Zim the Warlord: Irken Reversion
Disclaimer: I don't own Invader Zim or anything else here
AN I switched Chin's and Zon's names in the last chapter. Most of the actual Invaders are canon, and I forgot that Chin was one of them.
There was a long silence after Zim's declaration. It was finally broke by one lone irken striding forward.
But he wasn't like the others. He was a great, hulking irken. Nearly as tall as Sizz-Lorr, and just as wide with girth and even more so in muscles, each arm looking like they could bend steel. Zim stood his ground, waiting patiently for his foe to cross the distant, tilting his head ever so slightly. "I don't recognize you," Zim commented thoughtfully.
"I'm Lud, and you're going to remember me for the rest of your life," Lud warned with a menacing look down at Zim.
"It's very strange that Zim doesn't recognize you," Zim continued, stroking his chin.
"After everything you've done, you have a lot of nerve to keep showing your face in Irken space," Lud accused, clenching his fist.
"I don't even recall your rank," Zim mused.
"Are You Even Listening To Me?!" Lud yelled in Zim's face.
"Zim is actively trying not to," Zim admitted calmly.
Lud growled and promptly punched Zim in the face with his upper right fist. The Ruinner of Impending Doom I was sent off his feet with a gasp of pain. Before Zim even landed, Lud's other upper arm swung into him, sending him flying off the side and into a wall.
"Ha! Looks like Zim was all talk after all," Purple rejoiced as they watched Zim spit up pink blood, leaning heavily against the wall as Lud ran over to him.
The herculean irken continue to lay into Zim with blow after blow, the other mody neither blocking or dodging as his body was growing more and more bruised and smeared with pink.
"He has him right where he wants him," the female mody near them mused knowingly.
"Well, Lud is the physically strongest of you," Red agreed with a smirk.
"I wasn't talking about Lud, My Tallests," she informed steadily.
Lud roared as he continued assault, relishing in the pain he was inflicting on the plague that had ravaged the empire for sixteen irken cycles now.
That was until Zim's own hands reached up, all four of them.
His upper pair deflected Lud's own, embedding themselves into the wall on either side of Zim's head.
His lower pair shot up and impaled into sharper, harder claws into the behemoth's arms.
The silence reigned, Lud too shocked to react. All he could do was stare at Zim. And beneath the pink coating of blood, Zim only had one expression.
He was smirking. "I know why I don't recognize you: You're not a soldier," Zim said condescendingly, ripping his hands out of Lud's arms.
The taller irken tried and failed to contain a scream at the white-hot pain that erupted from his upper arms, hanging limp and useless at his side. "W-what did you do to me?!" he roared in anger and agony.
"Well, the nervous system didn't really change to my understanding, so Zim decided he'd hit more than one kind of nerve," Zim taunted as he casually walked towards his foe. "You never had any soldier training. Instead, you were something more mundane. Constructor unit, service drone, maybe a full-time pilot. So they decided to use you as a test subject to find the upper limits of physical strength in these new form of ours," Zim deduced, Lud growling through the pain as he tried to use his other set of arms to make a stab at Zim, but the Invader effortlessly dodged just out of reach every time. "Your blows are slow, unskilled, and predictable. Worse, you obviously haven't practiced with your new arms," Zim continued, ducking under another strike. His tentacles emerged from his pak, one going for Lud's head and another to the outstretched arm, the other two grabbing a leg. With a single pull, the irken was thrown off his balance and fell with a tremendous thud.
"Brogling Tarki!" Lud yelled in pain as his face met the floor.
"I guess no one bothered to burst your delusions that simply swinging your fist around doesn't mean you are a proper fighter," Zim mused, looking down at his fellow irken in a very literal sense.
"What just happened?" Purple asked in surprise.
"He stopped humoring Lud," the doctor answered bluntly.
"I figured that'd be too easy, but why did he just take the beating?" Red questioned in confusion.
"A very good question, My Tallest!" Zim declared from across the room, before giving a cruel look at Lud, who glared up at him as he struggled to get back up. "Since this is the strongest these new form of irken can become, I thought it best to test my durability."
Lud looked at him in shock. "You...you took a beating like that, just to see how much you can take?!"
"Is he insane?" a mody asked in disbelief.
"Hehe, its Zim, what do you think?" another answered with a lazy chuckle.
