Being Tall Isn't Everything

by P.A.W.07

Zim was about to destroy the world, his dying adversary at his feet … yet he doesn't kill Dib. He wants to use that cunningly huge head of his, especially now that they are both so tall. Now, years later, the newest Tallest finds himself in a web of secrets, the past and the future seemingly tearing him apart. As usual ... this is all Zim's fault.

8. Little Sister

Chapter 8: Little Sister

Sizz-Lorr sat over his plans, drawing diagrams so that he could create a proper map for Dib. He had been on the Massive a few times, even served on it before the incident. After all, he had been an Invader once in his youth, and a florpin good one at that. He deserved something more then what he had been given.

He at least deserved a little respect!

Anger rising, the next thing the large Irken knew he had crushed the digipad he had been drawing and writing notes on. He sighed, putting down the cracked tool, his gaze falling over the room. Zim was gone. No surprise there. He didn't exactly know where the other Irken had disappeared to either. The only clue he had was that Zim said they needed an escape route. Even if that were so, Sizz-Lorr felt the defect should be in here helping him with the diagrams and planning. Not out gallivanting around.

He'd squish the miscreant's misshapen head if he currently didn't have use of it.

Regardless, it wasn't wise to try and put logic to Zim's thought patterns. It might induce madness.

Picking up a new digi-pad, the fry cook couldn't help but look at Dib sitting in a corner, working on his Advisor's uniform. Sizz-Lorr had wondered how he was going to pull that off, being that all Advisors had their robes personally fitted on Irk due to their height and social standing, but it seemed that Dib knew the art of a slave: sewing. Interesting to say the least and revealing. He didn't know much about this Dib character except that he wasn't, in fact, born Irken. That had disgusted him at first, but after their small tussle, he somewhat respected him; especially since Dib was revealing himself to be resourceful and smart enough to contain an odd collection of skills.

The problem was … Dib was young.

He was a smeetling in Irken years, not even ready for the battlefield. He should still be in the nurseries learning and nowhere near so tall. He was young to battle and life. Yes, he was a decent fighter from what he understood, but nowhere near skilled enough to take on the Tallest nor any elite guards they may have. Sizz-Lorr had been silently wondering if, in fact, Dib wasn't meant to survive this. He was just learning of his body after all.

Did Zim really expect him to exterminate the Tallest by himself without dying? Especially with an ill-fitted pak?

It was crazy that Zim even purposed it. Dib would be left with infiltration, social corruption, and the promised task of disposing of the two Tallest personally. Even Sizz-Lorr could see the changeling's soft, emotional features, but Dib had accepted his part of the mission with a sturdy nod. The problem was making sure nobody caught him red-handed in the act. Dib would only get one chance to do this so they had to make sure no one interrupted… Which was where Sizz-Lorr and Zim came in. They were going to, ironically, play their part. They were going to be a Resistance. A masked one, mind you, in non-Irken ships, but they would attack with the same vigor that an angry, enslaved people would. They had the advantage though, and they knew it. After all, they were Irkens so they would know their peoples' faults.

Irritated with his work, Sizz-Lorr placed his pad down and looked over at the youth, stating, "Why do you know a slave's art?"

Dib stopped for a moment, his antennae falling flat against his head, confused, "What?"

"Sewing, by hand no less, is a slave art. Why do you know it? From what I understood your spawning male-caretaker was a rich scientist. Why would you have to know something lowly like sewing?" asked the cook, simply curious. He was placing his future in this smeetling yet he knew nothing about the Dib. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be terribly disappointed though.

The changeling offered a sad half-smile, not looking up. He didn't need the Irken seeing the hurt in his eyes.

"Well, you see," started Dib, "My mother died when I was young. And my father, though a brilliant scientist, was never home. He made sure there was food in the fridge, but otherwise, I rarely saw him for more than a few minutes a day. He was little more than a ghost."

