Truce
Zim toyed with the wooden pencil between his two gloved, claw-like fingers. He tried his best to fight off the burning sensation of boredom, but the irritating fervor crept up faster than his almighty willpower could forcefully shove it down. He stared up at the clock, the black hand ticking by agonizingly slowly. Frustrated, he let out a muffled groan.
Why did he even bother showing up to, what the humans referred to as, skool? It was waste of an institution in his eyes, a run down learning facility failing to provide anything useful for the forthcoming invader. The instructor constantly blabbered on about how doomed they all were, or how dreary they could expect their adult lives to be, and every time he listened he felt like he was on the verge on insanity.
Letting out a small groan, he glared across the room at the massive chalkboard. Today's topic was insects, or more precisely, insect colonies. He hadn't listened to word the teacher said and as the hour ticked by, the constant blabbering from her obnoxious noise hole made focusing ever more tiresome.
"So you see students," Ms. Bitters started, stepping back from the medium-sized prism resting on her desk, "the soldier ants will horribly annihilate their rival counterparts in a brutal fight to the death, similar to the corporate nightmare that is the structure of our economy." She then looked around the room at the children who gawked back at her with blank expressions. "But occasionally," she continued, narrowing her eyes, "when an orphaned ant loses its queen, it is absorbed into the new colony rather than killed. The same way your rival companies will gladly hire you for less money after they put yours unexpectedly out of business."
Zim tilted his chin in the air, incuriously bored by the demo. Nothing Ms. Bitters could say at this point would re-captivate his attention in the lesson, and he had stopped listening a while ago. He studied the poorly maintained ceiling above, not caring about the lecture. Tracing the cracking vinyl above, he let his thoughts drift back to his current predicament.
As expected of all invaders of the Irken race, he was obligated to check in to his Tallest with regular updates. It was his job to inform them of his overall progress, but as time went on, he failed to come up with anything new at all. He was tasked with the purpose of preparing the planet for destruction, yet he had accomplished nothing since his arrival. He tried telling himself that it was just a minor setback, that he was far too busy to come up with a new master plan to destroy the humans, but the truth was, he rapidly running out of ideas.
He leaned back in his metal chair, trying his best to calm his mind. He hadn't come up with anything new in weeks, and at this rate, the Tallest might just write him off altogether. He remembered the horrible Florpus incident just a few months ago and wondered if his leaders would ever call him back after such a blunder. He had been far too embarrassed about it to make the call himself and was constantly thinking about ways to contact them that wouldn't result in uncomfortable silence.
Suddenly, an unexpected snap caught his attention. The disgruntled Irken shot his antennae up, his eyes widening in horror. He knew what was about to happen, but it didn't prevent what was already too late. Without warning, the metal support of the chair collapsed beneath him, and the whole desk came crashing down on top. He yelped as the chair collapsed and braced himself for the inevitable impact. When it was done, he stood up and shot a glare at the one person who he knew who was, without a doubt, responsible.
Dib.
His sworn enemy, and the one to blame for ruining all of his well-thought plans, sat twiddling his thumbs innocently while cocking his head up at the ceiling. Zim stared at the boy with a vengeance. The incident hadn't been an accident. His enemy had done it on purpose to expose the unwanted invader or simply just to play a dirty trick.
Zim hopped up onto his desk, attempting to shout an impending threat of doom. He was just about to release a barrage of insults when he was abruptly cut short by the teacher.
"Zim!" Ms. Bitters squawked, turning to face his direction. "That's the eleventh disturbance this month! One more outburst like that and you lose your desk for the rest of the school year!"
Zim winced as she cast an iron glare at him.
"Yes Ms. Bitters," he said, backing down slowly.
The teacher turned away and then whirled around to cut off the other boy's smirk behind her.
"And Dib!" she shouted, causing him to jump. "Since you also seem to be having trouble with today's lesson, I am assigning the two of you as lab partners for the upcoming school project."
Dib immediately groaned in protest.
""Aw but...but...come on! He's an alien! Can't we just-"
The teacher silenced him with a forbidding growl.
