"Diego Membrane!" Captain Rose stood before him and the throngs of other aliens who were cheering excitedly in the audience below. Dib was on a stage made of glowing white light. The Captain stood before him in almost regal looking military regalia- the dress uniform of the Syndicate. Below them members of many races had come from far and wide to witness the moment at hand. "Come forward!" Her voice was strong, projected across the masses to enthusiastic cheers.

"Yes, my Captain." Dib stepped forward, bowing his head as he spoke. He looked to Lor who was standing a bit behind the Captain, Carrius beside him. Both were dressed in equally lavish uniforms though the ranking indicators varied.

"You have single handedly put your planet on the map, Captain Membrane. Your work in the sciences has impressed even the Irkens. So much so, in fact, that you have re-established peace between our two governments." She gestured to Zim who was standing at her side wearing something akin to the Tallests' armor.

"It is true the human did great things. I taught him everything he knows though." Zim explained to the Captain who simply smiled, shaking her head.

"He is so amazing," He heard Lor sigh almost dreamily as he looked over. "Dib managed to advance all my medical equipment to make surgery even safer and more successful." Carrius nodded in agreement at his brother's praise.

"He managed to invent an entirely new weapon system that runs without having to rely on the ship's primary power supply! He's a genius!"

"I wish you were my creator instead of Zim." CB sighed from his pocket. "I would be honored if you would do my next system updates!"

"It's true I vastly underestimated the human. Skoodge nodded approvingly from his place at Zim's side. It was funny, Dib had grown accustomed to seeing them together. It was almost strange to see one without the other.

"He's not that great. He only saved most of the galaxy." Q's voice huffed in his mind. But he was quickly shut down by the Captain.

"Silence Q- Captain Membrane is a hero. I am honored to have him in the Syndicate. I am honored to promote him. Dib, how about your own ship, your own crew. The Universe is large and expansive and your genius may be needed elsewhere." She offered him a small keychain sized device with a blue button in the center.

"Only if I can steal your medic." He looked to Lor with a grin.

"I don't think he'll mind" Captain Rose chuckled, shaking her head in amusement "so long as you give me my fucking ship back."

"Huh?" Dib blinked.

"GIVE ME MY SHIP BACK!"

Dib shot awake in a sweat, nearly headbutting the Irken perched on top of him. There was a loud cry from beside him as Lor sat upright, lasers blasting from his eyes and burning through the nearby wall, barely missing singeing Tak's head.

"Tak!?" Dib jerked the covers over himself to dislodge Tak from her perch. He was somewhat successful as she slid down to the floor looking annoyed. "Why the fuck are you here?!"

"You should learn to control yourself better. You almost hit me." She was looking at Lor who was fumbling for his glasses.

"First Officer Tak with all due respect: why in Rao's name are you here?"

"Is that how you greet your superior? By swearing to Rao?" She looked at Lor with indignation, straightening her uniform.

"It is when I find my superior officer unexpectedly in my quarters in the dead of night." Lor remarked sounding very annoyed.

"I have come to reclaim my ship. I heard from Zim that you are in possession of it, Cadet." The tone of her voice when she used Dib's title was absolutely disgusted.

"Well I don't have it with me so you'll have to come back in the morning." Dib retorted pulling the covers over his head. Tak glared at him, hopping back on the bed and trying to pull the blankets off of him.

"Look at me when I'm speaking to you!"

"No!" Dib curled up even more.

"Look, First Officer, we're off duty right now. And I know you don't have the paperwork filed to put us back on duty to help you retrieve private property. So, if you don't have a good reason for barging in here and you don't want me to file a complaint- which will look bad given how you just transferred- you best get going." Lor spoke very calmly but Dib could tell he was annoyed. He had to give him credit for that quick thinking, it got Tak off of their backs.

"Very well." Tak sighed, hopping off the bed and going to the door. "But as soon as you go on duty, I expect to see you!"

"Meet us back here in the morning and I can show you where the ship is." Dib didn't want to give up the ship, but he was too tired to fight it. And after this was all over, he might have something better to replace Tak's cruiser. Maybe he would get a Syndicate ship with an AI that didn't try to back-talk him at every second.