Sizz-Lorr raised a brow at the paranormal reference, but there was no excitement in the other Irken's voice. Apparently, from Zim's ramblings, Dib believed in the paranormal and cultural superstitions of his planet. They were ridiculous for the most part, but Dib acted very much like a scientist nonetheless, investigating each issue with hearty jubilation. Zim admired that mad-scientist air around his once-nemesis. So… why wasn't Dib happy? Revenge would soon be his.

Dib sucked on his tongue a second before running it over his teeth, tasting the metal braces, before he continued in a soft, somber tone, "I was the oldest and I tried to take care of my little sister like mom would have wanted. My mind wandered a lot though and I would run off in mad bouts, but even when I came home covered in bruises I'd make sure the door was locked, the dishes were in the dishwasher, and when my sister ripped off the head to her favorite stuffed toy, I would sew it back on. I made sure that she thought dad loved her. Dad hated Christmas and always forgot our birthdays. I bought her presents and I did whatever I recalled my mom doing before she…"

The human went silent, his lips dragging into such a sad expression that the fry-cook wondered if he would be witness to these tears Zim had mentioned earlier.

With a sniff, Dib laid down his work and met the bulky alien's gaze, whispering, "It was never enough though. I tried to be nice, tried to take care of her like big brothers are supposed to, but she was so cold to me. It was as if she didn't even care I was there … and I gave up after a while. I just made sure we had Christmas and that I let her play her games … I know she didn't care for me, but I didn't want her to die either. She ... was my sister."

The human went silent after that, wiping his eyes after a hiss escaped him. Then, placing a false smile on his features, the changeling snickered, "I don't know why I miss Gaz. She was the most frightening person I've ever known. She continued to terrify me even after I started towering over her."

Sizz-Lorr was slightly confused, never having had such tight, emotional ties. He supposed it might be comparable to a battle brother where you watched each other's backs in the explosive chaos of war. Before he could inquire though, someone interrupted his thoughts.

"Is that so?" came a voice from the far-off entrance, the door sliding open with an electric squeal.

The two occupants nearly jumped out of their skin, their heads snapping as they turned to look at the marauder that had decided to steal the sanctity of their conversation. The female Irken smile, Tak smiled, as she posed in the doorway, the light seeming to creep away from her features. Then, in all predictability, her SIR ran across the room, seemingly stealing the light from the room for a moment.

Her dry cackle then filled the room, her tone malicious, "Oh come now, I thought I was the most frightening person you have ever met Dib."

"Dib…"

"Dib…"

"Dib…"

"Dib, I will avenge you," came a whisper from a shadow clad figure as she continued her crusade through the flickering lights of the Massive. She was so swift and precise in her movements that her boots barely clicked as she made her way down the servants' halls. She wasn't even trying to be stealthy because she didn't need to be. She always felt like the shadows were part of her like some demigod ability had latched onto her soul the day she was born.

And she embraced this stirring shadow inside her, this monster of the night, because she would finally have her pound of flesh. Tonight she would be adding Tallest Blue's antennae to her morbid collection. A totem for all she had lost because of the Irkens.

Dib probably would have been jealous ... at least she likes to think he would be. He always liked creepy alien things like that.

Boots coming to a halt, Gaz's eyes became slits and she glanced at the oddly moving shadow to her left. It moved like a disembodied arm, clawed hand waving its pointed fingers as it crept across the metal of the wall before allowing itself to be sucked into a nearby vent. Most would find this unsettling. Not Gaz. She sometimes seriously wondered if some supernatural thing had attached itself to her. Then again, maybe the universe just obeyed because it was also terrified of her imposing wrath.

Either way, she couldn't find it in herself to care about the shadows right now nor the miasma that clung to her like a suffocating fog. There was only one thing that she wanted right now ... and that was to make the Irken Empire suffer. They had taken her world from her, all that she had known, and at the end of the day, the only person that had really been allowed to hurt Dib was her.

A pound of flesh was owed to her.