Dib slumped forward in defeat.
"Yes ma'am..."
At the end of the school day, Zim found himself angrily marching back to the base. He continued on while ranting, not paying the slightest bit of attention to the random child next to him.
"And can you believe that!? Me? ME?! Ordered to work with that FILTHY Dib creature!"
The large-eyed boy next to him only continued to stare, confused as they walked in the direction of their homes.
Zim continued, ignoring him.
"The very thought of such a concept sickens me! Working with that horrible stink beast! Hmph. Impossible!"
The child quickly made a run for it as Zim reached his destination, and while stopping at his front door, the Irken continued to talk to no one in particular.
"Such invidious notions should never be expected of an invader! Me? Ordered to work with the Dib? Preposterous!"
He then opened the door and slammed it shut behind him, glaring as his SIR unit greeted him from the couch.
"Master! You're back!"
Gir hopped off the couch and ran over to him. Zim winced as the high pitched tone filled his ears.
"YOU GONNA WANNA WATCH THE SCARY MONKEY SHOW WITH ME? Are you? ARE YOU?!"
Zim stared down his minion vexingly, trying to recover from the high pitched squeak.
"No Gir. No horrible monkey today. There is much work that needs to be done. So much! I will need to come up with a new master plan if I am to destroy the humans, but first I must find a way to gather a bunch of them in a single location where I can take over their minds all at once. I have already discovered that they have an irrational obsession with tacos, so if I can control these tacos, I CONTROL THE WORLD. All I have to do is-"
He stopped when he realized the SIR unit was drooling at his feet.
"Er, I mean... I need you up HERE Gir," he lied, smiling uncomfortably. " For collecting uh...INFORMATION! Yes! On how many um... TACO commercials there are on at any one time!"
Gir paused and stared up at his master in anticipation.
"Reeeeaaallllly?"
Zim nodded. "Yes. I need you to count them one by one. Understand?"
Excited, Gir clapped his tiny hands together in joy. "YAY! I'M GONNA EAT SOOOOO MANY TACOS!"
And with a quick salute, the SIR unit ran back to watch TV.
Hours later,
Zim concentrated hard on the task at hand down in his base. His robotic tools that he used to fuse various components together worked tediously on what looked like a VI chip. He kept a close eye on them, monitoring their every move. He became so hyper-focused he didn't even hear the base's notification system warn him of the coming sunrise.
"Sir. Morning has arrived. PS: school not operational today."
Ignoring the message, Zim turned his attention back to his work. Being Irken, and not needing the luxury of sleep, he often used the late hours of the night to catch up on personal projects or simply enjoy the time to himself. It was a cherished hour, time in which he could work on world domination projects without the annoying Dib-human constantly interrupting him. Luckily the boy and the majority of humans required sleep to function throughout the day. So for Zim, nightfall meant up to at least seven to eight hours of uninterrupted, solitary time.
Hmph, he thought, chuckling to himself. Such primal creatures. Needing to rest nearly a third of their lives. Pathetic.
He shifted his attention back to the taco suit which he had placed in the corner of the room and strode over to put it on. After struggling to zip it up, he approached the main monitor.
"Computer!" he shouted, waving his hand over the spherical bulb. "Contact the Tallest!"
A lethargic voice answered from above, "But sir, they NEVER answer. Are you sure you want to...?"
"I am your master, and you will obey me! Contact them! Now!"
The computer let out a secondary groan, but did as it was told.
Zim continued to stare at a blank screen while a connection was established. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, his leaders appeared on screen.
"My Tallest!" he shouted in exhilaration as the two familiar faces filled the monitor. "I am eager to inform you that I have, in fact, come up with a new most ingenious plan to destroy the humans!"
There was a long, uncomfortable pause as both leaders stared at him apathetically.
"But that's what you always say," replied Purple. "And you're in a taco suit."
Zim glanced down at his outfit before smiling conspicuously. "Yes, well...you see, that is all part of the plan." He straightened himself out, holding up a claw in the air.
