Directed at the guest reviewer who reminded me to update: And I would have gotten away with it too if it hadn't been for you random nameless reviewer! /shakes fist
Author's notes: Soo... It's been a while again hasn't it? I'm done school, got an apartment, and I'm working two part time jobs. All of this and I'm still not updating a thing ha ha... ok. I'll try to post something. If you are reading this then I succeeded.
Warnings: The usual warnings. I totally read through this chapter before I posted it I swear but it's early in the morning and my brain is shutting off... wait it's all coming back to me now! Angst and implied torture. I think that's it. Sure. Let's go with that.
Attempting Rescue
When he entered the torture chamber, a stale cold met him, causing him to shiver. It was the same frigid temperature he felt before when other aliens were being tortured. He exhaled and his breath appearing as fog. None of the metal tables were being used. That was a good sign.
There were no guards either. Whoever was supposed to keep watch on this room was either slacking terribly... or maybe there was a reason why no guards were needed.
He walked forward, looking around to see where they were holding the captain. Then he spotted the Heroian being suspended by his wrists near the far wall. He was hanging by some wire, naked, and shivering violently against the cold.
Purple moved a bit closer, and when he did he saw that the Heroin had cloth shoved in his mouth. The captain's eyes were closed; his cheeks were pink from cold.
"Captain?" the Tallest questioned.
The Heroian's eyes slowly opened; they were glassy and unfocused either from the cold or possibly drugs. There was blood on him, but Purple couldn't tell where it was coming from. Obviously there had been some torture despite the Tallest's warnings.
"Release the prisoner and return room temperature to normal," Purple said loudly so the computer could recognize his voice sequence.
Voice authorization recognized: Tallest Purple. Requests accepted.
The wire immediately released the captain who fell to the floor, still shivering uncontrollably. Heat poured into the room, returning it to normal temperature. Purple breathed a sigh and knelt down to assess the damage. There didn't appear to be any broken bones.
"Can you stand?" Purple asked as he removed the cloth from the captain's mouth.
The Heroian wrapped his arms around himself. He shut his eyes and curled his legs close to his body.
Purple scooped the small creature into his arms. The captain was freezing. It was common knowledge that Heroians couldn't handle the cold very well. Heroia was a warm planet. Its seasons always stayed within mid-spring and summer, so true cold was unnatural for the inhabitants there.
Machines were everywhere in the Empire. Many of them didn't generate heat. Also, Irk was almost all desert land. Extreme heat and cold didn't bother Irkens. That's probably why his people made excellent invaders now that he thought about it.
Purple brought the prisoner to his room. No one questioned him. It wasn't right to question the Tallest. He placed the captain in his bed and covered him with a few blankets. With any luck the Heroian would come to his senses within the cycle.
The Tallest sat down at his desk. Life here was much different than life outside the Empire. He wondered briefly if Lard Nar was coping alright. Purple wasn't sure how the Heroians were going to treat him after they discovered he'd been pals with one of the Tallests, but he trusted the Vortian would be ok. The Heroians were a compassionate people, and Lard Nar could be clever when he wasn't having anxiety attacks.
It would somehow work out. At least Lard Nar wasn't trapped inside the Empire anymore.
"Mm..." the captain stirred a bit. The Heroian's eyes blinked open. He stared up at the ceiling in blurry eyed wakefulness before slowly turning his head to look around the room.
Purple drew his chair closer to the bed, and the sound of the metal legs of the chair scraping against the floor drew the captain's attention to the Tallest.
The Heroian managed to prop himself up. His cheeks were flushed, and he looked disoriented. "What do you want from me Tallest...?" he asked in a small quiet voice. His ears drooped as he dipped his head to avoid meeting the Tallest's gaze.
"You've been captured by the Empire. You now fall under our rules of conquest," Purple explained as he had done a few times before. Back then he'd hardly cared about aliens and preferred to be flinging crushed wrappers at the drones' heads.
"Yes... I know..." the captain said. His shoulders sagged in defeat. "Please... do whatever you want with me... just don't hurt the others. Please..."
Self-sacrifice wasn't something Purple normally paid any mind to. The captain didn't have any power to stop him from hurting whoever he wanted. He could easily torture the captain as well as his followers. The Heroian offering himself for punishment really didn't mean anything.
"First, I want you to get up and walk," Purple told him. "Can you do that much?"
The captain pushed the blanket aside and carefully slid out of the bed. His legs trembled when his feet touched the floor, and he held onto the mattress to steady himself. Then he touched a hand to his head as though he was fighting off a wave of dizziness.