To this day, she still remembered her older brother Dib. She remembered how crazy he was and the irritating grate of his voice, but she also remembered his softer moments. Moments that reminded her of mom. She recalled the night he snuck into her room, placing her vampire-bear on her bed with a new button eye. She had threatened him never to go into her room again after that. Not because she wasn't glad. It was just that she didn't know how to react. What was she supposed to do afterward? Dad patted her on the head from time to time and she'd get a feeling she couldn't explain, a warmth, and when Dib had done that for her she had gotten that same feeling. It was like the few hugs she remembered from mom. And it hurt to remember mom. It was like twisting a knife in a wound and she just couldn't escape anymore, forcing her to strike out or to push Dib away just for a moment of respite.

He had more memories of mom than she did ... and she had hated him for that. But, now with him gone, she realized what she had lost. She had lost both her brother and the only living bit of mom she had left.

Dib had had mom's passion after all and her eyes.

Zim would know pain.

...

Meanwhile, far down the vent, pass the panicking snack cooks, the guards' quarters, and the nacho cheese vats, there was a large living quarter containing diagrams of voot cruisers, pictures and stories of universal legends, and a precariously set jar on a bed stand with a brown eye in it. The eye seemed to stare innocently up at its guests as they stumbled into the room, a blue-clothed figure hanging between them like a limp mannequin.

"Stop stumbling about!" yelled a voice from behind the entering figures. "His Tallest is in a fragile state. Put him on his berth."

The two guards did as they were asked, one taking particular care when placing his Tallest's head on a pillow, watchful of his antennae. It was widely known that touching Tallest Blue was a rare occurrence since his Tallest didn't ask for his robes to be grasped and begged upon. The guard was sure that he'd never get to touch his Tallest again, especially if the ruler didn't survive.

"Move," grumbled Lepo, pretending not to notice that the elite guard had touched the Tallest without approval.

With quick hands and pak legs, the healer was up on the bed as he opened the Tallest's pak. Light spilled over his face and his eyes narrowed as he went to work. Immediately, he knew that something wasn't right. He couldn't help but grunt in worry as his small hands fell into the clockwork, fingers trying not to shake as he searched for the problem. If he didn't fix this or see what was wrong… Tallest Blue may expire, and though no sane Irken would ever admit it out loud, Lepo liked one Tallest more than the other. Tallest Zim crazed most of the time, dangerous in some cases. Honestly, he could be replaced, but Tallest Blue ... there was something special about him. A softness almost that no amount of snacks could ever fill.

"Will his Tallest survive?" asked a voice, suddenly intruding on the medic's work.

Speak of the devil, as Blue would sometimes say. Advisor Dimm stepped into the room, his form holding its pride even though he was probably exhausted. The five minutes had elapsed and everyone had turned their paks back on… for now. Every single Irken on the ship undoubtedly had their antennae held high, waiting for the warning to turn off their paks again. Lepo had heard whispers of the Ark from time to time and knew that most Irkens that didn't die from the first attack, died from continual pak exhaustion. Repeatedly having to turn off one's pak would build-up wastes that the device couldn't clean up fast enough when it was turned back on.

It was a slow way to go.

"You should sit down if you are exhausted, Advisor Dimm. If Tallest Blue doesn't survive … you are the tallest advisor on the ship," stated the medic as he gave the dark-eyed Irken a look. Dimm merely twitched his lip, showing his opposition.

"I'd be dead within the week and we both know it. Tallest Zim would probably kill me by accident, or I'd have to self-destruct just because I couldn't put up with him," grumbled the Advisor in a sour tone, caring little who heard. Most Irkens probably secretly agreed that Tallest Zim had a running track record for accidentally offing Tallests. It was a wonder he hadn't done the same to Tallest Red and Purple…

The medic shook his head slightly and went back to work, Dimm frowning as he drew closer. The light from the pak, reflecting off the healer's wet orbs, seemed too bright for a dead pak. There seemed to be some hope after all.

"You still haven't answered my first question," asked Dimm as he sat in a chair next to the Tallest's berth, the Advisor turning the jarred eye in his direction for a moment.

"It's too soon to tell," snapped Lepo as he drew his hands out of the pak and plugged it into the recharge unit. The head healer then turned to glare at the dark-eyed Irken as if asking him what he was still doing here.

