Episode 1 - The Real Nightmare Begins (Part 3)

Josh followed his brother without question as they dove into the water below them. It was freezing cold, but Joseph's glue seemed to be holding up. Not that it mattered because, as always, he was right; the others were waiting for them.

Joseph held his breath as he swam down to the awaiting water cruiser, were their three comrades stood. As soon as he and Josh got close enough, their metal boots began to lead them down into the water and stuck tight to the magnetic deck of the cruiser. As soon as their feet touched the deck, a force field wrapped itself around the cruiser, and the water began to drain around them.

"Master!"

Joseph froze as he was immediately attacked by a rusty S.I.R bot. "GIR! How many times have I told you about people and their personal space?!" Joseph screamed.

"Do not pop people's bubbles…" Gir thought aloud to himself as he remembered his master's words. He jumped off his Master and smiled. "I missed you," he said.

"I missed you too, Gir," Joseph told him as he pressed a button on his watch, thus taking off his disguise. Where Joseph once stood there was now none other than the Irken Empire's undesirable number one; Invader Zim.

Josh turned off his own disguise and ran his fingers through his lightning-shaped hair. He wanted to cut it, as it reminded him too much of his father, but he never seemed to find the time.

"So Dib; what's the plan?" Zim asked him.

Dib looked at the Irken before him. It was hard to believe, but somehow Zim had finally managed to become taller than him! He couldn't remember when it happened, but one day Zim had grown at least four inches taller. It wouldn't have been strange to him had it happened gradually. After all, Zim had already been growing before the Great War, but this time was different. Zim seemed to have gotten taller overnight! One day he was a foot shorter than Dib and then the next, he was two inches taller than him! And Dib wasn't the only one in the group who had noticed...

The other three were all talking about it; each wondering the same thing. Why were only so few Irkens really tall while the others were not? What caused them to be different, and why did it mean they were in charge? It couldn't be just because they were taller, could it?

Dib wasn't so sure, but he did know one thing; these questions only reminded his fellow renegades just how little they knew about Zim and his race. Thoughts of whether or not they could trust him had begun to brew. Dib shook his head and placed any of his own thoughts in the back of his mind.

"I believe we should be extra cautious," Dib finally answered Zim's previous question. "I still say it's too soon to be launching another attack."

"Dib, we talked about this! There are people in town who are dying from starvation. All because they're not fit to work, and the Irken Government barely gives them enough rations to meet their basic needs!" It was Rachel who had spoken as she steered the cruiser towards the dark shadow of an underwater dome.

The dome was created by Zim using Tak's hotdog stand during the Tak Invasion. Zim had turned it into a secret backup base in case of an emergency and had placed it in the one place no one would think an Irken would want to go. Dib had to admit, he would have never thought Zim would have a secret base under the ocean! After all, to have thousands upon thousands of gallons of water over his head… didn't it make him nervous? Well if it did, the Irken sure didn't show it.

"Rachel's right," Zim agreed. "I don't like it either, but who knows when the next shipment will be?"

"I'm not saying we shouldn't do this; I want to help them too. I'm just saying that we need to be careful and think about this." Dib spoke uneasily.

"I say we need to wait longer," Mark said firmly. "It's only been six months since our attack on the Irken Snack Factories! It's just too soon to be risking our cover over a few shipments of food; even if it is for the less fortunate."

"James, what do you think?" Rachel asked her boyfriend hopefully.

The others looked at James expectantly; the teen had been strangely quiet the entire time.

"I believe you all have a point," James said slowly, as if he was still thinking it over. "We do need to assist those who can't help themselves, but we also need to be really careful! I mean, let's face it, we were lucky on our first mission! The enemy didn't expect anyone to be bold enough to stand against them. This time they could be expecting us to show up. They may even have a trap prepared! And with the five of us alone, it would be unlikely for us to escape…"

"So what are you suggesting?" Mark asked.

"We need more members!" James said it as if it were obvious. "I suggest we think about recruiting more people. I'm sure there are other people out there who want to fight too. Maybe some of our own classmates might want to make a difference!"

"I agree; we do need to expand, but this plan requires stealth," Zim spoke gravely. "The less of us the better, at least for this mission. Besides, even if they are expecting us, the cargo train can only hold so many personnel, so they won't be able to overwhelm us with too many soldiers, and I myself can spot any traps they might have set using Irken technologies, or any advanced weapons they may yield."

