Red sat in the ship's control deck, scrolling through his tablet as usual. He'd been trying to ignore the burning in his chest and the ringing in his antenna. How long has he been away from Purple?
"My Tallest! The PAK specialist is here to see you!" One of the table drones, a super short pink eyed girl named Tse said
"Send him in!" Red said excitedly, sitting up straight. An exceptionally tall Irken strode in, blue eyes with a blue PAK specialist uniform to match. He stood tall and strong in front of Red, giving a salute
"My tallest, I brought you the explanation for the button" He pulled a stack of papers out of his PAK. Red took it and looked at it with disdain then dropped them on the floor
"Just tell me, I don't need more papers" He grunted, glaring down at the Irken who sweated under his gaze
"U-Uhh y-y-yes my tallest! My bad! So um, I looked into what the button is. Apparently it was invented during Tallest Miyuki's reign, No Irken could be wasted for the first Operation Impending Doom so she had this made! That way instead of killing defective or criminal Irkens and putting their bodies to waste, we could factory reset their PAKs to the way it was the day they were made! It of course won't get rid of their defective personalities, just puts them back in line for a while" He said
"That's perfect! Ok, you can go now" He shooed him away, returning to his tablet. He searched up for Zim and looked for the reset button, pressing it before reclining back in his chair with a smile "Ahhhh- I wish I had found this sooner!"
Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his chest, groaning. Well, he was in a good mood so better time than ever to go make up with Purple. He didn't know how much longer he could go without him, after all
He stood up, heading back to his and Purple's shared room. Pur was still curled up in bed either crying or sleeping for the past few days. As soon as he heard the door opened he sat up excitedly
"Pur? AH-" As soon as he stepped foot in the room he was tackled to the ground, all the drones in the hallway looking over as they saw their tallests wrestling on the ground. They watched as they struggled before Purple got control, dragging Red into the room and slamming the door. All the drones looked at eachother
"PUR WHAT THE HELL! LEMME GO!" He kicked and flailed as Purple dragged him to the bed. Red looked up right as Purple leapt on top of him, tying his hands to the top of the bed frame
"You're not leaving me again" Purple said coldly, tightening the restraints before wrapping his arms around him, holding him close. He scented him with his antenna, taking in as much of Red's scent as he could
Red struggled a bit but knew a losing fight when he saw one and eventually just sighed, letting Purple cuddle and scent him
"You're a huge smeet you know that?" Red huffed. He wouldn't admit it but he really was enjoying be back, feeling Purple's warmth
"Mnh- Shuddup. I wouldn't have to be if you didnt leave me for so long, it's your fault" He whined, holding him a little tighter
"Heh, yeah I guess. You're still a smeet though, but I guess that's why you need me huh?" He said amused. Purple looked so cute hugging him with that pouty face
"Go to sleep, I don't wanna hear you" He said angrily
"Awee, babe~ You're really gonna tie me up and not even have fun after all that time apart?" Red teased
"I dont like sex, you do. I just do it for the cuddles after" And also cause he didn't really have a choice most of the time
"Well that's actually really cute, hehe" He purred, why was he so happy? Maybe all the time away from his mate really had affected him more than he thought. Or maybe Purple was giving off pheremones, he wasnt sure "Fine, Ill be your cuddle slave for now. I guess I deserve it"
"Good, now shut up" Pur moaned out, finally feeling sleepy now that he was with Red. It had been so hard to sleep these past couple of days without him
"Ok, ok. Can you at least untie me? I promise I won't leave" Pur looked up at him with a testing glare. After a few moments he reached over to untie him before hugging him again. Red wrapped his arms around him and let himself fall asleep with him
[Back on Earth]
Mai woke up the next morning with Zim still sound asleep on her chest. She decided to test if he was still clinging and sat up. Sure enough his claws instinctively came out to hold tightly onto her
Well, that's convenient. She walked out to go make breakfast before he woke up. Koi of course was still on the couch watching TV and became curious when Mai walked out. She followed her and watched as she began to prep some foods
"Is the Dib child coming back today?" She asked as she watched her cook
"Nope, I need to go to his house. I work in his fathers lab, I think you'll really like it. After we eat I want you to go make a disguise" Koi nodded excitedly. Science was her thing! She could totally show these humans how real science is done!
Zim gave a loud snore suddenly as his head tilted to the side at an odd angle. Mai picked his head up straight before going back to cooking. She was pretty used to having a smeet clung to her at this point
"Uhh, isn't he too old to be clinging like that?" Koi asked, confused. She remembered in the Smeetery only the super little ones could be seen hanging off of MTs like that. She didn't even remember doing that herself meaning she must have been really young
"Yeah, he's just special I guess" She smiled. He really was, not always in the best of ways but special nonetheless
Koi nodded, taking that answer and going with it
Pretty soon food was done and she helped set everything up at the table while Mai went to go get changed with Zim
She set him on the bed and took off his onesie, which held in all the cozy heat. As soon as it was off he shuddered, cracking his eyes open
"H-Hey…Gimmmeee-...Is colddd" He grabbed the blankets on the bed and pulled them over him, flopping back onto the bed to sleep
"Nuh uh, you need to get dressed, breakfast is ready" She said trying to pull the blankets away but he pulled them right back. Mai noticed his little foot sticking out from under the blankets and poked it
"EEE" He pulled his foot under the covers, now on alert for any attacks "Fine! Zim will get up just no…doing that!"