Dimm, caring little if he was attracting the medic's wrath, pushed the eyeball jar aside and leaned in, peering closely at the Tallest's pak, his face lighting up with the pak's residual light. His dark eyes squinted in suspicion now that he was getting a better look.

"It is still obviously functioning, but something is most certainly fried in there. I can smell the burnt components from here," stated the advisor, wanting to reach in and rummage around himself though he knew better. Lepo would try and rip his hand off if he touched one of the Tallest's without permission. Lepo had always liked Tallest Blue.

"Obviously," groused Lepo as he pulled a scanner out of his own pak. "His Tallest's pak almost looks fine if it wasn't for the smell. It's not the neuron receptors or energy converters. Sizz-Lorr does know his stuff and turned the pak off properly."

Dimm's eyes became lazily half-mast, his claws clicking on the berthside table as if in thought. Lepo glared at him but the advisor paid him no mind until he asked, "Could this have something to do with the self-mutilation? Tallest Blue was obviously in mental agony and his face will need extensive care so it doesn't scar. If he survives."

Lepo sighed, admitting, "It is a possibility."

"Here, let me have a look medic. Perhaps a second pair of eyes is needed. My pak maintenance was praised highly during my research years," said the advisor, rising from his chair without permission to sit on the Tallest bed.

Surprisingly, the medic did not stop him.

Immediately, Advisor Dimm placed a hand on his Tallest's back, feeling the thick bone beneath the fabric with one hand as he carefully rummaged through the Tallest's pak with the other. It had been something he had noticed one day and had always wanted to examine: Tallest Blue's spine. It seemed thick and flexible, unlike most Tallest's spines. It was an abnormality which probably explained why Tallest Blue had to have his hover belts modified early on, and why he didn't mind walking most of the time: his bone density was heavy. He had asked Lepo about it once, concerned, and the Head Medical Officer had perked his antennae up in confusion before stating … there was nothing to say. Sometimes Irkens developed traits to help them survive in harsh environments. Heavy bone density was probably the aftereffect of living on a planet with dense gravity.

Which led to the question all Irkens wanted to ask publicly: where exactly had Tallest Blue been stationed his whole military career that no one had heard of him until briefly before Tallest Red and Purple's deaths? It probably would answer why he was so ... different.

"I think it has to do with the memory core, especially since Tallest Blue was clawing at his head. It probably was an attack that was in a long time coming and turning off his pak just pushed it over the edge," said Dimm, still rummaging about despite Lepo's glare. "In fact, I'm almost positive about that… look how stressed some of the transistors are, especially around the backup cortex."

Dimm leaned back as Lepo waved him off, the medic carefully disassembling parts of the pak so he could get deeper. The dip of his brow confirmed everything. Parts of the pak looked worn and abused which was strange. Tallest Zim always seemed to be adamant about Tallest Blue's pak care, tinkering with it personally. Even Tallest Zim would have noticed this wear and probably would have gone back to Irk immediately to get his co-leader proper pak care. Yet, he hadn't even requested replacement parts. It was obvious Tallest Zim wasn't trying to kill Tallest Blue, his fondness rather obvious. So why was Tallest Blue's pak so poorly maintained?

Unless Tallest Zim was hiding something.

It was odd how Tallest Blue never recalled his past publicly or even dotted on the idea of reminiscing. Most of the crew thought the blue-eyed Irken just didn't care for his past and thought it best left unsaid, making Tallest Zim one of the few that knew of Blue's origins. Now, looking at this pak, Lepo wondered if maybe Tallest Zim was truthfully the only one who knew Blue's origins. Maybe Tallest Blue didn't even know.

A shiver ran down the medic's antennae at the thought of such a horror being true. His repulsion was so obvious that Dimm even gave him a look, asking, " "What's wrong? Don't faint on us right now medic, Tallest Blue needs you."

"My pak is fine," grumbled Lepo, waving the nosy advisor off. "It's just ... I need to check the status of the memory converter connected to his brain. I ... am worried about meddling."

