A World Long Gone

by GeekCat

Alternative sequel to "A Softer Start". After years of fighting against the tyrannical Emperor Zim, grieving for their lost family member...Gaz (and her dad) finally have a spot of hope. A chance their family might become whole again. But even if it looks like they haven't lost him after all...perhaps he's changed in ways that mean he really is lost to them.

This is an "alternative ending" to my Touch Starved and Sated series. I had considered using this as the actual ending, but it didn't quite fit with everything that happened in "The World Keeps Shifting" (and what'll happen in some future stories).

But I liked this idea too much to set it aside completely, so I wrote it anyway! This story is after a large time skip after "A Softer Start"...in a timeline where Gaz never confronted Dib after he left with Zim.

---

Years ago, Gaz would have scoffed at the idea of Zim actually succeeding in conquering the Earth. She did scoff, over and over again, each time her brother rambled on and on about Zim.

For the hundredth time, she was angry at her past self. She should have listened to Dib, even just once. Now…

She grunted, shaking her head. Focusing on the past wouldn't solve anything. She needed to focus on the here and now. And right now, she was twenty years old, carefully watching two robots Zim had built lumber along through the streets. They would stop to hang up propaganda every few feet or to power-wash graffiti off the walls.

They weren't the most dangerous robots he sent out as part of his reign of terror, but the loss of any of his robots was still a loss for him.

She tightly gripped the handle of her bat and started to stand up. Someone grabbed her sleeve, and she shot a glare at them. It was one of the new recruits she had brought along, who quickly let go and shrank back. "You…you aren't going to fight those things alone, are you?"

"Yeah, I am," she said. "Unless some of you want to jump in, too." Everyone quickly averted their eyes. Typical. Well, that was one of the reasons she was out here, anyway—to try and get people used to the idea of actually fighting back.

"But…how are you going to do it?" asked the same recruit who had stalled her. She hadn't yet learned their name.

Gaz grinned wryly, tapping her bat against the ground. It was made just for her, and painted to look like ham. "All about getting the right weapons, and finding the right motivation to fuel you," she said. With that, she hopped over the (artificial) bushes they had been hiding behind, ran up to the closest robot, and swung her bat at its head.

It popped off and went flying into the other robot. Both of them turned to her with an aggressive stance, one's eyes flashing from magenta to red.

Gaz grit her teeth, taking a fighting stance of her own.

The robots made the first move, one swinging an arm down towards her. She quickly dodged out of the way, swinging her bat towards the arm's joint, popping it off of the robot. She whirled around and smashed her weapon into the other robot's side, pressing a button and sending a jolt of electricity through her bat and into the machine.

What followed was a dance of dodging and striking, over and over. Even as the robots lost more and more parts, they refused to let up…their chest cavities even opening to unsheathe even more weapons to use against her.

But just like she had told the newbies, it was all about weapons and motivation. And while these robots may have been stuffed with weapons, they lacked the same driving force she did…

Pure, utter rage and hatred towards Zim.

Just thinking of his smug face alone made her angry enough to smash her bat through one robot's "torso", and then deliver a shock that fried all of its insides. It fell to the ground in a useless heap. The other buzzed loudly, firing a few lasers and missiles at her.

She darted to the side, pulling out her bat and smacking away a few of the attacks that came close to hitting her. One of the lasers grazed her arm, and she hissed with pain.

The robot whirled around, aiming again. Gaz glared at it, switching the bat over to her good arm. She had lost everything because of Zim, she thought, feeling her anger flare up. It sat heavily in her chest and clawed at her throat, seeping through her blood and making her shake.

With a battle cry, she sprinted forward, smashing her bat into the robot. It had raised its one remaining arm to protect its center point, and was using it to block her subsequent attacks.

She snarled, smashing her bat into it over and over. There was no way she was losing to one of Zim's stupid, stupid robots! She was going to make him pay, for everything. For taking over the world, for turning her home into something terrible, for…

For killing her brother!

She screamed, slamming the bat straight through the robot's arm and all the way through its chest cavity, shocking it all the while. It twitched and spasmed, but quickly fell to the ground in a charred heap.

She ripped her bat out of it, kicking its side for good measure. She slumped forward, using her bat as a pseudo-cane as she huffed and panted. It wasn't just the exhaustion, this time…thinking of Dib made her chest feel tight, with pressure in her eyes and throat.

To try and get rid of it, she tried following a breathing exercise, and to think her way out of grief. After all…they couldn't really know if Dib was dead!

But…no, there was no other possibility, and Gaz knew it. Dib had vanished without a trace about four years ago, and right after he had told Gaz about escaping from Zim. That had been one of the last conversations she had had with him.

She had caught glimpses of him here and there, but assumed that he would escape on his own, as always. But he never did.

And two years after that, Zim had taken over the world. Could there be any explanation for all of that, besides him finally destroying who he considered his greatest enemy?

"That…was…AMAZING!" one of the newbies shouted. Gaz flinched at the sudden reminder that she wasn't alone, and tensed up when she heard the group running up to her. "You just cleaved through them like it was NOTHING!"

Gaz kept her back to them all, inhaling sharply through her nose and swallowing the lump in her throat. Once she managed to push down her grief, she turned to the group with a neutral expression, giving a cocky nod.

"Yeah, it's nothing, once you know what you're doing," she grunted, standing up straight and picking up her bat. The recruits were all looking at her in awe, and she saw one guy swooning behind the rest.

She turned back to what was left of the robots, hiding her eye-roll. "First things first—strength training," she said. "We're going to carry what's left of these things back to the base."

That took some of the wind out of the group's sails. "…do we have to?" one asked. "I mean, what's it even good for at this point?"

Gaz gave them a sharp look. "We can analyze these to figure out all their weak points. We can use them to make our own weapons. We can keep the emperor from recycling and reusing them. And if that isn't enough…I said it's good training. Do you trust my judgment or not?"

The person who questioned her deflated…but they were the first to step forward and try to lift part of one of the robots. The rest of the group joined them, and with a lot of grunting and cursing, managed to get it off of the ground.

Gaz nodded in approval, scooping up one of the fallen limbs and slinging it over her shoulder before stepping forward and helping them lift it with one hand. "Let's move. If we can get this to the base quickly, we'll have enough time to come back and grab the other."

The group groaned, but shuffled back towards the edge of the city.

---

It was slow going, but in the end, the small group had impressed her by getting both fallen robots into the entrance of the base in an old shed just outside of the city.

She was much less impressed when half of the group ran off afterward instead of helping bring them the rest of the way, but oh, well. At least now that they had gone through the false floor of the shed and into the large underground meeting room, they didn't have to worry or risk getting caught.

Gaz headed over to the false wall at the other side of the room, which of course the others had left open. Once she had gotten the others to bring the robots through, she made sure to close the fake wall. If anyone found this base, it would appear as though it was a meeting room with a couple of side rooms for people to live in.

But once they made it through this short, secret tunnel, they'd find even more to the base…

Which was mostly just more meeting rooms, more rooms for people to live in, and some escape routes. But, even though this was one of their smaller bases, they still had a few training rooms and even a small lab set up.

It took a bit longer with fewer people, but once they made it through the tunnel, Gaz announced she was carrying something to the lab…and plenty of other people rushed over to help. Enough that Gaz was able to let go of the part she was holding onto and oversee them taking care of it.

Everyone knew not to hang around the labs without good reason, but at the same time, everyone would take an opportunity to see, maybe even talk to, the man always working in them…

"Hey, Dad," Gaz called, being the first to enter. She stepped to the side, letting the others drag in the robots. "We got more Irken scrap for you to use."

Professor Membrane looked up from the workbench he had been bent over, eyes crinkling with a smile when he saw the robots. "Ah. Well done, Gazlene, everyone. These could be just what I need to finish the next set of prototype weapons."

The others beamed, some of them swooning. Gaz turned away, again trying to hide her eye-roll. Now that he had an audience, her dad quickly slipped into his role as a presenter, describing all the newest features of his latest projects, including ranged and melee weapons, and special suits for defense and stealth!

After a few minutes, Gaz stepped forward, between the group and her dad. "Alright, you can hear the rest at the same time as everyone else," she said. "You all should have something else to be focusing on, so get going."

With that, they all left…though some needed to be glared at for the message to go through. As soon as the door was closed, Gaz turned back to her dad. "…you alright?"

Without any other eyes on him, he sighed heavily, slumping into his chair. "It's actually not a bad day, today," he said. "But progress on the new guns is slow, I had some people ask for advice, it's…tiring."

"You did sleep last night, right?" she asked.

"A few hours," he said honestly. "There were…several unpleasant dreams, so I determined it would be healthier to get a little work done than to force myself to see them again." He turned away to start pulling materials from one of the broken robots, a sign of guilt.

Gaz sighed. "Dad…c'mon, if you have nightmares, I'm pretty sure it's healthier to talk about them so you can sleep than just avoid them. At least talk to me when they happen, okay?"

"I…shouldn't burden you with taking care of me," he said. "That isn't your job."

"It's not a burden," she said. "We've got to look out for each other. Right?" Her dad paused, but nodded. She knew the pause wasn't from hesitancy, but from him remembering the family he couldn't help.

She quickly grit her teeth, reaching down and ripping a metal panel off of one of the robots, exposing the inner workings, which Dad started to examine.

They both had their preferred distractions. Gaz's was causing as much destruction for Zim as she could as an outlet for her rage…and the occasional game when she had the time. Dad preferred to throw himself into work, making plans and new inventions to push any other thoughts or grief out of his mind.

Of course, her dad had always been laser-focused on his work, and wasn't very close to anyone else, so she doubted that anyone else had really noticed the change.

She wouldn't begrudge him the outlet he needed, though, as long as he still took care of himself. His work helping them make advances against Zim's tyranny was just a bonus.

"Oh!" her dad said, seeming to remember something as he set one of the robots' weapons on a spare lab bench. "I just found out about some interesting information." He picked up a piece of paper covered in his handwriting and showed it to her.

She gave it a look. At the top was a date about half a week away…and a note that a meteor shower would be occurring. He had added a few notes about rumors of its "astrological significance" (the quotes were included).

"I overheard a few people talking about it," he explained. "They said that with the factories running on new clean energy, the sky in the city might be clear enough to watch it. It…" He swallowed, reaching out so Gaz could hand the note back to him. "It would be…something Dib would watch, I'm sure."

Oh. Her heart twisted, and she lowered her head to hide her expression. Dad moved to the back of the lab, entering a code into one of the large safes they had. He pulled out an old pinboard that was covered in years' worth of paper and string.

Gaz looked over the board again. It was filled mostly with notes in her dad's handwriting, along with a few blurry photos. The photos were all of Zim, with a blurry shape or shadows in the corner circled in blue ink. There were notes that a shape could be a bit of black hair entering a shot, or a shadow the tail of a trenchcoat, but…Gaz personally didn't think they added up to anything.