"First, I will use this taco suit as a disguise to sneak into the humans' taco base. Then, once I have successfully infiltrated their defenses, I will infect their precious taco supply with a mind control chip that will allow me to take full control of their willpower. Once I have them under my command, I will use the device to drive them to eat so many tacos which will cause them to..."
Upon hearing snickering, he turned around to face his leaders.
"My Tallest? What is it you find so funny?"
They attempted to conceal their laughter, but failed miserably.
"Nothing," replied Purple, holding on to both his sides. "Please. Continue."
Zim raised an eyebrow. "Heh. Why, yes thank you. I AM a master of comedy. Now if you just direct your attention to this taco..."
Red and Purple's laughter only seemed to increase as his explanation went on, and eventually Zim found them laughing along with the rest of the crew.
"My Tallest?" he asked again. "I do not understand. What is it you find so amusing?"
Both leaders struggled to catch their breath and rested their hands on the edge of the railing.
"You still haven't figured it out, have you?" Red asked, wiping a tear away.
Zim looked back at him puzzled. The almighty leader took a moment to regain his composure.
"Listen Zim," he started, still wiping a tear away, "we never meant for you to conquer Earth. You were sent there as a way to get rid of you."
There was a long pause, and Zim sat in his chair trying to process the statement.
"Heh, good one my Tallest," he chuckled, forcing a nervous smile. "I can always count on you to come up with the best jokes. Now, as I was saying-"
"Were serious Zim."
Zim's smile faded, and he recognized his leader's voice as growing more firm.
"Wha...what do you mean?
Red sighed. He rested his two long claws against his forehead.
"Look Zim, you're not really an invader. You haven't been one since your re-encoding to service drone on Irk. Your invader status was never reinstated. We gave you this mission hoping that you would disappear somewhere in the far end of the universe. We never expected you to actually find somewhere to reside on."
Zim stared at the two of them in silence. What were they saying? That he was never meant to conquer Earth?
But why?
Why would they go through so much trouble?
"To put it bluntly," Red continued, ignoring the invader's deteriorating state of mind, "we sent you on this mission because we didn't know what to do with you. You are simply too dangerous to keep around Zim. It was only a matter of time before you got one of us killed. You know, like you did the previous Tallest."
Upon hearing the mention of his murkiest blunder, Zim blushed abashedly.
"But I... That was a mista-"
"The whole thing was funny at first," Red continued, referring to the mission, "but now it's just become tiresome. From this point on, consider yourself exiled. You will be blocked from all communications and forbidden to set foot on any Irken controlled planets. If you break these terms... well, you get the idea."
And after that, the screen went blank.
Zim stared at the abyss, still struggling to process the information.
Exiled? No, it cannot be.
Not to me.
Not to the great Invader Zim!
Denial overtaking him, he frantically waved his hand back and forth over the control panel.
"My Tallest? My Tallest?! Surely this is a mistake! My Tallest?"
Failing to reconnect the call, he resorted to banging mercilesslly on the bioscanner.
"My Tallest! My Tallest? My Tallest?!"
Still no answer.
Slumping backward in his seat, Zim stared at the blank screen. He was completely stunned.
A lie? Had it all been a lie?
He squeezed his fist angrily, unsure what to do.
But it doesn't make any sense! The Tallest would never do this to me. Not to Zim! They entrusted ME, their finest invader, with the most important mission! I have done nothing but be loyal to the Empire! This has to be some kind of joke, or at the very least, a test. Yes! A test! It has to be a test! Surely anything else would just be a complete waste of time!
Sorting through all possible endeavors, he hoped to find any remnant or clue that might allude to the Tallest's intentions. But all the evidence presented was clearly more than enough. First, there was the Great Assigning and his so-called mission. He had found it odd that the Tallest hadn't assigned him a specific planet to conquer but instead a mystery one they assured was top secret. He'd blindly accepted it, assuming the most challenging mission had been designated for him and him alone. Then there was his SIR unit, or GIR as they had called it, and instead of helping him with his plans, the little robot seemed more interested in food and television than taking over the world. And lastly, there was the general lack of communication with his leaders altogether. As an invader, he was required to give frequent updates on his progress, but out of the hundreds of times he had tried contacting them, they only seemed to answer when it was convenient for them.