Dimm merely lowered his antennae as if not surprised, his words almost a dark whisper, "If you are saying what I think you are, Head Medic Lepo, even the Control Brains would be enraged, and they have no emotions. Though it would explain why Tallest Blue recharges so much. Its the only time his pak can rest those components ... It would also explain the dreams."

Lepo twitched at that. Everyone in the Tallests' cabinet knew about the dreams ... but to say it out loud was something else entirely.

"I'm not saying that's what's happening," continued Dimm as the healer stiffened, "But ... it's best if you just check."

Claws twitching slightly, the medic nervously reached into the pak, pulling out a filter and placing it to the side for a moment. The way his antennae stood on end told Dimm all he needed to know before a fried Blocker was gingerly removed from the pak and shown in the light, confessing some unspoken guilt.

Dimm didn't know if he should be happy or upset at seeing the sabotage in person. Tallest Zim would most defiantly get the blame for this though, but that also brought into question ... just how much of Tallest Blue's character was corrupted? Was he far more monstrous than anyone could imagine and Tallest Zim implanted the Blocker in order to survive? Or was Tallest Blue cowardly and weak, unworthy of being a Tallest? Either way, it needed to be reported.

Standing up, ignoring the minor pak exhaustion, Dimm started for the door, Lepo calling out to him, "Where are you going? The Massive is still in battle!"

Dimm stalled in the doorway before stating, "To find a secure line to planet Irk. I need to speak to the Control Brains immediately. Stay with his Tallest or at least make another advisor do it. That Blocker was large… there is no telling what Tallest Zim has been hiding and how well Tallest Blue is going to handle it."

Eye twitching, Lepo didn't stop the dark-eyed advisor. Instead, he petted Tallest Blue's antennae comfortingly, whispering that everything was going to be okay now. At least he hoped everything was going to be okay ... there was no saying how damaged Tallest Blue's psyche was after all of this.

…

Blue laid there, his whole form ached. He had been dreaming, hadn't he? No, remembering. Yes, that was it, but why wasn't the memory getting fuzzy and slowly dissipating like normal? What was this blue planet? What was… what was going on? Ugh, he felt sick. He better do a diagnostic quick.

Wait ... there was no response. Why would ... Oh, no. His pak wasn't on!

The Tallest sat up, his mind no longer on the flashes his pak was absorbing from his subconscious and trying to categorize. His fingers were panicking as he tried to reach back and activate his pak though his limbs felt weak and listless. He couldn't reach. He couldn't reach! He was going to die!

"My Tallest!"

"What's wrong?"

Blue's eyes snapped to the left, and he immediately felt the need to defend himself as if his fellow Irken was somehow a threat. Only to recognize a moment later that these were his people ... he'd protect and defend them even if they never believe him.

Wait, why wouldn't they believe him?

Swallowing his confusion, Blue tried to keep his voice professional, but it came out panicked, "M-my pak. It's off. Turn it on. Turn it on!"

Though the three Advisors came to his bedside immediately, not one moved towards his back to reactivate his pak. Advisor Pixen actually came over and sat on the bed with him while the other two gathered around, whispering questions of how he was feeling.

He hated it when they mother-henned him on a normal day, but he was slowly dying and they were acting like nothing was wrong.

"My pak is off! Just don't sit there!" yelled Tallest Blue, the panic settling in as he tried to reach once more.

The three Advisors drew back, not knowing what else to say to the enraged Tallest. They had never had him snap at them. Never. Medic Lepo had said that some damaged memories might have been recovered, which is why Tallest Blue had freaked out earlier, but he had never once seemed to have a violent temperament. Tallest Blue was either calm and collected or overzealous when excited.

Lepo was quick to interject as he came into the Tallest's gaze, his tone stern, "Please do not stress yourself any further, my Tallest. There was another electromagnetic pulse from the Ark and we had to turn off your pak for your safety. So please, calm yourself, we can't have you stressing yourself out again."

Blue tried to calm his breathing and reached a hand up toward his skull to ward off the pain blossoming inside his cranium. The tallest advisor there, Advisor Rigg, quickly grabbed his wrists, apologizing for touching him as he tenderly placed his hands back into Blue's lap.

