[A/N] Things have been a little hectic for me recently so updates might slow down or speed up while I get my schedule figured out once more. This fic is still gonna be finished though, so don't worry about that.

Please enjoy!

The intruder's hands and legs were tied together with steel wire. His trenchcoat was missing, revealing a blue shirt with a white ghost on it, and his ruffled hair swung around as he looked around the room before his gaze eventually fell on Gaz.

Amber eyes hidden behind glasses widened and he smiled nervously, "Hello dear sister. I don't suppose you would be willing to help me out of here."

Gaz growled at her brother and Dib gulped from his position on the lab floor.

Gaz's mind was filled with anger as she stared down at the prone form of Dib. Her brother was supposed to be in the park with Tak, not here, messing with the first good thing she's had in a while.

"What are you doing here?" She growled, watching as his pale face whitened even further. "You said you were meeting Tak in the park."

She could hear Dib gulp, "Well you see," he began, shifting nervously in his bonds, "I may have sorta, um, liedtoyousoIcouldfollowyouhere!" He spat out all at once, closing his eyes tightly.

Gaz took a moment to unravel his words, before growling again and stomping her way toward him. Iiek backed away as she reached her brother and grabbed him by his shirt, yanking him up until they were face to face and glaring into his eyes. "Why?" she snarled.

Dib opened and closed his mouth silently and Gaz tightened her grip on his shirt, "Dib, I swear if you don't start explaining yourself right now, I'm going to destroy you so bad you will wish you had Zim's insane robot for a sister instead of me."

Dib paled even further, "Ok ok, I'll talk!" He took a deep breath, eyes averting themselves from his sister's livid gaze. "I was going to meet Tak in the park but I heard you tell dad you were going to a friend's house and I thought that was suspicious because, y'know you hate everyone. So I cancelled the meeting and followed you in case you were being possessed by a ghost or hypnotized by a giant alien worm or something."

Behind her, Iiek muttered to herself in confusion, "Giant alien worm?"

Gaz just shrugged, not really sure what went on in her brother's massive head. She narrowed her eyes slightly at Dib, "That explains why you followed me, not why you're here, in Iiek's base."

Dib chuckled nervously, "Well when you got to this house, I was going to turn around and go home, but I started picking up some signals from the inside and went to investigate." He started, as if having a revelation, and turned in Gaz's grip to glare at Iiek, "Gaz! You gotta let me out! She's from the same species as Zim, she's probably here to destroy the Earth!"

Iiek put a hand on her chest in a 'who me?' gesture and Gaz glared even harder at Dib.

She leaned in, voice a whisper so as to not be heard unheard by the Irken, "Listen Dib, and listen close. Iiek is the first person other than Dad who doesn't make me want to defenestrate them any time they open their mouth near me." She tightened her grip on his shirt until her knuckles cracked and inciting a flinch from the bound teen, "And I will not let you ruin the first good thing that has happened to me in years. Got it?"

Dib sputtered even as his face paled further, "But Gaz," he whimpered, "She's an alien. Enemy of the human race, here to destroy us all!"

"I don't care." And she really didn't, as long as Iiek didn't directly cause her family harm, she could do whatever she wanted with the rest of humanity. Hell, Gaz might even join the Irken in her conquest. It sounded like fun, and it would give her more time with her crush.

"But- but, who knows what evil plans she has for humanity. She could be planning to genetically modify our sharks and give them legs or something! Imagine how doomed humanity would be if sharks had legs!" At Gaz's bewildered expression, Dib chuckled nervously, "I uh, I've been watching a lot of conspiracy theories lately."

Iiek cleared her throat, an amused expression on her face as the siblings looked over at her, "While I do have plans for world domination, I'm afraid my shark modifying machine is still in it's testing phase." She brought a hand to her chin, miming a thinking gesture, "The koala modifying machine however, hmm…"

Dib began struggling in her grip, "See Gaz?! She's after our koala's! We've got to stop her! Free me, and we might stand a chance!"

Gaz just growled as Iiek began laughing behind her, "She's messing with you moron, I swear that massive head of yours is just full of empty air." She dropped him, watching in mild amusement as he fell directly onto his face with a thud.

She took a step back as he began struggling in his bonds. She sighed, turning to the laughing Irken girl behind her, "You can go ahead and release him. If he tries anything, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

Iiek nodded, still laughing as a mechanical arm extended from her PAK and sliced through the wires holding his arms and legs together with ease.

Dib yelled in triumph as his limbs were freed, springing to his feet and pointing at Iiek with one hand, the other reaching behind his back. "Aha! I've got you now alien scum!" He whipped his arm to the front to reveal a bright blue water gun. It was covered in duct tape, implying that it was stuck directly to to his back, a theory that was further supported by the light sheen of tears in his eyes from the pain of the tape being ripped from his skin.