But...how can they do this to me! ME? he thought, feeling his mental fortitude breakdown. Me? The great invader ZIM?!
Denial giving way to anger, he dug his claws firmly into the flimsy fabric of the taco suit and ripped it away. It easily tore apart, revealing the magenta hue of his uniform that reminded him of the bigger world he was now no longer a part of.
He tossed the taco suit aside and like a discarded rag doll, it lay in the center of the room. Motionless.
He sat on his raised chair pouting.
But I am an invader! A member of the Irken elite! They can't just throw me away like I'm nothing!
Anger boiling, he grabbed the nearest object he could find, which in this case, turned out to be the line of metallic wires running along the wall. He yanked on them hard. A series of sparks immediately burst out as their individual components disconnected, and after removing them, he flung them across the room.
There has to be some way to make them see! Some way to make them understand!
Breathing heavily, he began to thrash about at everything in sight. With the reality of the situation finally sinking in, his mind plunged into turmoil and he trashed about, destroying anything and everything he could get his hands on.
But it isn't fair! It was MY mission! My SIR unit! I was destined to be the greatest Invader of all time! Not some useless work drone.
Outraged and confused, he he tore everything apart piece by piece. Wiring, consoles, and equipment were all fair game as long as they were in the nearby vicinity. He damaged walls, scratched up surfaces, and punched everything closest to him with raging intensity. After some time, he paused to glance over at his handiwork.
He had expected the outburst to calm him, but it wasn't enough. The wound his leaders had inflicted was too great, and the bubbling rage that boiled deep down only rose up further the more he thought about it. With the communications bay thoroughly destroyed, he sought of another location. He wanted to satiate his fury, to destroy more, wreck more. And he knew of one other place he could do just that.
Terrorizing his way down to the lab, Zim used his PAK's claws to override the computer's self preservation programs. He forced open the metal doors and used the metallic claws of his spider legs to push his way through. The base tried its best to shut him out, but he wasn't having it. He stormed into the lab, violently smashing the glass chambers lining the walls one by one. Each of them burst into a million pieces, the semi-vascular liquid to spilling out all over onto the floor along with shattered glass. It creeped up to the edge of his boots, seeping into the worn material. He breathed heavily, but his mind still raced like a swirling tornado.
Moving on, he grabbed a metal pipe and began smashing the computer console in the center tirelessly, letting out tiny grunts as he beat it into submission. The sparks from the machine emanated quickly and travelled along the mass spillage, causing a series of explosions to persist throughout the lab. He banged on multiple surfaces around it, trying to cause as much damage as he could, all while ignoring the extent of the destruction he was causing.
The computer's voice abruptly chimed in.
"Sir, there is someone at the door."
Zim growled in irritation. He stared up at the ceiling.
"Let the robo-parents handle it! That's what they're for!"
"Sir, they are still installing their weekly upgrades. It will be at least another four hours before they are fully functional."
Zim grit his teeth and clenched the metal pipe.
"Fine! Then bring up the display on the monitor! I want to see who dares intrude on my front door."
A hovering screen immediately floated into view, and the angered Irken's eyes only narrowed further.
He recognized the intruder immediately.
The Dib.
Out of all people to bother him, and especially at this moment, it just had to be that troublesome dirt-child.
"Computer," he commanded, feeling his eye twitch in vexation. "Let the petulant dirt child in. I plan to take care of him myself."
Dib pounded on the front door endlessly, demanding the Irken open up.
"I know you're in there Zim!" he shouted, banging loudly. "And I'm not leaving until we talk about this stupid science project! You hear me space boy? I'm not letting my grades slip because of some stupid-... huh?"
To his surprise, the door swung wide open, and he stood there a moment confused.
"Um...what's going on?"
