Author's Notes: Alright everyone it's been awhile but I plan to knock out at least one more story before the end of this year! Yeah I know it's a tall order, but I think I can finish drafting this story by the end of the month then continue with weekly updates.
Shout outs: Again I would like to thank Roxie Divine for letting me use her OC character General Kazar! Please go check out the story he originates from at: s/12678629/1/Invader-Zim-Renegades-Season-2?_cf_chl_jschl_tk_=mdqvkyojrcQc8vxr7k86dXVoyWtgPyGi_JE2du_8TeM-1639749657-0-gaNycGzNCT0
Thanks for reading and please review!
(Aboard the Massive: Orbiting Planet Rhapsodize…)
[5 Years Ago]
That little swine…
Oh how he would make him pay! General Kazar growled as he finished watching the feed from Invader Spleen's PAK. The device was damaged beyond repair, but luckily for him there was enough of it to salvage the data banks. This however was very unlucky for the swine!
Invader Zim, he was exceptional enough, and if Kazar was honest with himself then he would admit the fact that he once considered the soldier as a potential pupil. He banged his fist on the console before him in disgust. Invader Zim had everything going for him, the perfect scores; the perfect record, the favor of their leaders, and even more astounding, the perfect genes.
The discovery of the origin of said genes still astounded him to this day. It was just after he had chosen Invader Spleen as his successor. The older more experienced Invader was the likely choice, and under Kazar's instruction he became a legend in his own right. Still, the General couldn't deny the fact that he regretted his decision the moment he found out where Zim's DNA came from. It turns out the young male was the direct clone of the greatest Irken leader to ever live: Tallest Zorn! The Irken who would forever be known throughout history as the one to defeat the dreaded Gorgonian race and gave birth to the New Irk.
And now, to find out that said Invader was a defective hiding among them, oh how it made his blood boil.
"What a waste of perfectly good genes." Kazar hissed in disappointment. He had patterned his whole life after Tallest Zorn, even worshiped the ground he walked on. To see his memory turned to this…it infuriated him. Invader Zim was a spineless swine who couldn't stomach what it took to be an invader, let alone an Irken. He was weak, a waste of space and time!
Kazar honestly couldn't see what their leaders saw in him. How the boy managed to have them all wrapped around his finger was a mystery in its own. Well, this little charade of his would stop, NOW! Kazar got up from his console and made his way to see the Tallest, he would reveal to them exactly what invader Zim was; a liar and a fraud! Kazar had worked too hard on Spleen to just let this go, he didn't care if the Tallest saw no fault in their precious pet invader. Spleen was his legacy, and no one got in his way. He did not become the most powerful war general in the known universe so some runt could ruin everything he had worked so hard to achieve.
His eye narrowed at the thought as he made his way to the medical wing. No doubt his leaders were babying their little pet right now. He would discredit the mistake where he laid and be done with it!
And Invader Zim would be where he belonged, nothing but a memory soon to be forgotten within the emptiness of time.
(Back with Dib…)
He had moved further away from town, a fact that just didn't settle right with Dib. Yes, he knew Zim had made his choice. He knew he had chosen Irk over their love for each other, a fact that still burned if he was being honest. Still, he had thought they had grown an understanding when they took down Tak together. Then again, he thought him and Zim had grown an understanding when they were stuck together in Dib's head. Or when Zim took a deadly blow that was meant to end the teen's life. Every time he thought he and Zim had gotten somewhere, only to discover that they had drifted further apart.
Luna feels the same way, she thought she knew him, the protector who had risked everything to save her all those years ago. Turns out he was more like a stranger to her than the long-lost friend she had dreamed him up to be. Still regardless of the obvious wall of resistance on the Irken's part the two teens were determined to get what they came for. Even if the answers were not the easiest to swallow, they would get them all the same; Zim owed them that much.
They arrived at their destination a little after four, and Dib had already considered turning around twice. Not out of fear of confronting his EX, but because his mother was expecting him home by seven. Ever since dad got hurt she was more protective of them, fearful that they too would be badly injured in a fight, or worse!
