Episode Summary: Tak is back and is set on putting her plan into motion. Unfortunately her efforts to make herself convincing are making the lives of her new allies miserable. Can the rebels handle her relentless torture or will they break under the pressure.
Find Out Now!

Author's Notes: Episode 5 here we come! I would love to thank you all for reading and ask that you please review.

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

Yours Truly, RoxieDivine

Episode 5: The Return of the Hideous New Girl (Part 1)

(Seven and a half Years ago on the planet Irk)

Failure…

It wasn't something the Tallest took lightly, and Tak knew that she had been lucky to be banished. After all, she knew there was much worse things the Tallest could have done to her.

The Irken Female stepped out of the elevator with a heavy since of depression surrounding her; she had just been banished by the Tallest. Not that she blamed them, they had ordered her to get rid of Zim, and she had failed. Yes, she knew this would not be a pleasant punishment, but Tak had been determined to face her leaders none the less.

Tak shook her head and stop as she was met with a two separate paths. She knew both would lead her to the outside, but the one to left was much longer than the one to the right, and if she wanted to catch the last Galactic taxi to Food Courtia before it left her she knew she had to hurry.

'I'll just take a short cut through the downloading Chamber.' she told herself half-heartedly.

Take took the path to her right and ran into the downloading Chamber. As soon as she enters the room she wishes she hadn't.

An awful smell greets her.

"What is that awful stench?!" She screeches and stops dead in her tracks as she comes face to face with the source.

It's a large basket full of young Smeets, and Tak could tell that some of them had been dead for weeks; while others still smelled warm. But the stench of death could not hide the truth from her.

The dead Smeets where no ordinary Smeets!

They were Amons, every last one of them were worthy Smeets and they had all died the same way; they were all disconnected from their PAKs.

"Disconnecting an Amon is punishable by death!" Tak gasped as she realized in an instant who the culprits must be; there was no way the Tallest didn't know about this.

'The monsters! There killing the competition!' Tak realized as the smell began to make her sick to her stomach.

'I must do something!' She told herself. 'These Smeets have a right to live! This is treason to our people!'

'What can you do?' Her fear challenged her reason. 'You know what the Tallest would do to you if they found out that you saw this.'

Tak trembled as the fear soon took over her very being, and before she knew it she was running for the safety of the outside world. Wanting nothing more than to get as far away as possible.

It was a decision that she soon come to regret.

(Present Day, in Mrs. Bean's First Period Galactic's History Class)

"Class settle down, settle down!" Mrs. Bean's tried her best to calm her class down.

It was easier said than done!

Joseph rolled his eyes and tried his best to burry himself in his textbook, it wasn't easy.
As always the Irken Cadets were busy making some human's life miserable, and the unlucky human of the day just so happened to be Mark.

"Owe!"

Joseph gritted his teeth as Mark screamed in pain again, he wanted to help, he did, but he had just got his new job at the restaurant down the street yesterday and he didn't want to lose it. He knew Cadet Scamooch was watching him closely just waiting for an excuse to make his life even more miserable then Mark's. And after the stunt he and his brother Josh pulled on him last week with Principle Razi; Joseph couldn't really blame him. Besides why should he care about Mark? The guy hated him anyway, and only tolerated him because they had the same group of friends.

"Owe!" Mark screeched again as another electric current coursed through him. 'Those stupid Irkens, and there electric shooting bugs' Mark glared at the back of Joseph's head in pure fury. Why was he just ignoring him? Why didn't he do something? 'The cowered' Mark growled inwardly.

"Please make them stop." Joseph mouthed the words to Cadet Scamooch hopefully, but he knew what the answer would be.

"Are you going to finally give me what I want?" Cadet Scamooch asked in a whisper.

"Never!" Joseph growled and cringed as Mark yelled in pain for the eighth time. He hated them, he hated them all! Why did he and Mark have to be in the middle row of the class? Why couldn't they be by the door? Of course he knew the answer to that, Cadet Scamooch, this was all his doing; it was always him!

