TRIGGER WARNING:
I've shown some...rather dark stuff previously. These next couple of chapters will be even more so. I thought you deserve to know this. I made this story in many ways to sort of criticize and deconstruct myself and what I believe, and this means I can't shy away from dark subject matter. Just know that this next part of the tale was VERY painful to write. It made me squeamish typing it. And I'm REALLY sorry if it ends up disgusting you. I just want to try and tell a good story that at the same time analyzes myself as much as "What would happen if the Empire won"?
Having said all that...here you go.
"We've almost gotten it finished!"
Dib looked over the blueprints, rubbing his chin as Faith cheerily smiled, Professor Membrane adjusting his goggles as the laboratory team stood around the table. The footage for the laboratory was being looped once again as Dib's dad pointed at what laid before them all. "As you can see, we've finally gotten the compounds for dissolving away the atmospheric pollution in our air, and for applying the necessary changes to IRK'S air. With a few more days of work, we should be ready to finally test the virus for the Massive's computer systems and to cripple the rest of the fleet!"
"Great! Lard Nar and I created a private contact channel." Dib commented as he gave everyone little walkie talkie-esque communicators faintly shaped like miniature retro 80's walkie talkies, and nodded. "These will only contact the other communicators so don't lose them! Contact him when you're ready to go and we can...well...start the plan." He finished, taking in a deep breath as everyone looked intensely at him, Gaz's mechanical eye narrowing firmly at him.
"You're absolutely sure you can go through with this?" She inquired. "I know you've really gotten to like Senior."
"...it isn't about me." Dib finally said at last as he hung his head and took in a long, deep breath. "This is about making the Irkens pay not only for what they've done to OUR planet, but all those other ones. You can't just oppress a people for years and decades and centuries and kill their people and enslave them and all that and then go "sorry" and just give back a bunch of things you took from them. Even if it IS just about everything you took, that doesn't erase what you did! They don't deserve to HAVE any kind of empire at all! They need to know what it feels like. The shoe needs to be on the other foot!" He insisted. "Fair's fair, after all!"
"Just don't let anything slip. Nobody let anything slip." Gaz insisted, pointing around at everyone. "This doesn't leave the room. We pretend nothing's wrong, we go about our daily lives. And more importantly, we have to avoid all those psychics like they've got the plague. We do NOT want any of the consulars reading our minds and finding out what we're up to! And if they try and find out, you end them." She added with a dark glower. "Right...there."
Everyone slowly nodded all at once. With that, they all exited the laboratory one after the other, Dib shaking his dad's hand, giving him a big smile. "Thanks for all this, Dad."
"It's a brilliant plan, Dib. Truly, "real science"!" He laughed in delight. "I couldn't possibly be prouder of you."
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...
... "Wow. Look at all that."
Senior was very impressed. He'd taken Dib to the Massive's shooting range on the northern wing, and Dib had shown a remarkably good aim. Using a high-powered assault laser light rifle he'd hit almost all of the floating targets in the air. Cute, adorable little balloons...with Zim's face on them. And when they reinflated, they said things like "My Tallest! My Tallest! My Tallest!" and "Yes, Yes, I'm a Bear" and "Aren't I Amazing?". Evidently the former Tallest had recorded so much of Zim's dialogue they'd been able to stick it onto the "smart targets", to motivate those in the shooting range.
"This is probably the only thing Red and Purple did that I agree with completely." Dib remarked as he blew fake smoke off of the assault rifle, lowering it down as Senior stood nearby, looking quite pleased with Dib's work. The real Zim was stuck, trapped via a little cocktail sword on top of a nearby table, stuck to a piece of cheese that laid near some other snacks that had been left there for later.
"Oh very funny! Ha ha ha!" Zim grumbled aloud.
"I should think you'd be happy being here, Zim. You love hearing the sound of your own voice constantly. And looking at your own face." Dib snarked.
"That's because Zim only enjoys intelligent conversations!"
"...so why do you like talking to yourself?" Dib inquired in a mocking tone as Zim flailed about in anger.
"I WILL GNAW YOUR FEET OFF! SO YOU CAN'T WALK! AND THEN MAKE YOU WATCH AS I USE THEM FOR MODERN ART!"
"That's very oddly specific." Dib remarked as Senior tapped the side of his head, adjusting one of the "communicator's chips" he had. "Are you going to give it a try?"
"Well...I don't know. I guess I could." Senior mumbled. "I was just going to put on some nice Earth music and then head off to look over the schedule for our next meeting. The Planet Jacker refugees keep demanding an audience with all of us. I was going to tell them exactly where they could stick that demand." He added with a frown. "Most of us Irkens just want to let them die off. There's only a few thousand left, after all...even most of the other planets don't give a damn about them! "
"You really don't like them, huh?" Dib asked as Senior walked over to the part of the wall that held the weapons, pressing a small, cube-shaped spot on it as Tak watched from a nearby doorway, just watching and listening as Senior pulled out several pistols, and then slung a shotgun over his shoulder.