He twisted his head to take a peak inside and stepped into the doorway. He was curious why his arch nemesis would leave it wide open.
"Zim?" he asked, taking one step into the house.
Gir, who was mindlessly sitting on the couch, greeted him in the usual manner.
"HIYA MARY! YOU HERE TO PLAY WITH MA MASTER?"
Dib twisted face in confusion. "Uh, not exactly."
He took a few steps in, curious to see what the Irken had planned for him.
"Listen Zim," he shouted up at the ceiling, "if this is some kind of a trap, I'm not falling for it! You hear me space boy? You better show yourself now before I run out and call the police! Or the Eyeball. Or...someone."
Still no response.
Puzzled, he turned his attention to the robot. "Hey, is your master here?" he asked.
Gir nodded.
The boy only stared at him a long while before realizing the robot wasn't going to respond.
"Could you...take me to him?"
Gir nodded with a goofy smile, "Okie dokie!" He hopped off the couch, and Dib watched in astonishment as he approached the wall on the far side of the room. The furniture parted and the base opened up like a parting sea, revealing the hidden elevator he had seen so many times before.
Dib's eyes went wide as the brightness filled his glasses. The event was nothing new, but still it impressed him every time he got to see it.
Once the hatch was fully open, both human and robot stepped onto the platform. Dib felt the gravity disappear beneath him and as soon as the elevator took them down. He felt his stomach drop into oblivion, and they traveled a long way. Eventually the elevator started to slow. When it finally stopped, Gir was the first to step off.
"This way!" the robot chirped, happily skipping down the hallway.
Dib followed apprehensively and stared at all the foreign components around him in awe. Despite the time he'd spent fighting Zim, he was still completely overwhelmed by the Irken's level of technology at his disposal. The hallway was like a vast, cybernetic network, consisting of wiring and high-tech gadgets that he could only dream of. He would never admit it, but Zim's level of technology far outpaced anything humans ever built.
Dib continued to follow Gir through the lower areas of the base until they reached the labs. As they made their way through the doors, Dib began to notice some of the equipment scattered and broken.
Odd, he thought, detecting the lingering smell of smoke somewhere off in the distance. Zim never allows his base to get this messed up.
Not having time to dwell on it, he followed Gir through the entry way and into the labs. He froze when the automatic doors opened.
Jerking back in surprise, he watched as the liquid from the containment tubes rapidly creeped up and seeped in around his boots. He looked around the room in shock and realized the chamber looked like a a tornado, hurricane, and earthquake had hit it at once. Everything was thoroughly and completely destroyed. And on top of the immense chaos and destruction, debris that lay scatted across the floor.
Dib glanced around the room in confusion.
"Zim?" he questioned, casting his voice off into the abyss. He searched for any signs of the Irken, but strangely, Zim was nowhere to be found.
"I promise I'm not here to capture you this time!" he added, hoping Zim would willingly show himself. "I just wanted to talk."
Finally, a faint shadow gradually appeared through the smoke. Dib squinted to get a better look. The Irken's silhouette was barely visible, but it was him.
"Zim?" he asked, raising a hand to shield his eyebrows. "Look, I know you're probably mad about the whole breaking and entering thing, but I'm not here to steal anything. I just came down to-"
Like a mallet striking the side of his face, Dib felt the sudden force of Zim's gloved fist collide with his cheek. He fell to the ground in an instant, writhing in pain.
"Geez Zim," he winced, rubbing the side of his face. He could feel a bruise already starting to form. "What was that for?'
The Irken reached down and lifted the boy by the collar.
"ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES FILTHY HUMAN! I DEMAND TO KNOW THE TRUTH! What is the real reason you've come here?! Do you intend to take over Zim's base? Do you? DO YOU?"
Not expecting Zim to be so strong, or react so violently, Dib pushed himself off the ground.
"I just came here to discuss the school project," he answered, trying to fight off the biting pain in his cheek. "I thought we could at least talk about it before we ripped each other's throats out."
Zim's antennae twitched at the prospect. "Pfft. Your pitiful Earth project means nothing to me stink-beast," he scoffed. "Why should I help you?"
