Okay, everybody, we're reaching the end of this story in two more chapters. So far, I can say this is the longest one written. I had to make different drafts because I thought the first version was a bit too anticlimactic until it resulted in this one. I hope you enjoy it, because it took me about five drafts. XD.
Lost
Chapter 18- Last Stand
Despite the thick cloud layers blocking out the sun and making it difficult to tell the time of the day, the Hothians could tell when it was night or day with whatever little sunlight came through. They had years to get used to this, after all. So at the Hothian equivalent of dawn, Iraa and his men stood just outside their base, waiting for escaped captives to arrive. They'd come for their friends' aid without a doubt, not to mention the only way off the planet was in their power.
"Anything yet?" He asked one of the scouts looking out for any signs of life.
"Nothing, sir," was the reply. "Are you sure you don't want to go looking for them?"
"They will come to us. Besides, we can't afford to have more losses." There were less than a hundred of them left, and not many of them were women. If they wanted to eventually rebuild their civilization somewhere else they needed to repopulate. Those intruders had already cost him a team of 30 men.
"Wait, sir, there's something moving through the trees!"
"This is a bad idea."
"It's the best shot we got, so it's worth the risk."
"You do realize we're putting all our cards on a strategy made by a malfunctioning SIR unit?"
"He was on the famous 'duty mode' when it happened. Besides, hitorken Zim and Fury are with him."
"That's the problem."
"Be quiet, you two! We're almost there…!"
Blue was the first to emerge from the tree line, followed by Captain, Red, Lena and finally Ilk. Blue was waving a small piece of furry blanket tied to a long stick as a 'peace flag' of some sort. "Don't shoot, it's supposed to be a surrender!" He called out just in case the Hothians didn't get it. They didn't have any white fabric to make a proper one, after all.
The Hothians surrounded them, still pointing at them with their spears and guns. Red contained the urge to pull Ilk behind him, but she stepped close to him on her own accord. Lena, on the other hand, stood her ground with a serious expression.
One of the soldiers pointed out they were completely weaponless. When asked, they claimed they had lost them when crossing a lake.
"Okay, we are here, where are our friends?" Ilk asked as Iraa came closer.
"All in due time, Miss," He said absentmindedly. He looked at the party of five. "There were seven of you, I believe. Where are the black monster, the robot, and that other Irken?"
"They were killed by a mendigo."
Iraa exchanged a confused look with another soldier. "A what?"
Red groaned. "Don't start."
"The big furry beast with the large horns." Captain resumed.
"Ah, yes. The gwat. Cannibalistic tendencies," Iraa offered a small, polite grin. "You must be freezing to the bone. Please come inside."
It wasn't like they had any choice. As they were escorted inside, Red and Captain took a quick glance at the structure. It had signs of the Hothians stone building but mixed with debris pieces of all the ships that previously fell here. Perhaps it wouldn't be that hard to tear them down, all they'd need was a good amount of brute force…
"I apologize for the mess, but we haven't had a chance to clean up," Iraa commented as they passed through the broken remains of a dining hall.
"I can see that," Red muttered. "Where are you taking us?"
"You wanted to see your friends, didn't you?"
The group was led to a thick, but half-rusty, iron cell door, opened quickly by one of the soldiers. Inside the cell were Purple, Dib, and Echo. Just like last night, they were tied up together, but this time they were additionally gagged. "Purple!"
The three whipped towards them and tried to cry something out, but all that came out were muffled yells. Red and Captain were the first to enter the cell to remove the rags.
"IT'S A TRAP!"
It was too late. Before they knew what was happening, Blue had been abruptly pushed into the cell as the door was quickly slammed shut and locked. Lena and Ilk, on the other hand, were pulled backward and held back by two soldiers.
"ILK! LENA!" Red forgot all about Purple and ran to the door. "You bastard!"
Iraa stepped in front of the door. "Let's say it's a little... leverage in case you try something funny." He said casually.
Purple joined Red. "Bastard, leave my niece out of this!"
Lena decided to try a more... diplomatic approach before either Tallest said something stupid. "Look… Iraa, right? All you want is to get off the planet. We do too. We could come to an agreement, just like you suggested, we could take you with us if you just let us go-"
Iraa chuckled as he turned to the captive Irkenette. "And then what? You imprison us or make us slaves? We might not know much about what's out there, but we know enough of the Irken Empire to figure out that's the fate that would await us."
