Disclaimer: Zim is not mine. Actually, he doesn't even appear here, so the Tallest are not mine. Most things are not mine. And if Invader Zim were mine, it would be going in to Season eight or something by now, so clearly the characters appearing here are not mine, and I make no monies off of them.
Author's notes: I know, it's been over a year. I had, and still have, some grand plans for this fic, which I still intend to finish. Between school and now a summer job, I find myself with very little spare time, but I'm doing my best to finish, particularly for the reviewers who seemed to like the first Chapter so much. I intend this to be about 7 or 8 Chapters when I am done, although I might make it longer if I keep segmenting the way I do. This section was originally intended to be much longer, but it flows better if I cut it here.
Anyway, I want to thank ShadesOfMaroon, Tallest Magenta, Euphoric Asphyxiation, The Great WTF and xsweetxpandemoniumx for leaving such kind reviews, and I hope this second part is to your liking!
-This is a divider. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along…-
The bodyguard was bigger than me, naturally. Well, not taller. Certainly not taller. But definitely broader. He dragged me in by the shoulders and shut the airlock behind me. Then he looked at me, and seemed to just realize what he had done. He'd just manhandled his Tallest, dragged him through a door against his will and all but throwing him back into the bridge. He let go of me very quickly, and then stepped back and bowed. His eyes were probably twice their normal size by now, and he was shaking a bit. I waved him away, then glanced across the rest of the bridge. They were all silent, staring at me. Waiting. What did they expect of me? What was I supposed to do? What could I do? They had him.
"They have Almighty Tallest Red," I said dumbly, quietly, numbly. "Cease fire. There's nothing we can do."
Technicians powered down our weapons panels. I saw a squadron of fighters in the main screen rejoin formation and make for our hanger. And there, just above us, heading for the Vortian flagship. It was that ship. Red was there. Briefly I wondered if I should order them to fire on it. That was a bargaining chip. A very, very valuable bargaining chip that I was giving them. I raised my hand, opened my mouth, then stopped. What was there to do? What could I do, besides wait? They had the better half of us. Red was the better Tallest, everyone knew that.
I became aware that the technicians were split between righting overturned chairs and settling back into their places and watching me for a command. Somehow, I managed to remember that I was still Tallest and they would be looking to me for orders. I looked away, distracted in that instant by something warm and wet sliding down my back. I shifted my spider legs to get a better look at the Vortian hanging behind me. He was dead. Which was probably a good thing. I don't think I could have interrogated him just then. I don't think I could have spoken. It was like something soft was caught deep inside my throat, and I couldn't say anything. I was choking on air, but I could still breathe.
I shook my spider legs a little, but the enemy was stuck fast. I turned my eyes to the bodyguard that had pulled me back onto the bridge. He darted forward and grabbed onto the body so I could retract the long metal weapons back into my pak. I turned away, leaving him there to hold it. If he was planning to ask me what to do with the body, I had no answer. No answers to anything, and yet I had to say something.
You know what you should do. Irkens do not give weapons to their enemies. Irkens take weapons, and destroy weaknesses. Irkens do what is necessary.
My old lessons replayed themselves in my head. The ship was still in laser range. It was the thing to do. I was still Tallest. The loss of Red would not change that. I swallowed and opened my mouth again.
"…Damage report." I said, finally. Weak, came the voice in my head. Of course I was weak. With two Tallest, and the power split between them, how was either of us supposed to be as strong as Spork or Miyuki? Except Red was. And I wasn't.
"The hole outside the bridge is stabilized, but we are sending repair drones to the area to repair the area proper before soldiers enter the area. Three fighters have minor laser damage. The other forty-two show no damage. Fighters utilized twenty-four percent of total torpedoes carried. They are being reloaded from our stores as we speak. Sixteen soldiers have been lost defending the bridge. The party of twelve sent to investigate the hanger were lost in the explosion. The technicians in the hanger have not been accounted for. We are awaiting further details."