"Will you do anything to save them?" Purple questioned, feeling somewhat mischievous. How far would he push the captain to test the Heroian's resolve he wondered?
"If it only involves myself... then yes... I will crawl... beg... bow down to you, whatever you want..." the captain replied grasping on of his arms and chewing his lip.
Purple smirked. "Prove it."
The captain wasn't lying. He dropped to his hands and knees and crawled closer to the Tallest. Then he prostrated himself before Irk's leader. "Please... please don't hurt my followers," he begged.
Purple nearly cringed. What a pathetic thing to do. Did the captain really have no pride at all?
"Yup, I thought so," Purple remarked. He got up and scooped the Heroian off the floor. He dumped the startled captain back in his bed. "The drugs haven't worn off yet."
"I-I don't understand..." the captain stammered, staring up at the Tallest.
"You are a rebel aren't you?" Purple crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't you want to stop me and save your people, and countless other races, from destruction?"
"Yes..." the captain replied. He took a deep breath. "But I can only continue to fight if I remain alive... if I fought my situation... things would get worse for me and my people."
"Not in this room," Purple told him. "This is my room. My followers aren't allowed in here."
The captain paled. "Y-your room?" He looked down at the mattress as this realization struck him. He was lying on the Tallest's bed.
"You know Lard Nar don't you?" Purple asked. He was pretty sure the captain still didn't recognize him, but the Heroian would understand soon enough.
"Well..." the captain hesitated. "No... not really... I mean I heard about him..."
"He fought with me often enough. It earned him his freedom," Purple concluded when he realized the captain wasn't going to admit to knowing a rebel. "So don't assume that everything you've heard about me is true."
"Wait..." the captain's eyes widened in recognition. "Are you... are you Kaenen?"
Purple smiled. "So now you recognize me. Yes, I used that name on your planet. My real name is Purple, but most people refer to me as the Tallest."
The captain stared at him in disbelief.
"My soldiers are tracking down your family," Purple added. "They should be here in a few days at most. Until then, you and your crew members are my prisoners."
"Tallest please..." the captain spoke in a hushed tone. There was panic in his expression. "Please don't hurt my family... please."
Purple sighed and dragged a hand down his face. "I'm not finding them so I can hurt them..." he muttered. "I want them to come and fetch you. I can't just have my people drop you off on your home world. That would make me look good which would be bad for me and for you. Understand?"
"But... why would you want to help us?" he asked.
"Would you rather die here on the Massive instead?" Purple retorted.
"N-No."
"Then be grateful I decided to not kill you and stop asking me questions."
"Yes sir... thank you..."
The captain gripped the sheets tightly like it pained him to say those words.
Bang bang
Someone was knocking at the door... Purple's antennae flattened as he turned to see who was trying to bother him. "Who is it, and what do you want?" Purple asked.
"My Tallest, it's me Grahl," the Irken replied. His voice was muffled by the door. "May I come in?"
"No," was Purple's immediate answer. He was still annoyed with the drone's change of personality.
"Oh uh... ok then. I just wanted to bring word that the soldiers have been sent, and I also wished to welcome you back to the Massive... I guess I'll leave now."
"Go fetch some technician clothes," Purple told him as an afterthought.
"For the Vortian sir?"
"No, Lard Nar didn't return with me."
"Oh... that's too bad. Did he die?"
"Can you just go get the clothes you ungrateful little thwat!?"
"Yes sir! Right away my Tallest!"
Purple listened as the fast-paced footsteps faded down the hall.
The captain watched the Tallest quietly for a moment. He curled a bit closer to himself, afraid of Purple's temper. "Um... Tallest...?" he managed to speak although his voice wasn't very loud.
Purple flicked his antennae in his direction before slowly turning to regard the Heroian. "Yes? What is it?"
"Will you... are you planning to kill me?" the captain's voice was filled with uncertainty. He watched the Tallest, waiting anxiously for his reply.
One of Purple's antennae twitched. Really? Didn't he just say he decided not to kill the Heroian? He might change his mind sometimes, but to do it this fast would just be ridiculous.
"No, and since I'm extending my protection to you, no one else will try either," Purple answered. He figured he might as well 'claim' the captain as another slave. At least then the Heroian wouldn't be tortured again.
The captain stared at Purple blankly. He carefully moved to sit, and he turned to better regard the Tallest. "Why would you spare me...?"
"I don't feel like killing you," Purple replied as a matter-of-fact. "You were just trying to steal people that had already been marked for annihilation. I hardly see that as worthy of having you or your crew executed."
