A/N: Okay, I honestly have no excuse other than the fact that I had extremely bad writers' block. This is the one part that I didn't work out in the plot... so after a long amount of time, here's chapter eight. Enjoy.
Two weeks, and people were still congratulating Tak. Even those who had criticized her, said she was worthless, gave her a begrudging respect. At first it had been nice, but after a while the constant cries of "Hey, it's that girl!" got boring, then irritating. When she got up that morning, all she'd wanted was some bacon and a shower, not for forty-two people to stop her and shake her hand. She took her shower as quickly as possible, hoping nobody would burst in. Then she sneaked down to the kitchen, grabbed some bacon, and slipped back to her room where she could eat in peace. She did what she could to avoid her new shadows.
Suddenly, the alarms rang. The base was under attack! Tak groaned and set her bacon aside, knowing that someone would come ask her to help. She picked up the pistol she'd used to capture a Tallest and dashed up to the roof. Lard Nar was already up there, giving orders to everyone present. As she approached, he pointed at her, shouted something that was drowned out by the surrounding gunfire, then pointed at a turret. She nodded in understanding and raced to grab the controls. She pointed it at the nearest ship and fired, sending it spiraling out of control. The rest of the battle went by in a similar fashion, and it all just blurred together.
After the fight, some refugees came to the compound and demanded to see Lard Nar. They were granted access, and were led to the main room, where they instantly started yelling at him for the battle. "They could have come after us!" a hairy person yelled. "After they were through with you, they could have gone for the refugee colony!"
"So we've fought them off, but you're still complaining?" Lard Nar asked, with his forehead furrowed in frustration. "Would you rather we didn't do anything at all?"
"Sir, this is the fifth attack since you brought the Tallest here! He's obviously endangering all of us!" a Screwhead woman cried.
"Well, where do you suggest we keep him?" The room grew silent. "That's what I thought."
"Why don't you ask your little Irken friend for help?" someone sneered. Tak recognized the person as the one who'd criticized her before she'd left to kidnap the Tallest. " If she kidnapped the bastard, she probably knows some place to keep him."
"Look, I don't know what your problem with Tak is, but -"
"You know exactly what my problem is with her! It's because of the special treatment you give her!" He flicked his slimy tail towards his leader.
"I do not! Unless you're referring to our lessons, in which case I'm learning about Irken society from her." Lard Nar glared his subordinate down. "Do I make that clear, Belvin?"
So that's his name, Tak thought as the creature growled. "Fine." The crowd slowly dispersed, and she marched up to her leader's side. "You know... Belvin – that is his name, right? - did have a good idea. I know a planet that's far beyond the reach of the Empire. So far away, that they banished -"
"Their most hated Individual there. You're talking about Earth."
She mentally facepalmed. Of course he knew! "Right... I'm pretty sure I know someone who can help us on Earth. I could go out there and see."
He hopped down from his chair and grabbed her shoulders. "Tak, I know why you're here."
"Yeah, I'm talking to you because I want to help you."
He shook his head. "No, Tak, I know why you're here. The underlying reason to why you're Vortian at all."
"Because I told you!" she screeched.
"Wait, were you really..." He paced for a moment while he thought. "Okay, I guess you were the first one to tell me. You never told me the whole truth though, so if you're going back just for round two with Zim, then..."
"I'm not!" she snapped. "I'm beginning to think you don't want my help!"
"Of course I want your help, I just..." he sighed. "I just don't want you blindly rushing into danger."
"I'm not blindly rushing into danger! I know what I'm doing!" She wanted to smack him for being so silly! "Look. I've been to Earth before. All I'd need to do is convince the natives to help us, which would be easy. They're not that bright, and wouldn't even notice that the stand they're buying weenies from is a hundred stories tall! Besides, you could probably hold off Tenn for about an hour now."
He growled."Okay, fine. Go ahead and go to Earth. If you don't get anything from the natives, come directly back. Got it?"
"Yes, Sir. Thank you!" She skittered off to pack what she needed. Soon, she had enough food to last her two trips, a couple changes of clothing, and a small game to keep her mental capabilities in check. She then wrote a note to her roommates explaining where she'd gone.
Tak went to the hangar to find a suitable ship. She settled on a ship built for speed, not for combat. Soon, she was out in space, on her way to a planet she figured she'd never see again. She happily hummed a song one of the refugees had written when it was clear turning back would no longer be an option. They weren't too bright, so the words didn't really make sense, but the tune was pretty.
Suddenly, the ship rocked violently, throwing her into the windshield. A muffled cry came from the cargo compartment, and she looked back there to find Shloonktapooxis in her stuff. "What are you doing here?" she shouted. "Did Lard Nar ask you to follow me?"
"Naaah, I decided to follow you myself." He said with a lopsided smile. "I wanted to surprise you!"
"Oh you surprised me alright... It's a rather unpleasant surprise. You do realize I only packed enough food to feed myself, right?" she asked. If Shlook wanted to come with her she'd need to stock up on Earth food once she got there if they needed to come back – and she wasn't so sure she wanted to eat Earth food.
"Maybe we could get some from that big ship!" he chirped.
"What big ship?"
"Y'know, the big ship that's pulling us in with their tractor beam!"
She turned around to see a ship of unknown origin. "Oh." She grabbed for the controls and tried to shake the ship free, but it was no use. "Crap! Looks like we're going to have to fight our way free." she said as she slammed her fist into her console angrily.
"But they're gonna give us food!" he said as their ship was admitted into the docking bay.