"Assuming there will be Irken soldiers, how many do you suppose will be there?" Rachel asked as she pulled the cruiser into the entrance of the dome.

"No less than seven," Zim said thoughtfully. "Maybe nine, at the most."

"I still say it's too soon," Mark said coldly.

Dib watched as the two stared each other down; the battle lines had obviously been drawn. Not that Dib was surprised… ever since Mark had found out the truth about Zim, he had done nothing but treat the Irken with hostility. He constantly challenged Zim's integrity and no matter what the subject was, the two always had to be on opposite sides.

All in all, it was one big headache just waiting to happen.

"How about this; we go over the plan and if we still have doubts, we'll wait," Rachel suggested as the force field gave way and the dome entranced closed behind them.

"Fine," Mark growled, his eyes never leaving Zim's.

Zim was about to say something cocky, like how childish the boy was acting, when a sharp pain suddenly engulfed his skull. Zim closed his eyes, wishing the pain to go away.

"Zim, are you okay?"

It was Dib's voice that had been talking. Or at least, Zim thought it was him that was talking... but with the pain in his skull it felt like the human had been screaming. It felt as if knives were being stabbed into his brain! "I'm fine; it's just a headache," Zim assured him as he forced himself to open his eyes and appear unmoved as he led the way to the briefing room… It wasn't easy.

"I didn't know you Irkens could get headaches," Mark said almost smugly as he walked into the briefing room and took his seat.

"Well we can, and you're only making it worse!" Zim snapped.

Dib stopped where he stood as an unsettling feeling began to wash over him. Was it just his imagination, or did Zim's tone almost sound venomous…?

"Come on guys, can we please focus?" Rachel whined, obviously frustrated with their childish behavior.

And just like that, Zim's hostile behavior was gone. Dib could see it leaving the Irken's eyes as he sat down in his own seat; almost as if the alien had just flipped a switch.

"So Dib; the plan?"

Dib jumped slightly as James' voice drew him out of his thoughts. "Oh, right. The plan." He gave a nervous laugh and mentally slapped himself as he pulled up his plans on the big presentation monitor for the others to see. The large screen took up most of the wall, and Dib had to use a laser pointer to point. The screen was currently showing a handwritten map of the downtown railroad station. "Now then, we know the train will be stopping at this station to refuel around midnight," Dib pointed with the laser pointer onto the screen. "The plan is pretty simple. We detach one of the cars from the rest of the train; the caboose is most likely the easiest option. Once we have detached the caboose, Zim will pull up with his Voot Cruiser and will use its tractor-beam to pick it up and take it to the cliff opening of the sewers. We'll store it there and take the food to the dome with the water cruiser. Once it's all unloaded we'll get rid of the caboose. Then once the heat dies down, we'll anonymously deliver the food to those who need it." Dib paused and then asked nervously. "So what do you think?"

"The plan seems straight forward," Zim said as he rubbed his temples. What was going on with his head? This was unlike any headache he'd ever had before; and he'd dealt with Gir's loud antics on many occasions! This felt like his head was going to explode! And the tension didn't let up; if anything it got worse!

"I like it," James spoke up, eyeing Zim with a look of obvious worry written all over his face. "The personnel are less likely to be suspicious if we try to take out only one car instead of the whole train."

"I still say it's too risky," Mark pressed as he glared Zim down from across the room.

"Okay, let's take a vote," Rachel suggested. "All for Dib's plan; raise your hand."

Everyone but Mark raised their hand.

"Sorry Mark," James gave his cousin a pat on the back, "but Rachel's right; these people need more food! And remember; we promised to help in any way we can. That's why we formed the Renegades in the first place. I know it's not an epic battle with The Massive, but every rebellion has to start out somewhere…"

"…Fine," Mark huffed, obviously ticked off. "But if this alien scum is leading us into a trap-"

What happened next would surely give him nightmares. Dib watched it all in slow motion; it was as if his mind was having trouble comprehending what he was seeing. One second everything was fine, and then the next… Zim was racing across the room at what looked like lightning speed. His mouth curled back into a loud almost animal-like growl. His eyes glowed strangely red as he pounced on Mark and raised him up in the air by the throat.

Mark struggled, trying to breathe, but the alien's grip on his neck just got tighter and tighter.

James wanted to rush to his rescue, but he found that he couldn't move; he was glued to the spot.