"Thank you..." the captain let out a sigh as a look of relief spread across his face. "I'm indebted to you Tallest..."
"You don't have anything to offer me," Purple remarked, raising his hand to stop him from speaking. "But I am feeling generous right now. If you want something besides not dying, I might give it to you." He lowered his hand and smirked.
He was beginning to feel attachment to his position of power again. He needed to be careful that this feeling didn't consume him.
"Then...could I make a selfish request...?" the captain asked.
"So wait... sparing your two crew members, even the one I hate, isn't good enough for you?" Purple questioned in mock anger, adding a scowl for good measure.
"No! No not at all," the Heroian said hurriedly. "I just... I mean... if you wouldn't mind... could I please have a mask?"
"The Empire already knows who you are," Purple informed him.
"Yes but... if I could?"
"Alright, on one condition," Purple answered, holding up a finger. "You must stay by my side until your people come to retrieve you. I won't accept you trying to run away or rescue anyone on your own. Killing me is also out of the question. If you try, my guards will hunt you down and they will do whatever they want with you after I'm dead."
The captain bit his lip and nodded in agreement.
"Good," Purple sat back in his chair. "Then we have an agreement."
"You're much different than I remember..." the captain admitted, keeping his eyes lowered so he wouldn't risk catching the Tallest's gaze. "The last time I was captured you... you were laughing..."
"I guess I've changed a bit," Purple replied shrugging his shoulders. At least he was pretty sure he had. Before he wouldn't have thought speaking to an inferior alien would be worth his time. Now he was talking to a Heroian rebel. "You can thank Lard Nar for that."
The captain fidgeted. "It's... kind of strange..."
"What is?"
"That you... and the leader of the Resisty... that you two would become friends..."
"We never claimed to be friends," Purple responded with a slight scowl.
"But when I spoke to Lard Nar... I mean he didn't deny it..."
The Tallest was thoughtful about this comment, but he soon waved it off. "He isn't the leader of the Resisty anymore. The Resisty is dead," Purple reminded him. "All I did was get Lard Nar out. The next thing on my agenda is to get you and your people away from the Empire. Then everything can get back to normal."
Normal: cold machines, silent empty halls, obedient followers, mountains of snacks to fill the void, sentencing enemies of the Empire to die. He didn't have a choice. It was either this or deactivation.
"I'm sorry..." the captain mumbled.
"Hn?"
"You looked sad for a moment..."
Oh great. Now he was starting to actually show his emotions. Purple sighed.
"It's fine. You should focus on getting better."
"Yes... the guards... they..." the captain shuddered.
Purple squinted an eye at him. "I didn't see any visible injuries on you."
"It wasn't supposed to be visible... they said they weren't supposed to torture me... not until you got back... but they did anyway."
So the guards had inflicted mental and emotional abuse then. He rubbed his cheek. Red had been good at that kind of thing too.
"If you give me their names I can have them all thrown into a star," Purple remarked.
"They never said their names..."
"I'll just order them to tell me who did it. Then I'll have the culprits thrown into a star... after I make them do hard labor for a few weeks. Hmm... " He scratched his chin. "Maybe I'll have them do hard labor, then fight each other to the death, and then I'll throw the survivor into a star."
The Heroian managed a tight uneasy smile. "You really are different... I'm glad Kaenen wasn't completely fake... but... you don't need to throw your people into a star."
Apparently the captain's capability for forgiveness had some rather wide boundaries. Purple found this idea interesting, and at one time he might have tried testing the captain's limits... but since Lard Nar had unknowingly introduced the Tallest to the concept of empathy and caring (Purple still didn't exactly wanted to admit he had these feelings), Irk's leader simply allowed these thoughts to dissolve.
"Sir?" Grahl spoke through the door. "May I have permission to enter?"
"Yes, enter," Purple breathed a sigh. His followers were still as annoying as ever.
The door slid open, and the Irken stepped into the room. Grahl quickly approached his Tallest with the garments he had fetched. They were red. Purple grimaced. This colour belonged to his DNA brother... what was his foolish follower thinking?
"Please don't be angry with me sir," Grahl spoke, recognizing the Talle's distaste. "These are the leftovers from Tallest Red's reign. There are no purple ones left."
Things were moving too fast... already the Empire had decided to forsake Red. This was what Purple had feared since his DNA brother first started acting out. All of the drones and technicians had switched from wearing both red and purple to simply wearing his colour.
He was in charge now. Just him.
"What do you mean...?" the captain asked.
"My partner in crime is currently imprisoned," Purple informed the Heroian wryly.