He pointed the squirt gun directly at Iiek as the Irken's laughs slowed to a stop, "Surrender and I might be merciful! Or don't. I've already had practice fighting your people with Zim. I know how weak you aliens are to water." His index flexed slightly in the plastic trigger, emphasizing his point.

Gaz grit her teeth in anger and began stomping over to her brother, "Dib you idiot! I'm going to-"

Iiek held out a hand, stopping Gaz in her tracks. She turned to Dib and smirked, "Well mighty human warrior, it seems you have me dead to rights." Dib opened his mouth to gloat only to be interrupted, "However, I'm afraid I can't surrender. You have to defeat me if you wish to capture me." She spread her arms out wide, giving Dib a large target as she smirked condescendingly at him, "Do your worst."

Gaz could practically hear Dib's teeth grinding in his mouth, "Fine then! Take this alien scum!" His finger squeezed the trigger of the squirt gun several times in quick succession. Several large jets of water erupted from the barrel, racing across the length of the lab toward the still smirking Irken. Dib grinned victoriously as they impacted Iiek.

Only to have absolutely no effect.

Gaz watched in mild amusement as Dib gaped and sputtered wordlessly before pointing at Iiek in shock, "How is your skin not sizzling?! You guys are weak to water!"

Iiek shook her head lightly, sending water falling to the floor. She ran a hand through her antenna to rid them of liquid before smirking at Dib, "You used distilled water." She stated simply.

Dib looked at his weapon in confusion, "So? It's still water."

Iiek chuckled, "Irken aren't allergic to just H2O at all, that'd be stupid. We're allergic to the pollutants in your Earth water. Whatever you're pumping into your atmosphere burns our skin like acid." A small gun like device emerged from her PAK and Dib tensed, only to falter as Iiek pressed a button on it's side and it began blowing hot air. Iiek started running the dryer along the wet spots on her clothes, "Honestly, it's surprising how polluted the Earth is, I know of factory planets that have clearer atmospheres. Just one more thing to fix when I take over I guess."

She put the dryer back into her PAK and turned back to Dib, "For now though, we have bigger problems than my plan to take over the world."

Dib laughed, pointing his gun at her once more, though Gaz noticed he was a lot less confident than before, "Bigger problems? You're planning on taking over Earth! How could any problem be bigger than that?!"

Iiek hummed, "Well I just want to rule the planet from the shadows, something your planet's smartest individuals have been doing for years. Unfortunately, there's another Irken on the planet who's plans are not nearly so benign. And no, I'm not talking about Zim. He's more a danger to himself than anything."

Dib faltered, gun falling slightly from where it was pointing at the Irken and Gaz was impressed. Even she had trouble stopping her brother when he was on a warpath, usually having to resort to tying him up or something. Which Iiek did too now that she thought about it.

"What are you talking about?" Dib asked warily.

"Your friend Tak is not who she says she is." Iiek began, "She actually an alien, a member of my own species if my assumptions are correct."

She held her hand up as Dib went to argue, "And because I know you won't take me at my word, I have proof. If you're willing to see it."

Dib hesitated and Gaz could see his brain working behind his eyes. She spoke up, "Come on you moron, you already know there's two aliens on earth. What make's you think there couldn't be more."

Dib sighed, lowering his useless weapon, "Ok, where is this proof?"

Iiek simply began walking over to her computer, motioning for the other two to follow her.

"Computer! Pull up the data!" Iiek yelled out to her house AI.

"Displaying now."

Iiek gestured at the screen as Dib and Gaz stood beside her, "My equipment has been detecting the distinct signatures of an Irken power core coming from the inside of that massive hotdog stand that was built downtown."

"So? They could just be using a similar power source to yours, doesn't mean they're necessarily Irken." Even as he spoke, Iiek could tell he was actually studying the graphs and not dismissing her outright. That was good.

Iiek shook her head, "No it couldn't. Irken power cores create a very distinct type of radiation we've dubbed entropic radiation. There's no way to diminish or contain the radiation so all Irken power cores have a vent in them designed to let it out. It's mostly harmless as long as it doesn't build up too much but it is also extremely detectible if you know what you are looking for."

"What happens if it builds up too much?" Dib asked absentmindedly, still studying the charts.

Iiek shrugged, "What all things tend to do when they keep building up energy that has nowhere to go. It explodes. Usually massively given how powerful the cores themselves are. If my own base's power core were to go critical, it would probably vaporize everything within two blocks or so."

Dib turned to stare at her as she began to murmur to herself, "No that's not right. It would probably be much larger than that. All SIR units have a power core as well though there's is much smaller. Given their tendency to increase the size of the explosion by orders of magnitude when detonating in close proximity, the entropic radiation would continue to build upon itself..."