The problem would be stopping CB from eating it and becoming the new AI.

(Actually, thinking on it, that habit CB had of taking things over was pretty unsettling).

Tak grumbled, storming out of the room, slamming the door so hard the framed sci-fi posters Dib had been collecting, all rattled in protest. Dib let out a sigh trying to get his body back into its relaxed state. He had been having such a great dream too and Tak just had to wake him up. Still, this was more sleep than he was accustomed to getting. Usually Dib would still be up, but lugging things around all day for Derick and then having to listen to Tak and Zim fight for what felt like years, he was drained both mentally and physically.

"Hey, Lor, you think we can complain to Captain Rose about getting woken up like this?" Dib asked turning his head to look at the medic.

"Look I have two surgeries to do in the morning so you bet I'm complaining." Lor grumbled pulling the pillow more over his head. "She also made me damage a wall."

"Eh," Dib squinted in the darkness at the burns. The wall had been scorched and broken, but the holes were not too large. "My dad can pay for it." And with that he went back to bed. (Though the dream he had was a lot less interesting this time- one of those mundane dreams about everyday life- except for some reason Zim worked at McMeatys and Therron was trying to get the logo changed to a picture of himself).

When he awoke, Lor was already dressed and halfway out the door. "There you are." Lor pointed to the coffeemaker, "I already made your coffee- Tak is on our lawn glaring at the door. It's creepy. Get rid of her when you can." He opened the door making a face of visible discomfort before looking back at Dib, "And have a great day at work!"

"Thanks for the coffee..." Dib barely managed to get the words out but Lor was gone. He dragged himself through his morning routine, suiting up in his Syndicate uniform before grabbing the coffee and pouring it into a thermos. He looked at Tak through the window. She was in her human disguise just sitting on his lawn, glaring at his doorway like some kid from a horror movie. No one seemed to be giving her any mind- which would have been weird if this were Zim- but Tak had a way to blend in by making everyone do what she wanted.

"There you are." the moment Dib had a foot out the door, and had begun locking up, she was on him. "I have been waiting for a long time. Your species spends too much of its short lifespan unconscious. You should consider PAKs."

"We'll look into it." Dib lied as he pocketed his key.

"Now," Tak hopped to her feet. "Take me to my ship. Zim says you have it."

"Yeah yeah, get in the car." Dib rubbed his eyes, getting his car keys and unlocking the door. "It's at my parent's place."

"Get in the car, First Officer." Tak's purple eyes narrowed.

"Do you want your ship or not?" Dib opened the door getting in the driver's seat. Tak got in beside him and he started up the car.

"You do not really need the ship."

"Oh NOW you talk!" Dib rolled his eyes as he started the drive with the commentary from his car. Tak looked bemused.

"You were not crazy then."

"No. I wasn't."

"I mean not at that particular moment."

"Shut up CB."

"Why is Zim's security system in your car?"

"Because he's annoying?"

"Zim? Yes."

"Do not insult my father. Look I am just saying that it is unnecessary to get the ship. It is out dated tech. There are better things available."

"You're just mad the ship yelled at you." Dib smirked.

"She did?" Tak perked up. "Good girl."

Dib pulled up to his house despite the protests of CB and walked through the front door with Tak in tow. The good thing about his family was that they never seemed to question his increasingly frequent visits as he passed Foodio cooking in the kitchen. Gaz was probably asleep and Dib wasn't sure where his parents were as he made his way to the garage. He opened the garage door: "Here you are so you can get off my-"

"There is no ship." Tak spoke very bluntly as Dib did a double take.

She was right.

The ship was gone.

"MOM! DAD!" Dib ran back toward the house throwing open the door as he called out. "HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!?"

"Diego please it's early..." His step-mom came downstairs in a fluffy purple bathrobe, rubbing her eyes. "Why are you shouting?" Her mismatched eyes noticed Tak and she quickly started to wake up more. "and you have company?"

"The spaceship in the garage, where is it?" Dib cut her off.

"Why do you have a child with you?" Moira seemed rather confused.