I let the information wash over me. The losses were not catastrophic, but the damage to our pride was significant. If Red were here, he would have said something to cheer our soldiers, make them certain that there would be complete and absolute victory. I was not Red. I could not be cheerful.
"I am returning to my chambers," I said. "Care for the wounded, rearm, and repair all damages. If we are contacted, summon me immediately. Otherwise, wait for orders."
They saluted me smartly, but I could see the confusion and unhappiness in their eyes as I turned away. A pair of bodyguards flanked me as I left through the opposite bridge door. I kept my eyes high, my mind blank. What was there to do?
I still could not prevent myself from seeing the bodies, Vortian and Irken alike, littering the hallway, many still locked in the embrace of combat. The Irkens who had given their lives to protect their Tallest and their Empire. What were the Vortians here for? What was worth this? When a small rodent sees a feline, it dashes in the opposite direction. It doesn't charge the predator, and it certainly doesn't escape unscathed with one of its eyes. What had possessed them to turn on their allies? How had they managed to win?
Reaching the door of our shared living quarters (Were they mine now?), I waved my bodyguards away. They took positions a few feet away, on either side of the door. I raised an eye at their subtle insistence, but nodded. One Tallest was gone. They would not be so quick to let the second out of their sight.
"I will be out directly," I told them. "I'm going to clean up." That much was obvious. My shoulders, neck, and a good portion of my back were covered in Vortian blood. They both nodded as one. "Both of you are free to see healers if you need them." They shook their heads.
"Thank you, my Tallest."
Were they two Irkens or one? I left them there in the hall as I entered my rooms. It was not worth pondering.
Our rooms were comfortable, and large. They had to be, we spent nearly half an average year on board. I drew my eyes away from the large red and purple divide down the middle of our sleeping chamber and went over to the clothing chute, stripping off my shoulder guards and the upper part of my robes before throwing them down. There were some cleaning wipes above Red's bed; I pulled them down and wiped the blood off of my skin before tossing that too and retreating into my closet. I grabbed something new to wear without even really looking at it: its not like I owned anything that would clash. There was the morning we had a really early meeting and I ended up in clothes from Red's closet instead... A shriek from him as I left the room was about all I could remember of the incident. That and he shoved me back into the apartment and into my own closet to find something to change into before anyone could have seen me.
But no matter…don't think about that. I flipped the switch on my back to deactivate my hoverbelt. Just now, I didn't feel like floating. I crossed the apartment to our weapons cache, and pulled out my favorite spear. Setting it into a spin with my fingers, I brought it around my shoulders and back to my front, before setting into a stabbing and dodging pattern of moves that was part of one of my regular warm-ups. As I thrust the weapon, I tried to push my tormented thoughts from my brain with it.
It's not like there had ever been two Tallest before. What was the procedure when one was lost, kidnapped, hurt? If he died, it would just be me. Another Irken was unlikely to have a growth spurt and come to my level. I stopped short, bringing my spear down beside me. What was my duty as Tallest? Besides the having fun, the snacking, the doing whatever we…whatever I wanted…I was supposed to lead the Empire. We were supposed to. But it wasn't supposed to happen like this. Nothing like this ever happened. Tallest weren't supposed to have to make these kinds of decisions. And I wasn't supposed to have to make them alone.
Decisions! The control brains! Of course! They were the ones who made decisions. They could help me figure out how to get Red back, and how to deal with the Vortians. It was that simple. I darted over to my console, staff still in hand, and used the identifier plug from my pak to call the control brains. I fidgeted impatiently as I waited for the call to go through; thank goodness our communications were still online.
"…Almighty Tallest Purple. Why have you contacted us and interrupted our work for the Empire?"
They were in a bad mood, clearly. Did they know already?
"Almighty Tallest Red has been captured, sirs. I come to you seeking advice."