"Hehe, deal" She said amused. That worked every time
She handed him his clothes, dark pink overall shorts with a light pink shirt underneath. He quickly pulled it on and raised his arms up expectantly
"Someone likes being carried" She giggled, picking him up
"I- No! Zim is just used to it!" He said embarrassed. Mai smiled, taking him to the kitchen and sitting him on his chair to eat before sitting next to him. He stared at her
"What?" She asked confused as to why he was staring
"Zim always sits there" He pointed to her lap "That's my spot now"
"Oh, sweetie, that's only at Dibs house since there aren't enough chairs. You can sit there-" She said going ahead and eating
She almost choked when she felt something crawl into her lap unexpectedly
"Ack- Z-Zim!" She coughed. He just reached over, pulling his plate right next to hers and ate "Zim you can't just jump on me like that! I said you sit over there" She said sternly
He turned around and glared up at her
Koi watched all of this unfold, getting more and more nervous
"Zim claimed this spot! I sit here!" He demanded. Mai glared back for a moment before her expression softened into a smile
"Awee, you just wanna be close to me, is that it? You could have just said so" She laughed, patting his head
"What?! NO! Of course not! I just-...grrrrr" He grumbled, jumping out of her lap and onto his own seat "I just wanted to uhh…inspect for germs! Yes, none there! Carry on" He pulled his own plate back and shoved food in his mouth before she could ask any questions
"Thank you for saving me from the germs, sweetie" She said going back to eat her own food
Koi watched in amazement at how she handled that. She was truly in the presence of a true master
BEEP
Zim suddenly sat up straight, antenna standing on end, eyes going wide and staring into nothing
"Uh…Zim? Sweetie, are you ok?" She waved her hand in front of his face when he didn't respond "Zim?"
Suddenly his PAK sent a shock through his whole body, making him seize up before going limp. Mai scooped him up
"ZIM? P-Please answer me!" Mai cried out thinking his PAK was broken. Koi ran over to examine him. She wasn't a PAK specialist, but she knew quite a bit
"Ok, take him down to the lab! Im gonna need tools and paperclips and- EEK" Suddenly his PAK legs shot out, almost cutting her head off. Mai immediately dropped him
His body hung limply from the PAK legs, trying to regain use of his muscles. He swayed side to side on the legs, off balance. He strained to pick his head up, finally looking up at them with hollow eyes
"Sweetie?..." Mai whispered
His antenna perked up, he seemed to be getting used to his body and was getting more balanced, looking around the room
"Computer, give me my assignment data" He said stoically, ignoring the two staring at him. His posture, voice and face were completely devoid of emotion
A tube came down from the ceiling and latched onto his PAK, transferring all its data of his mission to him. Mai and Koi watched, not knowing what to do and in shock overall. After a moment the tube pulled away
He immediately dropped to the floor and retracted his PAK legs, going to his room. Mai followed him
"Zim? W-What's going on?" For the first time ever she felt scared of a smeet. She peeked into the room right when he pulled on his old invader uniform, tossing the old outfit to the floor. He turned and pushed past her to leave the room, heading for the front door
"Wait! Zim!" She ran after him, he was already out the door. She grabbed his wrist "Zim stop please!" She pleaded. He stared blankly at her for a second before pushing past her again, taking off on his PAK legs. Koi was standing in the doorway, not knowing what to do to help
"AUGH! Koi, watch the house!" Mai yelled, turning on her disguise before getting on her PAK legs and chasing after him
As soon as Zim realized his PAK legs weapons were turned off he hid in an abandoned building to rearm his defenses. The fact that he was hiding got Mai off his trail, she scanned the area for his PAK
By the time she got a lock on his signal he had already armed his PAK legs and was off again. He jumped from building to building leaving Mai far behind. Taller Irkens had the disadvantage when it came to speed, the smaller the faster
Zim went straight to the nuclear power plant, his plan clear. As soon as Mai realized where he was going she really started to freak out
He crashed in and began shooting everyone in sight with his PAK lasers, moving throughout the building making his way up to the control room
"ZIMM! STOP!" She yelled, running after him. She finally cornered him in a room and pinned him up against the wall "PLEASE STOP! JUST STOP!" She screamed, holding him against the wall in tears
He stared at her with those dark and hollow eyes as if contemplating what to do. She was taller, so he should listen. But was she Irken or human? She looked human now, so this wasn't the same person definitely
Suddenly he kicks her away and tries to push past her but she grabs his leg and pulls him back. He immediately fights back, stabbing her in the shoulder with a PAK leg
"AUGH-!" She dropped to the ground, grabbing her bleeding shoulder. She looked up just in time to watch him leave, on his way to kill the humans on the next floor
She realized 2 things at that moment. 1, This wasn't Zim. 2, She was gonna have to really fight to keep him from blowing the whole city up
She ripped a strip of fabric off the bottom of her dress and wrapped her shoulder with it to stop the bleeding. It was now that she wished she kept something other then bottles in her PAK
After wrapping her wounds she ran right after him past all the dead bodies. Suddenly the alarms went off as she was running through the halls trying to find him
She finally did find him, sitting in the control room…on a phone call?