"Hey, if you guys have never left this planet how can do you know that?" Ilk asked curiously.
"Well, one of the ships that crashlanded here belonged to people with long horns-"
"Vortians."
"What?"
Red rolled his eyes. "They are called Vortians, you ignorant caveman."
Iraa frowned. "Who asked you?"
"You just did."
"How about us? We're not Irkens, we're-"
"Sobrekt." Iraa finished Blue's sentence for him. "You'll probably cut off our heads and put them on pikes* as trophies."
"Well, you're not completely wrong about the 'head-cutting part," Red muttered. The image of that last fight with the Hothian soldiers was still fresh in his PAK-memory.
"The point is we don't trust either of your people!" Iraa finally snapped. "What we want is to leave this place as soon as possible to start over somewhere else. As you probably noticed, our homeworld is no longer habitable. Sooner or later what little life is left will succumb, and my people will go extinct-"
"Bla, bla, blah, you've repeated that about a hundred times already!" Purple snapped impatiently.
Iraa rubbed his temples. Seconds later he regained his composure. "Enjoy your accommodations, because you will be staying here for a long time." That was the last thing he told them before he walked away with the rest of the soldiers, dragging the two helpless Irkenettes along.
"I SWEAR, YOU BASTARD, IF YOU LAY A SINGLE HAND ON EITHER OF THEM, I'LL HUNT YOU AND YOUR MEN DOWN WITH ALL THE WEIGHT OF THE IRKEN EMPIRE, YOU HEAR ME?!"
"Oh, a threat, how brilliant. They'll surely let us out now, especially after you just proved them right," Dib rolled his eyes sarcastically. "I'd clap my hands, but I'm still tied up."
Oh, right, they were still tied up. "Purple, are you okay?!" Red asked when he was done untying his co-Tallest.
"No, I'm not okay! I'm hungry, cold, Ilk and Lena were just taken and my mouth tastes like Skoodge's socks!" Purple wiped his mouth with his gauntlet and growled in pain. "Oh, and those savages shot my leg!".
Red took a quick look at it. "You're exaggerating, it's just a minor burn, you acquired worse injuries in the Academy."
"What were you thinking, just handing yourselves over like that?" Echo asked. Then she noticed the three missing party members. "Where is Fury? And Hitorken Zim and his robot?"
"Echo has a point. Please tell me Zim was eaten by some beast!"
Red sighed and patted Purple's shoulder. "Almost. But as you know, he seems to be unkillable."
"Flirk it."
Captain took it from there. "Long story short, the SIR unit came up with a not so bad strategy. If all goes well, they'll be arriving soon to rescue us."
"You mean to tell me we're depending on Zim and his defective robot to save our asses?" Purple's eye was twitching.
"That's exactly what I told them." Red frowned at Blue and Captain.
"We'll be lucky if he doesn't blow this place up with us inside." Dib agreed.
Captain sighed. "Instead of criticizing everything Hitorken Zim does, don't you think we should try to get out of here ourselves in case something goes wrong?"
"Good luck with that," Echo sighed. "The lock is an electronic one and you need a keycard to open the door. Plus the bars are made of unbreakable steel. So unless you have a mini-drone you can send to retrieve a keycard, there's not much we can do."
Rawr!
All heads turned to the doorway, where a tiny black hatchling stood. As soon as it spotted Purple it chirped in delight, walked through the bars and ran towards him to climb into his lap.
Captain and Blue exchanged a shocked glance and turned to Echo, who confirmed their suspicions with a nod.
"Where did that come from?" Red asked curiously.
"Remember the indokuro egg?"
"No way!" Purple nodded and started scratching the hatchling under the chin.
Dib stared at the hatchling, then at the door. "Wait, if that thing fit through the bars, couldn't he bring us the keycard?" Right! Indokuros were supposed to be very smart.
"Hate to burst your balloon, but that takes months of training and he's just hatched, he has no idea what is what just yet," Blue said.
"Any better ideas?" Red asked, and was met with silence. "Then it's worth a shot."
Purple lifted the hatchling off his lap and placed him on the floor in front of him. "Okay, little one, bring us a keycard." The hatchling blinked in confusion. "Keycard. Something that looks like this." Purple made. A rectangular shape with his fingers. The hatchling chirped and left through the same way he had come from.