"Captured?!" The control brains rarely had anything resembling strong emotions in their voices, but this sounded as close to shock as they had ever been. I felt them accessing that particular memory in my storage banks, and allowed it.
"He has been taken aboard their flagship." It wasn't a question.
"You did not fire upon the craft that captured him?"
"No, sirs."
"You allowed him to be taken into enemy hands,"
"There was no way to safely retrieve the ship he was on, sir."
"He is a liability to the Empire. He is now a weapon they can use against us. You must destroy the flagship before they are able to find some use for him."
I dropped my spear. It made a loud hiss as the blade took the corner off of my metal desk.
"D-destroy the flagship? But…but he's on board, that will kill him!"
"You are the Tallest. Your are to do what is best for the Empire."
"But – "
"The Empire will not falter if one of the two Tallest expires. You shall carry on in his place, and take vengeance against the Vortians. Such an act will keep the Empire unified and strong."
Before I could speak again, the communication was cut.
Kill Red? Then I really would be alone…
You are to do what is best for the Empire.
I stood up and looked over at his bed. Laying there was a puppet made to look like him. I picked it up and worked the punching gloves he had begged me to help him work out.
"Come on, Pur! It's better if it punches!"
"I've never seen a puppet punch before,"
"So we'll make one!"
"…Okay!"
"Red…" I felt the word drift out of my mouth before I could stop it.
"So we're Tallest now! You know what that means?"
"No, what?"
"It means we get to do whatever we want! No more teachers, no more generals, no more control brains, even! It's our turn to call the shots!"
"I'm not sure I'll know what shots to call, Red."
"Sure you will. We're the Tallest! That means whatever we decide to do is the best thing, and everybody will listen."
"Can we make decisions together?"
"What did you think? Of course we'll make them together! We'll always make them together. That's what's going to make us better Tallest than Spork and Miyuki combined!"
"…Let's make our first order for the cooks to make five hundred donuts!"
"Yeah! Donuts! Wait, five hundred? Can we eat that many?"
"No, but we can give them to everybody else when we're done, and they'll know how cool we are!"
"Yeah! Let's do it!"
I threw the doll onto his bed. It was then that I realized I was blinking back tears. I dragged my sleeve over my face, wiping them out of the way. Tears were for weaklings like Skoodge, not for a Tallest. I had to pull myself together before I went back to the bridge.
Holding my spear seemed to help my nerves somewhat, I noticed. Picking it up, I left the apartment and strode back down the hallway. I didn't even notice my bodyguards had fallen into step behind me until one of them stepped forward to pull the door manually open so I could reach the bridge. It certainly looked clean. How long had I been in my room? Technicians, advisors, bodyguards, all stopped what they were doing immediately to look at me.
I walked over to my chair and sat down in it, leaning my spear against the arm. I scanned the room, looking for the gunner in charge by way of their seating arrangements. After a moment, I found the Irken I was looking for and pointed to her.
"You! What's your name?"
She looked surprised, but saluted smartly and said, "Quin, my Tallest!" without a waver in her voice.
"Quin! Are our guns operational?"
"Sir, the main planetary gun is operational, as are our secondary guns, but we have lost two turrets on the lower side near the hanger."
I nodded, and turned to one of my advisors. "Plok, how many Irken Elite do we have on board the Massive currently?"
The advisor checked his portable console. "Eighteen, my Tallest. Three squads. One Invader-Class, two Field-Class."
"Are any of them injured?"
"No, my Tallest."
"Order them to the bridge immediately."
As I heard my orders being repeated and relayed around the bridge, I lowered my head as I formulated my plan of attack. I could do no more than plan until I waited for my Elites to arrive. Red might have had the advantage when it came to spacecraft and flashy lasers, but it was time I showed them some tricks of my own. Then the Vortians would know the grave mistake they had made.
-This is a divider too :D -
Thanks for your patience! As always, reviews are welcome, and to be honest, some encouragement from the sidelines might help me keep my speed up (I wrote ¾ of this in one evening!)