Dad mumbled to himself a little before sticking the latest note into a specific spot on his Dib-signs board. It all felt so familiar.

Years ago, when they were just a month or two into the establishment of their rebellion, Gaz had mentioned a similar habit of Dib's, to make boards just like this one, packed with whatever evidence he could find.

Her dad had made a choked noise, and looked at her with an expression full of despair. Maybe it was from her talking as though Dib wouldn't do it again, or maybe from mentioning a habit Membrane had never paid attention to before, or even just from mentioning Dib at all…

She had been quick to stand next to him and comfort him as best she could, then, which…wasn't exactly the best example of comforting. But after that, she had never brought up how similar this was to what Dib used to do.

"There," Dad said, stepping back and seeming pleased with himself for the way he had arranged everything. "…and I'm sure that if we have everyone keep an eye out during the shower, we can spot something new."

Spot Dib, he meant. Gaz hesitated for a moment before asking, "Are you going to have them look for…anything specific?"

"Just the usual," he answered. "Just to keep an eye out for anyone the emperor is treating with an…unusual amount of cruelty. Or a glimpse of some hidden prisoner. Or anyone trying to sneak out and view the event."

Gaz nodded. Even if no one saw anything specifically Dib-related, having everyone be more vigilant was never a bad idea. Dad was already rambling about a plan for where people should be stationed to watch the palace (and other areas he hypothesized Dib could be in), how to best split the night into shifts, and so on.

She stuck around to help him with planning until dinnertime came around, at which point she convinced him to leave the lab with her so they could get food. He tucked the board of evidence safely away at the back of the lab…but, as usual, she could tell that it was still plainly on his mind.

---

The night of the meteor shower passed without much fanfare, though her dad's plan to keep an eye out for anything unusual seemed to go smoothly. No one seemed to have noticed anything…except for one person who had stayed up for nearly all of the shifts through the night.

They claimed to have seen a humanoid figure on the roof of Zim's palace, one too tall to be Zim or his small robot. They even took a photo as evidence...

But since it was in the middle of the night, the entire thing was completely dark, with the only distinguishing feature being the yellow streaks of the meteor shower in the sky. Dad was still skeptical, but the rather hopeful report cheered him up a little, and the photo was still tacked onto a small corner of his evidence board.

Gaz didn't see anything useful in the photo, not even a shape that could have been a person standing in the dark. And honestly, she wouldn't be surprised if the story was made up just so they had an excuse to talk to her dad and get in his good graces. That was many people's motivation for fighting in the first place…but at least they were doing some good, and most weren't trying to give her dad false hope.

…still, she chose not to say anything. If hope, even impossible, was what it took to keep her dad going, then so be it.

The next day very nearly passed by without incident. She was taking a break from training when one of Zim's "announcement videos" popped up on the screen they had in the gym.

It was easy enough to tap into the widespread broadcasts he sent, and he would sometimes accidentally mention something useful to them…heck, sometimes he even outright boasted about something they could take advantage of!

Which was why she at least paid a little attention to it as she munched on a protein bar. It just seemed to be Zim boasting about how great he was as the Emperor, rambling something about a gift basket to the Armada that would arrive 'any day now', commending a few specific factories for their products…

Zim was suddenly distracted by some sound from off-camera…and whatever it was made his expression shift. "I told you that you needed sleep," he muttered, reaching over and to his right. "Ridiculous, you'll…" His voice was muffled as he moved out of the shot.

He soon sat back upright, dragging something—no, someone into the throne with him. Zim was still the main focus of the shot, though, the new human barely within the frame. "Now!" he said as their head slumped on his shoulder, the person snoring. "Next, I must tell you that…"

Gaz chose to focus on the person instead of Zim. They were fast asleep, barely moving even when Zim shifted his hold on them. They were still barely in the shot, but they were wearing mostly black, and…a scythe of black hair drooped over their face.

She stepped closer, her eyes widening. It was hard to believe, but there was…there wasn't any other explanation. That was Dib, it had to be.

Gaz couldn't pay attention to anything else Zim said. Her attention was all laser-focused on her brother. Alive and held in Zim's arms.

Later, she could feel angry about him being held prisoner. But at the moment, she was too shocked to feel anything…and when that started to wear off, she felt a deep sense of relief. He was alive.

As soon as the broadcast ended, she sprinted to the lab. "Dad!" she shouted.

"I saw," her dad said, already standing. He seemed dazed, but he still had more energy than she had seen in him for months. "Gazlene, your brother…"

"He's alive," Gaz said with a grin. It just felt too good to say it out loud. "He's alive, we can…we can save him, Dad."

Her father's grin was just as wide, and the two tightly embraced each other.

From that point on, Dad made a lot more progress in developing weapons and tools and strategizing against Zim, and Gaz focused more on specific goals instead of just damaging as much of Zim's technology as she could. Because now, they weren't just fighting for a doomed planet…they were fighting to get their family back together again.

---

But much as they hated to admit it, they couldn't get Dib back right away. Zim's palace was heavily defended, as they had learned in the first weeks of their organizing their Rebellion. Breaking in to free Dib would be no easy task. …and that was assuming that Dib was being kept in the palace.

He probably was. Zim seemed obsessed with the idea of keeping his enemy close, and Dib had appeared in a few more broadcasts after the first one...or at least, now it was easier to spot him, now that they knew to look for him. Sometimes people reported seeing him in settlements and factories, but always at Zim's side, never really speaking to anyone. Gaz admittedly kind of hoped he was in the palace, because then at least they knew where he was, and that he was…alive. She couldn't really think of him as 'safe', because no matter how innocently Zim treated him when the cameras were on…

Well, he was a volatile alien who hated Dib. It was always a sobering thought, always steeling her resolve to get him out of there.

The Rebellion as a whole had mixed feelings about Dib. Most didn't care much, but some were riled up (by Gaz and Membrane) to save him from his imprisonment under the tyrant.

There were a few rumors, however, that Dib wasn't actually a prisoner. Gaz was quick to shoot them down—she knew her brother would never willingly stay at Zim's side. Especially at a time like this.

"He's being treated pretty well for a 'prisoner', though." And so what? They probably only saw what Zim wanted them to see. He was probably trying to humiliate Dib in front of everyone else. Who knew what he did when no one was watching?

The rumors went quiet for a while…until weeks later. Someone commented, "It seems more like he's Zim's pet than his prisoner."

Gaz had been working on strategy with her Dad at the moment. Her eyelid had twitched, and she had immediately crushed the metal figure of a building she had been holding. That was enough to make everyone else dash off.

Everyone but her Dad, who had a blank thousand-yard stare. After a minute or so, he stood up and began to march towards the door.

"Dad?" she called.

"I'm going to kill him," her father bluntly stated. "And I'm going to get my son back."

She quickly stepped in front of him, placing her hands on his chest. "Dad, stop."

He glared down at her. "Gazlene, your brother needs me."

"You think I don't know that!?" she snapped. "You think I'm not angry, either!? But attacking his palace alone, right now, without a plan…you could die!" There was no 'could' about it—every attempt to attack directly ended in total failure. But she couldn't bear to think of losing Dad, too, not now.

"I…" her dad took a deep breath. Still angry, but not trying to push forward. "I would risk…anything to get your brother away from…him."

Gaz nodded. "I know. But…Dib needs us to stay safe so that we can get him out of there." She paused. "At…at least Zim might not be hurting him."

It wasn't much consolation. The thought of Zim treating Dib like a pet all the time, the way he'd been acting in the few sightings…It made her stomach churn, and her blood boil.

"…I'm going to work in the lab," her dad announced. "It's the only way I'll be able to…distract myself from the thought of a direct attack."

"Yeah, I'll get the others to leave you alone," she said as he retreated. She watched to make sure he really was going to the lab.

Alone, she ran to her room to grab her bat. A direct attack wouldn't do anything for them, but there were plenty of robots and drones out there for her to take her anger out on.

---

It wasn't long after that when she and her dad executed a plan to save Dib. They still knew that a direct attack on Zim or his palace wouldn't work, so they had to be a little more indirect about it.

Careful observation revealed that sometimes, a human would get into Zim's ship with him at the palace. But that human would at times be absent in reports from wherever Zim landed. Dib just had been dropped off somewhere else.

It took weeks of reconnaissance to figure out where that 'somewhere else' was. Zim was surprisingly sneaky about it, doing his best to never draw attention to the locations, and leaving minimal security around them.

But they found out that, when Zim went to personally oversee any cities or factories, he would sometimes make a quick stop at nearby forests or abandoned buildings, let someone out who quickly moved out of sight, and then travel to his final destination.

It would usually only be an hour or two before that person was picked up again and taken away, but that was all they needed.

They spent a week pouring over maps, trying to find the best spot to use. Eventually, they decided on a forest in the northwest corner of the country, which had rumors of cryptid sightings…at least before the Earth had been taken over.

The closest factory to it was just a few miles away, dedicated to mass-producing all kinds of donuts. Once they had the locations picked out, the rest of the plan fell into place.

Rebels would sneak in, sabotage a machine or two, and then sneak out, sometimes with someone else from the factory wanting to escape. It was a slow process, since they couldn't do too much too quickly. They wanted there to be problems visible at the factory, but not so many that Zim would automatically suspect the rebellion was behind it.

And some people snuck out with donuts, making them popular with everyone whom they shared the loot with.

And then, it was a matter of waiting, slowly sabotaging and corroding the factory, waiting for Zim to take notice. They even ran a few larger operations on the other side of the country (including evacuating and blowing up a factory making robots) to make it seem even less like they were involved with the donut factory's sabotage.

And a month later, a terrible month of waiting, they finally heard that Zim had taken off in his ship in the direction of the factory…and that a human was spotted, just barely, next to him in that ship.

Gaz sprinted towards their shuttles, grabbing two people along the way at semi-random. She didn't go seeking anyone in particular, but when she spotted them, she knew them enough that they would be competent. They both ran behind her at once.

She only slowed down when they made it to their hangar. The shuttles they used looked like small buses…though her dad had used technology stolen from Zim to give them the ability to hover, and to travel quickly over great distances. They also had cloaking technology, which was…something Dib had figured out, long ago.

Her breath almost hitched, but she quickly shook it off. There was no time for grief, not when they were so close to getting him back.

She checked her bag one last time, making sure she had everything, then claimed the first ready shuttle she spotted. She input their destination, waited as the shuttle hovered into the air and out of the hangar, and then…

All that was left was to sit and wait until they got there, the auto-pilot able to handle anything barring an emergency.

Maybe it would have felt better to have to drive…to have something to focus on. But Gaz could feel her hands shaking already, and she needed to keep her mind focused on one goal, and save all her energy for it—to get Dib back.