"She's Zim's niece. Where is the ship?"

"Zim's widowed sister had a daughter...?" Moira looked visibly as if she were trying to put together Zim's fictional family tree and Dib didn't have time for this.

"The ship, Moira, where is it?"

"We were cleaning out the garage last weekend..." Moira began, looking thoughtful. I called you to ask what you wanted us to do with it and when you didn't answer we didn't know what to do. It takes up a lot of room, Diego. So, we thought about moving it to your new lab when your friend Cedrick came over."

"Cedrick?" Dib questioned. Who the fuck was Cedrick? Did he even know a Cedrick? Was that another weirdly mundane Syndicate name? Had they confiscated the ship?

"You know the nice blue haired boy with the weird helmet that helps him see. Oh your dad wanted to look at that helmet so badly..." Moira sighed, shaking her head. "I did too, I'll be honest... but the guy is a little skittish."

"Is Cedrick back?" There was a crashing sound and his dad stumbled down the stairs nearly knocking into Moira who impressively managed to keep her balance. His dad obviously had just thrown his lab coat over his pajamas, as Dib could easily see the atom-patterned fabric of the pajama pants. "Did he rethink our offer about the helmet!?"

"No darling, it's our son." Moira pressed a kiss to the professor's cheek as she helped him get back into a normal, standing position.

"Oh hello son-boy!" His dad waved. "How is your new internship with your science professor?" The Internship was how Dib was explaining his new Syndicate work. "That's a nice little uniform she gave you. You look scientific- but it needs a lab coat."

"It looks a little military, I'll be honest." Moira gave Dib a once-over. His father shrugged.

"You're more of an expert on that."

"Wait-" Dib paused, "why would she be an expert? I thought she worked for like a non-profit or something." Dib looked at Moira, eyes narrowed. "Why are you an expert? Did you work for the government? Was it our government?"

"Don't worry Junior," Moira waved it off. "But if you're looking for the ship, your friend was supposed to keep it at Zim's until the new temperature regulation on your lab was finished. We weren't sure how you liked it kept and our garage has a lot of delicate projects in it so we wanted to recreate that same stable environment before moving it. No need to risk damages." That was both incredibly thoughtful and incredibly frustrating as Dib realized C fucking B had made off with TAK's ship. And, given their past interactions, he doubted it would make it to his lab.

"Right." Dib pinched the bridge of his nose. "I guess I'll ask Zim about it."

"Funny he never mentioned it when you picked up his niece..." Moira sounded almost suspicious, but she was distracted as Dib's father knelt down to Tak's level.

"I heard about what Santa did to your family." He spoke very seriously and Tak just looked as if she were a deer caught in the headlights. "We'll get him one day, little girl. Mark my words. We'll get that man for REVENGE! And also, to a lesser extent, FOR SCIENCE!"

"Y... yeah..." Tak looked to Dib for some sort of explanation, but Dib ignored her. CB had the fucking ship and he would not let Dib drive to Zim's if he knew that Dib had found out. CB had controlled the car on many occasions, this time; Dib would have to outplay him.

"Dad, can I borrow your car?"

"What's wrong with yours? Did it get exploded again?" His dad shook his head.

"No, it's just..." Dib narrowed his eyes, "untrustworthy."

"Like the brakes aren't working right...? Or...?" Moira was trying to find some sort of logic in Dibs threat toward CB.

"Well we can just by you another car. That one is getting old anyway. We got it like last year or something. It doesn't even have a weasel canon." Membrane-Senior seemed less concerned about Dib's reasoning.

"I don't think most cars have a we- wait- what the fuck is a weasel canon?" Dib's question earned a very long, tired sigh from his step mother.

"Don't ask. You can take your father's car. We have like five more." What the Membranes lacked as far as displaying their wealth with their rather simple home, they seemed to make up for with expensive, luxury cars, a lot of which seemed to get destroyed when his father's experiments got a little out of hand, but they were easily replaced.

"Thanks." Dib gestured for Tak to follow him as he went back toward the exit.

"Keys are by the door Junior!" Moira called after him. In a lower voice, Dib heard her address his father, "I thought the weasel canon was still in prototype mode."