"I said that's enough!" Mrs. Bean shouted once more over the chaos.

Mark breathed a shaky sigh of relief as the Irken cadets stopped their torture and slowly, but surely the class settled down.

"Now as I was saying." Mrs. Bean continued. "To celebrate overcrowding in Schools, a new Cadet will be joining the class."

Cadet Scamooch snickered as the humans on the further side of the class groaned in obvious annoyance. His eyes narrowed on his target, the human Joseph was still hiding behind his textbook trying to ignore him, but it's hard to ignore someone that's in the desk right beside you.

"Class this is Cadet Tak give her the respect she deserves." Mrs. Bean gestured towards the door as the new cadet enters.

Tak took a deep breath she knew seeing 'HIM' again wouldn't be easy, and she highly doubted that Dib told him about her involvement in the resistance. She walked into the classroom and stood by Mrs. Bean who continued to speak.

"Tak, if you have something to say, say it now, because after this moment, I don't want to hear another sound from you!" Mr. Bean snapped.

"Hey, my name is Tak." Tak looked around the room as she spoke, Dib hadn't told her what disguises he and Zim had been wearing, but after hating him for so long she was sure she would know Zim just by looking at him. "I look forward to learning alongside my fellow Cadets."

Joseph looked up he knew that voice his eyes suddenly widen as they met with Tak's 'TAK SHE'S HERE!' his mind was screaming, and he wasn't sure why; but he just knew this was all Dib's doing. 'No it's all Josh's doing' he reminded himself. He had to refer to Dib as Josh during the day even in his own head or he may slip up and call him Dib out loud, and that would be a mess.

Tak's eyes narrowed at Joseph thoughtfully could this be him? This smartly dressed human boy definitely was looking at her as if he knew her, but there was no way the idiot Zim could pull off this act, and his stupidity had nothing to do with it. Good disguise are not; you would think someone would think:

'Hey that kid acts a lot like an Irken...'

Right?

Tak looked at Joseph more closely there was no way this was Zim. Zim was loud, and loved the attention, this human looked like he was about to die on the spot, and she was only looking at him.

Joseph wanted to die, he wanted to scream in her face and say, 'Stop staring at me!' Surely someone was noticing her behavior. He looked around the room, but no one seemed too noticed at all.

"Tak why don't you share with your fellow Cadets what you will be contributing to our society when you finally graduate." Mrs. Bean continued.

"I'm going to be an Invader!" Tak tried to sound proud of this, the truth was she had once dreamed of becoming an invader, but now her peoples ways were no longer something she could take pride in. Everything She thought she knew to be true was a lie. 'They are lying to us all!' she thought bitterly as her eyes fell over each one of the Irken cadets in the room. She noticed that some of them looked impressed with her choice to become an invader. As they should, after all not all Irkens became invaders, some became food drones, or just ordinary soldiers. Invaders were the ones that went on secret missions and discovered all their enemies' secrets. To be chosen as an Invader was the highest honor a Shew could receive.

"Alright Tak please take your seat, Cadet Rene you will show Tak around the school; and get her acquainted."

"Yes Mrs. Bean." Cadet Rene, one of Cadet Scamooch's stuck up 'friends' stood up as he spoke. "It would be my pleasure to show a fellow Irken the ropes."

Mark wanted to gag did this guy always have to suck up to the higher-ranking Cadets? He watched as the Cadet Tak took her seat by Cadet Rene. He noticed that Cadet Tak was looking at someone behind him. Mark turned around to face the front of the room and came face to face with Joseph! He noticed almost Immediately that he was looking at Tak and not him.

'He knows her!' Mark realized. Then his eyes widen 'does she recognize him?' Mark cleared his throat and Joseph turned back around.

"Alright class today's lecture is about the history of the Pinwheel Galaxy." Mrs. Bean said starting their daily lesson.