It was like a train wreck… Rachel wanted to stop it, or at the very least she wanted to turn away… but all she could do is watch. Then, just when they thought things couldn't get any more twisted, Gir seemed to appear out of nowhere, his own eyes blazing red as he went into full duty mode, all of his weapons out and pointing at… Zim…?

Their eyes locked; servant and Master, staring at each other down for a brief moment, and then, with an angry growl, Zim threw Mark across the room. "I've had just about enough of you and your accusations, worm!"

Mark coughed, fighting for air, gasping loudly, but was otherwise unharmed. "Seriously; what's your problem?!" He coughed again.

"Oh, don't act all innocent!" Zim hissed. "I do not appreciate being called scum!"

"Zim, that's enough!" Dib yelled, finally able to find his voice.

"Fine, whatever. I'm leaving. I'll be in the Voot waiting for your signal!" Zim snapped, then stormed out of the room with Gir hot on his heels.

For a moment, the four humans said nothing until finally James spoke. "Dib, has he…"

"No. He's never lost his temper like that before…" Dib said with a shiver.

"Are you guys just gonna let him walk away like that?!" Mark yelled, more ticked than ever. "You just saw what he did to me! And-"

"Well it's not like you didn't ask for it!" James snapped. "Seriously Mark' anyone would snap under the hostile pressure you've been displaying towards Zim; human or otherwise!" He stopped to help his cousin to his feet. "I'm not saying he's not in the wrong, but what did you expect him to do, hu? Just take your verbal abuse quietly?"

"Oh come on!" Mark yelled as he got to his feet. "He's the reason why all this is-"

"Mark, that's enough!" Rachel snapped, finally finding her voice as well. "We have a mission to complete! Zim's already out there, so we might as well follow through."

"Fine! But don't expect me to apologize," Mark snapped. "He's a danger to us all; this just proves that!"

Rachel and James looked to Dib for reassurance that Mark was wrong.

"Don't worry," Dib forced himself to sound at ease, despite the fact that, in all reality, he was scared out of his mind. "Zim's just angry; he'll cool down. He always does. Trust me, we have nothing to worry about."

(Following Gir…)

Gir shook to the core from his hiding spot, just behind the cracked door where he had stopped to listen in on the humans.

"Gir, what's going on?" The base's computer brain asked as one of its screens appeared behind Gir. It was the same old Computer that Gir and Zim had always known from their old base, it had only been transferred to the dome.

"It's starting," Gir said gravely, his eyes blazing red in the dark hallway.

"Are you sure?" the Computer asked, almost as if it were hoping that the SIR unit could be mistaken.

"Yes. It's been starting for some time now," Gir said solemnly.

"But he was only growing before… what other side effects have emerged?" The computer persisted somewhat fearfully.

"His temper has spiked," Gir answered. "He could have killed the human, had I not intervened."

"We cannot keep them in the dark; they must know what they are dealing with," The Computer told the S.I.R bot knowingly.

Gir shook his head. "No. These humans fear what they don't understand, and they destroy what they fear. They would push him into madness if they knew the truth!"

"Even the Dib?" The computer asked skeptically.

"We can't take the chance yet," the red-eyed Gir confirmed. Usually the derange robot was anything but serious, but this…this was so serious that Gir's Sir unit protocol demanded him to be the opposite of himself; precise and calculated.

"I hope you know what you're doing," The Computer whispered before going into sleep mode, leaving Gir alone in an ocean of worry and despair.

(Back with the Tallest...)

"Next!" Tallest Red called out loudly. He rolled his eyes as another Irken Smeet stood before him. "Name?" He asked dully.

"Num, Sir!" The Irken Smeet spoke with pride. He was obviously very excited to be a part of this conversation.

'Well that makes one of us…' Red thought half-heartedly to himself. "What makes you think you're worthy to be a Cadet?"

"I am here to serve you, my Tallest!" The Smeet, Num, spoke loudly. "It would be the greatest honor to serve my Tallest and the cause!"

'Oh my God; he is almost, just barely almost, as annoying as HIM!' Red screamed inwardly. "Great, you start your training tomorrow. Now please go away and never speak to me again."

"Yes, my Tallest!" Num walked away happily.

'I hate this part of my job,' Red sighed. "Next!" He called out again. This time he didn't bother to look up from his clipboard. "And what makes you think you deserve to be a Cadet?"

"I don't deserve it. I don't even deserve to be in your presence, my Tallest," a familiar voice said.