"Your parents are very... unusual. Even for Earth parents." Tak looked behind her as if expecting the Membranes to burst out of the door in hot pursuit.

"They're okay. I think my step-mom might be evil or something but I haven't had time to work on that case because all of this started happening." Admittedly, Dib had more than enough time to actually check- as it had been two years since the wedding, and his father and Moira had dated for a year prior to that.

There just wasn't much information on her.

Which, in itself, was suspicious.

"So who is Cedrick exactly?" Tak asked as they hopped into Dib's father's car. The car was larger than Dib's, the color more of a silver than Dib's preferred black.

"I'm guessing it's CB." Dib pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Isn't it?"

No answer.

"Fucking figures." Dib huffed, tossing it down as he sped toward Zim's. He reached it in record time, storming down the jagged pathway, past the guard-gnomes and ever-watching blowfish that struggled to follow him with their unblinking camera-eyes. He knocked loudly on the door only to be met by Skoodge holding a slushie.

"You seem upset." He remarked, looking Dib up and down.

"Fucking yes I am." Dib retorted, pushing the door open and forcing his way inside. Skoodge looked behind him, most likely trying to see if CB was going to try and stop this obvious forced-entry. But CB was a lousy security system about 90% of the time and Dib figured he was safe from any last-second laser beams aimed at his very normal sized head. He didn't think CB would murder him as a way to avoid confrontation (but he was not entirely sure so he stood a bit back, just in case. Chances were CB would kill Tak first and Dib could get out through the door).

"Where is your shitty security system!?" Tak demanded as she straightened up her posture trying to emphasize the whole two inches she had on Skoodge who just slurped his slushie looking remarkably unimpressed.

"Everywhere. He's a security system." Skoodge replied dryly.

"I wanna talk to him." Dib crossed his arms glaring at... the air... because Skoodge was right, CB was kind of everywhere and without him using the hologram or the body this was the best Dib could do to convey his anger and frustration.

"Hm." Skoodge sipped more on his drink. "Well... good luck with that." And he quickly walked out of the living room back to the kitchen.

"CB! Come out and talk you asshole!" Dib shouted at the walls. "I know you can hear me you sack of shit!"

"ANSWER US AT ONCE YOU INSOLENT COMPUTER! Tell us where you have taken my beautiful ship!" Tak demanded. Dib felt something tugging at his leg. He looked down to see two large, electric blue eyes gazing up at him as GIR stood by his feet.

"Whatchya dooooin'?"

An idea clicked in Dib's brain. "We're looking for your brother." The Membrane clone knelt down to be more on the level of the SIR. "Do you know where CB is?" GIR blinked at him and then burst out laughing, squishing his face in clawed hands, rolling on the floor for a few moments before getting back up.

"No."

"That's too bad." To get GIR to do what he needed, he had to speak on GIR's level. "Because he has a whole bag full of tacos and he wasn't going to share." It took a moment for the words to sink in and GIR's eyes widened. Tears began welling up in the lamp-like eyes and a high-pitched wail welled up in his throat. The robot's mouth practically unhinged as it ran screaming through the house leaving destruction in its wake.

"TAAAAAAAAAAAACOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooossssssss" Like a really weird banshee the cry was reverberating through the house. Tak gave Dib a very annoyed and skeptical look.

"What now?"

"Now," Dib grinned, "we wait."

It didn't take long before GIR came running back in dragging CB's body behind him. "GIR cease and desist this is very delicate!" CB was not in the body, of course, which seemed to be for the best given how GIR was letting it hit every corner, desk, and table between wherever he had found it and the living room. The body was scuffed up, the helmet had been partially dislodged (Dib was a little disconcerted to realize under the helmet there was nothing- no eyes, no facial features- perhaps CB had plans to finish it later), and by this point the noise had attracted the attention of the other Irkens: Zim, Tenn, Voel, and Therron- at least (Skoodge and Zeke were unaccounted for at the moment).

"What is the meaning of all of this YELLING!?" Zim demanded looking at GIR with annoyance. GIR's reply was difficult to understand, garbled by synthetic tears.

