Author's Notes: The next chapter is up, please enjoy!
(Back with Zim…)
The drive was a quiet one…
And both Zim and Dib were beginning to see that the silence had nothing to do with them.
"You don't talk much, do you?" Dib asked Darkbootie as they pulled into the parking lot of a familiar dark warehouse.
"No, I'm quite a recluse." Darkbootie admitted. "By the way we're here."
"The docks?" Dib was amazed. "The HQ is here?"
"Of course." Darkbootie said. "That's why I trained you here." He admitted. "Because it's close to home. This way."
They filed out of the car, and followed Darkbootie to Warehouse 13, once inside they went straight to the elevator.
"This doesn't look like a top-secret base." Zim admitted.
Darkbootie smiled. "Looks can be deceiving young Wolf-Spider." He said. He closed the elevator doors and pulled the number keypad out of the wall.
Dib and Zim watched in amazement as he turned it over to reveal a secret keypad on the opposite side. He then pushes a button labeled SB15.
"Sublevel 15?" Zim asked.
"Very good Wolf-Spider." Darkbootie praised, as the elevator started going down.
"So, it's underground?" Dib asked.
"Parts of it." Darkbootie admitted. "The rest is under the bay itself, and this isn't the only entry point either."
"Just how big is it?" Zim dared to ask.
"The whole city." Darkbootie answered.
"WH…what?" Dib stuttered. Did he hear right?
Zim wasn't even sure he heard right either, did he say the whole city?
"The base runs under the entire length and width of the city." Darkbootie confirmed their suspicions.
"Wow." Dib said.
Even Zim had to admit that it was impressive, these humans just kept surprising him. Finally, the doors opened to a large hallway.
"Come, the council wants to speak with you." Darkbootie said and froze as his watched beeps. "Actually, Moth-Man you're needed elsewhere."
"What?" Dib asked.
"There is someone here that has a lot to talk to you about." Darkbootie told him. "Someone who has a lot of explaining to do."
"Who?" Dib asked.
"Just follow this hallway, he'll be waiting for you in room 108." Darkbootie assured him. "And Dib?"
"Yes?" He asked.
"Don't be too hard on him." Darkbootie advised. "He did what he thought was right."
Dib wanted to press for more answers, but Darkbootie had already begun to guide Miz down a hall to the left. "Now you and I must see the council." He was telling Miz. "Together we will listen to the transmission and if it's the same one who hunted you then…You must tell us everything you can remember."
Zim nodded. "I will try." He assured him.
Dib took a deep breath, his heart hammering in his chest as he started down the hallway. Someone was here to see him, someone he knew. Someone who has a lot of explaining to do! But who?
Who did he know that would need to explain their actions to him? "Don't be too hard on him. He did what he thought was right."
Understanding entered his being as he stopped in front of room 108. He knew this feeling, the feeling of never quite measuring up.
He opened the door and was not surprised at what he saw.
"You big fat hypocrite!" he screamed at his father, who sat before a small table, it was obvious he had not been there long. "You knew about this place this whole time!"
"Dib please give him a chance to explain." Gaz said, appearing from behind their father.
"Oh of course you're here!" Dib snapped. "And of course, you are always on his side."
"Dib I can explain." Prof. Membrane said.
"Oh, you want to explain?" Dib scream. "Then explain this; why did you lie to me!"
"I did it to protect you!" Prof. Membrane shouted.
"Protect me from what?" Dib screamed.
"I was afraid you'd disappear, like your mother!" Prof. Membrane shouted.
Now it was Gaz who was angry. "You mean mom was a part of this stupid organization too!" She yelled.
"Yes." Prof. Membrane told her.
"They're the reason why she's gone and you're working with them!?" Gaz was disgusted.
"Please let me explain." Prof. Membrane begged.
"Gaz let him talk." Dib said, surprising them both.
"Dib I-" Prof. Membrane tried to meet his son's gaze but he couldn't.
"Just tell me what happened to Mom." He said. "We'll worry about the father and son talk later."
Prof. Membrane nodded, and with a shaky breath he began to weave the tale of what happened to Annabel all those years ago.
(Back with Zim…)
He had not been expecting to be with an audience so quickly.
Most soldiers, even the most experienced ones; would be nervous, or hesitant. However, Zim took it in strive this was nothing new to him. He was used to a fast pace; he was used to being this deep within enemy territory.
So, he was not afraid to find himself surrounded by several humans who all eagerly awaited to hear what he had to say. Instead, he met their gazes with fake admiration as Darkbootie addressed the council.
"My Fellow Swollen Eyeballs." He said. "With the help of Dib's previous transmission interceptions, I was able to intercept one of my own. And with it I have found out a haunting truth."
"What is it?" Mrs. Bitters asked.
"The enemy is sending one of their soldiers to silence us." Darkbootie answered.
"Only one?" a council member asked. "Is one really something to worry about?"
"Wolf-Spider?" Darkbootie asked.
"If it's the one I encountered then he is enough." Zim informed them. "I saw him take out several men single handedly. I couldn't trust anyone."