She clenched her hands into fists to hide their shaking, then turned around to face the others. "Okay," she said. "We're pretty sure what things are going to look like, but even if it's unexpected, the plan is pretty simple…"

---

Fortunately, laying out the details of the plan she and Dad put together was enough of a distraction for most of the trip. And the others seemed to catch onto it pretty quickly. The three of them claimed a role, and then…now, there really was nothing left but to wait.

To kill more time, she pulled on her stealth suit, made of a stretchy black fabric that covered her entirely, a bit of cloth even covering the lower half of her face. She pressed a few buttons on the wrist panel, making sure the cloaking systems were working before turning them back off.

The others also started to get ready, and Gaz began to pace back and forth. Luckily for all of them, they came to their destination before she snapped from anxiety. She headed back to the driver's seat, directing the shuttle to land in an empty field about half a mile away from the forest of interest. Even with all their cloaking technology, she didn't want to risk being too close and getting detected.

She activated her stealth suit's cloak, grabbed her bag of equipment, and stepped outside, the others doing the same thing. She slipped an earpiece into place and pulled out a pair of binoculars, starting to scan the sky.

One of the others spotted Zim's ship, and they all watched with bated breath. Gaz bit her lip, only really relaxing when the ship slowed down and swooped to land at the very edge of the forest.

She focused on it through her binoculars. The windshield opened…and Zim stepped out, still wearing that long purple robe and that crown bigger than his own head. Ugh. His robot jumped out after him, and Zim held him up by his antenna before he could run off, using his other hand to pull out—

Gaz's breath hitched in her throat.

Dib had grown a few inches taller since she had last seen him, and though he was still thin, he didn't look as scrawny as she remembered him. He seemed healthy and unhurt, and a worry she was barely conscious of was soothed.

Other than that, he seemed the same as ever. Same black coat, same blue t-shirt, and same grin as he looked at the woods in front of him, a camera in his hands. But the more she looked, the more differences she saw, like the fact that his hair had grown longer, sitting nearly at his shoulders.

The most obvious was the logo on his shirt—the same symbol that Zim plastered over anything he could. It probably meant something to his species. After seeing that, it was easier to tell that everything he wore was clean and practically brand-new. The same probably went for the camera he was holding.

And…Gaz looked at Dib's neck and barely managed to suppress a growl. He was wearing a purple collar with a gold tag on the front.

They had…suspected he might be wearing it, based on what little they had seen and heard, but confirming it with her own eyes…the sight made her furious.

Zim used his PAK legs to lift himself above Dib's eye level…he was saying something. Gaz fiddled with the binoculars until the conversation could be played through her earpiece. "—an hour or two."

"That's not very long," Dib said. The sound of his voice made her breath hitch again, a lump tightening in her throat.

"Yeah, well, it's not a very big problem," Zim said, snapping Gaz back into reality. "GIR will lead you back here once I'm finished. …if it's not long enough, I'll go through some of the woods with you."

Dib shrugged. "Maybe. Who knows if there's even anything interesting here."

"Well, if anyone were to find it, it would be you." Zim ruffled Dib's hair. Dib laughed, sticking out his tongue and…leaning up into Zim's hand. It was endearing, it was cute…or would have been if it was any other situation.

Gaz ground her teeth, the binoculars creaking under her tightening grip. What had Zim done to her brother, to force him to act like this? It was so unnatural.

Fortunately, it didn't last much longer. Zim gave Dib a few more pats on the head, gave his robot a few orders, and then turned and got back into his ship. Dib stood and watched as he flew into the air and out of sight.

Only when Zim was gone did he turn and begin to walk into the woods. GIR trotted happily behind him.

Gaz smirked, stowing away her binoculars and gesturing for the others to follow. She left the shuttle behind and slunk into the woods, sneaking closer. The other two stayed right behind her, all of them keeping an eye out for Zim's return, or any of his robots.

Thankfully, the area was calm…pretty much a normal forest. A forest struggling with slews of factories in the area, but still.

It didn't take long for them to catch up to Dib. He was slowly walking along, occasionally pausing to stare at scratches on a tree or listen carefully to his surroundings before continuing deeper into the woods. GIR was still with him, running around and poking at things he found on the ground. He would squeal on occasion but quieted down when Dib hushed him.

And he never strayed more than a few feet from Dib's side. But still, a few feet would have to do.

Gaz pointed an EMP device—designed by Dib maybe a decade before Zim had taken over—at the little robot. It was all about waiting for the right moment.

And it didn't take too long to arrive. GIR noticed a few mushrooms growing on the side of a tree, and wandered over to chew on them. Dib chuckled, rolling his eyes and turning away to scan the tree branches.

Gaz quickly pulled the device's trigger. GIR's eyes flickered into darkness, and he slumped onto the ground, chewed mushroom spilling out of his mouth.

The quiet sound was enough to catch Dib's attention, and he slowly turned back around with a sigh. "GIR, what is it…?" His voice trailed off, his eyes widening when he saw the robot's dark eyes.

Before he could react, one of the others shot him in the shoulder with a tranq gun.

"Ow!" he said, slapping his shoulder…and slowly pulling out the dart, looking at it in horror. "Oh…no…" It looked like he tried to say more, but the tranquilizer kicked in fast. His eyes drooped shut, and he quickly slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Gaz bit her lip. She hadn't liked the idea of knocking Dib out. But trying to talk to him, here and now…there was too much that could go wrong. Their stealth suits didn't exactly make them seem friendly, and he might bolt if he didn't recognize Gaz.

Plus, they didn't have much time to talk before Zim came back. They could do that later, in a safe location, with all the time in the world.

Speaking of which… "Good shot," she told the woman with the tranq gun. To the other, she said, "Hide the robot away from here, but cover your tracks."

They nodded, running forward and scooping GIR up under their arm before running into the woods. As interesting as it would be to study it, Zim could probably trace it to wherever they took it. Hiding it could throw him off their trail for a little bit.

They came running back not long after, sans robot. "I found a cave to chuck it into," they said, looking proud of themselves.

"Great," Gaz said, now standing over Dib and checking him over. She couldn't find any machinery on him, other than the camera, which she tossed into the bushes. And he seemed healthy, too, much to her relief. She couldn't find any injuries, at least.

Once she was done, the others stepped forward, one grabbing him under his shoulders, the other by his ankles. Working together, it wasn't too hard for them to pick him up, and they started to move back the way they came.

But something was still bothering Gaz. "…wait one sec," she said, making them halt. She stepped forward, grabbing Dib's collar. There was no clasp that she could find, but that wouldn't stop her.

With a growl, she tore the collar apart until it snapped off of her brother's neck. She glared down at it, then flung it into the woods as far as she could.

She dusted her hands off and turned to the others with a satisfied huff. "There. Now we can get going."

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" they both quickly said, looking a little frightened by her. They all ran back to their shuttle, Gaz carefully watching her brother the whole time.

They were so close…so close to all being together again.

---

They took off in their shuttle as soon as they were all in. The whole operation didn't take long at all, and there weren't any signs of Zim returning yet. With a bit of luck, they'd make it back to their base before he started looking for Dib.

The base they came to was one of their main ones—a well-hidden one that they were sure Zim didn't know about at all yet. It was tucked deep in a mountain range…a difficult feat, if it weren't for the construction-robot prototypes Dad had managed to keep a hold of.

Most of the base was underground, or carved into the mountains themselves, with a relatively small building acting as an entrance. It was colored the same as the natural environment, with a hologram layered on top to cover anything that could have stuck out. It wasn't perfect, but it had served them well so far.

Once Gaz reached out to the station over the communication system, a door opened up on the side of the building, closing behind them once they had slipped inside.

She grunted and scooped Dib up, with the others helping support his shoulders and dangling legs, carrying him out of the shuttle and into the hangar. A small crowd had gathered, and they started to murmur once they saw that they had managed to bring Dib back with them.

"Don't you all have other things you're supposed to be doing!?" Gaz said. A few members of the crowd bolted off to get back to the work they were supposed to do. Others retreated, but it was obvious they were still hanging nearby, failing to be stealthy as they kept watching.

Gaz sighed, but accepted it. She knew that there were questions about why she and her dad were so determined to do this for one person. But she had reminded everyone, constantly, that her brother had fought Zim for years on his own.

She just hoped the attention he was getting, with all eyes on him now, was all positive. He'd like to receive recognition for all he had done was he was awake, she was sure of it.

But she didn't want him waking up in a random hanger being surrounded by random strangers. The tranquilizer would last for a while longer, but she still sped-walked through the halls, the others doing their best to keep pace beside her without jostling Dib too much.

It didn't take long to reach a section of bedrooms…specifically, the section she and her dad had their bedrooms in. Tucked in between their rooms was another, currently unused one.

One of the others let go of Dib to open the door for her. She carried Dib in, dropping him onto the bed before looking around the room again. It wasn't much—the same sort of twin-sized mattress everyone else got, with a nice desk in the corner. But Dad had set up a pretty nice computer system on the desk, and left a stack of notebooks on the nightstand…most of them empty, but some filled with Dib's handwriting about the different things he discovered years ago.

And there were a few of Dib's old posters on the wall…what they had managed to keep and save to remember him by before they had to flee the city as Zim took over.

They had decided to not include anything Zim-related. Dib had been through so much…he didn't need a reminder of his captor looming over him. He was supposed to feel safe here, he was supposed to be safe.

"So, uh…" one of the others said, scratching the back of their head. "Is there…anything else we need to do, or…?"

"No, you're good," Gaz said. "Unless one of you wants to head to the lab and tell Dad…Professor Membrane that we did it."

"Dibs!" one of them said, heading down the hall. The other declared that 'wasn't fair', hurrying after them.

Gaz rolled her eyes, grabbing a chair from the desk and bringing it over to the side of the bed. She fussed over Dib a little, making sure his head was actually on the pillow and that he wasn't pinning any of his limbs. She glanced around the room again and assured herself it was fine before sitting and sending a text to her dad.

He could get absorbed in his work, and she wanted to do everything she could to make sure he heard, as soon as possible, that everything had gone well.

After that…even knowing that Dib was going to be unconscious for a little longer, she couldn't bring herself to leave him. The idea of him coming to alone and confused made her stomach twist.

"It's going to be alright," she told him, pulling out her Game Slave and turning it on. Maybe she could get through a few missions before he woke up.

---

Time crawled by. A few people poked their heads into the room, to see if Dib was really there, but no one tried to enter with Gaz present. She could hear hushed whispers just outside…it seemed that Dib had drawn a small, curious crowd waiting for him to wake up.

…well, as long as they weren't bugging her, or ignoring anything urgent, she wouldn't chase them off. She was glad they were staying outside, though, she didn't want Dib to feel overwhelmed.