"Ugh... for all we know, we're going to be the main course!" Tak readied her pistol as strange brown, bug-eyed aliens surrounded her. One of them smashed the windshield with a metal pipe, sending shards of glass raining down on her. Then they bashed her over the head with it, causing her to feel dizzy. She pointed the gun in their general direction and fired, but it missed and hit the wall instead. One of them hoisted her out and started to carry her over its shoulder. She screamed and beat at the alien's back while trying to squirm free, but it shoved her into a small cage. She hissed and shook the bars, making her look like some sort of ravenous beast. Finally, she gave up and punched a bar, then felt a few of her bones shatter. She yelped, cradled her now useless hand with her good one, and laid down. They'd taken her pistol away, so she couldn't use it.
Eventually, they dumped her in a small cell, similar to the one she'd been deposited in when she'd first become Vortian. It was obvious her broken hand wasn't going to be fixed anytime soon, so she grabbed a sheet off the bed, tore some of the fabric off, and wrapped it around her wound as tightly as she could. She wasn't exactly sure if that would help it or make it worse, but it sort of helped the pain. Ugh. I'm in captivity again, and this time there's nobody to keep me company...
"Hi!"
Well, I guess I won't be alone after all! She thought as a tiny Vortian hugged her legs. She couldn't have been much older than four Vortian years, with icy white skin and ruby red eyes, and dressed in a simple white gown. However, something was wrong about her, and as Tak looked closer, she saw the pair of Meekrobian wings flapping on the girl's back. "Oh, dear... what did they do to you?"
"They fused me!" The girl smiled, showing her perfectly formed teeth, causing a chill to run down Tak's spine. "But I don't think they'll do it to you. They were looking for you!"
"Me? What do they want with me?" Tak asked, confused.
"Well, they said you had an Irken trapped in you, and they wanted to see if they could get her out!"
"No... no! They can't put me back in there! Even if they could, the Empire would never allow them to have my old body!" Tak screamed.
"They said they got it for cheap."
"Oh for crying out loud!" She kicked at the cot. "I've got people counting on me! I can't go back!"
The girl's eyes blinked, once, twice. "Why not?"
Tak shook her head and sat down, then pulled the girl into her lap. "Irkens only care about themselves and the Empire, sweetie. The people who are counting on me don't like the Empire."
"Oh. Well maybe you could tell them that you don't want to go back." The girl hugged her. "I'd help you!"
"I doubt that would work. They didn't ask me if I wanted to go in the first place." She hugged the girl close and felt herself start to sob. She wanted to fight her way out of the cell, grab Shloonktapooxis, and get the hell out, but they'd already proved that it wasn't going to be a good idea.
They came for her. "Experiment 506. You're needed."
Tak rose and headed for the door. "So I'm just a number to you too, huh..."
The girl ran ahead of her and somehow pushed her back. "Nuh-uh. I'm not letting you take my friend away!" The two aliens who'd come to take Tak instantly stood back. One of them whispered about electrical discharge. Tak took advantage of this distraction, scooped up the little girl, and ran. About halfway across the ship, she suddenly tripped, sending the little girl flying into a wall. Someone pinned Tak to the ground. "That was quite crafty. We should have expected-"
A large bolt of electricity interrupted the alien's speech. "Come on! Let's get out of here!" The girl yelled as she blasted the alien away. Tak got up and ran after the girl.
"Did you do that?" she asked the girl as they entered what looked to be a lab.
"Yup." The girl suddenly stopped. "This is the place where they do bad things." She started to sniff a little. "Sometimes people don't come out."
"Well, why don't we make it so that they can't do bad things?" Tak asked with a grin. "I bet you could do it. Just zap the machines and they'll break."
The girl's face lit up. "Okay!" Lightning arced from the girl's tiny body, running its tendrils over every inch of exposed metal. Sparks popped from machines with no discernible purpose. Alarm bells started to ring as the scent of ozone filled the air.
"Good job." Tak said as the lightning faded. She went to pat the girl on the back, then stopped as she realized the girl probably wasn't safe to touch. The door suddenly fell forward, and all kinds of different aliens poured into the room. "Hm. The thing that keeps the cells closed must have been in here." she noted. "Shloonk! Where are you?"
"Mutiny!" the cone howled. "We're havin' a mutiny party!"
"That's nice, come on! We're getting out of here!" Tak grabbed the girl and started to dash towards the hangar. She heard screams all around, from both the captives and the captors. It was just like the night she escaped the prison on Vort, only this time, many races were fighting against their oppressors.
She found her ship and placed the girl inside, then reached for her pistol. She then pointed it at the door, only to realize she was holding air in her bad hand. She hissed as a jolt of pain burst in her hand. "Argh... that's right. They took my gun."
Shloonktapooxis hovered through the door holding a large sack full of something. He dropped it in the ship as Tak climbed in. She started up the ship and got away as fast as she could. It wasn't long until the large ship was out of sight. "Do you think everyone's going to be okay?" the girl asked.
"I think so." In reality, Tak wasn't so sure. It was obvious that people were getting hurt, possibly even getting killed. There was no way to tell unless she went back. "Alright, what's in here?" She dug through the sack, making sure she didn't bump her bad hand on something. "Is this... all food?" There would be more than enough for the three of them.
"Your gun's in there too, I think." When she heard that, she dug even deeper. There it was, at the bottom of the sack. She lifted it out happily.
"Alright! With all this we should be good to go!" She said with a grin. "Well, as long as my hand doesn't get worse, anyway."