Dib couldn't help but flinch as he remembered the fact that he almost died, if it hadn't been for Zim his mother would have come home knowing she had one less child. Dib knew that this one act of kindness it what drove him, it spoke volumes to him about what kind of person Zim really was. That under all that cruelty there was a person with feelings. Not the mindless machine that the universe had perceived the Invader to be.
To risk his own life for Dib…Didn't that mean something? Didn't that mean their relationship was more than a ruse? He had to know; it was eating him up inside. The constant wondering was making sleep impossible; forcing him to keep himself busy for fear of going mad! He had to confront Zim, now; he wasn't sure why, but he could feel it. The closer they got to him the more…wrong everything felt, something was up; he could just tell.
And seeing Zim's base out in the open, above ground, taking the form of a large spaceship did little to ease those fears.
He wasn't the only one afraid…
"He's leaving!" Luna exclaimed as they made a run for it. They had to catch him, to get their answers before it was too late.
The ship's docking bay is open, and Dib can see Zim's Voot cruiser inside, he couldn't help but marvel at the implications. A home base that could transform into a ship large enough to house a crew of at least five to seven. It was an impressive sight to behold, but it just felt all wrong. Why would Zim be leaving? It went against everything about him, Invader Zim never quits!
Dib sees him exit the ship, and he feels a sigh of relief, they haven't missed him yet, he's still packing.
Zim growls inwardly at the sight of them, he was hoping to avoid this. Still, he should have known they'd find him again. No doubt they used the same method as last time, irk these humans could be so pestering. Still, he had to admire their persistence, even if it caused him nothing but stress and sleepless nights.
Gir marches over to him, with the final box, they had to take everything out of the base first. Then they used Zim's design pad to reconstruct the base as a large ship. It was a bit excessive, but Zim had to make this look good. He was supposed to be convincing the enemy that he was leaving; never to return. So, in a way; them being here just helped his cause. "Hi Mary!" Gir exclaimed.
Dib raises an eyebrow at the small robot. "He does know my name is Dib right."
"Why are you here worm?" Zim asked coldly.
Okay, yeah, that hurt, but Dib brushes it off, after all Zim was known for saying what he was supposed to say, instead of what he actually felt. So there was no point in taking anything to heart. "What are you doing Zim?" He asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Zim asked. "Tak's shenanigans have forced me into a corner, I have no choice but to scuttle the mission."
"So you're just giving up?!" Luna snapped.
"Orders are orders." Zim spoke gravely, his voice was hollow, like death. "I've been ordered to return to Irk at once."
Dib feels his blood run cold; Zim was being recalled from a mission! He forced himself to catch Zim's eye, their gaze locked at once. Dib sees it, under all that composer; a spark of fear. "You don't have to go." He found himself saying, "You can stay…"
He couldn't be serious, but Zim knew he was and that just made this so much harder. Why couldn't this child just hate him already? Surely that would be easier than this, the constant breaking of promises and expectations. If Dib hated him, he would no longer care, and Zim wouldn't be hurting him even more with every decision he made. He thinks forward to the future, which is so full of unknown at this point. Irk, this might be the last time he sees him. Within six months' time he could be dead, and Dib…would he ever know what had become of him?
Would he blame himself? Would he become a jaded shell of what he once was? A forgotten spark that died all because of him?
"Why are you here?" He forced himself to ask again. "I know it's not to welcome me among your ranks with open arms. So say your peace, you may not get another chance."
'You may not get another chance?' Were those words for Dib or for himself?
"We deserve answers." Luna said. "You owe us that much."
Zim knew he should scream that he owes them nothing, but she's right…besides it would feel good to get somethings off his chest. Maybe this way he could at least die with less regret…if that was even possible. "I had standers, lines I refused to cross, killing children is where I cross the line. Destroying the masses for no real reason…Tallest Myuki says defective Civilizations eventually destroy themselves, but the only destruction I've seen is what we've caused…What I've made with my own two hands."
"And even knowing this, you stay the course." Luna's voice is barely a whisper.
"Look I'm not the hero of this story okay?" He tells her. "There are things that I cannot undo, crimes that I must pay for."