The captain looked stunned. "Why...? Did something happen...?"
"That is none of your business outsider!"Grahl snapped defensively, flattening his antennae against his head.
"He almost killed me actually," Purple replied, smirking as Grahl gaped in pure horror. "He wasn't trying really that hard though, otherwise I would be dead. Because of his attempt to kill me though, the Control Brains are having him serve twenty seven years in prison."
"For... for attempted murder?" the captain blinked. "I thought you two were... I mean... at least on the same page so to speak..."
"We were mostly, until I decided to rescue Lard Nar," Purple shrugged his shoulders. "After that he was always angry for some reason."
"Sir..." Grahl said looking a bit nervous. It was obvious the Irken wasn't comfortable with his Tallest giving out so much information.
"Go get me some sewing stuff," Purple told the drone. He just wanted Grahl gone.
"Yes sir..." Grahl responded, leaving the clothes he's gathered at the foot of the bed before obediently leaving the room.
"I have to admit... the amount of control you have... is pretty amazing..." the captain said.
"But not even I can go against the Control Brains," Purple informed him. He rested his arm on the desk and leaned against his hand. "It's kind of annoying."
"Then why not shut them down?"
"If I did that, Irk would probably collapse," Purple responded. "This whole change thing I experienced happened to me pretty recently. It's going to take at least another ten years before I want to doom my own civilization."
"What if you found a balance... like if you programmed the control brains to give you more power than they possess...?"
"..." Purple thought about this idea for a moment. "Well... that solution does sound more promising... how do you suggest I do that?"
"I don't know..." the captain admitted. "I don't know anything about how Irk works."
The only way he could get close enough to reprogram a control brain would be if he was being reprogrammed or deactivated... or if he was overseeing the reprogramming or deactivation or judgment of another Irken. He probably had a list of all the Irkens that had been sentenced to deactivation... but he couldn't stomach watching such a thing at the moment. There was something about watching the removal of a pak that made him uncomfortable...
Why couldn't have Red supported him instead of trying to kill him? Purple sighed. He really didn't want to be the one being deactivated either.
Wait. There was Grahl. He hadn't been programmed by the Control Brains since his pak was fixed. There was no reason to keep Grahl as a spare. He could lie and say he wanted the drone to be a janitor or something stupid.
Purple smiled to himself. He had an in, but there was still a small problem... he had no idea how to reprogram a control brain, and anyone who did know was either imprisoned on Vort (Vortians had a knack of knowing about these kinds of things) or too loyal to the Empire to sabotage the very thing keeping Irken civilization from collapsing. There was a chance Lard Nar could figure out the machines, but Purple didn't want to put him in danger.
Oh well. He was the Tallest. He would figure something out eventually... Maybe Zim... no... no way! Not only would the Control Brains be deactivated, Irk would probably explode or something too.
"Tallest...?"
The captain's voice snapped him from his thoughts.
"Yes?" Purple replied.
"If there is anything I can do... I owe you my life... and my friend's lives... so if you need my help with anything..."
"It's fine," Purple told him. "I appreciate you concern, but an outsider like you really doesn't know anything about the Irken Machine."
"Oh.." the captain dipped his head and clutched the blanket. "Yeah, you're right...sorry..."
"But, if you want food or whatever, go ahead and take it."
"Huh...?"
"You heard me. You can take some snacks out of the storage pods," Purple spoke, sitting up straight and folding his arms over his chest. "I'm giving you permission."
"But...I already owe you... I can't pay you back..."
"Heh," Purple gave the captain an inquisitive look. "Do you really want to pay me back? You would have to be my slave for at least thirty years then. Do you think you could handle that?"
"I...I couldn't..."
"That's why I'm telling you not to worry about it," Purple cleared his throat. "And don't thank me yet either. You and your friends are still on board the Massive deep inside Irken territory. There are plenty of things that could still go horribly wrong."
Yes. There were many things that could go wrong… too many things.
"You're right..." the captain replied. "Sorry."
Extra Notes: Leaving Lard Nar behind wasn't a good idea really, but there were reasons. One: The Heroians, even when angered, pose less of a threat than the Empire. Two: Purple isn't used to looking out for someone else. Three: Thinking "one rebel group is pretty much the same as another rebel group. They should get along fine." Four: He needed to say/do something that would make the Heroians maybe want to help their captured people, and leaving behind Lard Nar may have been a bit of an afterthought.
Maybe I will post the next chapter soon! But don't get your hopes up because I am one of the worst updaters in the world. Just saying.