"Yes, and this has been most informative. Zim appreciates the experience," Zim answered in amusement before gaining a mock-thoughtful look about him. "Of course, if there was another non-soldier among this collection, that would make them-" he paused leaning to the right ever so slightly, his right upper arm reaching around to grab a clawed hand that nearly grazed his left side. "The fastest," Zim finished with smug look as he glanced at this newcomer. A bit shorted than himself and much skinner, almost spindly.
"H-how did you-!?" the Irken gasped in shock, before both of Zim's left arms elbowed him in the face and chest.
"You're more predictable than the other one," Zim informed before tossing the fastest at the strongest, both of them falling in a heap.
"Chalk! You okay?" Lud yelled, wincing as he fell on his back.
"Better than you, yeah," Chalk answered with a growl.
"Unfortunately, I have no more reason to entertain...whatever you wish to call this exchange," Zim informed dismissively. "Because it can hardly be called a fight."
Chalk snarled as he shot up. "We'll show you!" he declared as he darted forward, his legs extending in rapid bursts, crossing the distance in an instant.
Zim didn't smirk, looking entirely unamused by the attempt. At the last possible second, he extended his own legs, jumping over speedster. Chalk made to stop, only to slip with a start. As he slid, he only now saw the cause: he had slipped on a puddle of Zim's blood.
The owner of said liquids of life use his mechanical tentacle to shoot beams at the falling irken, hitting the legs. Chalk collapsed to the ground fully in pain while Zim descended on Lud, two of his pak's spider legs emerging and aimed like great spears. To Lud's credit, his own spider legs emerged to counter Zim's, but the invader merely pointed his extended legs to land on Lud's face. The strongest irken went tumbling back as Zim's robot limbs took the opening to cut off Lud's.
"Keep going and I'll neutralize your other arms," Zim warned factually. His foe just groaned, unconscious or in pain, he didn't know or care. Turning back to the rest of the room, including his remaining foes, he game them all an exasperated look. "If we're done humoring the pity case, shall we move on to the main event?"
"You...you really think you're in any condition to take us all on?" another female mody asked with incredulity.
Zim regarded her with skepticism. "This coming from Invader El, what the creatures of Earth would call a glass canon?" Zim reminded as she flinched. He ignored that before shrugging. "Besides, its only a problem if any of you can hit more. Besides, I now have an advantage I don't think any of you truly possess," Zim stated with a hint of gloating.
"And that would be?" Stank questioned curiously.
Zim smiled an eerie, cool, zipper-tooth smile at them. "Assuming that my durability is about average for this form, I now have a good estimation of how much damage I'll need to do to incapacitate you all."
Several Irken took a step back at that claim, more intimidated by how plausible it was that this insane irken believed the twisted logic behind that plan. "He serious? He's not serious, right?" Purple asked, looking around curiously.
"Very well. I shall come to you than," Zim decided as he bolted forward to one irken: the only one that brought all four arms up into a fighting stance. The irken tensed, eyeing the incoming target- only for Zim to make a sharp turn, pouncing towards a completely different one that was taking aim at him with laser from a pak. With a grin, Zim gave a great headbutt to the unprepared enemy, following up by a thunderous kick with his legs extending out into the attack.
The Irken was almost sent flying until Zim grabbed him by the ankle, throwing him at his false target. As the two crashed into each other, Zim's mechanical limbs emerged to produce a square and green energy shield to deflect beams from a third Irken. "Soldiers Lotch, Stepotch, and Totch. The TripOtch, as you liked to call yourselves," Zim mused as the Stepotch managed to get out from under Lotch, while Totch kept firing at Zim. "Stepotch for short-range, Lotch for long-range, and Totch here for down the middle. Impressive synergy, but you're too dependant on each other. Once one if able to break the formation or pick one of you off, your group falls rather easily," Zim noted, shooting a beam around the shield at Stepotch before he could get up, crumbling next to Lotch.
"Step!" Totch yelled in frustration, glaring back at Zim just in time to see Zim throw something over the shield.
"Totch, don't!" Spladoot yelled in warning, but it was too late. Totch instinctively shot one of his lasers at the object, a simple metal ball.
Zim took seized the opening, his shield dropping as his own four tentacles each shot a continuous beam, spinning in a synchronized circular motion. The effect was instant, Totch wincing as he found two of his mechanical limbs severed off.
"Impressive soldiers, but in the end, you are only soldiers," Zim stated confidently, before blinking. He raised his tentacle just in time to take a hit that was meant for his head. He scowled at the offending irken, Zon.