"You just want me to forget everything you ever did for me…for us and destroy your people?" Luna asked.
"The Irken race isn't a people, it's a virus, a mindless machine that seeks and destroys. They can't be reasoned with or bargained with. Nothing but total universal conquest will satisfy them." Zim said bluntly. "I'm not asking to be saved, I need no saving; I'm asking you not to squander the second chance that I've given you."
"And what if I think you're worth it? What if I don't think you're a waste of time?" Luna asked.
"And what do your people think?" Zim challenged. "You think I haven't noticed that half your refugees are unaccounted for? Where are they? Thinking up new ways to reason with our people? Or are they tearing this planet apart looking for the final piece of their weapon? The one that's supposed to wipe my people out?"
Tears were actually spilling from Luna's eyes. "That's not what I want!"
"Oh please, spare me!" Zim yelled. "Don't lie to me, you wanted it. You only change your mind now because of me!"
"You're right." Luna admitted. "You made me realize that if there is one good Irken out there, then maybe they're not all that bad. If we just remove the programing and Irk starts thinking for themselves for a change…then maybe."
"Someone must pay for all the damage we've caused." Zim reasoned. "I assured you there is not a single Irken who is blameless."
"That doesn't mean we wipe them out." Dib finally spoke up. He knew this was Luna's moment, but he couldn't stay quiet anymore. "Do you really hate your race so much that you would rather see them wiped out?"
"You think I make this decision out of hate?" Zim shook his head. "I feel nothing but pride for my race, and that is the problem, we are prideful. It was our pride that led us down this path, and our pride will continue to drive us forward. Irkens do not back down, we will not be proceeded as the weakling; not again."
Dib gets it, he really does, the Gorgonians rubbed it in their faces; showd them just how weak Irk was. From that moment on the Irkens vowed to never be weak again. To back down now would be proving that they were right, that Irkens were weak.
"I do what I do because I understand this, Irk will never stop until they have proven to the universe that they are not weak." Zim said. "In order to save what's left of the known universe you have to do what is best. Even if that means wiping out an entire race, that's what it means to be a leader. Making the tough calls isn't for the faint of heart."
Luna wanted to hit him, so she did. She beat him over and over again, repeatedly in the chest, and Zim took it like a champ. Like he didn't even feel it at all, like they were the blows of a toddler throwing a tantrum, then an almost fully grown female. "You really think destroying them will be enough? Was destroying the Gorgonians enough? NO! It wasn't! All we do is destroy each other; I will not continue the cycle; I won't!"
Zim nodded, grabbing her by the wrist. "I know you will do the right thing." He assured her. "You are so much stronger than I ever was…or ever will be."
Pain cuts Dib deep at those words, Zim keeps talking like this was the end. Not like the: 'I won't ever see you again' end, but the actual end! He keeps speaking in a way that made him more like a ghost them a living thing, like he was already dead, and they just couldn't see it yet. Dib wants to stop this, but he doesn't know how. How can he make Zim see that he is worth fighting for, when Zim sees nothing but the blood on his hands.
Zim let's go of her at the sight of Dib's darkening state, he was doing it again. He was hurting him, he always was, and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't stop.
"You're never coming back…are you?" Dib asked.
"The fact that you want me to irks me." Zim admitted.
Luna stepped back, they needed their space, and she knew that. Dib had given her space and Zim, Zim refused to sway her decision. She wanted him to convince her that Irk was worth saving, but in the end he sided with the very people who screamed for his execution. Still, she refused, and he accepted that. It's in that moment that she understands completely, Zim wanted her to do what was right. Not because it was for him, but because it was for all of them. If saving Irk was what she wanted then it had to be for the greater good. As a leader she had to do what was best for her people.
Not what was best for her conscious or Zim. If she was to save all of them like she wanted to, then she had to have the right convictions. She shouldn't want to save Irk for Zim, she would want to save Irk because it's the right thing to do. Because no race should have the right to say that another does not deserve to exist. Because future generations should not have to pay for the crimes of those who came before them. Because doing so would stain the victims of Irk with the death of the innocent. Even if Zim said there was no such thing as an innocent Irken; it is a lie. Smeets, were innocent, nothing but children who had yet to cause any harm. Zim knows this, but the refugees only want revenge. So, they justify that revenge by saying that no Irken deserves their mercy.