Joseph rolled his eyes, the Pinwheel Galaxy fell under the Irken rule long before Earth and now much of the galaxy was in ruin, due to the over harvesting of the planets' resources. Would the Earth, and its galaxy soon meet the same fate? He tried not to think about it, but he couldn't. This was all his fault! How could he have been so blind? How could he have allowed those above him to control him so easily?

The Irken machine had bred him into a mindless drone that obeyed without question. It had taught him to take from others weaker than him without a second thought. Never once was he allowed to think for himself or choose his own path.

Joseph stole a look at the young Cadets to his left, and then looked away as a wave of pain washed over him. He knew that defending the Earth was the right thing to do, but at the same time he wished it didn't have to be this way. Gaz had opened his eyes to the truth, their love was living proof that they weren't as different as they thought. He wished he could make them all see that this constant fighting was pointless, but how?

Of course he knew there was one answer, but he refused to even think about it. Sure the Tallest were cruel, but Zim refused to kill them. Yes, they had treated him like dirt, but he had always considered them as his friends, and he couldn't help but hope that he could make them see the light; to show them the errors of their ways. The dome computer brain may think they are a lost cause, but Zim refused to give in so easily.

Joseph sighed, he wish Gaz was here, she'd know what to do. She'd tell him to suck it up, to do what he had to do no matter what everyone else thought about it. She'd tell him to be a man and grow a backbone; Joseph smiled. He missed her, he missed her so much it hurt to think about it. So of course he tried not to, but sometimes the feeling was too great. Joseph reached into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the skull necklace that was hidden there. He knew it wasn't smart to carry it around, but he couldn't let go of it. It was all he had left of her, the only thing of her's that he had to hold close. It gave him hope that one day he'd see her again and get to hold her once more.

The bell sounded drawing him out of his thoughts, he had done it again. Zoning out till the end of class had become a bad habit of his lately. Joseph silently thanked his lucky stars that he was always days ahead of all his classes. He had to be after all taking care of his brother and working two jobs gave him little free time to do anything else.

Joseph got up from his desk silently, and filed out of the classroom, and made his way towards the check-in line. The check-in line is where all the humans would get their chips scanned and their paperwork checked by the Irken police. Every hour without fail every human in the city went through this seemingly stupid ritual. Even when they were asleep the spy drones would scan them to check and see that they were where they were supposed to be; when they were supposed to be!

He knew it was all because of the Renegades, their last stunt had made the Tallest boil up with rage. Somehow they had managed to deliver the stolen food to several needy families last week without a single student missing from school. It blew the Tallest' theory of the culprit being students from Westville completely out of proportion.

Joseph smiled of course he knew it was really Gir that had delivered the food all by himself, but the Tallest didn't know that. And with no proof of said detail they had no choice but to withdrawal most of their soldiers out of the school to look elsewhere. Finally the resistance had enough room to breathe; So much room that training was to continue tomorrow night.

Joseph took his place in line and was immediately trapped under the glaring eyes of Mark.

"You" Mark growled in a harsh whisper. "Are you trying to get us figured out?" He asked.

"What are you talking about" Joseph gave him a look as he checked to see if there was anyone listening to their conversation.

"That Cadet, Tak!" Mark went on in a low whisper "you know her; don't you?"

Joseph rolled his eyes "Yes, she's the one I told you all about. You know the one that nearly turned Earth into a bowl of snacks. The one I stole the hot dog stand from and turned into my secret base. The secret base that is now our HQ." The whole time he spoke his eyes searched for danger, they were supposed to stay in character at all times. Then again Mark was never the one to follow orders; especially orders that Zim had given!

"That's her?" Mark asked.

"Yes, and I have no doubt Josh asked her to be here." Joseph went on.

"Why would he do that?" Mark asked in disbelief.

"To spy on the Tallest for us, and to keep an eye on Gaz. Tak is the only other Irken he knows that might help us." Joseph explained.

"Can we trust her?" Mark asked.

"I don't know, but don't go spreading this around to the others." Joseph warned.

"Why?"