"You forget about the elites down here, you tube-kriffer?" Zon questioned with a menacing look.
"No, I just thought you'd let me get through the riff-raff before we continued. Nor did I forget that, despite your sub par reaction speed, the attacks you do make at always precise," Zim answered in complete seriousness.
"Nugda, give me some cover over here!" Stank called as he raced to Totch, two limbs emerging from his pak: One with a drill-like feature and the other with a sparking tip.
"Didn't know you were a medic, Stank," Totch murmured in thanks.
"I'm not, just good with using and repairing equipment," Stank answered as he picked up the dismembered parts.
"Oh, don't sell yourself short, Elite Stank," Zim said with a knowing look, keeping his gaze on Zon. "You're a once in a generation, able to become an elite despite your utter lack of fighting skills, due to your overwhelming abilities as an engineer, to use and repair even the most advanced technologies the empire can muster."
"You really love the sound of your own voice," Zon noted dryly, keeping one laser-mounted tentacle trained on the mad irken.
"Have you met Zim?" Zim questioned rhetorically. "Well, I suppose I should put forth some effort now that you are working together. Zim sincerely hopes that Spladoot is not the one making the plans, however," he mused, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at the irken in question, who flinched in surprise from where he had his own pak lasers trained on Zim. "He may be spatially hyper-aware, but that one can't strategize his way out of a seat belt."
"Will you stop that?! We get it, you researched us before coming here!" Spladoot yelled in irritation.
"Research?" Zim questioned in honest confusion, turning half way to look at the enemy. "You think very highly of yourself. Zim researched no one for this event."
"Than how do you know so Tark much about us?" Spladoot demanded in counter.
"Because Zim remembers," Zim answered simply, catching everyone's attention. "Everyone remembers Zim's worst, but he remembers every strength and weakness he ever noticed. I remember everyone I ever trained with to become a soldier, an elite, and an invader. I remember all of you, at your best and at your worst. From the greatest of the invaders, to the worst of soldiers, be they living or dead."
"Wow. From anyone else, that's almost be touching," Red remarked, taken back by the little speech.
"Also a good way to stall," Zim added on, alarming the two aiming for him. Zon shot first, but Spladoot fired to the right just Zim spun to dodge in that direction. He leapt, but one of the four blasts nicked him in the foot.
Zim grimaced at the wound, but ignored it as he shot to the ceiling, landing and sticking to it thanks to the micro-grippers on his top hands and feet. He quickly shot across the surface like a furious snake until crashed into... seemingly nothing?
Zim gripped hard around the "nothing" as he fell, stopping his descent as the camouflage decloaked to reveal another modified Irken. "Elite Flan, Master Trapper. Weakness, catching him in the middle of making a trap," Zim remarked with relish as he held the irken in a vice-like embrace from behind. Flan didn't respond, trying to hold on through gritted teeth with the claws of one lower hand impeded in the ceiling.
Zim glanced up, seeing the remote drop-charges Flan had been about to place. Looking down, he could see that Stank was probably about done with Totch, while Zon and Spladoot had their weapons trained on him, obviously tempted to shoot even with their ally here. His attention was brought back upwards as he felt Flan's pak about to do something.
Time briefly slowed down for Zim's mind as he ran the odds in his head. Taking on fellow invaders would already be tricky in his current condition, and that was assuming no further damage occurred. He could dismantle the remaining Elites and soldiers, guaranteed, but they might still chip away enough damage to allow several invaders take him down.
So, how did he stop Flan from doing any damage?
"AHHHHH!" Flan screamed in rich, excruciating pain.
"What is he-Oh dear Irk," Purple wondered, before turning pale and looking ill.
"That's-that's just wrong!" Spladoot recoiled in disgust. Elite or not, this wasn't what he imagined for today.
Zim ignored them all as he bit harshly into Flan's shoulder, the dart of his tongue impaled deep in the soldier as he felt the pink liquids flowing into his mouth and down the tube within his tongue. Irken blood wasn't like how he heard human blood tasted. It wasn't metallic. It was sweet and strong, but also felt oddly like grease. As if it became looser, less slushy the longer it was out of its original body.