She still sent one of them to grab something from the pantry, though, and they came back with a small plate of fruits in record time. Depending on how much Zim let him eat, he could be starving by the time he woke up. Gaz set the food on his nightstand, right next to his notebooks.

Just when she was about to text her dad and check exactly how long the tranquilizers were supposed to last, Dib groaned, rolling over and onto his side. Everyone else fell silent, and Gaz fumbled to shove her game away, focusing completely on her brother.

Dib sighed, rolling over and patting the section of the mattress beside him as though searching for something. He grunted when he couldn't find whatever it was, his brow scrunching up in confusion. Then, he started to look troubled, and quickly sat upright, whipping his head around.

He was probably still groggy, which wasn't helping with his confusion. "Dib, it's alright," Gaz tried to assure him. "You're safe."

His head whipped in her direction, and she felt nervous when he still looked panicked, seeming to look right through her. He blinked a few times, looking around more calmly before focusing his attention on her again. "…Gaz?"

"Yeah, it's me," Gaz said, beginning to relax. "Dib, we—"

Dib lunged forward and slammed his fist into her nose, catching her completely off-guard.

She reeled back, clutching her bloody nose, and instinctively shoved Dib back harshly with her other arm. The crowd rushed in from outside, grabbing Dib before he could try and attack again. Gaz watched, still stunned, as Dib thrashed against them and snarled like a trapped animal.

The commotion attracted more attention, more people who came running. Dib bit someone's arm, and someone else jabbed a taser in his ribs in retaliation.

"HEY!" Gaz shouted, grabbing the offender by the collar of their shirt and yanking them back. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"He…he was attacking me!" they protested.

"And you think that means you can tase him!?" She threw him out of the room. "GET OUT! And if you try something like that again, I'll make you regret you were born!"

They yelped and ran away, tail between their legs. Gaz quickly whirled back around to her brother. Someone had cuffed his hands behind his back, and his wrists to the bedpost, but they were still pinning him. Dib was thrashing, kicking, and biting.

"ALL OF YOU, OUT!" Gaz yelled. They all scattered and ran away…she thought she saw someone carrying a muzzle with them.

She huffed and puffed, reminding herself that she couldn't hurt members of their resistance. They needed every person they could get…even if she wanted some to be punished for treating her brother like some animal.

Still steaming with anger, she turned her attention back to Dib. He looked much more disheveled and worse for wear, now. His arms were pinned behind his back and to the bed, still, and it looked like someone had even cuffed his legs together.

But even after all that, he was still glaring at her, trying to squirm free.

"Dib, it's okay," she tried to reassure him. "You're safe—"

"You kidnapped me!" he snapped. "I'm restrained, and I got tased! You call this 'safe'!?"

"Dib, you attacked me!" she said. "I get it, this is shocking, but seriously? The tasing was definitely too far, though, and it's never going to happen again." Not on her watch.

"Shocking?" Dib barked out a fake laugh. "Again, you kidnapped me! How else am I supposed to react to getting kidnapped!?"

"We saved you—" she tried to say, only for Dib to make incredulous sounds. Ones that sounded like an ugly mix of scoffing and laughter.

"I didn't need saving," he insisted. "And who's 'we'?" After a few seconds, it hit him, and he scowled. "Oh…you used the Rebellion to take me, didn't you?"

"You know about us?" Gaz said. Even if he was angry, a knot loosened in her chest…they had been scared that Zim had completely cut him off from knowing about anything good happening on Earth.

"Zim vents about you a lot," Dib said. "Mostly about you killing his robots. He's really upset at you in particular."

Which made sense, since she had torn through plenty of the things. Dad could have taken out way more, but he hadn't gone out into the field yet. But what still didn't make sense was the way her brother looked at her, how…angry he was.

"Okay, we…probably could have had a better plan to get you out of there," she said begrudgingly. "But isn't it at least nice to get away from Zim?"

He glared at her. "No! It feels horrible, actually! I didn't ask for this, and I…I want to go back."

She stared at him with wide eyes. His glare dropped, and he began to fidget, trying to wriggle free of the cuffs he was in. "I don't want to be here. I don't want to be around you. Let me go, I want to go back to Zim!"

"…no, you don't," she said, confused more than anything. "You…You hate Zim. There's no way you'd let yourself be his prisoner."

"I'm not!" he said. "You think I couldn't escape Zim if I really wanted to? I always have in the past, but now I. Don't. Want. To." His voice was clipped, each word hissed through his teeth as he glared at her. "Let me go."

"No, I can't," she said. "Besides, don't you want to see Dad?"

He wrinkled his nose, and his face puckered like he had been forced to suck on a lemon. Gaz still felt confused, and that reaction didn't help…and it stung.

This wasn't at all how she wanted this to go. Dib was cuffed down, much as he tried to break free, her nose was dripping with blood, and she suddenly didn't understand anything.

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose…and then quickly wincing and pulling her fingers back. "…I'll be back soon," she said. "Try to eat something while I'm out."

"Yeah, sure!" Dib yelled as she headed out the door. "Because I definitely have free hands to do that! Not like I'm cuffed or anything!"

She closed the door behind her with more force than was necessary. She took a deep breath, her hands tightening into shaking fists. Her brother could just be so…!

With a growl, she slammed her hand against the wall, hard enough for it to sting. No. No, she wouldn't get mad at Dib. This was all Zim's fault, not his…and they were going to make him pay. Someway, somehow.

First, though…she wiped her nose on her sleeve, heading down the hallway in search of tissues.

---

Not long after, she had placed some tissue in her nose (though the bleeding was already slowing down) and entered the main lab. Her dad was safely locking up some of the experimental weapons he had recently thought of and turned his head a little when she entered, just enough to indicate that he knew she was there.

"Gazlene," he said, closing the doors and checking over the lab. "I was just about to head over. I'm surprised you're not with your brother."

"Yeah, he…he woke up already," she said.

He groaned, disappointed. "I wish I was there when he woke up," he sighed, shoulders sagging.

Gaz grimaced. "Yeah, I…I don't think you would have wanted to be there for that, actually."

His brow furrowed, and he turned to look at her fully. He froze when he saw the tissue that she had stuffed into her nose, with a small amount of blood seeping into it still. "Did…did he do that?"

Gaz nodded and quickly recounted everything that happened after Dib had woken up. Dad looked furious when she mentioned how Dib was tased…And his expression morphed into worry when she repeated what he had said.

"Why…would he want to go back?" he said, confused.

"If I knew that, maybe this wouldn't be such a problem," Gaz said, grimacing.

"And…he really reacted that way when you brought up the chance of meeting me?" he continued. He looked confused and hurt when she nodded to confirm it. "Why…? No, don't answer that. I already know the answer."

He turned away, pulling up his goggles to rub at his eyes. His shoulders sagged, and Gaz knew that they were weighed down from years of guilt. Her own guilt sat heavy in her chest at times, but she knew it was heavier for Dad, and that he felt it more often.

"Well, now you've got a chance to make this right," Gaz said. "We're not giving up because it didn't originally go the way we expected, right?"

"…that's right," he said, taking a deep breath and pulling his goggles back into place. He whirled around, holding up his fist in a confident stance. "That's right! Everything so far has been a mere trial run! Now, we can work on making TRUE PROGRESS in connecting with Dibromide!"

Gaz smiled. Even if the confidence was mostly fake and pretty exaggerated…Dad wouldn't be doing this if he didn't have at least some hope in his own words.

"C'mon," she said, pulling out the bloody tissue and tossing it in a biohazard container. Her nose was still sore, but it wasn't bleeding any more. "Might as well do this as soon as possible, yeah?"

"Ah. We could give your brother a heads-up and time to prepare?" Dad suggested, doubt creeping into his voice.

"I already told him you wanted to talk to him, and I think he's just going to get upset the longer we leave him alone." She took his hand, giving him a light tug forward. "So come on. 'Making true progress' starts with talking to him, right?"

Dad nodded, carefully wrapping his fingers around her hand and allowing himself to be guided out of the lab.

It didn't take too long to make it back to Dib's room…their bedrooms were purposely placed near the labs for Dad's convenience. And the hallways were emptier than usual.

Gaz opened the door to Dib's room a crack, peeking in to make sure no one had come back to do anything rotten to him. He was alone, looking annoyed as he tried to kick the cuffs around his ankles. After a lot of huffing, and wriggling around, he did manage to squeeze free from one half of the pair. His expression lightened, and he looked proud of himself.

Of course, his expression darkened back to annoyance when Gaz opened the door and stepped aside for their dad. As soon as he entered the room, Dib's expression changed from annoyance to seething anger. He shifted as much as he could, pressing himself up against the wall and away from Dad. He didn't say anything, just glared at him.

Dad was clearly caught off-guard by this, stopping in place. He paused for a few moments before sighing and sitting down. Dib hunched further away, glare deepening.

An aura of malice surrounded him, and for a moment, Gaz hesitated to enter. But she quickly shook the feeling off and stepped into the room, leaning casually against the wall.

They needed to get through to her brother, even in his anger.

Dib sent her a suspicious glance but quickly snapped back to glaring at their dad. "Son, I…would prefer if you didn't give me that look," Membrane said. Dib snorted, and his glare remained unchanging.

Dad sighed, rubbing his hands together. "I've wanted to speak with you, but…it's hard to find the right words to say. When…he took over, Gaz and I thought that you were dead."

Dib fidgeted but said nothing. Dad continued. "When we saw that you were alive, we were…relieved. Elated. I wanted nothing more than to make sure that you were freed, and that you came back home to us safely.

"I know that our methods today might not have been the best. And I understand why such a big change like this would cause you to…" Membrane paused, seeming to struggle with finding the right words. Gaz could practically hear him discard 'flip out', 'overreact', and other negative phrases, "…push back.

"From what I heard, some people went too far in what they did to you. Rest assured, they will face consequences for that." He folded his hands together. "But all I want…all we want…" He gestured between himself and Gaz. "Is for you to be safe, son."

Dib stared at him. He hadn't made a peep through his whole speech, and while his glare had faded, he was still giving Membrane a pretty dark look. "Are you done?"

"Well…with my initial speech, yes," Dad said. "But there's still a lot we need to talk—"

"Shut up!" Dib snapped. "I get that you just love the sound of your own voice, but seriously, just shut up for once!"

Membrane reared back, surprised. Even Gaz stared at Dib in shock, before stepping forward defensively. "Dib, please, we just want to—"

"To what?" Dib said. "Lecture me? Tell me all about how I'm wrong and you're right, over and over again?"

"Dib," Gaz said sharply. Dad placed a hand on her shoulder, giving his head a small shake.

"Or, or what? Are you about to tell me that you're going to send me to the Crazy House again?" Dib continued. "I was happy when Zim burned that place down. Are you going to tell me you found somewhere else that'll 'fix' me?"