"The Planet Jackers caused untold cruelty for literally centuries!" Senior murmured coldly. "They could have moved their planet instead of moving other planets away. Or just moved themselves. They didn't. They were selfish, stupid and sadistic. At least when Irkens do awful things, we're not STUPID about..." He trailed off. "Oh, who am I kidding? We named our biggest ship "Massive", our best inventions are stolen from other races and some of our best disguises involved just putting rocks on ourselves..." He muttered. "I guess the real reason so many of us hate them is we see them as an even worse version of ourselves. And nobody likes looking in the mirror, and seeing how awful we really are."
"I don't think you're that bad." Dib mumbled out, Senior smiling wryly before he pulled off the communicator chips, and set them down in Dib's palms, music beginning to play out of them on the "speaker" option. Dib could see that putting the chips on clearly would HURT. There were tiny little needles, it must have felt like ripping off a particularily harsh band-aid. There were even tiny little scar marks from where they usually were, just baaaarely visible on the side of the green-eyed communication officer's head.
Yet Senior just closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he did something Dib had NEVER seen him do...he pulled up the little mask that most communication officer's had, the one that covered their mouth, below their "nose" region. Dib had never seen Senior having that up! It was always slid down, allowing you to see his full face. This was so strange, seeing him bring it up as the song began to play, Senior then pulling out his pistols.
"Ugh. What is this drivel?" Zim mumbled, rolling his eyes Dib realized "Judas Priest" was now beginning to play a song from the chips. And not just ANY song, but "Electric Eye"!
Watching all this unfold, Tak rolled her eyes a bit. Such a waste of potential for Senior to put his talents towards...THIS.
As the swelling of the guitar riffs of "The Hellion" gave way to the PROPER song, all of time seemed to freeze briefly for a moment, Senior steadying his grip on the pistols as he fired away. He spun around on the spot, firing and firing, each shot hitting a new balloon of Zim, blasting it into tiny little chunks.
Up here in space!
I'm looking down on you!
My lasers trace...
Everything you do!
You think you've private lives,
Think nothing of the kind!
There is no true escape,
I'm watching all the time!
He twirled around and around, firing and firing away before leaping up, through the air, spinning about and firing even more, upside-down as he pulled off even more spectacular shots. Dib stared, flabbergasted at all of this as Senior landed expertly and rolled away, sliding on his back as he tossed the guns up, up into the air, yanking the laser light shotgun off his back. He fired up into the air, blasting balloons high above him.
I'm made of metal!
My circuits gleam!
I am perpetual,
I keep the country clean!
Then he slapped the shotgun back onto his back as he caught the pistols as they fell, racing along the enormous, circular hall, strafing around, firing at the other Zim balloons. Dib gazed on, taking it all in as Zim moaned. All those beautiful balloons with his beautiful face on it...gone.
I'm elected electric spy!
I'm protected electric eye!
Dib watched Senior finish off every single one of the balloons, staring in shocked silence before Senior walked on back, noticing Tak was in the doorway. "I don't get why you never joined the military." She insisted, shaking her head as she entered the room, getting her OWN weaponry, and giving Dib a slightly playful little dark smile. "Look at him, Dib. Aim like that? He could have been one of the best sharpshooters we had. When he really puts his mind to it, he's nigh-unstoppable, but he decided to become a COMMUNICATION'S OFFICER instead. Isn't it such a waste of such good talents?"
"Like I told Dib...I became a communication's officer because I was too good at shooting people. You know, Earth has this...stupid, stupid idea. That "good men don't need rules". But that isn't true." He told Dib, shaking his head. "Good men need rules more than bad men. Because good men will always be tested and tempted to BE bad. They need rules to remind them to remain good. That's what those rules are for. They won't stop a bad man from being bad. But they'll remind good men to stay good." The head of the new Irken Empire admitted.
Dib bit his lip, heading out the door, hands in his pockets as he walked alongside Senior, who lowered his mask again, allowing Dib to see his sad smile. "Tak's gotten a bit more...critical of me since Australia. Even nuking Melbourne off the map didn't really cheer her up. Darth's trying to help, but even HE can't seem to do it."
"She goes to therapy?"
"Oh, no, uh..." Senior blushed a bit. "They've been very close for over two years." He confessed. "And he said he shouldn't tell me what she told him in confidentiality, but he sort of spilled the beans by accident. She told him when they were having drinks that...well, I guess she'd gotten so used to winning now that WE were in charge that even taking a few losses to her was unacceptable."
"She's still mad about Tenn?"