She brought a hand to her chin in thought, "If Ram happened to be in the vicinity when the core exploded, it would probably increase the size of the explosion to the point that it might encompass the entire city. And at that point the power core in Zim's base would be caught in the explosion as well as the one in his SIR unit and the radius of the explosion would increase further. Not to mention Tak's power core, hmm…"

Yeah, that wouldn't be good. How would she take over the Earth if there was a massive hole in the planet's crust?

Iiek shook herself out of her little thought experiment to find Gaz and Dib staring at her.

"What?" She said, confused by their staring.

"Your people use bombs to power your bases?" The big headed boy asked incredulously. Even Gaz looked a little concerned.

"Well not technically. They only become bombs if there's nowhere for the energy to go. That almost never happens." She waved her hand dismissively, "All Irken smeet are implanted with the knowledge on how to repair a power core to prevent any unfortunate accidents. It's the one the the Tallest have gotten right in their several hundred years as rulers."

Dib just shook his head, "The more I learn about your people the more horrified I become."

Iiek just shrugged, "Yeah well, human's aren't exactly the greatest species either. With a few notable exceptions." She grinned at Gaz, who flushed slightly.

Dib stared at them suspiciously for a moment before turning back to the charts. He studied them silently before sighing and turning toward Iiek, "Ok, say I believe you. Say Tak is an Irken. Why would you want her gone? She could help you take over the Earth."

The Irken snorted, "Yeah right, I don't need any help. Least of all help from someone still loyal to those red and purple idiots." She shook her head, "No, I want her gone because her being here is a threat to my plans. I accounted for Zim's incompetence when he landed on Earth but Tak is a complete mystery. Better to get her out of the picture before she ruins the scenery."

Dib sighed, running a hand through the massive lock of hair sticking up from his head. He looked back toward the charts once more before looking back at her, "Alright, I'll trust you. For now. Better the devil you know right?"

Iiek smiled happily as she held her hand out for Dib to take. He did so, and Iiek yelped lightly as he pulled her closer until they were face to face as the human boy glared into her purple lenses. "But know this," He whispered threateningly as he squeezed her hand tightly, "The moment Tak is dealt with, I'm coming for you. You won't get Earth without a fight."

The invader grinned, sharp teeth on display as she squeezed his hand just as hard, "I look forward to it Dib." He stared at her for another moment, eyes intense, before nodding.

He stepped back and Iiek flexed her hand to get rid of the stiffness. Dib adjusted his glasses before looking toward her, "Ok, what's the plan?"

Iiek grinned, "Luckily, while you and Gaz were having your little sibling argument, I came up with a rough draft of a plan. First thing's first, we need to get a blueprint of her base as a whole. That will require us to actually enter the base."

As she began to tell the siblings her plan, Iiek had a thought.

'Zim probably knows about Tak by now.' She thought to herself. If what Gaz had said was true, Tak hated Zim with a passion. Her entire purpose on Earth was most likely to undermine Zim's whole operation, which meant she had likely revealed herself to him by now.

'The question is, should I bring him in on the plan?' She thought for a moment before shaking her head, 'No, if he know's about Tak already, he's probably made his own plan by now. Best not to ruin our chances by bringing that megalomaniac in on ours. We'll probably run into him at some point anyway.'

Miles away in the Membrane household, the Irken in question cursed quietly to himself as he sat at the dinner table with the patriarch of the family. He tuned out the other man's talking as he glanced to the front door once more, only to discover nothing had changed.

'Where is that big headed idiot?!' he thought to himself furiously, 'I mean, it's not like I need him or anything! But he should know better than to keep the amazing ZIM waiting!' Even as he thought this, it never occurred to him that said big headed idiot had no idea the alien boy was even in his house to begin with.

Zim sat there listening to Professor Membrane speak for several more minutes before he couldn't take anymore. He stood up, waving to the man as he made his way to the door, "Well it's been nice talking to you sir but I've got to go. My dog had probably climbed into the toilet by now so I should probably go fish him out."

"Of course, of course! It's always nice to see that my son had normal friends, especially one that knows so much about SCIENCE! I'll tell him you dropped by."

"Yes yes you do that." Zim muttered as he exited the household.

As he stood on the front porch, he retrieved his communicator from his PAK, "Gir! bring the Voot Cruiser to my current location. The Dib is not here, we'll have to deal with the Tak-monster on our own!"

"Yes my master!" His robot spoke through the speaker.

Zim put his communicator back into his PAK and began walking in the direction of his house. Knowing Gir, the robot had forgotten his instructions the moment the hung up the communicator, he'd likely have to retrieve the Voot Cruiser himself.

"That's fine though." He spoke to himself, ignoring the looks he received from the filthy humans walking on the street. "It will just give me more time to think of a plan to deal with Tak. That evil monster will rue the day she ever decided to mess with ZIM!" He cackled to the empty air.

"Mama that green kid is talking to himself again."

"Just ignore him honey."