"Son, there's nothing about you that needs to be 'fixed'—"

"Well, that's news to me!" Dib lunged forward, the cuffs stopping him in place. "I've always been nothing but a crazy screw-up to you, and you've never bothered to hide the way you feel!"

"I want to help you!"

Dib was still trying to lunge forward, grimacing as the cuffs dug into his wrists. "I don't need your help. I don't need anything from you."

"Son." Membrane's stern tone made Dib flinch and stop trying to force himself forward. He actually moved back a little, shoulders hunching in a defensive posture. "We are trying to help you. I understand that you're angry at us, but will you at least be willing to hear us out?"

Though Dib snorted and glared, he didn't say anything. Maybe he had shouted himself hoarse, Gaz thought. …or, more likely, was just waiting for something else to be said or done that he could snap back at.

Their dad sighed, slumping in his chair, trying to pull his limbs closer and look a bit less imposing. "…I want what's best for you," he said slowly, clearly trying to choose each word carefully. "Can you say that's true for the emperor? Or that he allows you any freedom in what you can do?"

"I can, actually," Dib said. "He's been pretty good about making sure I have what I need, unlike some people. And I have quite a bit of freedom!"

He glowered darkly. "You should know. Because you took advantage of that freedom to kidnap me!" He furiously shook his arms, rattling the cuffs binding him.

"Because we wanted you to really be free!"

"Free? In this world? Around you?" Dib laughed, but the sound was hollow and mocking. "Leaving a comfortable, cared-for life to struggle in an endless fight? What kind of freedom is that!?"

Dad's brow creased with worry, and Gaz was starting to grow tense with frustration. But Dib wasn't done.

"And even if I believed you, and left Zim for 'true freedom'…after that, what would I even do!?" Dib said. "I'd be walking away from the one and only person who's been there for me for years. I…" He swallowed, his voice softening, if just a little. "What would I even do?"

Gaz wanted to believe that the second time, the question was a genuine one.

"Well, you…you'd have a choice about what to do, of course," Dad said. "But, if you wanted to…we would gladly accept your help in taking back the Earth."

Dib flinched, staring at him with wide eyes. "…you…want me…to join you?" he asked slowly. "To…work for you?"

"Not 'for'," Dad corrected. "With. You have more experience with and knowledge about Zim than all of us combined. You'd have as much sway with us as myself and your sister, maybe…maybe even more."

Dib stared at him for a few more moments, then leaned back, closing his eyes and thumping his head against the wall. He took a few deep breaths, shoulders shaking. "I…I should have known. I mean, I always suspected it, but I…I just couldn't think about it."

Their dad leaned forward, placing a hand comfortingly on Dib's shoulder. "Son, I—"

Dib quickly wrenched away, snarling at him. "You…You only care about me for what I can do for you!" he snapped. "This was never about me at all!"

"Son, that's not—!"

"Don't call me that!" Dib yelled. "I'm not your son! You've never treated me like your son! You…" He took a deep, shuddering breath. "This is…you don't care about saving me. Either of you. You just want a better way to fight Zim."

"That isn't true!" Membrane yelled back, making Dib flinch. "We knew we'd save you from the moment we knew you were alive! We'll support you no matter what you choose to do because we… love you!"

"…'no matter what'? Yeah, right," Dib scoffed. "You're years too late to try and get me to believe that."

"Son—Dib," Dad said. "I know I was never…great at showing…how proud I was of you, but…"

Dib scoffed, rolling his eyes. "No kidding. You were never 'proud' unless I was doing 'real science', even when…when I had proof of so many supernatural beings! I knew the truth about Zim since the very beginning, and you…you didn't ever believe me until it was too late!"

Membrane tried to reach out, but Dib jerked away, shooting him a hurt, angry look. "And you're not even sorry about it, are you?" he said, the words a strain to say. "Because you…you haven't even tried to apologize for how you treated me! For never believing in me!"

"Dib, I am sor—"

"NO!" Dib hunched his shoulders, trying to cover his ears. "No, I won't let you lie about that. You're not really sorry."

Dad might have said something else, but Gaz was the first to step forward. "Are you even going to listen to anything we say?" she snapped. "Or are you just going to yell at us no matter what we do!?"

Dib's head shot up so that he could give her a bitter glare. "You spent most of your life ignoring what I had to say," he said. "I don't see why I should bother listening to you when you suddenly realize that I'm useful!"

"Dib, I'm sorry," their dad quickly rushed to say. Dib opened his mouth again to argue, but Gaz shot him a steely look that made him go quiet. He turned, looking away from both of them.

"You're right, I should have listened to you about Zim long before this," their dad continued, rushing through his words. Dib grunted and turned further away, facing the wall. "I was wrong to…I shouldn't have…I should have done better raising you. And if you'd let me, I want to make amends. Son…I'm sorry."

They waited for Dib to respond, but he didn't. He just kept facing the wall, pointedly and deliberately ignoring them.

Dad sighed, hanging his head before standing up. "I'll…leave you alone, for a little bit," he said. "But I'll come back so we can all eat dinner together, alright? And we can take those cuffs off then, too."

No response. Dad sighed again, turning and heading to the door. "…I am sorry." Gaz hesitated but followed behind her dad.

Dib didn't say anything…until the door was closing behind them. "Zim actually cares about me, and not just using me. Not like you," he said. The bitterness was clear in his voice, even when he kept his face turned away.

Gaz turned around, ready to slam the door back open and counter that, but her dad just placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. She froze long enough to let the door close, and followed Membrane a little way down the hall before speaking up.

"Are you…okay, Dad?"

"Fine as always!" he said with false cheer in his voice. It quickly faded as he continued. "We…know that Zim has dabbled in forms of mind control. We should have considered before that Dib would be subjected to something like that…"

Gaz grunted, scowling. "Yeah, but the mind control always wears off if we break whatever device he uses. Or get people out of range."

Membrane sighed heavily. "Not…all forms of control rely on technology, daughter. The right words and actions over a long enough time could just as easily…" His breath stuttered for a second, and he closed his eyes tightly taking a few deep breaths and calming himself.

"…still. I think working on some anti-mind-control prototypes would be a good course of action," he said. "I'll be in the labs for a while. …remind me about dinner, later. Please."

Gaz nodded, walking with him to the lab. She waited until he had started tinkering with one of the devices sitting on the bench before turning and leaving. As long as he could keep himself busy, for just a little bit…it would be okay.

"Ma'am!" someone shouted from down the hallway, quickly jogging over to her. "There's a slight argument over one of the shuttles, two people are both saying they booked it, and—"

Gaz snapped her head in their direction with an audible crack, giving them a death glare and resisting the urge to snap at them. She was trying and failing to reconnect with her lost brother, and they wanted her to settle a dispute that would annoy her on a good day!?

"I…I'll just tell them to share it!" they squeaked, shivering in fear. "I'm sorry!" They turned and sprinted back down the hallway and out of sight.

Gaz inhaled sharply through her nose, then exhaled slowly. She still felt angry, and she knew she needed to do something about it before she started taking it out on the rebels.

She stormed back to the bedrooms. And while it was tempting to snap at her brother and tell him exactly how she felt about what he was doing, she quickly stifled that urge. It hadn't done them any favors in the past, and it wouldn't do them any now.

Instead, she went into her room, slamming the door behind her. Normally, she would do some training in the gym they had designed for everyone to use…it was a good way to blow off steam. But right now, when she was in one of her blackest moods, she needed to be in a place where no one would disturb her.

And so far, no one had even dared knock on her bedroom door unless it was an emergency.

This bedroom was pretty sparse…she tried not to get too comfortable in one spot, since she would regularly shift between bases when needed. Dad was the same way, but of course, everyone would have anything and everything he could want on hand when they caught word he was coming.

She had a bed in one corner, no larger than Dib's, with only one of her security "toys" resting near the pillows. Other than that, the only main features of the room were a small screen with a games console set on her desk…and a punching bag in the corner.

She grabbed the VR headset resting on her desk, pulled it on, and waited for it to boot up as she moved to the punching bag. She pulled on the wrist- and anklebands that were paired with the headset and dropped into a fighting stance.

"Combat Training," she said as soon as the menu popped up. "Custom enemy: Emperor. Level Nightmare."

It quickly registered all of her choices, and soon, an image of Emperor Zim was standing where her punching bag was positioned. "Ah, another pathetic human!" it gloated. "Come to—"

Gaz delivered a right hook to his jaw, grunting in satisfaction as her fist smacked into the punching bag.

The digital version of the Emperor cried in pain, reeling backward before snarling and lifting himself up with his PAK legs. "How dare you! I—"

Gaz delivered another flurry of punches, and when the program started blocking her hits with the PAK legs, she delivered a swift kick to his side. She was puffing and panting, adrenaline rushing through her veins…she was already feeling better.

This was, without a doubt, the best birthday present her dad had made for her.

The digital Emperor growled, finally bringing out his PAK weapons and starting to fire at her. She dodged and weaved, throwing punches when she could. And at this high difficulty, he eventually started to move around her, trying to catch her off-guard.

It wasn't as satisfying to punch or kick without hitting something solid, but his programmed cries and flinches in pain were still a good reward.

She was starting to work up a sweat, as she always did with this mode. But she managed to beat him sooner than she expected, with him doubling over and collapsing into a heap when she was in the middle of rapidly punching the bag again.

A cheerful jiggle played at her victory…and then became more upbeat when she was told she had beaten her record for that mode.

"Hah, nice," she said, feeling pretty smug…and out of breath. Enough that she decided to turn off the VR headset and put it back on her desk, sitting and wiping sweat off her brow.

…there was still some time before dinner. And she didn't want to show up with her clothes plastered to her skin. So, after a minute to catch her breath and chug down some water, she headed into her small bathroom to take a cold shower.

---

The game had done wonders in letting her calm her temper, and the shower was enough to help her cool down until she felt relaxed and calm again. She had sat on her bed in her robe with a towel wrapped around her hair, waiting for it to dry while she played one of her handheld games…the same one she had been playing before Dib had woken up.

But, once she saw it was getting closer to dinnertime, she put the game away and started to get dressed, letting her hair hang loose once again. She headed into the kitchen, spotting a few people along the way…though most darted away before she got too close.

Word about her anger must have spread pretty quickly. Fine by her…even if she was feeling better, it didn't mean she was feeling sociable. And with luck, they'd also realize that to get on her good side, they'd have to start treating her brother well.

…oh, who was she kidding? She was going to have to tell them directly to fix their behavior if she wanted to see any changes from them.

Nobody was in the kitchen when she entered, which was a little surprising. It was a shared space, slightly bigger than a kitchen one would find in a usual house, and meant to be used by anyone in this 'wing' of the base. Of course, there were a few other kitchens and pantries, and a larger mess hall near the hanger…just in case any parts of the base were cut off from each other for whatever reason.

