The air was the cold as the rain fell from the dark heavens. It had been raining for far too long, three days and nights nonstop. The people in this quaint town were indoors, watching movies, reading, playing with their children or pets...except one young lady. Donned in a hoodie much too large and carrying an umbrella far above her head, she walked on the damp concrete sidewalk, enjoying the smell of rain and wet asphalt.
For the past week her only family, a distant brother and a loving father, had been gone, halfway across the globe for a scientific conference and would be gone for another two weeks. She was tired of the empty, lonely house and was on her way to meet the one person in the entire world she could consider turning to. Taking a sharp left down a cul-de-sac she spotted her destination.
The houses in this cul-de-sac were boring and cookie cutter, with the exception of the house in the middle of the very back. It was a tall, slim and foreboding house that emitted a soft glow, the windows of the house were tinted a deep red and everything seemed metallic. The front lawn was protected by four ugly garden gnomes that would usually make any unwanted guests receive a shock, but they had learned against doing that to the young woman who now made her way up to the purple door.
She knocked her knuckles against the door three times before stopping and patiently waiting. In all honesty the young lady would have rather been able to run to anyone else, however she and her brother never attracted friends, but they did attract the company of a certain something. That something was an extraterrestrial, an alien.
An Irken invader who was sent to this backwater, nacho-flavored planet for one reason: conquest. Most invaders were smart, resourceful, dangerous, but the one who just so happened to fall into earth's orbit five years ago was not. This alien was an idiot with a high IQ who only managed to stay alive through all of his destructive tendencies with dumb luck, but if he didn't fail because of himself, he failed because of a young woman and more importantly, her brother.
The three were inseparable due to a rivalry between the alien and the brother, the young lady would have stayed out of it by any means, but somehow, someway, she'd always be dragged into dealing with the two's fighting, now here she was, standing at his door waiting to be let in. The handle clicked as the door violently jerked open revealing a "young man" just shorter than her, jet black hair topped his head and square, purple rises sat in his eyes.
A wig covering his black antennae and contacts hiding his large oval, pupil-less magenta eyes. His mouth opened wide revealing a pair of zipper-esque teeth and a large, tapering, earthworm tongue. "Hello Gaz-beast! What are you doing on my AMAZING base?" The alien asked, genuinely confused.
Gaz lost most of her apathy years ago, but she knew Zim wouldn't let her in unless he was threatened by the one human he feared. "Zim." She stated as comfy as she could muster through her overbearing emotions. "If you want to keep all your limbs you will let me in and you will let me in now!"
Zim's faux purplish irises shrank in fear as he quickly stepped to the side to let the goth into his base. The alien's fear quickly subsided as he studied the human walk slowly inside. Her chest bobbed up and down for oxygen far more harshly than what the activity of walking actually needed, her lower lip quivered and her frown was not one scowl, but one of sadness.
Zim swallowed harshly as Gaz hopped onto the large red couch. "What is, eh, upsetting you... Gaz-beast?" Zim asked, taking a step backward, clearly scared for his well-being after having asked that question.
Gaz raised an eyebrow, why did Zim care? "I'm fine, Zim." She quickly said transitioning into her default lie. Zim simply stood, he was smart enough to know that was lie, her demeanor gave her away, but he fought himself. He wasn't sure if he should push further or leave it alone, so he simply stood, staring lost in thought.
Gaz' sheer presence was enough to make anyone squirm, and that would usually lift her spirits, but not tonight. "Sit down, Zim. I'm not gonna bite you." Gaz stated, tired of Zim anxious stare.
Zim, not wanting to infuriate her, inched his way over to the red couch to take a seat. The air was heavy and the tension was thick. Zim wished something would happen to break the silence, Gir, Minimoose anything! There's a saying on earth: be careful what you wish for, you may just get it. Two loud beeps rang through the base before the computer came to life, a loud groan echoed through the house. "Incoming transmission from The Tallests. Stand at attention." The computer stated rather bored.
Zim's eyes grew twice as large as he immediately jumped out of his seat. "Hide Gaz-beast!" Zim yelled. "Go to the kitchen! NOW WORM-BABY!" Gaz noted the worry and anxiousness dripping offf his words and decided to sneak into the kitchen. She pulled a dining chair just close enough to listen, but not in the camera's sight line.