He frowned at the touch. Advisor Rigg was a closed-off intellectual Irken that was far too caught up in his own work to even consider talking to Blue unless addressed first. So why was he here? Something ... was wrong. Yes, definitely. He felt distorted and he vaguely recalled the Ark hailing them, but after that ... its a confusing blur.

Something had happened.

This time he was a little quicker with his hand before the tall advisor could dare to touch him… and there were bandages. Yes, now he remembered. He had been … talking with the Ark's captain: a featureless being with nothing but glinting goggles. He had sat down because he was having flashes. Flashes about… the Ark's captain and how he had known him. Had he known him? He didn't recall most of his past, yet this human … had been important to him?

Why?

Pain slammed into his head and Blue found himself balling his head into his hands … though this time he made sure not to dig his claws in.

"Tallest Blue," cried Lepo as the medic pushed forward, his hands wrapping around Blue's thin wrists as if trying to stop him from digging into his own scalp again. Panting, Blue allowed the healer to drag his hands downward, the Head Healer's eyes filling with relief.

Struggling to gather himself, Blue allowed his clawed hands to be pushed onto the soft berth. He tried not to twitch at the contact, part of him now realizing how often he had been touched in the last few hours. But there was nothing to be done about it, especially when it came to his Head Medical Officer, Lepo. He had collapsed after all.

Trying to still the twitching of his antennae, Blue closed his eyes bidding away another attack. He couldn't break down right over what could possibly be a false memory or a defective waking dream. He needed to make sure the Massive survived and that his people were able to –if not overcome- ward off this threat.

"I'm fine," finally stated Blue as he made a move to pull his hands away from the medic and stand. "I will not be clawing myself again. Now I need to get to the brig-eeh!"

The Tallest nearly screamed as he lost his balance while rising, the recharge bed the only thing saving him from going face-first onto the floor. It was Advisor Rigg that actually managed to coax him back into his berth though.

"Listen to the medic, my Tallest. We nearly lost you a few minutes ago, and General Sizz Lorr is a capable captain or you wouldn't have given him command to begin with. Allow us to do our job and advise you: stay in bed. Your pak may not have gone dead, but it certainly cannot take any added stress right now."

Despite his drive to do something, having finally been in a real battle he could remember, Tallest Blue knew the call was right. He had given command to prove himself as a leader and in a way he had… he gave control over to the most knowledgeable being on the ship: General Sizz-Lorr. Yet, in the back of his mind, not his pak, there was a stirring that was stating, 'No, you know more than anyone,' but he had to press it back as his cranium was slammed with agony. He pushed away the thought and the need to grab his skull.

"Yes, Advisor Rigg, as usual, your thoughts are always logical. I am in no form to be of any use. It is best if I try to remain calm and alive… the fry cook has always been resilient. A good soldier to have your back."

"I'm sure," added the poised advisor, Rigg sharing confused looks with the other advisees as Tallest Blue slowly laid down on his berth, allowing the medic to come up to him and whisper medical advisements.

The three Advisors, in turn, stepped away, Pixen speaking in a worried tone, "I know Tallest Blue knew Sizz-Lorr was a fry cook, but the way he said it…"

"… Made it sound like he knew him even before that," stated the intelligence advisor, still dwelling on Dimm's careful words about the fact that Blue would be remembering lost memories. Only defective paks had those kinds of problems or ancient Irken. The only reason a healthy Irken would have that problem would be because of sabotage. A Blocker installment specifically. Yet, the Control Brains would have never allowed such a dysfunctional Irken like that into Talldom. He didn't have all the pieces yet to make a scientific deduction but Rigg would use one of Tallest Blue's own quotes for this whole situation: they just opened a can of worms.

"… But I don't recall any notations that those two having ever served together. They barely seemed to know each other before this, but the way his Tallest spoke with such familiarity," added Ta-Boo, the new advisor letting his sentence hang there.

Pulling his thoughts together, Advisor Rigg added, "Yes… and I fear it won't be the last oddity we will be witnessing. It is best that we stay with him instead of assisting on the bridge. I know the guards would usually be enough given their elite standing, but I am concerned for our Tallest."