A few minutes late he returned with a tissue box. The captives sighed in dismay. This was going to take a while.
"How long until we're done here?"
Masouri rolled his eyes with a snort. "As I told you two minutes ago, Bob, I need a little more time."
"That's something we don't have! If we don't finish this they're going to hurt Tallest Purple!" Tenn cried out in dismay.
"What do you complain about? I'm the one doing all the work here!"
"Hey, who's passing you the tools!"
Masouri couldn't really blame them for being on edge, considering their leader was taken. He was also worried about Echo. If these men hurt her, he wouldn't be held accountable for his actions! Besides, there was no way he'd surrender his Ibris to them! Luckily, he had that covered if they tried to leave with it...
"How long, lizard?" One of the Hothians guards supervising them asked.
"Just for the record, I'm nearly done with the metal coating but it still doesn't guarantee it will work-"
"How long?"
Geez, what a temper. "Five minutes."
Once the guard went away. Larb muttered. "So what? We fix this… The ship," he was wise enough not to call the Ibris with any degrading words. The last time he did Masouri didn't take it well. "And then? We just let them take it?"
"Of course not, Irken. I already got a plan."
"Well, mind sharing it with us?"
Foxtrot chuckled evilly as he typed some code into a nearby screen. "You will see."
Five minutes later Masouri made the finishing touches on the power core and the engine. A trembling hand gripped the power lever. It was now or never. He pulled it down. All lights within the Ibris flickered as the engine and the power core roared and screeched back into life. Before they could celebrate their success, however, the guards came into the engine room and started leading them outside the ship with their spears. Once outside, long plasma guns were raised at their heads.
"Are you kidding me? We fix that thing and we don't even get a thank you?" Stink asked.
"What did I tell you? We outlived our usefulness, so they're getting rid of us."
"Any ideas, Irken?"
Before the Hothians could pull the trigger an excited yell coming from above caught their attention. Something made of metal fell on top of one, causing him to accidentally shoot one of his comrades.
The prisoners didn't hesitate in taking advantage of the distraction; within seconds Larb, Tenn, Stink, and Foxtrot had launched themselves at their captors. Meanwhile, Masouri and Skoodge ran towards the Ibris so the former could open a hatch with a console in the lounge. Masouri quickly typed in a code.
Activating security systems…
"Danger! Intruders detected!"
The ship's plasma cannons emerged and started shooting at any Hothian within range. Foxtrot barely had time to jump out of the way, dragging Tenn along, just as one of the plasma projectiles exploded against its target.
"What the-?!" Larb cried as the metal thing from before pushed him out of the way of another plasma ball.
"I love you!" GIR said happily, wrapping his arms around the Invader's waist.
Before long all the Hothians were blown up or retreated. As they barricaded all the doors, Bob shouted. "What just happened?!"
"You're welcome for saving your scaleless asses, Irkens!" That voice was coming from the Ibris, and it almost sounded like Masouri's.
"So this was your plan? Activating the personality interface?" Tenn asked. Masouri nodded with a toothy grin. Tenn smirked. "Not bad."
"Could somebody get this thing off me?!" Larb tried and failed to get rid of GIR's hold unto his leg.
"Isn't that Zim's defective SIR?" Stink asked.
"What makes you think that? The fact that it's annoying?!"
"Wait a minute, if he's here, it must mean Zim and the others must be too, right?"
"Hey, GIR, how did you get here?"
GIR finally released Larb's leg. "Oh, right! The big grumpy iguana said I should bring you these toys!" He opened his head compartment. All the sobrekt's blades were inside. How did all these fit in GIR's small head, nobody knew. "Mastah should be back soon with a mutant Bambee too!"
"What about Ilk, Tallest Red and doctor Lena?" Skoodge asked.
"And Captain and Blue?" Foxtrot added, putting the last crate in front of the door.
"They're having a party with the grey men, but before that, I was supposed to bring this toys so you could play with the other grey men not invited to the party! Oh, and the grumpy iguana also said something about getting ready to go!"
"In that case, I want the big one." Larb tried to pick up the Nekusarai, but it turned out to be incredibly heavy. And yet somehow GIR could move around with that weight?!