Either no one was hungry at the moment, or they had decided that being around Gaz while she cooked wasn't going to be good for their health and safety. Fine by her.

She stretched, cracked her knuckles, and started grabbing everything she would need to make some chicken quesadillas. Fortunately, they had some chicken she could use…meat could be hard to get. Especially since anyone selling it had, at this point, been 'put out of business' or had to form a hidden market.

Keeping that in mind, she only cooked a little bit of chicken, making sure to season it well and grab some extra cheese to even it out.

Once the chicken was ready (with the chopped peppers she had cooked along with it), she portioned it all evenly between three tortillas. She spread cheese evenly over all of them, adding a little extra, then folded each tortilla in half and set them in a frying pan.

After that, she grabbed a kettle, filled it with water, and set it on the stove to boil. After checking the quesadillas, she got down a tray, setting three plates and a teacup on it.

The cup had a small bag of peppermint tea added to it, and she mulled over the empty plates before adding a small amount of corn chips to each. She flipped over all the quesadillas, the sides now a golden brown…and stepped back.

There was something else she could do, surely. Something that would make Dib warm up a little. She started to search the cupboards, starting with where the tea bags were kept.

Anything sweet was hard to come by, mostly because of Zim's love of sugar. Even honey was carefully guarded, from where it was harvested from giant hives until it was transported right to Zim.

Everything they could get their hands on was available for everyone in the rebellion to use, of course…but most sweeteners ended up set aside, untouched, leaving all of it for Membrane to use in his tea.

Still, Gaz was relieved to find a small jar of honey tucked next to the tea things, half-full. Dib had developed a taste for the stuff after claiming to have been stung by some sort of vampire bee…for all she knew, he could have been right about that.

She considered spooning some of it into a bowl for him…but decided to just grab the whole jar and stick it on the tray, along with a spoon.

Not long after, the kettle was whistling, and she was able to pour the boiling water into the teacup. Next, she turned her attention back to the quesadillas, smiling when she saw that she had timed it perfectly, too.

She placed one onto each plate, flipping them over to ensure they were cooked perfectly on all sides, before scooping up the tray. It was heavier than normal, but nothing she wouldn't be able to manage.

Her first destination was the lab. She found her dad hard at work, fiddling with what looked like a metal helmet to her. "Hey, I made dinner…and tea," she said.

"Ah, thank you, Gazlene," he said, only glancing up briefly. "I just need to make a few more notes about this before I can join you…I've already made good progress, I think."

"That's good," she said, setting the cup of tea near him, though a good distance away from what he was currently working on. "Remember, I'm going to be in Dib's room with our food, okay?"

"I remember," he said, poking a few wires until they sparked and quickly writing something in the notebook beside him.

She wasn't worried. He was hardworking, but he had been much, much better at being present and sharing meals with her, even if he was a little late. The tea would remind him that she had been there…and once the cup was empty, it would jog his memory, and he would remember to come to eat.

So, she headed back to Dib's room. He was probably starting to get hungry, and Dad wouldn't care if they started eating without him. Even if Dib was angry with them…surely he'd at least set his pride aside to eat, right? Even if he didn't want to talk to them.

She fumbled with the tray a little when she opened his door but kept everything balanced. Dib was leaning back, shimmying his arms behind him and pouting at the wall. He only spared her a single glance when she entered. "Oh. You."

"Me. With dinner," she said. His nightstand was probably short enough…she dragged the chair over to it, and Dib eyed the food she had brought.

"…why three plates?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because Dad'll be here soon," Gaz explained, setting the tray down and plopping into her chair.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Dib said, rolling his eyes. "Like he'd 'be there soon' for our birthdays, right? Oh, and some of the planned family dinners."

"He is going to come," Gaz said sternly. "He is trying, Dib. He's been making an effort to be better, ever since…" Her voice hitched, and she quickly squeezed her eyes, ignoring the lump in her throat. They hadn't lost their chance to be with Dib, they hadn't. He was right here.

But grief still welled up in her, and it took her a moment to swallow it down before she turned to face her brother again.

He was giving her a skeptical look, apparently not convinced. "Him, actually trying to be good to us? Hah, and you always thought I was the crazy one in the family."

Gaz scowled at him, his snark starting to grate on her nerves once again. "Oh, and I suppose Zim is just a shining example of someone being good to you."

"He is, actually," he said, scowling back at her. "You know, he always tries to spend one meal a day with me, or more. And he never forgot or skipped any of my birthdays after he learned what a birthday was."

He looked away, his gaze distant and expression…softened. Fond. "He was on the other side of the world last year," he said, "Working on building a new factory. But he dropped all of it and came back overnight, just so he could spend the entire day with me on my birthday."

Huh. They…had noticed Zim dropping his plans almost on a whim last year, but they hadn't thought about why. And she and Dad had been spending that day together, away from everyone else, just wandering near their old home and destroying robots…

And having a vigil for Dib, small and private.

Dib quickly shook himself out of the memory, giving Gaz a cold look. Unknowing, uncaring of how often he had been on their minds and in their hearts all this time. "So, what, am I supposed to just levitate this into my mouth?" he said, nodding towards the food and giving his bound wrists a shake.

"I'm going to wait until Dad gets here before I uncuff you," Gaz said. "I'd do it now, but you did punch me." She grabbed the quesadilla off of Dib's plate and held it out to him.

His stomach growled loudly, and though he still gave her a distrustful look…he leaned forward, taking a small bite out of the corner.

He looked grateful for a moment…though his expression fell a little as he chewed slowly. Gaz bit her tongue. Maybe she relied on microwave meals and frozen food a lot, but her cooking wasn't that bad!

She took a bite of her quesadilla to confirm it for herself. Yes, it was delicious.

Dib swallowed but didn't move to take another bite. "…I haven't had meat in a while," he said. "I…don't know if I like it, anymore." He shifted forward, leaning at a bit of an awkward angle to pick up one of the chips with his teeth, flicking it into his mouth and crunching down on it.

"Ah." Gaz set the quesadilla back down on his plate. "Do you not want it, then?"

"…no. I'd probably just get a stomachache." He ate another chip, crunching on it loudly.

"…you used to make them a lot," she said after a bit, her voice uncharacteristically quiet. "And you were the one who taught me how to make them." Two kids, on their own, working their way from grilled cheese sandwiches to cheese quesadillas, to ones with chicken and then seasoning and vegetables.

Pushed forward by her brother, who was keen to try something new before eventually settling on a recipe he could handle and enjoy.

"I remember," Dib said, tone reminiscent for a brief moment. It quickly passed, though, when he snorted and ate another chip. "We shouldn't have had to teach ourselves that. We should have had someone there to cook for us. We weren't even ten when I had to start figuring out our meals!"

It…was true, Gaz knew. And even she still felt bitter about it, sometimes. But Dad had seen everything he had done wrong and had been trying to do better…if only Dib could open his eyes and see that, too.

"He's not like that, anymore," she argued, opening the jar of honey and scooping a little out. "He's changed, he's been getting better. You shouldn't just assume that both of us stayed exactly the same after these few years."

Dib snorted. "You've both been the same for the decades I knew you…I don't see how a few years makes much of a difference." He eyed the spoonful of honey…but kept eating the chips that were in reach. "And you're one to talk about assuming everything would be the same."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, please," he said, rolling his eyes. "You and Membrane thought I was still looking for your approval, and that I hated Zim. Well, I changed! I realized I didn't need any approval from any humans, and I…

"…I found…someone who actually cared about me." His expression grew fond, again, and this time, he didn't try to immediately hide it from Gaz.

"…please tell me you're not talking about Zim," she said, giving him a wide-eyed look. She didn't know who else it could be, but…!

"Who else would it be?"

She groaned, dropping the spoon as she threw back her head. "You've got to be kidding me," she said. "Dib, he's admitted to everyone on the planet he hates us! Several times! And you think he's someone who 'actually cares' about you?"

When she raised her head again, she caught Dib lapping at what little of the honey he could reach and giving her an acidic look. "I'm an exception," he said. "He thinks I'm better than anyone else."

"Oh, and you believe him because he told you that?"

Dib sat up and held his head high, looking down at her. "No, I believe him because he's the one person who's ever bothered to see me," he said. "He's spent years by my side. He's given me affection, and whatever else I could ever want or need."

"So, he just…bought your loyalty, then?" Gaz said.

"He earned it!"

"Enough that you'll let him pull you around places you've never been, just to show he can control you? That he can show you off like some kind of trophy? That you'd let him out a fucking collar on you!?"

"Yes," Dib said, still trying to look so above it all…though his gaze flicked away from hers.

She just sat and stared at him for a few moments, but his posture didn't change. "God, those rumors were all right, weren't they?" Gaz said. "Zim's treating you like a pet, and…you're just letting him."

Dib shifted uncomfortably. "It's…complicated."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't sound like he's treating you as a prisoner. And I know he's not giving you any sort of power or say in what happens to Earth, so I doubt you're his friend or…partner." She had to force out the last word, nearly gagging. "What would you call your relationship?"

"Like I said," Dib grunted. "It's complicated." He was refusing to look her in the eyes, his fidgeting more uncomfortable.

She was striking a nerve, and she knew it, but she couldn't bring herself to stop. "No, it isn't," she said. "You just don't want to actually face the truth!"

"Shut up, Gaz," he said. "You don't know anything about me."

"I know you're letting yourself get treated like an alien's exotic pet," she said, standing and moving closer. "I know you chose to turn your back on the world you wanted to protect. Zim gave you a few nice things, and that was enough to make you betray the rest of us!"

"I said…I said to shut up!" Dib was starting to shake, his face turning red. He was looking down, trying to hide his expression.

"Does it feel good?" she said, planting one hand against the wall next to him. "Leaving us all to fend for ourselves? Letting Zim do whatever he wants to the world!? Did doing all that make you happy, Dib!?"

Dib's shaking grew…and he lunged forward, head-butting her in the sternum. She grunted and pulled back, just enough that he couldn't attack again.

"SHUT. UP!" Dib said. "Why should I care about the world, or any of you, anyway!? You never cared about me! If anything, you all betrayed and abandoned me first, over and over and over!"

"So…you just gave up!?" she snapped, once she could breathe again. "What happened to the Dib who was the Hero of Earth? Who'd do anything to stop Zim? What happened to my brother!?"

"He's GONE!" Dib said. "And it's your fault! Being conquered…you all deserve it, after…after EVERYTHING you did to me! Why should any of you matter to me, I never mattered to any of you!"

Gaz surged forward, grabbing the collar of his shirt and yanking him forward. His eyes widened in shock, which made her pause for a moment before shaking some sense into him—

A loud explosion echoed from not far off. The room they were in shook, making both of them freeze.