"MASTER HE'S GONNA EAT ALL THE TACOS AND I WILL NEVER GET THEM AGAIN BECAUSE HE'S EATEN ALLLLLL OF THEM IN THE WHOLE WORLD AND[something Dib couldn't understand]NOW THAT CAT WILL NEVER BE PRESIDENT!"

"That' all well and good GIR but you've had your fun. I'll get you tacos later." Zim must have understood the rant.

"Tacos?" GIR blinked.

"Yes, you can have them later." Zim assured him.

"NAH I WANNA EAT PIZZA!" And with that he began laughing and bolted into a nearby wall. Therron and Voel were watching with interest.

"I think we created an actual monster." Therron noted as he watched the SIR fall on its metal butt after colliding with the wall. It grabbed its own feet and began rolling around, bumping into everything imaginable.

"SECURITY ROBOT!" Tak pounced on the body, shaking it aggressively. "We heard you speak now you must give us answers! WHERE IS MY SHIP!"

"Your ship?" Zim blinked. "Is that what this is about?" He lifted one antenna looking up at the ceiling, seemingly realizing that CB was not currently occupying the body. "Did you steal her ship? That's hilarious."

"I did not." At last CB spoke up. "I have been falsely accused."

"Oh really? You had nothing to do with it, Cedrick?" Dib elongated the name, putting real emphasis on it.

"Cedrick?" CB sounded equally confused.

"Who is this Cedrick?" Zim looked over annoyed.

"CB! CB is Cedrick." Dib rubbed the bridge of his nose. It was so obvious.

"You named yourself?" Tenn looked surprised.

"I will admit to toying with the idea of making my own human identity the way father had done." CB was hesitant, "but I have not decided on a name. Cedrick was one I had considered. I also considered Car."

"Car isn't a name." Dib spoke at the same time Therron piped up with:

"Car is an AWSOME name! I'm going to call myself Car!"

"Forget about names!" Tak gave a frustrated cry. "This is about my ship! My BABY! This isn't about your security system or the stupid name it decided on!"

"Well it can't have Car now because I'm taking it." Therron cut her off and Dib could see Tak's inner struggle between her respect for her former leaders and the unbridled rage at being constantly shifted off topic.

"Right, but this," She was speaking through gritted teeth, forcing a polite smile, "has nothing to do with my ship."

"Ugh, CB just give her her ship back." Voel sighed, getting annoyed.

"I did not take it."

"Yes, you did. You were being all sketchy when we went to get the ship; and then you wouldn't talk on the way to Zim; and you hated that ship. You have made that very clear." Dib lined up the evidence before the Irkens. "And my mom perfectly described you when she said who took the ship. You took it."

"I did not want to go see the ship because we do not get along. I thought that was obvious." The body surged to life and Tak was thrown off as CB sat up. She had to activate her PAK legs to avoid crashing into the wall.

"If you took the ship, I won't be mad." Zim assured him. "I would have done the same thing just to piss Tak off."

"I did not do it."

Zim squinted into the lights of the helmet as CB tried his best to put himself back together after GIR nearly destroyed him. Finally, the former Invader nodded with confidence. "Well he said he didn't do it. He didn't do it then."

"Zim." Dib gave him a flabbergasted look- it was hard to believe how thick headed the Irken was at times. "He's lying. CB lies all the time. He lied when he says he listens to your grounding; he lies when he tells people he won't take over their devices or ships; and he lies when he says he doesn't use the security cameras to cheat at poker but we all know he does."

"That is not proven-"

"NONSENSE! I am an EXPERT Invader!" Zim puffed out his chest, cutting CB off before he could defend himself against the poker allegations. "I can tell if he is lying. I can tell if anyone's lying."

"Wow Zim you're so smart, talented, and tall it's a wonder you weren't considered for Tallest." Tak spoke up sounding oddly convincing.

"Yes Tak, thank you, but Zim is bonded and you must seek your romantic exploits elsewhere." He held up his hand dismissively.

"You idiot," She narrowed her eyes, "I was lying just then."

