not like it! It is rude!" He pointed angrily in Q's direction and the Parasite simply smiled, closing all seven of its eyes, tilting its head to the side as if trying to play cute.

"I'm sorry Tallest Purple. This is no longer a War Summit. This is more of a re-evaluation of our alliance with a possibility of sending troops to fight on Irk rather than simply trying to defend ourselves. That is a different type of meeting that might require different choices from the electorate. Not to mention we don't have the right paperwork for this..."

"No no no no no!" Tallest Purple tried to call out but the aliens were already beginning to exit one by one. "Why are you leaving!? Can't you guys decide to help us!? Just sign whatever forms you have! Send us troops or weapons... or..." he trailed off.

"Thank you for all of your information, we will let you know when we reconvene so you may speak." The Chairman smiled pleasantly at them and the hologram dissipated into nothing. The two Tallests let out cries of frustration. Red slamming his hand into a wall and Purple falling to the floor and rolling around a bit, letting out a loud groan.

"I HATE the Syndicate!" He shouted, his antennae straight up.

"You know we are not holograms. We can still hear you." The Captain remarked dryly.

"Well good." Purple huffed. Red pulled him off of the floor.

"How long will it take?" He looked to the Captain, "until they can give us an answer?"

"Hard to say..." She shrugged. "But I need to go fill out a completely different set of forms now..." She dismissed herself grumbling as she headed back down the hall. Q floated back up to the light and had curled back up in his sleeping position.

"I guess the only thing to do know is go back." Skoodge looked over to Dib, thoughtfully. "In fact, I think Therron and Voel can go ride with our human friend. His car is much more spacious." Both Tallests shot Skoodge a dirty look.

"You do not get to use those names!" Red growled. "We are Tallest Red and Tallest Purple."

"Those are titles. You don't get to keep them after you're exiled." Skoodge replied flatly. "Dib, do you mind escorting them to Zim's place?"

"You want me to drive your leaders?" Dib was skeptical. "Are they going to try to kill me?"

"Former leaders," Skoodge specified, "and if they do, your car is CB so it's at their own risk."

"Please don't put us in a vehicle with CB again..." The Red leader was starting to protest but Skoodge was already leaving.

"I can also guard you." Lor offered seeing Dib getting abandoned with two disgraced Irken leaders. Dib only sighed, seeing as how he was really given limited options at this point. He did see why there was a little bitterness and frustration with the Syndicate. It seemed there was a lot of paperwork and not a lot of action.

He also understood, as he made his way to Zim's house and stopped for the FIFTH FUCKING TIME so that Therron (Therron was apparently the name of the purple clad Tallest) could get snacks, why he had been tasked with driving the fallen Tallests back. The trip to Zim's house was usually a thirty-minute drive. Dib arrived an hour later.

It was bad enough having to stop. It was even worse having to hear Therron and Voel argue the entire trip back. Even CB was just spamming his phone with empathetic little gifs. Lor would try to talk but was drowned out by the constant bickering. Things were on edge, and Dib was more than ready to drop off these assholes and get his car professionally cleaned. He headed into Zim's house, glaring daggers at Skoodge what had known damn well what fresh hell he had sentenced Dib to. Dib gestured around him at the weirdly furnished livingroom.

"You're back."

"Is that my fucking spear?" Voel perked up. "Red Death!?"

"Nope, that's Zim's spear now!" Zim jumped to his feet.

"I'm leaving." Dib was not about to hear another fight. He grabbed Lor and turned to head right back out. Usually he'd stay to at least find out why the Tallests had shown up- but he didn't care. He could ask CB later if the curiosity was killing him.

As he opened the door, he nearly tripped over something in the doorway.

"Ah HA! I was right!"

Dib blinked, trying to regain his balance, he looked down to see a very small little Irken, not even bothering with a disguise. It had red eyes, green skin, the same long black antennae as Zim and Skoodge, but it was smaller, with a rounder build. Before Dib could say anything, the lights flipped from normal to a dim blue and something dodged under him. The Irked was grabbed by the throat and forced against the ground by CB's body as the doors slammed shut, trapping them inside. CB raised a weapon to the smaller Irken, the lights on the helmet blazing.

"You are not authorized to be here, intruder."

"Oh shit." Skoodge was on his feet, a weapon drawn. Voel had grabbed the spear, (Zim was also trying to hold and wield it simultaneously), and Tenn had dropped from the ceiling, a gun in each hand, all pointed at the unwelcome guest. Skoodge lowered the weapon seeing the intruder already pinned to the floor. "I can't believe your security system actually did security."