Flan's green skin began to lose its color as he made one last effort to dislodged Zim: two spider limbs emerging in hopes of stabbing the invader. Zim was expecting something to that effect, and was very pleased that they emerged from the bottom of Flan's pak. Zim's lower arms pulled back to grasp the mechanical extensions, twisting them about while biting harder into Flan's shoulder. With great effort, and much pain for Flan, Zim's claws managed to snap and cut off the spider legs.
Zim's own limbs emerged and stabbed into the ceiling as Flan went limp in his arm, Zim removing his teeth and tongue-dart from the flesh of his enemy. Allowing himself to hang from the ceiling, he looked down with a raised eyebrow at those down below. "I'm just going to assume we can't all crawl on ceilings!?" Zim yelled down in genuine curiosity, surprised none had followed him up. Many were lost for a response or simply didn't deign to make one. Seeing as much, Zim glanced over to the balcony before he tossed the still-bleeding Flan down, hurdling to the doctor.
In response, she pulled a device from her coat, looking very much like a blaster of some sort. When she fired, it hit Flan, encasing him in a blue energy that slowed his descent until he was floated onto the platform.
"Is he dead?" Red asked in mild concern.
"No, My Tallest, just unconscious from blood lose," the unmodified irken answered as she looked over her datapad to check Flan's vitals. "He should recover, likely with some scars."
"Kriffing Tark!" Zon yelled, grabbing everyone's attention again as he and Spladoot started to shoot at Zim. Said invader now held the explosives Flan had planted on the ceiling, quickly tinkering with them as his shield kept the damage off his physical self, but his spider legs were taking some damage on the ends.
"And success!" Zim yelled with a savage, pink blood coated grin before using his limbs to bring him to the ceiling surface, holding three devices, each in one hand.
"Please tell me your done!?" Totch requested over his shoulder.
"You're good!" Stank declared as his biological and mechanical limbs all removed themselves from Totch's person, prompting Nugda to deactivate his shield.
"Wait, Nug, don't do-!" Zon tried to warn, but realized he was too late as Zim hurled two of the devices around his shield.
Spladoot shot one out of the air while Totch managed to get the other. Two small explosions erupted, two invaders moving in front of the Tallests as smoke clouds obscured the Zim from view. Zon watched the cloud intently, knowing Zim would most likely try to throw the last explosive at the trio, to take out as many as possibly in one go.
Or rather, that was what anyone else would most likely do.
Something erupted out of it, but when Zon shot it, there was no explosions.
"A dud?" Spladoot wondered even as Zon became alarmed and searched the clearing clouds for the real explosive.
He flinched as something fell on his head, almost shooting in alarm. He didn't even have time to look at it what must have been a tiny smoke bomb erupted, enveloping both him and Spladoot. They both began to hack, feeling their skin burn as their bodies tried and failed to breath properly in the smog.
It was Spladoot that emerged first, running straight into the nightmare that was Zim's blood-soaked figure. Between his surprise and his body still trying to cope with lack of air, he didn't have time dodge when Zim grabbed him, pulling his head down into a knee-kick and extending said leg to pull Spladoot's feet out from under him. At the same time, Zim had grabbed the laser tendrils still sticking out of Spladoot's pak, using them to pull the elite across the floor before tossing him like a sack of potatoes, the dazed irken landing headfirst against a wall.
"Spatial awareness means nothing if you are unaware of your enemies," Zim mused idly before turning to Zon. The smoke had cleared and the other irken was glaring at Zim while wheezing softly on one knee.
"Just go down you tark defected!" Zon growled, firing at Zim, who leaned away slightly to dodge.
Looking entirely unimpressed, Zim walked to the mody, who shot again but barely missed Zim's shoulder. "You can't aim properly in that condition, your pak is too busy trying to filter the smoke out to help you," Zim pointed out calmly, waiting for the next shot.
Zon took it, and regretted it instantly.
Zim pounced over the beam like a great beast, slamming into Zon. He ripped the laser limb away, Zon's four arms trying to make strikes at Zim's torso. Zim gritted his teeth and spat blood in Zon's face, blinding him for a moment. With that opening, Zim delivered a harsh blow Zon's head, whose skull banged against the floor below them.
Zim rose like an unrelenting creature of war, looking upon the stunned trio of Stank, Totch, and Nugda. Ultimately, it was the later of the three that broke the dread-filled silence. "Got one for me, Zim?" Nugda asked with a fake smirk. "Sum great observation about my skills, about how to beat me?"