"While you may think you were lying," Zim smirked, "those are all true statements- even if you are too dumb to realize that- so technically," he closed his eyes, looking pleased with himself, "you were telling an objective truth."

"Ok then, why did my mom describe CB perfectly?" Dib quickly cut in before Tak decided she might have to murder Zim and Irk would be one rebel down.

"What did she say exactly?"

"My friend with blue hair and a helmet agreed to take the ship last weekend when they were cleaning the garage." Dib replied flatly.

"Perhaps it was a different friend with blue hair and a helmet."

"Fucking really?"

"... yes... perhaps it was bold of me to assume you had other friends. That was my logical error." Dib couldn't believe he got burned by a fucking house.

"Just fess up where the ship is and we can put this all behind us." Dib sighed.

"I cannot do that, Diego."

"DON'T call me Diego!"

"But that is your name."

"You do not get to call me that!"

"Can I call you Diego?" Zim blinked.

"I... I don't know..." Dib hadn't considered it before, "maybe."

"WHO GIVES A FUCK WHAT THE HUMAN IS CALLED!? CALL IT FAT-HEADED VORT BRAIN FOR ALL I CARE JUST GIVE ME MY SHIP!" Tak was at her limit.

"Ooo! Dibs on calling the human fat-headed Vort brain." Therron piped up. Just as it looked like Tak might have the Irken-equivalent to an aneurism, Tenn cleared her throat.

"Um... does CB have only the one body?" She asked hesitantly.

"Hm?" Zim blinked. "Oh I have no idea, he made that one on his own so if he made more, he's never mentioned it."

"I'm sorry!" Voel spoke up again for the first time in a bit, those blood-red eyes narrowed suspiciously (Dib recognized the expression as one he had made when he had learned that "fun fact" about CB). "Why did your home security system feel the need to manufacture a physical form and WHY did it know how to do that!?"

"Because I made him and I'm brilliant so he's brilliant." Zim replied without batting an eye. "'He does lots of impressive things. But this is about Tak's ship."

"No I want to go back to this- Zim that is creepy-"

"So Tak, if your ship is gone forever, how long until I can openly laugh about it rather than just snickering behind your back?" Zim cut Voel off but Dib could see in the expression of the disgraced leader in red, that this discussion was not over.

"Tenn, do you know something?" Tak was ignoring the obvious red flags about CB and was just focused on her ship.

"Well... it's just... if he only has the one body... last weekend CB was using it to help me with combat training... so unless he had a second one to take the ship..."

"...Oh..." Was all Dib was able to say. That did put a damper on his theory. "Well... he might have another one that no one knows about."

"I do not. This one requires a great deal of upkeep. And even if I did, Tak's ship would not let me near her, she would never let me drive her. She barely let me sit in her long enough on your sister's phone to help you out through the Massive. That was a life or death situation and she ejected me right after. Rudely, might I add." Shit. That was also a good point.

"Maybe you ate her like you did the Syndicate ship AI." Dib was losing traction with this theory and he knew it.

"I would not do that. I hate her and she is dumb and very rude... but she is Irken. And I did not 'eat' the AI. That sounds barbaric. I simply pushed him to the side, which he allowed me to do. If you go on the ship now, he is still fully functional." There was a very brief pause before CB added. "He still contacts me sometimes."

"Hang on I'm going to call Gaz, maybe she saw something." Dib sighed grabbing his phone and dialing his sister.

It rang several times.

No answer.

He tried again.

No answer.

A third time and he got a very annoyed: "What?"

"Were you sleeping?"

"You know damn well I was sleeping, ass-for-brains, what the fuck do you want?"

"Hey were you there when mom and dad were cleaning the garage out?" Dib ignored the insult- thankful Therron couldn't hear it and adopt yet another nickname for him.

"Yeah. You wanna know about that weird guy that took Tak's ship?"

"So you knew about this?"

"I saw him, yeah. Weird as fuck guy. Looked a little like CB."

"A little?" Dib faltered. "Wait, why didn't you tell me about this? Why didn't you stop someone from taking the ship?"