"C-computer! Answer call!" Zim was so nervous to see his leaders, his squeedlyspooch was writhing inside him. Tallest Red and Purple hadn't contacted him since the Florpus incident, almost 5 years ago. Zim had a feeling of dread looming over him, gripping and squeezing the air out of his chest.
The large TV blinked to life and on screen we're two Irkens that looked similar to Zim, with the exception of elongated faces, towering statures and blood red eye and deep violet eye's respectively. Tallest Red, smart and vicious, top of his class in Invader training, a sadist with all the power in the world. Tallest Purple, dumb and funny, but one of the pilots to ever grace the history of Irk, a glutton on a power trip.
"Hello...Zim." Red stated, his tone colder than usual, his eyes thinner than normal.
"Invader Zim reporting for duty, sirs!" Zim stated as he quickly put his feet together, left arm directly at his side, right hand raised near his forehead. Tallest Purple's mouth raised in disgust for a split second upon hearing the word invader. Zim did not notice fast enough. "To what do I, the mighty Zim, owe the pleasure?!"
"Firstly." Red stated, harshly flicking his tongue with the Y. "You are NOT going to speak. You are going to stand at attention and listen until we let you go. Is this understood!" Red asked.
"Ye-." Zim cut himself off by harshly biting his lip, he readjusted himself and simply nodded.
"Good." Purple smiled, showing his teeth. "Let's get straight to business then! Zim, you are no longer an Invader." Zim mouth went dry and he was about to respond, but made sure to stop himself.
"You haven't been an invader for a long time, Zim. Your Pak, the Control Brains, Even our database still see you as a lowly Food Service Drone." Red spat at the small Irken. "HOWEVER, you're more than some frycook, Zim. No. You're something worse." Gaz swore she could feel Zim's heartbeat on the ground, too fast, no rhythm.
"There's a societal law that every Tallest abides by, any defected smeet must be killed. Tallest Miyuki was supposed to kill you herself, but because of her heart of gold you lived, vort, you thrived under her." Purple spoke slowly, his anger rising. "You, Zim, killed her. You killed your leader."
Tallest Red sighed deeply before continuing for his co-leader. "When Tallest Spork took the throne you should have been sentenced to death, but he didn't even last THREE HOURS before you killed him as well!" Red screamed, the echo being heard vibrate throughout the ship. "When we took the throne we were obligated to see you to death, but we were smeets together, we had some sympathy for an old friend and saw hope in you, so we let you live."
"Time and time again, Zim, you have destroyed your people, you have destroyed our planets by all means you need to be dead!" Purple yelled. "But you have this way of surviving everything you're not supposed to, destroying everything you're not supposed to, and SAVING the thing you want to destroy!" Purple grasped his head, feeling a headache coming on.
Zim's hands were shaking. His eyes became glossy and all he wanted to do was run away and blow something up, but good soldiers follow orders, so he stood and watched as Red and Purple calmed themselves down. Gaz held her hand in front of her mouth as the silence was to deafening, she thought one breath would give her away. Red's words cut through the silence like a knife.
"Zim. We don't want to kill you, but if you ever step on Irk, Irken dominated planets, or into your Voot, we will not hesitate to make sure you get your comeuppance." Red stated before Purple continued. "Goodbye, defect."
Zim was no longer self-aware, he didn't feel himself shake, he didn't hear himself breathe, he couldn't think. Zim's breathing started slow, but grew into hyperventilation so loud that could be heard down the block, he raised his hands in front of his eyes, but he didn't see them. He didn't see himself. He couldn't. An invader was all that he was all that he had, but in one fell swoop that was taken away. He was nothing. A cacophony of tinnitus screeched in his antennae as he dropped to the tiled floor.
Zim's scanned the area, everything was blurry except his right arm. A small purple gauntlet digitized and clamped onto his forearm, with a single red button and one lonely sentence. Self Destruct. Running off his programming and Irken instincts, Zim sat up and inched his hand towards the button, until he was shoved harshly to the floor. The physical pain that shit through his head set him straight as his bison cleared and he looked up into the tearful eyes of Gaz.
"WHAT THE FUCK, ZIM."