Gaz immediately let go of Dib's collar, hurrying to the door. That explosion hadn't been from the labs, but sounded like it had been near one of their secondary exits. She opened the door…and saw pure chaos. People leaving their rooms to run away from the explosion, people running towards the explosion with weapons in hand.

There was another, louder explosion, and a lot more shaking…followed by a loud crashing sound and familiar evil cackling. The cackling echoed through the hallways, and a few people who had been running to the explosion turned tail and sprinted away.

Their bravado, however real or fake, had crumbled at the prospect of having to face Emperor Zim himself.

"Damn it," Gaz cursed, slamming a fist into the wall as a few smaller explosions echoed from other parts of the base. They always knew they would end up fighting Zim, but she had wanted it on their terms, not because he started destroying their base.

Still, this was one of their best-hidden bases! "How did he find…?" Gaz's voice trailed off as she turned to look at her brother. He wasn't worried at all, but enthusiastic, and trying to wriggle free of his restraints again.

"Dib, what did you do!?" she hissed at him.

"Nothing!" he snapped at her, still grinning widely. Still happy Zim was almost on top of them. "You're the ones that kidnapped me!"

"…he's tracking you, isn't he?" Gaz said. "That's how he found us." There was a gleam in Dib's eyes. She was right.

She glared in the general direction the noise was coming from. "…and you think we're using you? He used you as bait to get to us, Dib!"

Dib glared at her. "I was the one who thought of the tracking chip. Not Zim," he said. "Because I knew that at least I'd be cared for as long as he knew where I was!"

He dropped his glare, looking a little smug. "…and I'm not the one who chose to come into one of your secret bases," he said. "You brought me here, so this one is your fault!"

Gaz growled, her clenched fist shaking. She would not hit her brother. She would not give him more ammunition to hate them with. But oh, that look on his face, and his smug tone…it was tempting.

"Look, just get me out of here, and Zim will stop," Dib said, tugging at his handcuffs. "I don't want to be here, pretty sure no one but you and Membrane want me here, so just give me back to him!"

"No," Gaz said, a low growl in her voice. "I will not just…give up."

She turned to the doorway and started to march out. "Just wait here."

"Gaz, wait…you can't be serious!" Dib said.

"I am!" she snapped back at him as another explosion shook the base. "Maybe you gave up on us, but I'm not giving up on you! If Zim wants to take you back, he'll have to get past me, first."

"You can't win!" Dib said, almost pleadingly. "You can't! And do you think anyone will care if you try and fail in, in an impossible fight!? They won't! You won't change anything!"

She gave him a determined look. "Even if it won't change anything, I'd rather go down fighting than surrender."

Dib stammered at her. "Stay there!" she told him, slamming the door shut and running into her room to grab her bat. She could hear Dib shouting her name, for her to let him out, but she ignored him.

When she moved further down the hallway…she could hear him begin screaming for Zim. Calling out, trying to let him know where he was. She snarled, grinding her teeth and moving more quickly toward that first explosion from earlier.

A few people asked her for orders along the way. She snapped the same thing at them all: grab a weapon and fight or get away from here.

Most chose to run. A few headed towards the labs, probably to grab one of their prototype weapons. Gaz just tightened the grip on her bat, storming forward in a straight line.

Soon, she couldn't hear Dib's shouting…and soon after that, she came to the very end of the hallway. Normally, it would have been a small room without much in it, since it was meant to be an emergency exit. There was a door people could walk through, to enter a tunnel that would take them to a lower, safe mountain trail and a larger, garage-like door that could have opened to let out the one shuttle they had in here.

Now, though…the entire ceiling had been blown away, and rubble from the explosion had crushed the shuttle. The packs set in the corner, filled with emergency supplies, were blazing. A hole had been punched through the outer wall, large enough that a ship could fit through it.

And parked right in front of their escape routes…was Zim's ship.

Zim himself had already gotten out of the ship, wearing his purple robes, but not the large crown he usually would…and carrying a silver gun that was nearly as tall as he was. Not that that was saying much, since he hadn't grown all that much in the years Gaz knew him, but still.

She also noticed that the robot she had zapped earlier, who was guarding Dib, was working again…running in circles around the room, pulling open the few packs that weren't on fire (and a few that were) and rifling through them.

"You made a mistake coming here!" someone shouted. Oh, yeah, Gaz noticed that there were actually a small amount of people in the room...a little less than a dozen. Most of them had grabbed tasers and plasma guns.

The person who shouted was a man just a bit older than Gaz, who stood separate from the others and was facing Zim confidently, shouldering a large backpack that looked like it was made out of plastic, a brownish liquid sloshing inside and visible through the clear parts.

"We've been waiting to use this on you!" he continued, lifting a gun up onto his shoulder, the hose running to the backpack. He quickly aimed Zim.

Gaz immediately recognized the weapon strapped to his back. It was one she and Dad had been working on for a while. The "backpack" was filled to the brim with polluted, hypertonic water, and the gun being aimed at Zim should be capable of firing with the same pressure as a fire hose.

They hadn't tested it yet, but if they were right, it could knock Zim off of his feet and burn off his skin.

The man reached up to grab the handle and fire. Zim whirled around, aiming his gun, and fired a bolt of magenta plasma from it.

It knocked the gun clean off of the man's shoulder, burning through the top of the "backpack" and causing pressurized water to gush out. The man howled, gripping his shoulder and stumbling away, and Gaz saw a glimpse of his burns.

Zim threw back his head and cackled. "Pathetic!" he yelled. "Is this really the best your little 'rebellion' can send against me!?"

That spurred someone else—one of the people who had earlier helped Gaz with Dib—to fire a few shots at him from their plasma guns. Zim's antennae flicked, and he used his PAK legs to rise above each shot, swiveling around and firing a few shots in retaliation.

They managed to jump back before they were hit, but one shot hit the end of their gun, melting that part into scrap. They quickly dropped it and fell to the back of their group…only to flee further when the group scattered back into the hallway, pushing past Gaz.

Zim laughed at them, amused and mocking. He scanned the area, and Gaz held her breath, sticking close to the shadows. When he found no one else to attack or belittle, he attached the gun to some kind of arm projecting from his PAK and turned his attention to the robot next to him…who was sitting and chewing on ration bars still in their wrappers.

"GIR!" Zim barked, making his little robot jump to his feet and salute him. "You have your mission. Now go!"

"Yes, my master!" GIR said, eyes red. It whirled around and sprinted towards the hallway.

Gaz finally stepped out of the shadows when it was only about a foot away, swinging her bat in a low arc. She pressed the electrifying button when she made contact with the insane little robot, and sent it flying across the room, sparking and shrieking.

"…You!" Zim snarled, glaring at her. "Step aside, Dib-sister, if you know what's good for you."

Gaz glared back, sneering at him. "You'll leave if you know what's good for you." She cracked her neck, feeling a threatening aura surround her…usually enough to get people to turn and run the other way.

But Zim stood his ground, even lowering himself back onto his feet. He clapped his hands, and his robot ran back up to him, blowing a raspberry at Gaz.

"Ignore the human, and search for your target," Zim told it. "Now go."

"But wha if I get hit agaaaaaiiin?" GIR whined.

"You won't, I swear. Now go, or there won't be any ice-creams for you later!"

GIR gasped and ran forward again, beelining for the hall. Gaz tsked, rolling her eyes and getting ready to smack it away again. If they thought a little routine like that was enough to make her let her guard down, they had another thing coming.

Just as GIR was in front of her, Zim made a flourishing motion with his hand, that involved a brief, bright glint of silver, and threw something right at Gaz's face.

She quickly dodged to the side, and it ended up slicing off the edge of her hair instead of through her cheek before embedding itself in the wall. It was a dagger with a purple hilt, wobbling from the force of its strike.

A glance around told her the robot was already gone. The others could handle it, she figured—the real threat was looming in front of her.

"You missed," she said, quickly glaring at Zim.

"That was a warning," he said. With another flourishing motion, he pulled a second dagger out of his PAK. "But consider that the last one you'll ever get from me. You should just make it easy on yourself and give up."

"Funny. I was about to say the same thing to you."

Zim blinked…then threw back his head and cackled. "Foolish, pitiful human! You think you can go against me!? I've defeated the best your planet had to offer, over and over again—you don't stand a chance!"

"I think I've got a pretty good shot." She ground her teeth, crouching a little and tightening her grip on the bat. "Do you have any idea how long I've been wanting to smash your stupid face in?"

Zim opened his mouth, ready to give a witty retort. That was the moment she sprang forward, darting across the room and swinging the bat right at his face. It seemed to catch him by surprise!

But just before she could hit him, he unsheathed one of his PAK legs, using it to block her attack. He lunged forward with his knife, aiming for her torso. She let her arms drop and stepped to the side, letting him dart past her…

Before she swung her bat upwards and into his arm.

He flinched back before she could shock him, but it was still enough to make him drop the knife. She moved forward, standing between him and the dropped weapon, and he scowled at her.

He opened his mouth, maybe about to try and say something witty again—but Gaz again surged forward, swinging her bat.

This time, he seemed more annoyed than surprised, using a PAK leg to smack her bat aside and shifting to the side to dodge her attack. "Is this all battling is to you?" he sneered. "Silence, and anger, and trying to brute-force your way through everything?"

"You talk too much," she grunted, swinging at his torso. He vaulted himself into the air with his PAK legs, flipping over her. She whirled around and swung her bat just in time to parry one of his spider legs.

"Is it too hard to think of anything good to say while you're fighting?" Zim taunted. "How boring. Though I should have expected that you aren't the most creative human out there." He leaned back to dodge her next attack and tried sweeping her feet out from under her with a kick.

She jumped a little to avoid it, but Zim quickly ducked low and punched her in the stomach while she couldn't move back. She stumbled when he landed on her feet, clutching where he had hit her and hissing through her teeth to draw in the breath she had lost.

Zim laughed mockingly, shaking his head. "And you thought you were going to be a challenge?"

Gaz glared at him, quickly standing and swinging her bat…and, once he dodged it, swiveling and swinging it back around, just barely managing to clip Zim's shoulder. She pressed the button, making him yelp as he got zapped.

She grinned, satisfied even as he leapt away and scurried back a few feet. "Got anything else to say before I turn you into a pile of goo?"

He glared at her…before his face split into an evil grin. "Dib was so much better at fighting me," he said, unsheathing his PAK legs. "He was strong, and much cleverer and more creative than you'll ever be."

Gaz felt her eyelid twitch, her grip tightening. His eyes gleamed, and his grin widened a little further. "Too bad for you that he's my human now. Mine to do whatever I want with, forever—"

She roared, surging forward, a dark aura surrounding her and swirling around her bat as he swung it at his head.

Zim's grin just widened further, even with the bat inches from his face, and she had a split-second realization of that not being right before feeling something stab into her legs, right at the knee.