"Why not?" Mrs. Bitter asked.
"He had this tech that helped him appear human." Zim revealed.
Darkbootie was floored, so his theories were correct, aliens did have the means to spy on them while appearing to be human. "So, he could already be here?"
"It's possible." Zim admitted. "If they have the means to travel through space quickly."
"And you are sure it is the same one he dealt with?" Mrs. Bitters asked.
"No that's why he is here." Darkbootie said. "He is sure that he will remember the sound of his voice."
"Then play the transmission." Mrs. Bitters ordered.
Darkbootie pressed a button, and the transmission began to play.
"We cannot afford this…" A voice hisses.
"What shall you have me do?" another voice asked.
"Eliminate them…. Eliminate them all." A Third voice said. "And Zim?"
"Yes, My Tallest." The second voice called Zim asked.
"Do not fail us again." The first voice warned.
"I promise my Tallest." Zim swore. "This one will not get away from me."
Zim openly shivered, trying to come off of as fearful.
It works. Many give him heart felt looks. "Is that him child?" Mrs. Bitters asked.
Zim nodded "That's him. The one they called Zim."
"Are you sure?" Darkbootie asked.
"I could never forget his voice." Zim assured them.
"With that said do you still want to continue?" Mrs. Bitters asked.
Zim nodded. "He's after Dib now, and I promised to help him face this, to face him."
"So be it." Mrs. Bitters decided. "Darkbootie tell us about Annabel. What did she find?"
Darkbootie pulled up a projected image of the pictures found. "These were found on Annabelle's phone by her husband." He said.
Zim's eyes widen.
He knows these robotic squid like creatures, yes, he knows them far too well.
These squids or AI's (as they had been originally named) were an alien race of self-aware supercomputers who had been created by Irken scientist. They were created to fill the position that the control brains filled now, but unlike the brains the computers thought for themselves.
And the more they witnessed the destruction of their creators, the more they wanted to eliminate them. They saw Irkens as a disease that needed to be deleted. Zim's spooch skips a beat, the Irkens had been searching for these Squids ever since they escaped Irk.
But they could never find them, until now!
"A letter within Annabelle's field journal informs us that these robotic squid like creatures are from a home known only to her as Zoran. This particular one in the pictures calls herself Siri." Darkbootie went on.
Zim smiled, Zoran was an abandon planet just outside of the Whirlpool Galaxy, which had to be the home this Siri was referring to. Finally, he had something he could report to the Tallest, and not a moment too soon. Today his leaders would be expecting a call, and he could hardly wait to tell them. And for good reason.
"Siri as in the voice on your phone?" Mrs. Bitters asked.
"Not sure, knowing Annabel, she probably gave her that name." Darkbootie admitted. "However, that's not the amazing part." He says. "According to Annabelle's letter these Zorans created a weapon that they believe will destroy their greatest enemy known only to us as Irk."
A weapon!
Yes, the AIs threatened to make such a weapon before, one big enough to blow up their whole planet with one blast!
"Irk?" Mrs. Bitters asked.
"Yes, Membrane and I think this alien that Miz encountered, this Zim, and these Tallest. We believe they may be from this Irk." Darkbootie told her.
Zim smiled; these humans were much smarter than he thought. They had put the pieces together perfectly, of course he wasn't afraid of them knowing he was Irken, and that Irk was the enemy. No, he wanted his foes to know the name of the race they needed to curse when they lost everything, they held dear.
Everything was coming together perfectly. "And this weapon?" a council member asked.
"Annabelle states they hid the pieces here on Earth, a planet Irk was not aware of." Darkbootie stated.
"Until now." Mrs. Bitters said. "If you are right, and this Zim is of Irk then they are running out of time."
It is possible all the pieces are already found." Darkbootie said. "After all we haven't seen the flying orbs that they turn into since a few months after Annabelle's disappearance."
"Perhaps, but we must be sure." Mrs. Bitters said.
"Very well my team will search any documents we can find on flying orb sightings." Darkbootie answered.
"See that you do." Mrs. Bitters said. "And Wolf-Spider?"
"Yes?" Zim asked.
"If you, or Dib run into this Zim or anyone from Irk remember your training." She told him. "And report anything you hear or see."
"Yes ma'am." He stated.
"This meeting is adjourned." She said causing the council members to disband.
"Right, well we have our orders." Darkbootie said. "Let's go find Dib, shall we?"
Zim nodded. "Will we need to tell him?"
"No, his father is giving him the same spill right now." Darkbootie informed him.
"His father is here right now?" Zim asked.
"Yes, both Dib's parents are members of this organization. In fact, his mother was the one who discovered Siri." Darkbootie told him.
Zim was stunned. "Annabel is Dib's mom?"
Darkbootie nodded.
Zim winced, despite himself, he knew that Dib would not be in the best of moods once he found out his parents were secretly apart of this organization all along.
Especially his father.
But the truth was Zim didn't know the half of it!
To Be Continued