"Honestly I thought it was one of your Syndicate friends." Gaz replied sleepily. "Look it kinda looked like CB but the helmet was wrong." Dib was going to ask how she knew what CB looked like, then he recalled from his trip on the Massive that apparently his sister and the computer had been gaming buddies for quite some time.

"Wrong?" Dib pressed.

"Yeah..." Gaz yawned; he could hear he nestling back in to bed. "There were seven lights on it, not just the regular five. And I couldn't pick up anything the guy was saying on the monitors you have creepily set up in our garage."

"It's not creepy to want to keep an eye on our stuff-" Dib cut off. Seven lights, unable to be recorded- god damn it. CB was innocent. "Tak, Q has your ship."

"Q!?" Her antennae shot up. "THAT BASTARD!"

"Do I get an apology or...?" CB trailed off as Tak dragged Dib back toward the exit. Dib looked over to see Voel moving closer to CB.

"I would love to talk more about all of this." Voel's voice was dangerously calm.

"I just remembered I have to feed the baby." And the body dropped to the floor inactive.

"You guys still haven't found that baby GIR stole?" Tenn's comment was the last thing Dib heard before he was shoved in the car.

"Wait there was a baby?"

"We're pretty sure the baby got out." Tak retorted. "But that's old news! Take me to Q!" Dib sighed, driving his dad's car all the way to campus, going into the Syndicate headquarter to find Q lazing about under the medical bay in the same store room as last time.

"This is about the ship."

"You're damn right it's about the ship!" Dib spat back. Tak pulled out her weapon, firing at Q who dodged the bullets with ease.

"GIVE ME MY SHIP!"

"No."

"He... he said no." This was annoying, having to be the translator since Tak had no way of understanding Q on her own.

"Give it to me now!"

"No. I found it fair and square."

"You didn'tfindit, Q." Dib narrowed his eyes. "You stole it."

"Potato, potato."

"You just said the word potato twice. That's not even how the saying goes- Q just give us the god damn ship." Dib was frustrated.

"What does a potato have to do with my ship!?" Tak's fists were clenched.

"Q, look, do you want more pizzas? Is that it?" Dib sighed, pulling up the app. Q perked up visibly interested.

"Sure."

Dib groaned as he carefully placed the order again. He was going to get a reputation from all of these strange requests. Even as he accepted the pizzas the delivery driver was giving him an odd look. (It did not help that it was the same acne-covered teen who had been the driver last time) and Dib dropped the pizzas at Q's feet.

"There. Now where is her ship?"

"Oh," Q's mouth split open and he ate the entire pizza- box included in one bite- "I don't actually have it."

"You..." Dib could feel the raw hate rising inside him "don't," he was getting to be Tak levels of pissed the fuck off "have it?"

"No." The back of Q's head split open and began devouring another box. "I sold it to Zeke. I wanted the monies to buy the universes comfiest chair."

"He sold it to Zeke..." Dib repeated dumbfounded.

"He sold it to- I'm gonna kill him." And as Tak pounced toward Q and the two began to grapple, Dib's phone gave a helpful, happy buzz.

TEXT: ZIM [12:12 PM]: Don't bother with talking to Q, turns out Zeke had the ship the whole time. Go figure.

Dib flopped on the floor staring at the text as he just laid on his back looking up at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of Tak and Q fighting in the background.

"Hey, CB?" His phone switched to the tiny chibi version of CB. "Did you withhold the text because you're mad at me and wanted to make me talk to Q to get even?"

"Affirmative."

"...huh..." Dib blinked up at the ceiling. It made sense that CB would have been upset, but it was still a valid assumption, given the information presented. "I mean, that's fair." He knew from how things looked when Tak dragged him out, that he had sort of caused a scene between CB and Voel. Dib wondered, vaguely if Voel distrusted AIs more now because of what the Control Brains had done. It would make sense.

In a way, Dib understood. Fifty years ago, Earth had nearly succumbed to a computer that had decided to lash out. Those events, though before his time, were still fresh in human history as a whole. Maybe he had been a little harsh on CB.

After all, he had been innocent.

"You know what?" Dib spoke again after a chair thrown by Tak whizzed over his head missing Q by inches. "CB, I'm sorry."