She skidded to a halt, biting her lip to avoid crying out in pain…hard enough to draw blood. She managed to keep a grip on her bat, but it was loose.

"Almost impressive," Zim said, pulling his PAK legs out, making her wobble and bite down harder on her lip. "Still leagues below Dib, though."

That made her eyelid twitch again, and she stepped forward…quickly wincing in pain and planting her bat into the ground to keep herself from falling. She couldn't have been stabbed that deeply, and a quick glance confirmed the two punctures couldn't be that bad, but damn if it didn't hurt.

Zim breezed past her almost tauntingly…but then paused, antennae flicking over in her direction. He turned to her with narrowed eyes, antennae quickly waving.

Suddenly, he surged forward to stand behind her on his PAK legs, grabbing just under her chin—not squeezing, but pressing the tips of his claws into her skin. His antennae continued flicking wildly, brushing against her shoulder.

"I can smell my human on you," Zim hissed into her ear. "You've been manhandling him, haven't you? Where is he, Dib-sister!?"

Gaz growled at him, snapping at his hand. He yelped, just barely pulling it away in time…though his flinching back allowed her to whirl around and kick him in the stomach, pushing him back further.

She immediately winced in pain herself, but it was worth it.

Adjusting the grip on her bat, she used it to push herself back up into a standing position. "You're not…as clever…as you think you are," she grunted, wiping blood from her lip with the back of her hand.

He snarled. "…you can't use my own trick against me." He rose up onto his PAK legs, looming over her and drawing out two more daggers. "And you're going to tell me where my human is, or else!"

"He's not yours!" Gaz spat. "And I'm not going to give up to a joke like you!"

"Joke!?" He twirled the daggers, aiming them at her. "I'm a soldier and a living weapon for the Empire! I can heal in minutes, and you're left bleeding from a single, simple trap! I had the element of surprise on my side! You have nothing here!"

"…I wouldn't say nothing." She smirked a little.

His eyes narrowed skeptically. "Oh, really? And what's that?"

"Actual backup," she said bluntly.

He blinked, seeming a bit confused by his statement. In the silence, she could hear heavy footsteps running towards them from the hallway…and she smirked a little. She had nailed the timing.

"GAZLENE!" Dad shouted, rushing into the room. He looked at her, first, then up at Zim.

He raised one hand and fired a small burst of blue plasma from his palm, aiming at Zim's torso. Zim screeched and tried to dodge, but it still grazed his side and sent him tumbling backward. He skidded against the ground and groaned as he picked himself back up, his side still smoking.

Membrane ran over to Gaz, looking her over before carefully picking her up under her arms. "The evacuation has started," he said, carrying her closer to the entrance and away from Zim. "His robots are still lying outside in wait, so I started the stealth protocol and had them scatter to different rendezvous. Some people volunteered to help fight, they'll be here in just a few minutes once they grab their weapons."

"Thanks, Dad," she said as he placed her down so that her back was leaning against the wall. He still looked down at her knees in concern, but she shook her head, pointing behind him. "I'm going to be fine," she assured him. "But we need to stop him, first."

Membrane turned back around to face Zim, who was peeling himself off the floor and glaring at him. Membrane glared right back, his fingers twitching as glowing blue energy started to build up in his palms.

He quickly raised both hands, firing a few blasts, but Zim managed to turn his body to dodge them. He whipped out his giant weapon again, firing several pulses back, forcing Dad to raise his arms in an X shape, creating a small energy barrier that wobbled from the force. He ran to the side, still firing at Zim and drawing his attention away from Gaz.

Gaz took a moment to catch her breath, squinting to watch the battle even with the bright flashes of light. Her dad was managing to hold his own, grazing Zim with his attacks a few times. But some of Zim's attacks grazed him in turn, though most just left burns on his lab coat, and seemed to only hit his arms and shoulders.

Still, even injured, Gaz couldn't just sit by. Using her bat, she dragged a discarded plasma gun closer to herself, carefully picking it up. She hadn't used these as often, but all she had to do was point and shoot.

When she had a clear shot, she fired, forcing Zim to duck before he could lose an antenna. He glared at her and growled…which left him wide open to take a plasma blast to the stomach. Gaz smirked, leaning against the wall and keeping the barrel trained on Zim.

If the others came soon, they might actually have a chance at driving Zim off…or even finishing him off for good. Just as she thought that, she heard the echo of footsteps from down the hallway…that was pretty quick. She continued to line up her shot, just about to squeeze the trigger and try to hit one of Zim's eyes…

"YOU A MEANIE!" GIR screeched, jumping at her from out of nowhere and spitting something hard at her stomach.

It hit hard enough that it would bruise later, but all she did was grunt and smack the robot away again with her bat. She turned her attention back to the fight, only giving whatever he attacked her with a moment's glance.

Looked like wood and metal…huh. Had he been eating random junk? But there was nothing wooden nearby, and the metal was weird, in the shape of a circle…

She turned her attention right back to Zim, looking for an opportunity she could use to attack. But…the junk GIR had just spat at her bothered her.

What had Zim sent him off to do, anyway?

Frowning, she used her bat as a support to lean down and grab the wood and metal. Standing back up and able to get a good look at it…the wood looked like it came from a thin pole, and the metal…was half a pair of handcuffs, with the chain bitten through.

Her blood ran cold, the remainder of the handcuff slipping from her grip as she shuddered. She whipped around to face her dad, to shout that something was wrong—

But froze when she saw Dib stepping out of the hallway, his bound wrists in front of him, rolling his shoulder with his face set in determination.

He didn't even look at her, didn't even seem to notice her. His eyes locked on Zim…and his face lit up, making Gaz's stomach twist into knots.

"ZIM!" Dib yelled…running right into the line of fire as their dad charged his next attack.

Professor Membrane made a choked noise, quickly turning his hand away before the laser fired. It tore through the wall and soared off into the sky. Dib didn't seem to notice, running until he was in front of Zim.

"Dib!" Zim cried, dropping his weapon and placing his hands on Dib's shoulders. "Oh, my human, you're not hurt? If you're hurt…"

"I'm not," Dib said, though he showed his bound wrists to Zim. Zim snarled, and a slice with his PAK leg cleaved the cuffs apart. The metal piece that had once connected him to the bed clattered to the ground.

"Son…Dib!" Membrane yelled.

Dib's head snapped up, and he stepped in front of Zim, holding out his arms and puffing his chest out defiantly. Membrane made a pained noise, dropping his hand entirely, the components whirring to a quiet standstill.

"Dib, no," Zim said, grabbing Dib's shoulder and lightly pulling him back. "You're not a meat shield. You're better than that."

"Well, I…" Dib stepped back, but was eyeing everyone else warily. Especially Dad. "I couldn't do nothing."

"I know," Zim said, patting his head. "And it was still very noble and brave of you. You did very well, my Dib."

Gaz made a sound of disgust, and Membrane made one of pain. Zim's head snapped up, expression turning angry again. "Now," he said, lifting the gun and pointing it at Membrane. "Time to put an end to this little 'rebellion'."

To their surprise, Dib grabbed onto Zim's wrist. "No," he said.

Zim looked at him, then at Gaz and Membrane. He glared at them before looking back at Dib. "You're sure?" he said. "They…they kidnapped you! I was willing to let them be before, but now…"

"You promised, Zim," Dib said. "I don't want you to—I mean, they're still my…" His voice trailed off, though he sounded choked up. He gave Zim a sad, conflicted look.

"…Dib?" Gaz said. Her brother ignored her, though Zim shot her a sharp look.

"…don't give me that look, human," she just barely heard him say to Dib. "And you're right, I did promise." He rubbed a circle on Dib's back.

Zim stepped forward, loudly clearing his throat and pulling a radio out of his PAK. "ATTENTION, REMAINING HUMANS!" he shouted, voice echoing from each robot and through the whole base. "I am taking my Dib and leaving now! You will all be grateful for my Dib's mercy, because I would not have shown you any!"

He whirled around, grabbing Dib's hand. "GIR! We're leaving now."

The crazy robot spat out whatever he had just been chewing on and ran up to his master. Zim began to quickly march back through the trail of destruction he had caused, Dib following right behind him.

"…Son, please!" their dad shouted. Dib flinched and lowered his head, but he didn't look back. "DIB!"

He continued to ignore them, and Gaz even saw him nudge Zim and mumble something. The alien moved faster, nearly jogging up to the ship that had crashed through their outer defenses. When the windshield had opened, he picked Dib up and used his spider legs to lift them both inside.

As soon as the insane robot jumped in beside them, the windshield snapped shut and the ship hovered into the air. It turned around, blasted several new holes through another set of walls, and quickly flew through them and out of sight.

And just like that, their Dib was gone.

Professor Membrane made a choked sound, slumping to the ground. "Oh…oh, son…"

Gaz sat next to him, staring out in the direction Zim had taken Dib. She was still in shock. The way Dib saw them, the attack on their base, the amount of damage that surrounded them even in so little time…it was all too much.

She and her father stayed like that for a while before Gaz started to move. She was barking orders, pulling her dad to his feet, packing up anything they would need, all without really thinking about it. Her knees ended up tightly wrapped in bandages at some point. In a matter of hours, she and Dad were sitting in a shuttle headed to another hidden base, all the lab equipment they could grab packed with them.

Other shuttles would follow them, though some headed to other destinations…they couldn't leave everyone in one spot. And they couldn't trust Zim's word that he wasn't going to attack that base again. Some of the rebels had fled entirely at some point…who knew if they would end up coming back.

Who cared if they did? All she and Dad wanted was to get Dib back, and they…they had failed.

"No," Dad said quietly, startling Gaz. She realized that she had started muttering to herself. "We…we can't…give up yet."

He took a deep breath, balling his hands into fists. "…the Earth still needs to be saved, and I'm going to fight for it. And…as long as your brother's alive, there is always a chance we can save him."

"…do you really think so?" She wanted to hope, and yet… "He sounded pretty determined to hate us. Maybe that runs too deep, and he'll never get over it."

And maybe Dib had a few good points. Maybe they had hurt him so badly that nothing could ever heal it. But just thinking about that made her feel like she was drowning, so she couldn't even try to voice it.

"Even if that's true," their dad said, "I won't stop trying to free him from Zim. …even if he'll never forgive me for it." Still, his hands shook at his words, and he turned away from her to look out the window. He stared in the direction Zim had gone flying off in, even though he was now long out of sight.

Gaz mulled over his words…and after some time to think about them, she stepped closer, placing a hand on his shoulder. When he glanced up, she gave him a curt, determined nod. He gave her a flicker of a smile before turning and staring again. She could almost hear his mind, thinking of and quickly discarding plans.

They were going to save the world, and they were going to free Dib. They just needed to figure out how.