Okay, Zim, remember the plan. Look for a mendigo and bring it back to the base ASAP. It couldn't be that hard, right? It seemed like he had a knack for attracting the creatures, judging by how often they had caused trouble. Big deal, how hard could it be? He had single-handedly defeated one already. And one of his creations had dispatched another. Zim the mendigo-slayer had a good ring to it, didn't it?
Fury stopped to sniff the air. "What is it, Fury-beast? Did you find any?"
The indokuro ran across the forest and into a snowy field with numerous piles of bones. Must be going in the right direction. Okay, if this is the 'dining hall', then the lair must be nearby. Fury continued to sniff the air, looking for the familiar scent of rot and blood. He didn't have to look for long; a few meters into the forest they found a formation of rocks that formed a cave, echoing with a snoring sound from within.
"Okay, Fury-beast, this is the plan: you wake him up and I'll stay here waiting for it!"
Fury snorted with half-closed eyelids.
"Silence! I was put in charge of the assignment, so you will do as I say!"
The snoring from within the cave turned into grumbling and growling. Zim thought he saw a shape moving inside. And since Fury seemed to have no intention to go inside... Damn, if you want something right, do it yourself. "You know, Fury-beast, in case Zim doesn't come back, would you mind telling the Tallest to avenge me?"
Fury snorted. Was it supposed to be a reassurance? Zim gulped internally but nevertheless tried to keep his confident facade as he stepped into the cavern. It was very dark in there. A good thing his ocular implants were equipped with night vision. Zim blinked and sent a mental command to his PAK to activate it.
As he imagined, the cave was dry and rocky, but there was no sign of the mendigo yet. The growling was still there, however. It was coming right from underneath him... Zim looked down.
Outside the cave, Fury had taken to making little senseless shapes on the snow with his claw when he heard a scream coming from within the cavern. Seconds later Zim ran out of it and into the woods, followed by a group of about six mendigos.
Fury rolled his eyes with a snort and ran after them.
"I'm starting to doubt this thing's intelligence."
Over the next twenty minutes, the hatchling had brought lots of useless items. Pieces of metal, glasses, sponges, dining utensils and even a piece of underwear belonging to any of the Hothians.*
Red finally exploded. "We need a fucking keycard, mini-Fury! KEYCARD!"
"What did I tell you? He doesn't know what is what yet." Blue was rubbing his temples. He was starting to wish Fury had come with them. "Think GIR already got to the others with the weapons?"
"If he didn't eat them, perhaps he has." Hopefully.
Red noticed Purple was taking a closer look at the lock. "Pur, what are you…?"
"This lock is electromagnetic."
"What?"
"If we don't have the keycard, we could short-circuit this and render it useless. Some static will do…" Purple ignored Red and looked around. His eyes came to rest on Captain and Dib. "What fabric are your clothes made of?"
"Frikelth with polymerized mytrilium alloy." Captain said.
"Leather," Dib said.
"Captain, may I borrow your scarf? Thanks. Dib-hyooman, I need your jacket for a little while. Don't worry, I'll give it back unscathed." Hopefully.
With the two pieces of clothing in hand, Purple went back to the cell door, wincing every time he stepped unto his hurt leg. He brought the fabrics together and started rubbing them quickly and applying considerable pressure. A few seconds later he got the reaction he wanted: the tiny spark that formed touched the lock and it started peeling in blue. The door went limp as the lock deactivated.
"Did you just think of this on your own?" Red asked.
Purple smirked. "Don't forget who had the highest scores in knowledge tests in the Academy."
"Oh, right, our living encyclopedia."
"I hate to interrupt, but we should go back to the hangar." Echo stepped in with a frown. "We have a ship to get back to."
Captain cracked his knuckles. "And Hothians to deal with. Which way, Irken?"
Purple blinked. "Hey, just because I broke us out doesn't mean I know my way around here."
"You go back to the hangar if you wish, I'm going to save Ilk and Lena."
"I'll go with you."
Red frowned at Blue. "I don't need your help."
"That's curious, in case you forgot you don't have weapons anymore and you lack experience in melee combat."
"For your information-!"
"Put your pride aside for once, Irken! You're still recovering from that wound and you don't have any weapons right now." Captain interrupted before it could escalate. He ignored Purple's inquiry about what wound he was walking about and said. "Besides, you'll need all the help you can get right now."