Just like Irk says no Defective deserves their mercy.
She gets it now, Irk is a disease that has spread among all of them. Not Irk as in the people of Irk, but what they stand for, their ideals. That's the Irk that needs to be eliminated before it consumes them all! This was the same thing Lard Nar had realized the night he discovered his comrades had ordered for Myuki's assassination. They were becoming like the enemy and he wanted nothing to do with it, and now it was happening all over again!
It was an endless cycle of death and hatred and Luna vowed to stop it!
"I just want to…no I need to know." Dib said looking into Zim's ruby eyes. "Did it mean anything…?" He took Zim's hand in his. "Do I mean anything to you?"
Zim knows he should say no, that it was an obvious ploy to get the upper hand. Perhaps if it was any other day he would. But this time, he hesitates.
'You may not get another chance…'
"Dib…I…" He stops, words failing him. How does he tell him? How does he tell him how he feels when he doesn't even know? He has never known love, so how does he know that this is it? Love isn't a word that Irkens use. Worse still, he's never been told how to express this emotion that he is feeling.
He's struggling, Dib can see it as clear as day, and the thought occurs to him for the first time. Zim doesn't have a word for what he feels, he doesn't know what Dib is to him. But that doesn't mean he feels nothing, he just doesn't know how to express it. "I don't regret meeting you." He admitted.
Zim smiled his hand tightening around Dib's. "Me either, I think I'd do it all over again." Zim admitted. Okay maybe not the best way to put it since some of those things included hurting him a thousand times, but Dib gets the message.
"Me too." Dib laughed.
A chime comes from somewhere inside the ship; Zim pulls his hand away. "I have to go…"
"No, you can stay." Dib pleaded, he can't explain it, but he just knows that if Zim left now he'll never see him again.
"I have to Dib." Zim looks, uncertain, maybe even scared. "There is something I have to do…" He walks away; entering the ship through the docking bay hanger. He turns back once giving Dib one final look. "Goodbye…"
The word is like a whisper, but it hits Dib like a thousand daggers. Zim is walking away again, going deeper into the ship. No doubt he plans to take off, and he would unless…
"Luna, let my mom know I'm gonna be late." Dib said and moved to go.
Luna stops him, grabbing him by the arm. "You can't be serious." She shook her head, knowing he was. "Do you even know how far Irk is from here? You could be gone for months, or years!"
"If anyone would understand it's her." Dib said, pulling away. "I have to do this." He turns then and runs.
And Luna lets him go, because he's right! His mother Anabel, had done the same thing 15 years ago. She had left them for what she thought was right. It was a feeling she couldn't explain, she just knew she had to go, and in the end that feeling had led to their salvation. If Anabel had never left, Luna and the resistance my not have formed without her. A bond between the resistance and the AIs may have never been made; and now her son was doing the same thing. He was letting a feeling he couldn't understand guide him forward. He knows not when he will be back, or if he will even return at all. He just knows that if he doesn't…he'll regret it for the rest of his life.
Dib runs faster as the docking bay begins to close and the ship starts taking off. For a minute he fears he's not going to make it, but suddenly something picks him up and carries him impossibly faster. Dib looks down to see…"Gir?"
Gir is holding Dib over his head and running to catch up with the ship. "Take care of him will you?" he asked hopefully.
Dib nods sternly only now realizing the truth. Gir was not going with his master on this journey. He knows that should make him feel better. That Zim will be coming back at least for Gir, but the Sir Unit's expression kills that logic in an instant.
Even Gir looks like this is the last time he will see Zim.
"Okay you two have fun!" He shouts before throwing Dib through the air.
Dib screams in surprise as he's tossed onto the leaving ship just before the hatch of the docking bay fully closes. He had made it, and seconds later the ship launches up into the stratosphere.
And just like that Dib was gone, leaving only Luna and Gir….
"What now?" She asked the robot.
"I got to go see Mr. Horns." Gir told her.