"Because I don't know for sure if he is the reason why she's here it could just be a coincidence that she happened to show up."

"Fine" Mark agreed with a growl "but I won't stay quiet for long."

"Next!" An Irken police officer called out.

Joseph walked through the scanner without a second thought. The scanner checked his chip and scanned for any weaponry. Then the scanner beeped, and a green light flashed on, this meant he was 'clean'. Joseph then proceeded to the Irken officer who checked his paperwork.

"He's good" The Irken officer handed Joseph back his papers and cried out again "Next!"

Mark walked through the scanner; his eyes narrowed on Joseph as he proceeded to his next class.

The Irken Zim was hiding something; he was sure of it, and he wasn't the only one in the resistance who thought so. Since day one the alien had grown more and more distant with every passing day. He acted as if his mind was only half there, and the other half, well... it was God knows where! And even though the Irken seemed to be acting normal lately Mark could tell there was something the Irken wasn't telling them.

Dib on the other hand never seemed to doubt Zim, he even trusted him enough to share the same house as him; but Mark wasn't so trusting. He knew something was up with Zim, and he knew that the robot Gir knew what that something was. He wanted answers and he would get them!

One way or the other…

(Back With Josh)

He knew it was coming the moment he saw him. Josh gritted his teeth as Cadet Scamooch took him by the collar and shoved him into the nearest locker.

"Poor, poor big-headed Josh." Cadet Scamooch jeered "All alone, and without your big brother to protect you."

Josh fought the urge to fight back; Zim had been teaching him and all the other Renegades the ways of Irken combat since day one, and he knew that he would at least be a match for the Cadet. After all Cadet Scamooch was still learning himself, but he also knew that more trouble than good would come out of it. Why? Because there was only one person that would teach a human how to fight back; and that would be Zim. The Irken police would Immediately think he was a part of the resistance. Then it wouldn't take long for them to figure out the rest of Josh's secrets.

"You know it would be in your best interest to convince your brother to take me up on my offer." Cadet Scamooch continued.

"Why or else you'll beat me up, and get me in trouble for the rest of my school career?" Josh asked as Cadet Scamooch pushed him harder into the locker. "If that's all you're gonna do then bring it. I can take anything you dish out!"

"Really anything?" Cadet Scamooch asked.

He regretted it the moment the words came out, but it was already too late. Cadet Scamooch had picked him up with the mechanical arms from his PAK and carried Josh to the boy's bathroom.

"I believe this is a classic form of torture that you humans use on your fellow students." Cadet Scamooch said as he walked into a stall and stuffed Josh's head into the toilet. Then making sure to say clear of the water he flushed.

Josh tried not to panic Cadet Scamooch had beaten him several times before, but this was new. He realized that the cadet probly didn't want to leave evidence of his crime. In a way it made since, after all it was just last week that the cadet found himself in Principal Razi's office. And even though she had made Josh and Joseph stay outside her door during the lecture the principal was yelling so loud that Josh heard every word. He knew Cadet Scamooch would be in a lot of trouble if it happened again.

'So this is his new tactic. Great just my luck!' Josh thought as his lungs began to cry for air!

Finally, Cadet Scamooch let go of him, allowing Josh to breathe.

"Either you tell Joseph to reconsider my offer, or next time I'll forget to let you breathe." Cadet Scamooch warned.

Josh sunk down to the floor of the stall gasping for air as Cadet Scamooch walked away. He waited until he heard the sound of the swinging door, only then did he allow the tears to start flowing down his cheeks. He hated Scamooch with every fiber of his being; in fact he'd even dare say he hated the guy more than he had ever hated Zim. And that was saying something!

He allowed the tears to continue running down his face as he the most unfortunate of souls sat broken in the mist of utter despair. He froze as he heard the bathroom door swing open once more.

Had Scamooch come back to torture him some more; he cringed as a shadow appeared in front of his stall; this was it! He could tell that his misery had only just begun.

"Josh?"

-To Be Continued