Red stared at Captain with a deep frown for a few more seconds before sighing. "Fine." He glanced at Blue. "Lead the way, then."
As the two ran down the corridor in the opposite direction, the hatchling tugged unto Purple's robe with his teeth, almost as if trying to lead him somewhere. "I think Donut wants us to follow."
"If that thing couldn't tell a simple keycard from a tissue box, what makes you think he won't end up leading us into the Hothians' mess hall right during their lunch break?" Dib pointed out.
"If he could find Tallest Purple all the way here, he probably remembers the way back to the Ibris, especially since he hatched there." Echo said.
"What do we lose with trying? If we do run into some Hothians, we'll just take their weapons." Captain said.
"Okay, then." Purple patted the hatchling's head. "Show us the way, Donut."
The hatchling led the group through the strangely empty corridors. They only ran into one or two guards, who were quickly dispatched and their weapons taken. The Sobrekt graciously let Purple and Dib handle the plasma guns: they'd rather fight with their bare claws and teeth. Purple's leg slowed them down considerably until Captain lost his patience and picked him up bridal style, to the embarrassment of both; the Irken leader protested at first until he realized he didn't have to walk anymore.
Soon they found why the security was so... sloppy. Apparently, something had happened at the ship with the 'other prisoners', and all available soldiers were to break into the hangar and subdue them again.
At least that part of the plan had gone well.
"I need a hand over here!" Bob screamed when Foxtrot came running to the door and bit off the hand that had managed to make a hole through the wooden door. It fell to the ground while its owner retreated what was left of his arm with agonizing yells. "I DIDN'T MEAN IT LITERALLY!"
"Sorry." Foxtrot apologized sheepishly, but he didn't regret it a bit.
"Masouri, how long till we can take off?!"
"I need time to warm up, plus my engines and power core must get used to all that Hothian substances!" The Ibris responded instead.
"They asked me!" Masouri growled at it, offended.
"Technically we're one and the same given that I'm your downloaded personality."
"Whose idea was that?!"
"Yours." Both Foxtrot and the ship said simultaneously.
"Would you knock it off?! We're kind of trying to keep these guys out if you don't mind!" Stink placed another chair in front of the door.
Most of the doors had been barricaded with whatever was at hand. Even with the weapons, they were outnumbered, plus they needed to wait until… something happened. GIR didn't specify what, only that the others would catch up soon when a certain another part of the 'plan' was carried out by Zim.
"GIR, I need a little help here!"
"Do you have my taquitos?"
Skoodge let out a groan. "I'll give you all the taquitos you want if you grab that chair and bring it here!"
"Okaaay!" GIR effortlessly lifted the nearest desk and threw it at the door. Skoodge barely had time to jump out of the way just as the furniture pierced through the door. Judging from the painful screams coming from the other side, it seemed like it had knocked out all the soldiers on the other side.
"What in the ancestor's name?!"
That voice… It was coming from the corridor, alongside many others. They sounded familiar. Then a tiny black hatchling slid in through the wreckage.
"Will somebody remove this thing?!"
"Tallest Purple!" The Invaders left what they were doing and started removing the desk's remains from the doorway, clearing the way for the Tallest to come in... in Captain's arms. Dib and Echo followed suit.
Purple glared at the Invaders when he noted they were staring at him agape. "Not a single word of this to anyone or I'll personally throw all of you out of the airlock once we're back on the Massive, am I clear?"
The Invaders nodded. "Crystal clear!"
"Good." Captain put him back on the ground. "That put aside, status!"
"Almost ready to go, My Tallest!" Larb saluted. "The ship only needs to warm up its engines!"
"My name is the Ibris, you talking mantis."
Purple jumped back unto Captain's arms. "What the-? Did that thing just talk?!"
"Personality interface." Blue resumed.
"Hey, where's Hitorken Zim?" Foxtrot asked upon noticing he was missing.
"And Fury and Blue?"
"And Tallest Red, Lena, and Ilk? Weren't they with you?"
"They'll be here soon, hopefully. Until then, prepare to hold your ground for as long as you can!" Captain snapped, unceremoniously dropping Purple to the ground. "Ibris, how long until your engines are ready to go?"
"Twenty minutes and counting, if you'd stop interrupting me!"
Geez, here they thought the Hothians had a bad temper.