"Horns?" Luna asked. "You mean Lard Nar?"
Gir nods. "I got to give him a message from the master." He frowns. "He isn't gonna like it."
"You know I can't just let you walk in right." She reason, then shrugs. "But I could take you in as my prisoner."
"Yeah! I get to hang out with Bluey!" Gir exclaimed jumping into her arms.
Luna shakes her head. "Please tell me he did not leave you in charge."
"Yep!" Gir giggles insanely.
"I will never understand him." Luna sighed as she carried her new prisoner back to home base.
She only hoped Lard Nar would know what to do with him, because she already had a lot on her plate. "Anabel is gonna kill me." She whispered. She had one job: Keep Dib out of trouble.
And now Dib was headed straight for it.
(Back on the Massive…)
[5 Years Ago]
Zim groans as he slowly comes to…
For a moment he's disappointed that death didn't take him. Oh how much easier his life would have been if he'd just…
"My Tallest." A voice says. "I think he's waking up…"
Suddenly the sound of someone being pushed out of the way clouds his senses and then…
"Zim can you hear me?"
"Zim, we need you to wake up now."
Zim forces his eyes open at his Tallest's command. "My Tallest?" He asked.
Purple openly sighs in relief. "Thank Irk."
"We thought we lost you there for a moment." Red said, doing his best to appear more relaxed. And not like he was just pacing around the medical bay in worry.
"You gave us quite the scare." Purple admitted, not even trying to hide it.
"I didn't…" Zim was going to say that it wasn't his intention to worry them when a flash of movement catches his eye. He looks beyond his leaders to see that they have an audience, General Kazar! He's leaning on the door frame with a smug look on his face, Zim knew this look well. Though he usually received it from someone else, at least he now knew where Spleen got it from.
Oh Irk
"Spleen!" Zim shot up in the bed so fast that he felt lightheaded.
Kazar snickers, obviously enjoying the fact that he's caught him off guard.
Red stiffens and grows serious. "Take it slow soldier, you sustained quiet an injury."
"Injury…" Zim struggled to put the pieces together. What happened? Why was he hurt? Why did Thinking of Invader Spleen make him feel like…this?
Sensing his struggle Purple steps in. "Zim, what's the last thing you remember?"
"The last thing…" Zim thought about it. "I…I remember Spleen sending word to start the attack…it was too early." Yes that was it, something went wrong, and forced Spleen to take the planet right then, but what?
Zim sees flashes of images, first Lard Nar, and some female, he was meeting them on Rhapsodize. But why?
"Zim we found you wounded in an open field." Purple told him. "There was a Maglady blade lodged in your torso…"
"Try to remember Zim..." Red urged. "How did you get there?"
Zim sees flashes, a castle, two small children, arguing with Spleen in an open field…he couldn't make sense of any of it.
"It's just as we feared." Red groaned. "They damaged his memory banks just like Spleen."
"We were arguing…" Zim's words caught their attention. "He was upset that I was there."
"Why were you there?" Purple asked.
"Spleen, he called the troops in too early, something felt wrong to me." Yes that was it, Zim was gaining confidence with every word. "I knew he'd never do that unless there was trouble, I knew he wouldn't like it, but I abandoned my post to find him. We never saw eye to eye, but he was a good invader, and you said we couldn't afford the enemy to get away. When I got there, we argued, and then we were…ambushed. Someone cut Spleen down and I managed to disarm them, but someone hit me from behind." He touches his shoulder, remembering the pain. "It was a blaster, I turned and…nothing."
"You were cut down from behind Soldier." Red informed him. "Now I need you to try to remember the enemy, anything you can tell me about them can help us."
"I remember…a Vort." The words came out of his mouth before he could stop himself. Lard Nar was there! Irk of course he was there; Zim had called them. He remembered now, why he was out there. He had tried to save the royal family from Spleen, he managed to get the princesses out and led them to safety. Lard Nar and the female took them away, and Zim was left to deal with Spleen…
"Irk, it is just like the others." Purple cursed quietly.
"Zim can you remember what the Vort looked like?" Red looks hopeful.