Those words not only made it to the intended party but through the air vents and into the inner ear of Gaz Membrane. The girl had to use all her god-given control not to slam her fist down onto the metal and echo her whereabouts to every Irken on the ship. Instead, she glowered at the three advisors, who must have felt the deathly glare because they all shivered and made their way back over to the resting Tallest.

Great, just great. Gaz could have taken on Tallest Blue and the two elites with little resistance. The Tallest would be exhausted because of the constant pak shutdowns and the elites would be slow because they wouldn't be able to deal with both the exhaustion and abnormally heavy armor. But three advisors in the room as well and a medic? She had never fought an advisor and though most were kept around for their intelligence and not necessarily military experience, brute strength wasn't everything. If fighting the Irkens all these years had taught her anything: being tall wasn't everything, it was the mind that mattered.

Plus, medics were mean. She had nearly been dissected once by one of the little monsters.

Cursing her bad luck, the girl pulled a little more in the shadows and activated her communication device. She had told dad she didn't need any backup, and she hadn't. Any of the other ships that infiltrated the Massive all had their own jobs. Hers ... was just the most personal. Snack destroying, engine sabotage and a multitude of other things were on the list. Basically, it was a get in, destroy what you can, and get out. Basic Gorilla Warfare tactics as their race was quickly becoming known for.

She was the only one with a prime objective.

"Gamer Girl to Squee Bear, Gamer Girl to Squee Bear, do you read?" hissed the young woman, the communicator on her wrist glinting off the goggles she wore until a human with a mangled bear mask on flickered onto her screen.

"Right now really isn't the best time, GG. Nail Bunny has ... gone off the rails," said the young man, his voice squeaking as a thin man with a grotesque bunny mask jumped by in the background, knives singing. "NB has kept anyone from raising the alarm ... ugh, so much blood ... but I don't know how much longer that will last. He only listens to me half the time. Have you fulfilled your objective?"

Eye twitching behind her violet goggles, Gaz growled, "No. The objective has three advisors at his side, two elites at the door, and a medic. I can take the elites and probably the medic, but the advisors are wild cards. They might be scientists or ex-Invaders. There is no way to tell until I infiltrate the room."

An explosion happened in the background, the thin man with the bunny mask racing to the other side of the room with blades blazing. Agent Squee Bear whined in his throat as something gross splattered on his cheek, but merely wiped it off though before asking, "So ... you want me to send Nail Bunny? He ... He might go overboard and bring everyone down on us. Plus, I know how much you like ... your collection."

Gaz watched the younger man's eye twitch behind his mask. She knew a lot of people thought her antennae collection gross, but it brought her a bit of closure ... and at least she wasn't completely off the rails like Agent Nail Bunny. The Ark had found him and Squee Bear a few months after Earth's destruction on an alien space ship. Nail Bunny was suffering from severe psychosis, having killed everything on the ship, and Squee Bear was a traumatized kid. They had formed a strange dependent relationship where Nail Bunny thought Squee Bear was one of the voices in his head. Squee Bear was terrified of everything except, apparently, the most dangerous thing in the room.

But they were humans ... and dad needed more soldiers.

Nail Bunny was a killing machine and Squee Bear was the closest thing he had to a moral compass that told him who to kill.

Scratching his greasy black hair, Agent Squee Bear whined in his throat before stating, "You are few decks away, but we might be able to get there to assist before the Professor has to start retreating."

"All I need is a distraction. If you can get a few of them off my back, I should be able to take the target," said Gaz.

"It shall be done Gamer Girl ... just ... expect the whole ship to be chasing us by the time I get Nail Bunny over there. He's ... He's worse than usual," said the human, his voice quaking.

Smiling, the skull makeup around her jaw pulling at her skin, Gaz admitted, "Good ... I want all of them to know what I've done."

And with that, she ended the transmission, her cold gaze turning back to Tallest Blue's room. Revenge would be hers.

XXX

Paw07: I couldn't help myself ... and invited some guests to the Invader Zim universe. :p