The two irkenettes were taken to the 'command room'-though judging by the poor state of the computers and machinery, it wasn't much to brag about-and tied up to two chairs while being looked after by two soldiers. Minutes later one of the camera feeds showed GIR falling into the soldiers about to execute Skoodge, Bob and the others and Masouri activating the Ibris's personality interface, which in turn attacked the soldiers with its cannons.
Iraa smashed his fist on the console and started barking orders in Hothian through the speakers. All the soldiers in the room, minus the two watching Ilk and Lena, ran out of the command room, probably to join the rest to recapture the 'prisoners'. Iraa started pacing around the room, muttering things in his native language.
"Lena?"
"What is it?"
"I'm scared." Ilk started coughing again. It was becoming hard to breathe.
"Don't worry, I'll think of something..." Damn it, if only she could use her PAK tools... Wait a minute. She couldn't access her normal tools, but she could take the rudimentary knife she kept for these situations. Lena glanced warily at the two guards. One was a female. Lena couldn't help but notice she was keeping her gaze on Iraa.
"Excuse me, could I get some water?"
The male soldier grumbled and walked off to a side, probably to look for some water, which the jerk drank himself. Still, Lena took advantage of the moment to quickly take a small knife off one of her PAK compartments. She quickly started cutting the ropes tying her hands.
"Lena...!" Ilk whispered and glanced up at one of the cameras feeds of the corridors just as Blue and Red swiftly passed by. If they could distract Iraa long enough so he wouldn't see them coming... "Why are you doing this, Iraa? It doesn't have to come to this. We can still come to an agreement-"
"Do I have to repeat it again?" Iraa growled calmly, turning away from the camera just in time as Red and Blue stopped at an intersection and looked like they were arguing. Probably about which way to go. Lena contained the urge to roll her eyes. "I will not risk my people by trusting an Irken or a Sobrekt."
"I'm not denying my people can be... well, 'conquery', but I can help you! My father and my uncle are the leaders of the Irken Empire, if you let us go I can talk to them-!"
"Right, and six months later they go back on their word and decide to destroy us anyway. I'm pretty sure you heard him threatening me back there, didn't you?"
"Tallest Red sometimes has a big mouth, but he doesn't tend to keep his promises," Lena added quickly before Iraa could turn around. It wasn't a complete lie. He did have a big mouth.
Now he glared at her. "You just proved my point, miss." With a sigh he turned back to the cameras; thankfully Red and Blue had vanished by then down the left corridor. "For years I could do nothing but watch as our people, our culture, our very lives withered little by little... Our hopes of leaving being smashed every time a ship crashed and became inoperable.
"But then we got this strange message, promising us a means to escape and start anew. All we had to do was to make sure the two tall ones didn't make it off the planet."
Lena and Ilk exchanged a look. "Wait, what?"
Before Iraa could say anything else, the door was blown open. "You idiot, I told you to do it subtly!"
"Where's the fun in that, your Tallest?"
Lena took advantage of the distraction to finish cutting the rest of the rope. Blue dashed into the room and non-fatally knocked Iraa aside with a swipe of his claws. Lena got to her feet, and with a strength she didn't know she had punched the male soldier right on the jaw, sending him to the ground. Her hand was hurt and she might have a few joints out of place, but it was worth it to vent out a bit.
In the corner of the eye, she caught movement. The female Hothian was going to take out her gun and... Lena quickly realized what her intentions were. Blue and Red wouldn't be able to reach Ilk in time. In an impulse, Lena ran towards the soldier and tackled her to the ground. The two females wrestled on the ground for control of the gun until a shot echoed within the room.
Lena stared down in shock as she felt her abdomen wettening, brought up her hand and saw the silver blood stained on it. The Hothian female lay on the ground beneath her, unmoving and with an empty gaze.
"Lena, Ilk!" Red stopped right in front of Ilk and held her face up so he could take a look at her. She was pale and looked exhausted. "Ilk, can you hear me?"
"D-d..." Ilk tried to speak but her chest hurt and sent her into another coughing fit.
"Your Tallest, it's the... t-the atmosphere..." Blue started coughing as well. "I'm not sure we can stand much longer..."