Zim shakes his head, he's going over everything he said, making sure he hasn't faulted himself in anyway.
"Perfect!" Red hissed in rage.
Zim, confident that he hasn't discredit himself takes control of the situation. "I'm sorry my Tallest, I let my guard down. I never should have left my post!"
"You have nothing to apologize for." Purple assured him. "Spleen's PAK is wrecked, if not for you we wouldn't know about the Vort."
Zim stiffened at those words, he had done it again; he had put Lard Nar in danger again! Even when he tried to do the right thing for once in his life, he still found a way to mess up.
"Don't beat yourself up about it." Purple pat his shoulder. "You made a call, luckily we can still clean up this mess."
"The hell we can." Red growled. "Not unless our great general managed to find something from Spleen's Pak after all."
Zim looked to Kazar and felt the color drain from him, he had been working on Spleen's Pak? Was that why he was here? Did he find something after all? Kazar's sneer told him that, yes he did find something, the truth! And he was here to discredit him, to expose him for the fraud he is, just like Spleen.
"Actually I…" Kazar falters, he was just about to expose the defective when his pale pasty expression morphed into a deadly gaze. He watched as Zim got to his feet, not even acknowledging his fatal injury. He looked poised, and ready to take on whatever he dished out, and in that moment he saw Tallest Zorn standing before him instead of Zim. He recalled the last time he saw that very gaze; Zorn had given it to him just moments after he informed him of his new position as the General of the Armada. The words that followed that look still sent a shiver down his spine to this very day.
'Don't think for one second this new position gives you any power in the slightest.'
"Just great, this is a complete disaster!" Red snapped, mistaking Kazar's lack of response to mean that he had nothing to report.
Sensing that Kazar isn't going to rat him out Zim takes control once more. "My Tallest if I may, I believe there is a way to fix this."
"Go on." Purple insisted.
"If the enemy finds out we screwed this up our image will suffer, but the enemy doesn't know that this wasn't the original plan." Zim reasoned. "No one knows that we didn't plan to take control of the planet and capture its inhabitance. They don't even know which invader hid among them and stole all their secrets."
Red perks up. "You're right, for all they know, this was our plan all along."
"But the royal brats got away!" Purple hissed.
"Do their people know that?" Zim challenged.
"Not likely…" Purple muttered to himself. "Still they could cause trouble for us later."
"Then hunt them down, in the meantime we can enslave their race and hold their people as our hostages. It will give them very little room to cause us trouble in the future." Zim advised.
Meanwhile, Kazar watches as Zim, a lowly invader actually swayed the decision of his Tallest! Spleen had told him how Zim hated the fact that he planned to purge the planet, and now he was tricking their leaders to do what he wanted in the first place. He knows he should step in, show them what he is doing, but Zim is still glaring at him with an intensity that defies all logic. It was like he was daring him to say anything to stop him.
It's in this moment that he realized what a force of nature Zim really was. He had the Tallest so wrapped around his finger that he could manipulate their actions without them even knowing it. He had power, he had influence, and he cut down whoever got in his way. Not only that but he could manipulate the enemy as well. He influenced the enemy to trust him, an Irken; to fit his needs to further sabotage Spleen's mission. It was in this moment that Kazar saw himself in the invader as well. Everyone around him was like chess pieces in a game, pawns to be use at his dispense to bring forth an outcome that benefited his desires. With a strategic mind like that, Zim could become a powerful leader someday, just like Tallest Zorn.
He was the perfect replacement for Spleen, in fact Kazar was now kicking himself for not choosing him in the first place.
"It's a good plan." Red agreed. "But who will take credit for the take over? We have to announce some Invader."
"Why not Invader Zim?" Kazar spoke, shocking all of them.
"Me?" Zim's eyes narrowed, what was he playing at? Why wasn't he exposing him? Zim could have sworn that was the General's objective. So what had change?
"Yes, your reputation speaks for itself, and you were already on the planet's surface, the Tallest could easily spin it." Kazar reasoned.
"He may have a point, with the way things played out, it's conceivable. I mean it certainly looks like your work." Purple reasoned.