Tallest Red looked down from his clipboard to see- "Tak. I thought you were banished after you failed to steal the Earth from Invader Zim."

"My Tallest, please, I beg of you. Give me a second chance! I am willing to start all over as a lowly Cadet, if that is what it takes to become an Invader!" Tak bowed respectfully.

"Really? You would start all over?" Red was surprised. "Very well; since it was Zim's fault you never became an Invader in the first place, I am willing to give you this one chance. Do not waste it; you'll be placed on the next training rotation, and you will start attending Westville High at the beginning of the next term; that's three weeks from now. We will be expecting great things from you."

"Yes, my Tallest!" Tak bowed once more and walked away, smiling to herself. She had done it; she was in! Now all she had to do was get on the Tallest's good side, and then she'd be one step closer to finding Gaz.

(Back with Zim...)

"Stupid human," Zim silently cursed to himself as the town square's clock chimed loudly at the stroke of the midnight hour. He couldn't even begin to explain what had come over him in the briefing room! One moment he was fine, and then that mind-splitting headache had rolled in and then he just lost all control! 'The stupid Earth child shouldn't have pushed your buttons; it was his fault!'

But even as he thought this, the Irken couldn't help but think that something must be wrong, and the fact that the mind-splitting headache was now a full-blown migraine did not help him feel at ease. He had never had a migraine before. A headache? Sure. But a migraine? Not even Gir and his usual antics would give him one of those! 'So what's wrong with me?'

"Zim, you ready?"

Zim snapped out of his thoughts as Dib's voice came from his communicator. "Yeah, I'm ready," he answered as he rubbed his temples, trying to will the migraine to go away. "Let's do this." He tried to sound excited, but it was overly difficult to keep the pain out of his voice…

And so he failed miserably at it.

"Zim, something's wrong." It wasn't a question, but a flat-out statement. Dib knew that Zim would be stubborn none-the-less; he always was.

"I'm fine. Let's just get this over with," he stated, hoping he at least sounded better then he felt…

He didn't, but Dib forced himself to push his concerns aside for the time being. "Okay, fine. We can talk about this later. Shadow-Cat, are you ready?" Dib asked.

"Ready when you are," Rachel's voice rang loud and clear.

'Shadow-Cat.' Zim couldn't help but roll his eyes. He knew that the code names where necessary, just in case someone tapped into their communicators and eavesdropped in on their conversations, but seriously; what kind of code name was Shadow-Cat?! 'Humans are so weird. Well, at least it's not as bad as Zinger!'

"Zinger, are you ready?" Dib's voice broke through his thoughts once more.

"Yeah, but I still say this is a bad idea." Mark's voice couldn't have sounded more nervous than it already did.

"Everything's fine; it's easy," James's voice broke through. "By the way, Striker is in position."

Zim couldn't help but smile, 'Striker… now there's a code name to be proud of!'

Dib smiled too. He'd always wanted a code name, but Zim said that there wasn't a reason to give him one. After all, they already had secret identities, and Irken soldiers would surely recognize their voices without the voice disruptors of their disguises. The Tallest likely knew they were working with the rebellion already anyways…

Suddenly the train came into view, bringing Dib out of his thoughts. "Okay, the train is in sight! Remember; all we want is the caboose," Dib reminded them.

"Okay, I'm going in," Rachel declared.

"Be careful Shadow-Cat," James advised as naturally as he could, but there was a clearly extra concern in his voice.

"Will do," Rachel answered lovingly and jumped down from the overpass. She landed on to the moving train below. She was so happy to finally move her stiff legs that the fear of falling had completely abandon her. She watched as Mark and James jumped down from the overpass a few feet ahead of her and silently thanked her lucky stars that neither one of them had fallen off.

Dib was the last to jump, from the third and last over pass. 'That was easy.' He tried to push the thought away, but it kept nagging at him. This was too easy… After all the damage they had caused to the Snack Factories, there should be extra monitors and guards, and yet there wasn't a single guard on the overpass, or a drone. There appeared to be no security of any kind!

'What's going on here…?' Dib thought to himself, suspicion clouding his mind. Suddenly he became aware of the sound of a vehicle above him, other than Zim's Voot Cruiser.

'It's a trap!' His realization came a little too late as, suddenly, a blinding search light beamed down on him from above.

Rachel froze in fear as at least a dozen or so Irken soldiers rained down from the sky and landed on the train's roof. She knew they'd stand no chance now! After all, she knew little to no combat skills, and what she did know was from rushed lessons with Zim. Lessons that she had, largely not paid enough attention to because she was a 'none violent person'! Of course she was silently cursing herself now for her own stupidity on the matter.