"Well, you never DID repay me when we both turned into Bologna," Dib replied, dusting himself off. "Or I could just turn you in to the eyeball now if you'd rather have that."
With an enraged expression, Zim looked down at the boy's hands.
"You miserable human," he growled, noticing the alien neutralizing cuffs the boy had slipped out of his pocket. "You think you can capture ME in my OWN base? What makes you think you'll even make it out of here alive?"
Dib looked around the room. He held his head up with a smirk.
"Nice try space boy, but there's no way you could destroy me with your base in THIS condition." He held the cuffs up so that they dangled in front of him like a tempting piece of meat. "So what's it gonna be Zim, huh? The science fair, or the cuffs? You pick."
Zim followed the boy's eyes to the damage caused around his base and met the human with a glare. He realized that Dib was right. At this point, the base may not even be able to repair itself, not without manual help at least, and with so much inoperable, he was at a clear disadvantage.
"Fine," he growled in contempt. "What is it you've come here for?"
Dib straightened up. "I just wanted to ask for your help with the science project," he repeated calmly, tucking the cuffs back in his pocket. "Ms. Bitters is never going to accept my work if I did it on my own, and in exchange, I thought maybe I could help you with your base."
"Bwhahahahahahaha!"
Zim laughed maniacally, wiping a tear from his eye.
"That's a good one. YOU? Help ME repair MY base? Why would I allow that?"
Dib frowned and took another step forward. "Look, I know this project thing doesn't mean much to you, but if my dad were to find out that I failed science class, I wouldn't just be the laughing stock of the school, I would be an embarrassment to the entire world. I can handle being called crazy, but not stupid. If you help me with the project, I'll help you repair your base. Deal?"
Unconvinced, the Irken stared at him distrustfully.
"You think I would ever trust YOU, stink-beast?" he grunted in disgust. "What kind of fool do you take me for?"
Dib groaned. "Okay. You don't have to trust me, but let's at least call a truce. No trying to kill each other until the science fair is dealt with. Okay?"
Zim didn't turn back around. He only half-heartedly stared at the hand presented in front of him. He was about to tell the boy off when a thought suddenly struck him.
If what his leaders said was true, then he would now be forced to reside on Earth. He would need a way to gather supplies, maintain equipment, and work out a way to keep himself occupied while he came up with a new plan to destroy the humans. The Empire was no longer going to help him, and he would have to come up with a new solution if he was going to take over the world. Perhaps if he took the deal, it would give him the advantage he needed. Perhaps if he worked with the Dib human, he could scavenge supplies right under the boy's nose and earn back the Tallest's respect.
It's the perfect plan. I must not let this go to waste.
Reaching out to meet the boy's hand, Zim shook it firmly.
"Alright Dib-beast," he seethed, not liking the actual physical contact between them. "But only until the end of the science fair. The thought of helping you fills my gut with all kind of...sicky feelings."
Dib nodded. "You got it, space boy. But don't think I'm not on to you! I'll know if you try anything funny."
Later, back on the Massive
A team of medical professionals rushed through the halls of the ship expeditiously, their chatter focused solely on the status of the patient beneath them.
"What's her condition?"
"Low pulse and zero response. Her PAK was set to hibernation mode."
"Hibernation mode? After a crash?"
"Possibly. She must have activated it shortly after."
They hurried through the corridors with amazing speed, the female Irken lying motionless on the stretcher. She looked battered and bruised, like a plastic container that had just been ran through an old washing machine. They brought her to the reactivation center and hooked her up to various machines, each of them eager to learn what she was doing so far out in space. After placing her on a recovery bed, they worked tirelessly around the clock ensuring her PAK was properly prepared and ready to reactivate. They tended to her wounds and nursed her back to health, and then when their tasks were finally complete, they triggered the reactivation switch.
Standing back, a flash of light blinded the room and a jolt of electricity surged through the Irken. They watched as her body twitched, the electricity reactiving her circuits. Shortly after, a very confused Tak sat up.