"My Tallest you want me to take credit for a conquest I had no part in." Zim bit his lip.
"It's better than giving the credit to an invader who is now dead!" Red scoffed. "We can't be having the enemy thinking they bested one of our finest invaders!"
No, no they could not.
"I understand my Tallest." Zim relented. He wasn't sure what the general was up to, but he knew a trap when he saw one.
"Then it's settled, we will publicly announce Zim as the conquer of Rhapsodize and put its fate in his hands."
'In my hands…' Zim straightened. "Rhapsodize and its moons are rich in resources we can mine them and use the populist as free labor."
"All while holding them hostage as bait for their young leaders." Kazar mused. "Not a bad way to turn around this disaster. I can see why you think so highly of him my Tallest." He sneered.
Zim suppressed a growl, oh he was up to something alright.
Not that the Tallest would notice, they were already busy chatting among themselves, discussing how to make the announcement. Excusing themselves from the room without even so much as a goodbye.
And just like that Zim was alone with Kazar…
"You shifted gears pretty quickly General." Zim said, not even trying to hide the fact that he knew something was up.
"I don't know what you mean." Kazar insisted.
"So you didn't find anything on Spleen's data drives?" Zim questioned.
"Let's say I did?" Kazar asked. "What would you do about it?"
"Well considering that you didn't rat me out, I'd say you plan to hold it against me." Zim hissed.
"You cost me my legacy." Kazar allowed his anger to fill his voice like venom.
"Well maybe he shouldn't have gotten in my way." Zim snapped. "What about you? Do you plan to get in my way?"
"I know what you are." Kazar admitted. "And I'll admit that I had every intention of revealing your true nature to our leaders."
"So what's stopping you?" Zim growled.
"I don't believe in wasting potential." Kazar spoke casually. "And it would be such a waste for the Tallest to have to find out that their most trusted Invader and friend is nothing but a worthless defect-"
"Just tell me your demands already." Zim snapped impatiently.
"You cost me my legacy" Kazar repeated. "It's only fair that you replace him."
"You want me to be your legacy? Why?" Zim challenged.
"The why, shouldn't matter to you." Kazar countered. "Think of it this way, you want to keep convincing them you're the perfect little Irken don't you?"
"Yes." Zim answered as if it was obvious, and it was.
"Then you can't afford to say no." Kazar continued. "Now, do we have a deal Zim?"
Zim growled at the general openly, Irk he hated him. So entitled, so full of himself; it made him sick. It was like looking at an older Spleen! Still, he had a point, he couldn't afford his secret getting out. Not when he had come so far, and sacrificed so much. "Fine, but I do things my way." He warned. "I'm not changing the way I run things to please your ego!"
Kazar chuckled at those words, the boy had no idea who his father was or how much of his personality he carried. He wondered how Tallest Myuki would feel about him if she knew whose genes he carried. Would she still have nurtured his growth had she known he was the clone of the very Irken she had killed?
"I look forward to our first lesson Invader Zim." Kazar spoke openly.
Zim could tell he was serious; he was actually looking forward to this. Like watching a defective struggle against the odds was the most amusing thing he had ever seen. "You would bet your legacy on a flawed product like me?" He challenged. "If I get busted it'll ruin your reputation forever, and you can kiss your precious legacy goodbye. Not very wise General."
"I'm not worried, after all I've not lost." Kazar bragged.
"Really? Because I'd count Spleen's death as a loss."
The jab was meant to cut deep, and it does. "Invader Spleen would have been a powerful general, even more so then me." Kazar hissed. "But you, you're going to be more than some lousy general."
"And what exactly do you think I will be?" Zim snapped.
"Tallest Zim, it has a nice ring to it. Don't you think?"
Zim shook his head, obviously doubting his words. "A defective as Tallest? Please you'll be lucky if I die with honor in battle."
"We'll see." Kazar chuckled. "I told you Zim I'm always right, and I never lose."
"We'll see." Zim vowed, still not convinced in the slightest, but Kazar was.
He now saw the course to his own victory; his legacy would be secured and it would be the greatest the universe had ever known.
-To Be Continued