Mark watched as the soldiers began to circle them on all sides; there was no way out! "I knew he'd betray us!" He snapped.

"Shut up, Zinger! There's no proof that he caused this!" James yelled as the soldiers parted, revealing a slightly taller Irken soldier.

Dib could tell with a single glance that it was the Capitan of the royal guard. He remembered how Tak's ship had briefly described them as the bodyguards of the Tallest.

"By the name of the Almighty Tallest, you are all under arrest!" The Captain said venomously. "Make no mistake there is no escape for you now! You will pay horribly for your crimes and will be executed in front of the entire human populous as an example of what happens to those who dare to stand up against-"

The Captain didn't get to finish before a shot was fired from somewhere in the darkness. The unseen blast hit the metal rod, disconnecting the train cars. Half of the soldiers fell on impact and Rachel would have gone falling with them had it not been for Dib, who grabbed her arm just in the nick of time.

"Stop them!" The Captain yelled at the remaining soldiers "Don't let them escape!"

The soldiers didn't have a chance to move before another blast sounded off into the night.

Dib watched as Zim's Voot Cruiser came into view; the Irken had fired his tractor-beam and was now lifting the severed car off the track. Dib wasted no time in using Zim's actions as a distraction. He charged one of the soldiers. The guard was far too distracted to be ready for the attack, so Dib kicked him hard in the gut, the guard's weapon falling clumsily out of his hand. Dib scooped it up and didn't hesitate in shooting the soldier down. He then continued to fire at the others without even stopping to aim.

Mark went for the guard closest to him and punched him square in the face. It was obvious the guards hadn't expected a fight. The remaining few were sloppy, and it wasn't long before it was obvious that the enemy was ill prepared.

The captain froze as Zim jumped from his Voot to join the fight, leaving his ship on auto pilot. "You! You're supposed to be dead!" The Captain said stupidly.

Zim smiled. "Did you really think it would be that easy? And you call yourself a Captain!" Zim spat in obvious discuss and lunged.

The fear was evident in the Captain's large lavender eyes. Dib could see that the soldier didn't even try to block the upcoming attack. Zim lunged, connecting his elbow to the Captain's face, sending the officer back and over the side of the train. The soldiers retreated into the darkness as if they were running for their lives.

Dib couldn't understand why they wouldn't even try to avenge their Captain. Heck, the Captain hadn't even tried to save himself! It was all too bizarre; Dib looked over to his old foe to ask him a silent question, only to freeze up as he noticed that Zim's eyes were glowing blood red. 'Just like earlier in the briefing room.' Dib was about to press for answers when Mark broke the silence.

"Took you long enough! You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say you wanted them to catch us!"

Zim's glare locked onto Mark like heat-seeking missiles, and for a second, Dib feared that he would attack the boy again, but instead Zim turned away. "We need to get this caboose to the cliff before reinforcements show up."

"Then what?" Rachel asked the obvious.

"We lay low," Zim answered. "We lay low and think about who a good addition to our team would be."

"Zim's right. It's evidently no longer safe for us to do this on our own," Dib stated the obvious. "It's time to expand our army."

The others nodded their agreement before retreating into the darkness. They knew all too well what would happen next. The following few weeks would be filled with the constant urge to look over their shoulders to see if the enemy was closing in. This small factor would make recruiting difficult, but not impossible. They would find others, and together they would stop the Armada…

Or else they would die trying…

Episode 1 - The Real Nightmare Begins (Part 3) END!

Shout-out(s): I would love to give a shout out to my sisters Mary and Kathy who motivated me to turn this story into a TV series. And to honor their support I have decided to make them future characters in the series. I would also love to give a shout out to my Beta Reader: 3D Phantom, who has agreed to stick with me throughout the series. With that said if any of you would like to see something happen in the series please include your ideas in your reviews and I will give you credit in the Author Notes at the end of which ever Episode I use it in. Finally I would love to give one last shout out to all those who followed/ reviewed Invader Zim: The Beginning of the End. Invader Johnny, AnonymousLiving, Anon K, Mlurtz8, DEDE, ngrey65, Cf96, and all guest reviewers; thank you for everything and I hope you stick with me throughout the series!

P.S: Thank you for reading and please review!

Yours Truly, RoxieDivine