"Surrender or your city will be reduced to nuclear waste-" He said blankly, on the phone with the president. His voice and facial expression were still blank even as he threatened destruction
She leapt on him, pinning him to the ground again. This time pinning him down with her PAK legs so she could rip his PAK legs out, throwing them to the floor. He struggled but of course couldn't over power her
She huffed, picking him up and throwing him over her shoulder. She went over to the screen with the call
"Sorry about that!" She said before ending the call, rushing off before the police came
As soon as she got home she went straight to the lab, Koi following her all the way asking questions. She updated her on what happened on the way down the elevator
"Hm, sounds like a reset…" Koi said, watching Mai carry and struggling Zim to an exam table and strapped him down
"Sedate him." She said, holding him down as he tried to bite her hand, thrashing around. Koi immediately looked around the lab for needles and an anesthetic. She eventually found it in the cabinet, prepping the shot.
She came over, nervous going near him. She quickly pulled up his sleeve and administered the shot, making his thrashing slow until he went still. She looked up at Mai, who stared down at him with a very serious face
"Mai?" Koi asked nervously, making Her jump a little
"Huh? Yeah..sorry, I need to get a look at his PAK. You're right, I think he was reset but…something is still wrong-" She said nervously, petting Zims head
"Well he IS defective. Very much so, it's probably a glitch" Koi said as Mai rolled Zim onto his stomach and restrained him to the table, opening up his PAK
"Maybe, you know a lot more about PAKs than me. Tell me what you think-" She said, already knowing something was wrong when the PAK opened up. It looked burned inside, probably from the shock earlier
Koi picked at the pieces, pulling things out and examining them
"The shock must have shot his PAK, all these chips are ruined! Personality chip, memory, facial recognition…Jeez how is he alive?" She said completely shocked that the damage hadnt affected his most important functions like breathing and hearing.
"I-Is it fixable?" Mai whispered, ready to burst into tears
"Well, if he did the basic protocols and backed up his data regularly then yeah. What I'm worried about is that the inner part of his PAK got fried too. I mean his hearing, sight and breathing seem fine but I guess we will have to wait to find out how much was affected" Koi threw away the broken chips and went to the computer, looking for any backed up memory data
"I back up his data every week when I do mine" She said feeling much more hopeful hearing he could be fixed
"Great. Computer, print PAK chips F, L and K" The computer whirred as it worked on the request, a few pieces of what looked like plastic popping out of the control panel. Koi grabbed the biggest one and plugged it into another slot to download the data
While that downloaded she plugged all the other chips into his PAK, Mai just sitting next to him and petting him. His antenna twitched
"I think he's waking up…"
"One minute, almost done-" Koi said, watching the computer screen as it went up to 100%. As soon as it did she pulled it out and plugged it in, closing his PAK back up
Mai immediately took off the restraints and hugged him to her chest, letting herself cry with relief that he would be ok
"Uhh…maybe keep him restrained. We don't know how his PAK might react to the new chips-" Koi said nervously. Mai looked conflicted, she wanted to comfort her smeet when he woke up, not to have him strapped to a cold metal table-
"No, I'm holding him. '' She carried him, holding him tighter "So why would his PAK restart? I've seen it happen but I never really learned how it's even done…
"Well there's a few things, could be a PAK malfunction, could be his PAK thought he was captured by enemies, or it can also be done manually. That's only for Irken who are put on trial and tried as criminals. I heard he was put on trial but was never convicted but if he was that's probably what they would have done to him if not execute him" Mai's antenna stood straight up
"So…could the Tallest do it? If they wanted to?" She asked, her spooch in her throat. Koi's eyes went wide, knowing exactly what she was getting at
"I-I don't know who does it or the protocols they need to go through…I'm guessing the tallest could if they wanted to…" She said nervous by how angry Mai looked
Mai had her arms wrapped around Zim tightly, a low growl in her throat
"M-Mai?..."
"I'm gonna kill them"
"W-What?"
"I'm gonna kill the Tallest"