Oh, fuck! Red glanced around the room. Two dead Hothians, and Iraa unconscious. Irken pride would have him kill the bastard with his own hands, but his main concern right now was Ilk and Lena's wellbeings. Ilk didn't look like she'd be able to walk. "Lizard, think you could look out for our backs all the way back?"
Blue nodded quickly even though he looked like he'd collapse anytime soon. Red untied Ilk and picked her up. Then he went over to Lena, who was still on top of the Hothian. "Lena, we have to get moving!" He said hardly. Not out of rudeness, but Ilk and Blue didn't look good right now and the last thing he wanted was the latter collapsing and leaving them almost defenseless.
Lena almost jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, bringing her out of the shock. She saw Red's stern, but concerned, eyes staring down at her as he held Ilk in his other arm. Lena forced herself to go into autopilot to avoid having another breakdown; they had no time for that. She got on her feet and nodded solemnly. Her legs and the lower part of her shirt was stained with the female's silvery blood, but locking her gaze with Red's made kept the thought at bay.
Blue sped down the corridor, followed by Red and Lena. It was taking the kryvtor every single fiber of adrenaline in his body to keep up. If he had sweat glands he'd be covered in the bodily fluid right now. Thankfully there weren't many guards around the corridors: what worried him was getting to the hangar, where most of them were probably concentrated to recapture the others.
And his fears proved to be right. Once they got to the hangar it was a complete battlefield; the Irkens had formed a barricade around the Ibris with some crates, exchanging plasma ammunition with the Hothians. Tenn and Larb were the only ones who were fighting out in the open with... were those Masouri's and Foxtrot's weapons?
"Irken, let me take Ilk to the Ibris and you bring Lena," He said. "You won't be able to move quickly through the enemy fire if you are holding her in your arms while having to make sure Lena's behind you." To his surprise Red didn't argue; guess he could put personal issues aside for the sake of Ilk.
"Kryvtor, guard her with your life or I'm tossing you out of the airlock."
Or maybe not.
Blue gingerly took Ilk from her father's arms and broke through the horde of Hothians with a swipe of his claws, narrowly dodging enemy fire as he did so. He ignored the Irkens' cries of surprise as he jumped over their barricade and inside the Ibris.
"Lena, stay close to me!" To be sure, Red grabbed the Irkenette's hand tightly and led her through the battlefield.
Lena swore she almost had a squeedly-spooch attack as Red led her right into the crossfire. This made the previous battle in the forest where she made her first kill like a walk in the park; that time she actually had something to defend herself with. She tried her best to blindly dodge the flying plasma balls, which now were seemingly aimed at them entirely while keeping up with Red's speed.
"Open up for Tallest Red!" Tenn cried.
Stink and Skoodge quickly did as told, allowing Red and Lena to quickly get past the barricade and rush into the Ibris. Both panted heavily, covered in cold sweat. "Are you okay, Lena?"
"I think so..." was the reply.
Red quickly scanned the lounge around for any sign of Ilk. To his surprise he found Captain and the other Kryvtors inside, all of them breathing heavily and coughing every now and then. This explained why they weren't outside beheading Hothians. Their endurance had finally reached its limit. The toxic atmosphere had taken its toll on them for too long.
"What took you so long, Irken?" Captain growled in between coughs.
"Where's Ilk?!" Almost on cue, Purple came out of the elevator, trailed by the mini-Fury. He was still limping slightly, but Red managed to see a bandage through the holes in his robe. "Purple-!"
"Ilk is up in the infirmary with the Blue-lizard. I already had the ship run a complete scan on her and give her oxygen," Purple said with notable relief, guessing the question.
Red sighed in deep relief. "How are you feeling?"
"Well, the ship bandaged my leg and applied some painkillers.
"Painkillers for a mere plasma burn? And here I thought Captain was the softie."
Captain responded with a loud, rasping cough.
With their higher numbers, the knowledge Ilk and both Tallest were safe and sound and raised morale from being reunited, it wasn't hard for the Invaders to hold their ground for as long as they could. The Irkens wanted to leave right then, but the Sobrekt refused to leave without Zim, much to the Tallest's chagrin. However, Tenn was injured and Lena went outside to tend to both her and Skoodge (the latter was having a sort of panic attack).
"How are you feeling?"
"Oh, I'm fine. I'm suffocating in unknown air contaminants, but I'm fine."