Zim ran a hand over his skull, looking both bored and distracted. "You're weakness is your lack of strength, Soldier Nugda. You have no glaring flaw other than your skills are all average for a soldier," Zim summarized bluntly.
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Nugda agreed as Stank stood behind him and Totch, who looked defiant but unhopeful. "Don't suppose you'd just let us surrender?"
"Eh?" Zim asked with a head tilt, the pink blood coating his form making it all the more jarring and off-putting. "You do recall that Zim is doing this because our Tallests ordered me to fight all the modies, correct?"
There was a strained pause before the other modies looked to their leaders curiously. Red just groaned. "Okay, Zim's made his point. Everyone below Invader is excused from the rest of this fight," he ordered with great reluctance. He hated to admit that Zim was doing well, but reality wasn't being generous with his desires right now.
"Thank Irk," Stank said in relief as Totch cautious and begrudgingly retracted his weapons.
"Hey! My Tallests!" One Irken on the balcony called hurriedly.
"We wanted a crack at him too!" another beside him requested.
"Another time, Elites Kreenk and Krit- and I'll just save my observations on you too for said time," Zim assured in a cheeky tone as the two fumed.
"Don't know what you two are complaining about," a third said with a chuckle, leaning against a wall casually.
Zim cracked a grin at that one. "Todog! The most proudly unambitious Irken in history! How have you been, you old slug?" Zim asked, disturbingly casual despite being covered in blood and, technically, in the middle of a fight.
"Pretty good, nice and cozy job on the Massive. Been interesting since the all of-" he paused to gesture to his own form. "-this started. And, as always, you make everything good Krif-shaped when you show up."
"Tis what I do," Zim agreed with several nods. "So, what was your plan, exactly?"
"Oh, just let you knock me out and enjoy the show when I woke up," Todog answered offhandedly.
"Why do we keep him? I mean before this Reversion this?" Purple asked curiously.
"Because he's the best Elite in the entire empire," Red grumbled, shooting daggers at said slacker. "We all know you not an Invader only because you're too lazy to become one, Todog!"
"And besides squandering my potential in the Elite, I've done nothing wrong," Todog reminded with beaming innocence.
"Yes, well, you three? Do clear the splash zone," Zim requested to the trio of two soldiers and one elite before turning his gaze up at the seven modified irkens up abo-
Zim blinked as he preformed an instant double-check. Six on the ground, Flan landed up there so that made seven. Three more spared made ten. Seven up there made seventeen.
One was missing!
"Zim? Is this important?"
Zim turned to the calm, neutral voice calling from clear across the room. There, sitting on his voot cruiser, was a very tall and long-headed modified Irken. And in his lower and deadlier hands, he held a visibly displeased Gaz under her arms.
"What is that?" Chin asked with a confused scowl.
"I think that's one of those human things Zim told us about," Purple recalled, admittedly curious at this development.
"Humans?" the doctor repeated curiously.
"Yeah, but why did he bring one here?" Red wondered before shuddering. "On second thought, I'd rather not try to understand Zim's warped logic."
"Invader Sneakyonfoota," Zim recognized, raising his voice to be heard. "Tallests in our training group, one of the best who decided to make his name as literal as possible."
"Glad you remember, Zim," Sneakyonfoota responded insincerely, tapping his finger against Gaz's torso. "Is this important? Some high member creature from that world you found?"
"Yes, it is very important that you release her, Right Now," Zim warned grimly as he marched forward, past and over the bodies of his defeated foes. "Almost as important as you getting off my cruiser. Zim seems to recall that, for all your sneakiness, you had a problem keeping your balance with your awkward center of gravity."
"How very considerate of you-ouch!" the sneaky invader yelled. Gaz had activated her collar, the two gauntlets forming for her to fire at the large Irken's feet. Pulling herself out of his grasp as he tried to regain his footing, she growled and landed a sucker punch his side, sending him falling over the end. His pak's spider limbs managed to correct his fall and land on his feet, but that didn't detract from his annoyance. "That little pest," he growled under his breath before turning-
-to find himself literally face to face with an angry Zim.
To Sneakyonfoota's credit, he was an invader. When Zim struck at him, he blocked. When Zim's lower arms tried to stab him, his own locked with him in a struggle for dominance. In hand to hand, they were deadlocked, as much as Sneakyonfoota hated to admit it with Zim's injuries. His only advantage in this contest was the range his limbs granted him, and Zim kept too close for that to matter.