"It isn't just Tenn. Evidently the Australian resistance movement made Melbourne into a symbol of Martyrydom. They've spread to New Zealand and places in Indonesia and they're gaining in strength. Tak's putting a lot of effort into trying to forcibly squash them, but they're getting very good at guerilla tactics and we Irkens are NOT good at handling that. I won't let her use absolute, overwhelming force to just nuke big chunks of land from orbit, so she's having to send in lots of ground troops, and having to deal with that day in, day out is really aggravating her. I'm going to suggest she take a nice vacation." Senior remarked.
"Do you ever feel like a hypocrite?" Dib asked. "I mean, you had no trouble helping the Resisty to bring down the Empire, but now you ARE the Empire. I know you've been trying to give back all that it took from Vort and all those other planets, but do you ever worry you're becoming as bad as Red and Purple?"
"Of course I do. But I've got people like you." Senior said with a smile. "That's why I surround myself with other people. To remind me not to go too far. I like to think I'm a good man. And I need to be reminded to stay that way so I don't end up like Red or Purple. Do you think you could do me a favor? Bring me an Irken milkshake? Chocolate? And you can leave Zim here. That way he can watch more of his face getting shot."
"YOU'RE PURE EVIL!" Zim shrieked.
"Sure, but...I've wanted to ask you. I mean, you said your species can't quite yet enjoy dairy products fully, right? So...then...what are Irken milkshakes made from?"
"...you know, I've never really asked Sizz-Lorr." Senior confessed. "...I'm not sure I want to."
"Fine by me." Dib said, heading for the cafeteria, going down the hallway...
Not noticing the figure that had been following him and Senior, who was now sneaking up on him, a rag of chloroform in hand.
"MMMPGGGHHH!" Dib didn't even have time to get a good scream out as the rag was stuffed over his mouth, and he flopped to the ground, unconciousness digging its claws into him, Wiyn's pitiless smile leering down at him.
"Oh, what fun we'll have, you filthy little huuuuuuman." Dib heard her say, the last words he'd hear before sleepiness sank into him fully...and he awoke in hell.
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...
...
...Dib was now trapped inside a large, steely, dark-grey room, a window behind Wiyn overlooking what was clearly a large facility, filled to the brim with various Irkens who were all chatting amongst each other, eagerly anticipating something...and, to Dib's horror...munching on humans. Not...alive ones. Ones very much dead. Tiny and small...and with cocktail toothpicks stuck through their bodies, whilst they drank something that very clearly wasn't...wine.
Dib shuddered in horror as Wiyn evilly sneered, and nonchalantly rested her head on the back of the chair she was sitting at. "You would not believe how many Irkens wanted to properly enjoy humans. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to watch you all squirming around in our stomachs. To hear your pleading or screaming. But, well...there's something equally satisfying about watching you slowly dying on the end of a nice little toothpick, or ground into a nice, delicious milkshake of blood, or well..."
A sadistic giggle. "We're FIVE MILES UNDERGROUND. Nobody can hear you scream. Any of you."
She was happy. Such a sick, twisted thing. She was like some dark, disgusting thing God had shoved under a rock and forgotten about that was now squirming back out, and she rose up from the chair, awful techno-music playing on loudspeakers in the back of the underground facility he was evidently trapped in. Wiyn sauntered over to a table that had a single silver platter on top, and slowly took it off. Dib's eyes bulged behind his glasses.
"I could have broken those, but...well, I want you seeing and hearing all of this. It's very simple, Dib...you've been bad. But I'm not going to punish you, oh no. You'd endure it cuz you...care." Wiyn said with a snort. "You care about your other humans. It's just part of your nature. So I won't hurt you, oh no. I'm going to hurt your classmates and all their families. I think I'll start with Tommy here!"
Oh no. OH NO. Not Tommy Chestnut. Dib's eyes bulged, seeing the poor, terrified little lad with the messy black hair being lifted out of the pile of tied-up, screaming in terror and alarm and for help that couldn't come human children and their families. Wiyn smiled vilely. "And I want you to always be wondering when I'll kill them. Or even IF. If nothing is certain, you'll be suffering even worse, Dib. That's something I learned very quickly. If a prisoner isn't sure of what'll happen to them or their cellmates, ohhh, the tension! It makes them wrecks." She laughed foully. "Years guarding filthy goaty-heads and disgusting skaatel like them taught me everything I needed to know about instilling real fear."
"You are a diseased, disgusting BUG." Dib growled out.
"See, now...you shouldn't me angry. Now poor Tommy's never gonna be able to write on the chalkboard again." Wiyn said, sliding Tommy's arms into her mouth, the zipper-toothed teeh held up.
"Nononono!" Tommy shrieked out.
Dib cringed as she brought them down. He tried hard. SO hard to ignore Tommy's sobbing wails as Wiyn nonchalantly swished Tommy's arms around in her mouth, that awful, foul light glittering in her eyes, unnatural, foul...a kind of "deadlight" that made him shudder as the acrid smell of blood assaulted his nose.