"If we could access our PAK tools we would have already wiped them out. Can't you remove the stupid virus already?" Purple raised his hands defensively when the Sobrekt turned to look at him. "What? Do you still think we'd turn on you after what we've been through? I'm hurt!"
"It's not that…" Captain sneezed and turned his head away sheepishly. "We don't have the anti-virus."
Purple swore one of Red's veins was about to explode. "What?"
"Don't look at me like that, we didn't think we'd need it!"
"Are you flirking kidding me?!"
"How was I supposed to know we'd end up in this situation?!"
Purple just sat down and started munching on some doughnuts, sharing a few with the little indokuro as he watched them argue. "These two sound like an old married couple."
The hatchling chirped.
"Yeah, see what I have to put up with?"
Someone cried out from the outside and all sounds stopped. Bob ran into the lounge, looking scared out of his wits. "M-My Tallest, they got Lena!"
Red went pale. It couldn't be… She wouldn't have lowered her guard enough for that to happen… would it? She said she'd be fine!
He heard Iraa shouting. "I'd like to speak with the leader!"
Captain sighed. He'd never forgive himself for this. "Guess that's you, Irken." He furrowed his brow at the surprised look he got in return. "Don't get your hopes up, I'm just in no condition to deal with that rat myself."
"Go on, Red. I'll stay here to watch over the hatchling." Red saw through Purple's sugarcoating, but he couldn't really blame Purple for not wanting any more injuries. Besides, he couldn't move much with that leg. With this in mind, Red made his way outside.
The Invaders were pointing their guns at the soldiers around them, but their worried gazes were on Iraa. He was holding Lena by the neck with one arm, while the other held a gun right to her head. She was pitifully grabbing at his thicker arm in a feeble attempt to loosen his grip on her throat. Iraa seemed to have lost all his previous composure. His eyes were bloodshot and his silver was disheveled. All fake sympathy was gone too.
"Get off my ship or I'll blow her brains out."
Masouri cried from within the Ibris that it was not his ship. Wow, that kryvtor certainly had a good hearing for his lack of ears. "Let her go and we'll come to an agreement!"
"You think I'm stupid?! I said it before and I repeat it, I don't trust you! Thanks to you we're only a little under 25 men! Thanks to you our race is doomed!" His voice was hoarse and pained. "You killed the last of our females! You killed my wife! She was the last hope we had and thanks to you she's gone!" He pressed the gun against Lena's brow. "So perhaps I should return the favor."
"You think it's the same thing?" Red scoffed. He hated himself for this, and he was sure Lena would hate him too. "She means nothing to me. There are lots of females back on Irk that are even prettier and taller. You can shoot her for all I care." He tried to avert his gaze from Lena, unable to look at her in the eye and see the pain.
On the bright side, Iraa seemed to be buying it judging by how he was almost hyperventilating from the frustration. "We got your black beast. I doubt you'd be willing to part with it-"
"Please, Iraa, we both know that's a lie. You're desperate for leverage, but the truth is you have none. So why don't you put the gun down and-"
"Ah, so you do worry about what happens to her!" Iraa laughed and tightened his grip on Lena's neck. "How about a trade? The ship in exchange for her life."
In a few brief seconds, Red's gaze met with Lena's. Her eyes were deeply hurt, but there was a fierce determination in them. He noticed one of her hands was silently moving towards the gun's trigger. Red felt his stomach drop.
Lena nodded solemnly. "For the Empire."
"LENA, NO!"
The sound of a plasma gun echoed throughout the building alongside a ballistic roar
*'cut off our heads and put them on pikes': reference to Vlad the Impaler, also known as Vlad Dracula or more popularly Count Dracula, who had the habit of impaling his enemies. Sobrekt are not as gruesome, though; they prefer to behead and use their enemies' heads as trophy decorations, kinda like we humans do with some animals.
*'Over the next twenty minutes, the hatchling had brought lots of useless items. Pieces of metal, glasses, sponges, dining utensils and even a piece of underwear belonging to any of the Hothians': This is directly taken from Guardians of the Galaxy 2, particularly the scene where Rocket and Yondu are taken captive and try to get Groot to bring a key (or weapon, I don't exactly remember) but he brings useless stuff instead.
Next Chapter: As the group finally makes it off the planet, both parties finally come to an understanding as they prepare to part ways.