"You blew your chance, Sneak," Zim stated as they struggled against each other. "Had you gone after me, you might have defeated me."
Despite himself, the tallest of the modies smirked. "Well, I saw something moving in your ship and had to see for myself if I was right. If the infamous Zim finally had something he cared about."
Zim stopped, everything. Sneakyonfoota was shocked to find himself tumbling forward as Zim completely stopped pushing back. And all the while as they fell, Zim glared into his eyes.
The second his back hit the floor, Zim kicked his legs into the taller irken's stomach while pushing him over Zim's head. Zim was up in an instant as he raised a shield to dodge a blast from the tendrils emerging from Sneakyonfoota's pak. One of Zim's spider legs emerged to stab at the leg, hitting it in the ankle just before the long limb could move away. Sneakyonfoota grunted through the pain as he felt Zim grab the tendrils, trying to pull them off. The tallest mody's own metal spider legs emerged at that exact moment, the sharp limbs leaving gashes in both of Zim's side.
Zim just snarled as he lurched his arms forward to grab Sneakyonfoota's pak- and rip it off. The pakless Irken screamed in the unusual and unfamiliar sensation as his fledging biological mind was cut off from his mechanical one. In a fit of rage, Zim slammed the pak against Sneakyonfoota's large skull before throwing the device down at the irken, allowing it to reattached.
"Any other Irken want to touch My Gaz-slave?!" Zim yelled in challenge to the remaining audience, getting no response.
"Zim, behind you!" Gaz yelled from above.
He didn't have time to react before something slammed into his face, hard. He went flying and landed headfirst into a wall. He groaned as he laid there for a second. "Anyone get the number of that kriffer that hit me?" he asked in a disoriented.
"Tenn."
Zim blinked as he looked to see who he was facing.
Low and behold, there she stood. The mody that had stayed near the Tallests this entire time until no. Her pink-red eyes bore into his apathetically, wielding an irken spear. Zim stared for a moment longer before chuckling. "Fair enough, Invader Tenn," he said as he rose to his feet, eyeing her with great interest. "Stay out of this, Gazling. It won't be much longer."
Gaz stared over the edge for a second before shrugging. "If you're sure," she granted, watching the exchange with interest.
"I'm ending this, Zim," Tenn warned bluntly. It wasn't an opinion from her, it was fact. "You can't win."
"Best with melee weapons, and the best Invader of us, period. Weakness...none," Zim summarized with a wistful smile. "Good."
Tenn creased her brow. "Good? That you can't defeat me?" she asked in confusion.
"Of course," Zim confirmed, as if it was as simple as the color of the void. "It would be very disappointing if Zim was truly already at the top, that I had no true rivals to overcome."
"Oh, come on!" Purple all but whined. "Does nothing make him miserable?"
For once, Zim ignored his tallest and focused on the warrior before him. "Still, even if I want to believe you, you still have to prove it, Invader Tenn," Zim stated as he cracked his neck one last time.
Tenn regarded the strange invader with a studying look before nodding slowly. "As you wish," she said as she held her spear in a fighting stance, pausing for an instance. "Invader Zim. Strength: His Insanity. Weakness: His Madness."
Zim's smile turned gleeful at that as he sped forward toward his greatest prey.
Tenn remained utterly calm as the blood-soaked and battle-worn invader raced towards her, the opposite blades gleaming in her eyes.
There was an instant, when Zim was just outside of her range, that all of reality froze for the two combatants. A stilled frame in time where anything and everything seemed possible.
And then it was gone.
Zim ducked down, posed to leap high. Tenn swung fast, and Zim leapt low. Tenn spun her spear, and the bottom caught Zim's injured foot, the pain and the attack allow her to spin him off course. She side-stepped his form, bringing the tip of her weapon down into Zim's chest. The shock-device at the top of the staff emitted a great shock through Zim's form as the forward blade cut into his side. Limbs tried to extend from his pal, but her four spider limbs masterfully sprung forth to block the opened ports. Tenn kept one foot on Zim's lower right arm as the madden Irken's other three arms tried and failed to push the weapon out of himself, Tenn using all four of her limbs to keep Zim pinned.
"It's over, Zim. That's enough," she said softly to the struggling form beneath her. Zim stared back defiant, prompting her to sigh. She upped the voltage for a moment, giving her an opening to quickly spin her spear and strike Zim in the head with it, hard.