"Feel like begging for mercy, Dib? Come on. Plead for his life." Wiyn remarked, nonchalantly waving Tommy around in the air by his legs. "Or I take his legs."
"...s-stop..." Dib murmured quietly. "This is...this is too cruel."
"What? Cruel? Ohh, do you not LIKE this?" Wiyn inquired with a little chuckle. "You think I'm sadistic, is that it?"
Dib bit his lip, trying to keep the tears from welling in his eyes as he heard Wiyn crunch into Tommy's LEGS next, Tommy sobbing uncontrollably as Wiyn nonchalantly chewed. That horrifying, sickening sound filled the air as Wiyn finished, slooowly licking over her lips. "And if I am? So what?"
"You don't even care that what you're doing is immoral and wrong?!" Dib practically shrieked out. "That's just so mind-bogglingly disgusting and fucking sick-"
"And there's that argument. Morality." A voice rang out, Dib stiffening as he stared up in horror, seeing two people he never expected to be there. "You think I chose any of my crew because of MORALS? Really?"
It was Tak. And behind her, Darth stood, looking down at the wicked-looking hunting knife Tak had on her belt as it slightly banged against her side upon entering the room and standing before the shocked Dib. He "watched" it swing and bounce against her, quietly closing his eyes, then slowly looking in Dib's direction as Dib's mouth hung open. "...you?" Dib murmured. "All this time?"
"There's no room in the Irken empire...in war itself, in the name of actual, real progress, for MORALS. Morals cloud judgment. Morals taint conclusions. Morals define unwanted prejudices. They're not welcome here." Tak told Dib, looking down at him with her purple eyes flashing.
Dib stared, his mouth agape. "Senior gave you so much and you just-"
"He doesn't understand. Like you, he lets his morality cloud his judgment. He lets sentimentality rule him, lets his ethicality affect his conclusions. It's foolish." Tak intoned. "He's allowed too much. I initially was very excited by all he'd done. But he simply isn't doing enough. He's not willing to properly go the distance."
"So what, you're just gonna do what Red and Purple did?" Dib asked, sounding aghast. "Just continuing more alien invasions of other planets, is that it? Is THAT why you were okay with having so much of your fleet made into robots?"
"No no, see...Red and Purple wanted to make colonies and parking lot planets." Tak shook her head. "I don't want them to be anything." She whispered darkly. "We're going to get rid of all those skaatel's leaders, and then all of THEM when they've been thrown into chaos. And Senior won't see it coming." She intoned, waving a gloved hand in the air. "With the proper adjustments we've made to our ships, helped along by your dear darling Gaz who thought she was just making better LASERS..."
Dib felt his guts implode as his turned even paler than normal.
"...we'll be able to do organic sweeps of specific life forms! We'll cleanse the planets and take everything we want. We'll be the only race left. Well...except for yours. You're just too delicious to leave alone, Dib." She whispered, leaning down, and slowly licking over his cheek with her wormlike tongue, the tied-down Dib shuddering in disgust and fear as she took out her hunting knife. "Nobody should be this delicious." She murmured, deliberately slicing his cheek ever-so-slightly open to lap at his blood. "I'll be back for some fun with you later, Dib. Try not to break him so quickly, Win. And remember...don't touch. He's mine."
She chuckled, slowly tracing a claw down his cheek. "I really did always respect you, Dib. Rather liked you quite a bit. I want you to be there for when I take over. When I finally become the Tallest, when I'm finally in charge, finally, FINALLY getting what I've so long deserved, and finally become the ruler Irk needs."
"It doesn't WANT you." Dib said, trying to regain his courage, trying to glare back at her. "I don't like what Senior's doing but most of the Irkens seem just FINE with how things are!"
"Since when have the dumb masses ever known what was best for them? You keep giving them the same crap...they'll just keep asking for it. You need to...spice it up." Tak remarked, plucking Tommy Chestnut's frame off the pile of kids as they gasped in horror, Tak popping him into his mouth...and slowly chewing. "Mmmmmmmm. So nice." She murmured, Dib feeling the tears barreling down his cheeks as Tak left the room, Darth glancing over at Dib, a mental message sinking into his mind.
"I'm sorry you have to suffer so. Try to be strong. They need you."
With that, Dib was left alone, Wiyn plucking Tommy's parents up off the pile, waving them both in the air in front of Dib as she laughed. "Come on, Dib. Pick one! Who'll I eat the legs off of first?"
"...I promise you. I...will...kill you." Dib whispered out, lowering his head. "I will kill you. I will KILL you. I WILL KILL YOU."
He repeated that mantra in his head. It barely drowned out the horrific gnawing and chewing sounds.
...barely.