"Ugghh. Where am I?" she muttered, holding her head as the grogginess hit her all at once.
Head throbbing, she looked around the room, immediately confused at the sea of faces around her.
"You are aboard the Massive," replied a doctor, standing proudly. "A scout found the remains of your ship and brought you here to the medical bay. You were just reactivated a few moments ago."
"The Massive?" Tak questioned. "But the Tallest...have they...? Are they here?"
"Affirmative," he replied. "They have requested your appearance on the bridge. Once you were reactivated of course."
Before she could protest to the redundancy of his statement, the doctor motioned for a soldier to come over and take her to the bridge.
Tak felt her heart sink.
What do the Tallest want with me? Will they be upset that I failed?
After her recent failure on Earth, she imagined her leaders wouldn't be too pleased with her. She wondered what they would do as punishment, or if they had anything in mind at all. She had deliberately abandoned her post, and that was not something they would take kindly, and then failed to provide them with a planet filled entirely of snacks. They might send her back to Dirt. Or worse, Moo-Ping 10. She certainly hoped it wasn't the latter.
Struggling to sit up, she felt her legs wobble as she swung them over the edge. The effects of the reactivation sequence were wearing off, and she slowly made her way off the platform. As she slid herself forward, she turned to face the soldier.
"Very well," she complied. "Lead the way."
As commanded, Tak followed the high collared solider up to the bridge where she waited patiently for him to announce her arrival. He tapped his spear twice before stopping a respectful distance from the Tallest.
"Janitorial servant drone Tak," he saluted. "As requested."
The Tallest urged her forward and looked down as she approached.
She felt the air suddenly thicken as they drew closer.
"Ah, Tak," Red announced, greeting her with open arms. "I see you have come back to us empty handed."
A small ball of panic formed as she winced at his statement.
"Sirs," she replied meekly, "I apologize for my catastrophic failure on Earth. I should have known better than to steal from someone as incompetent as Zim."
"I'll say!" Purple interrupted with a mouth full of chips. "You really mucked the whole thing up!"
Red held up a hand to silence his comrade. "Despite your recent failure," he added, "we admit that your plan to take over Earth was rather...good. As it happens, we have a new proposition for you."
He signaled a service drone went to fetch her mission briefings.
"We recently broke the news to a former 'invader' that he would be forbidden from returning to any of our planets in the near future," he stated, holding his head high. "To put it simply, we need your help in ensuring he NEVER returns."
"We need you to kill him," added Purple.
Red waved a hand again to shush him. "What he means is, we need someone to keep an eye on him. A REALLY close eye. Zim has been exiled to the distant planet known as Earth, and we would like you to make sure he stays there. Permanently. In return, if you do manage to succeed on this mission, we will revoke your status as a service drone and re-encode you as an invader."
Tak felt the blood course through her veins.
An invader? This was it! The exact the opportunity she had been looking for!
Barely able to contain her excitement, she bent over with a bow.
"I am honored to receive such an important assignment my Tallest," she replied, trying to sound as humble as possible. "I promise to carry out this mission with little delay."
Red nodded in approval and stepped back to let his co-leader to take the lead.
"You will find a new ship ready for you in the hangar," Purple approached, handing her a holographic information tablet. "It's a standard self-destruct model, designed to ensure your presence isn't detected. You will need to gather any necessary equipment before exiting the ship. Once you leave, the countdown will be initiated and it will explode."
Tak studied the briefing before giving another bow.
"Thank you my leaders," she said gracefully, holding in a smile. "You will not regret this choice. I do have one question."
They both looked puzzled.
"What's that?" asked Red.
Tak smirked. "How soon can I leave?"
Author's note: So what do you guys think? I've been brainstorming this idea for quite a while now and I finally feel I have the basis for a pretty good story. I've been reading some other Zim stories that other authors have been re-writing and that inspired me to finally jolt down what's been rattling around in my head for quite some time. So thanks guys! Thanks for sticking around! Also, please don't forget to review! I always love me some good reviews! Till next time!