The room went silent as Zim finally went still.
"Is-Is it over?" Purple asked hopefully.
"After defeating eight irkens with another three being unable to do anything against him," the doctor summarized as Red gritted his teeth.
"He didn't beat all of them," the other tallest pointed out stubbornly.
"Because the best Mody stepped in after Zim fought half of them, including an Invader, and intentionally took a beating from the strongest we had at the very start," she countered calmly.
"I'll be honest, my tallest," Invader Chin spoke up cautiously. "If Tenn hadn't? Groot, El, and I were going to try taking him on all at once."
Red fumed as the doctor continued to fiddle with her datapad. "And we've learned a great deal about the capabilities of the-What?"
Instantly, all irkens on the balcony gave her their utmost attention. "What, is Flan bleeding out?" El asked in concern as she glanced down at the pale, still-form of the trapper.
"No. Invader Zim allowed my systems to monitor his vitals and data since the fight began," the doctor explained idly, brow scrunched as she studied the readings, looking out to see Invader Tenn walking away from Zim.
"And what has Zim done now?" Todog asked in mirth, leaning on the handrails.
The doctor said nothing, her eyes growing steadily widder, until she looked up in alarm. "INVADER TENN! GET OUT OF THERE NOW!"
Said invader turned around in alarm to see something truly disturbing. Zim was standing there, his form devoid of all wounds and harm, eyes a darker shade than normal. Steam was emitting from his body like a cloud. No, not steam she realized. Condensation, breath, exhalation. Even more concern was the blood. It was vanishing, seeping into Zim's skin.
His skin was drinking it.
Zim glanced himself over briefly, finding no injury or pain, before smirking at the on-guard Tenn. "You done goofed."
"How the Brogling Tarki did you do that?" Tenn asked with a bewildered scowl.
"Krif you, that's how!" Zim retorted smugly.
"Doc! How did he do that?!" Red demanded furiously.
"The Smarkle, the Blood-Collection Organ! I...I didn't think it could function like this. Invader Zim was able to use the blood of another Reverted Irken to cause a regenerative effect in himself. He...he's in better condition than when the fighting started!"
"Are you saying he can beat Tenn?" Chin asked in alarm.
"I don't know! I have no idea how long this'll last or how many times he can do it!" the doctor answered in astonishment.
"Amusing," Zim mused as he eyed Tenn like a predator would a hunter. "Zim can't defeat you, but, hehe, I don't believe I can lose right now."
"The question being if you can wear me down before- whatever this is wears off," Tenn mused, gripping her staff tightly.
"Shall we?" Zim offered with his arms outstretched, sounding almost as if he was asking her to a dance.
"No!" Red declared, grabbing the attention of both invaders, turning to see both the Tallests and the rest of the still-conscious Irkens approaching them. With a begrudging scowl, Red regarded Zim. "As much as I hate to say this, you've made your point, Zim. This fight is over."
"Yeah, there's a lot more bodies on the floor than we were hoping," Purple observed, glancing back at the battlefield with disappointment
"My Tallests," Zim bowed his head to them with a hint of triumphant to his smile.
Red took a long, suffering breath before saying something he really, really didn't want to.
"Invader Zim, welcome to the Warlords."
End of Chapter
Yep, that's right folks, this whole chapter is one giant fight scene. Hehe, and you were all expecting Zim to defeat everyone easily. But, yeah, among Modies, Zim can clean house easily with anything that's not Invader-worthy. Once you get to Reverted Invaders, it becomes a bit more of a case by case. Also, just to be clear, Zim did NOT expect that regen thing to happen or that it even could, that was a happy accident on his part. He DID want to see for what his blood-drinking tongue was used for though, hence why he did it in the first place.
Hope you all enjoyed this and all the new Irkens I made up, with the Invaders being canon, but I fleshed them out beyond being background characters. Also kept a few unrevealed as far as what they can do, to be surprises for later.
PS Sad news: My beta/Editor/Best friend for well over a decade lost his grandmother a few days ago. He did NOT beta this chapter, so it might have some mistakes in it still, despite me going over this with a fine tooth comb. He got a laugh out of this chapter and Zim's insanity, hence why I ended up writing this instad of my original story.
PPS Coincidentally, and less sad but still so, one of our birds died last night. Only mentioned that for the timing of it all, we're use to that happening every few years with parakeets.