Invader Zim Fan Fiction ❯ Zims War ❯ A Brand New Title ( Chapter 7 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A Brand New Title

Zim woke up with his back against the work table, exactly the way he fell asleep. He stood up, and cracked his back. He noticed Mimi was asleep next to GIR on the work table. He couldn't have been sleeping that long, but he suspected it to have been an hour or two.

Walking to the bridge, he saw Tak sleeping with her head down on the console. He decided not to wake her, and just look around. Her ship was obviously home made, but it was still very well put together.

He walked toward a storage shelf where she had a few odds and ends of things lying around. Picking through it, Zim found an old holo-disk sitting under some junk. He picked it up and began to examine it.

“Why does this thing look so familiar?” He scratched his head, sifting through his memories. Fiddling with it: it came on, and there he saw a very old picture popped up. He gazed at the old hologram for a long time, holding it in disbelief.

It was a picture of them when they were in the academy. She was scowling, and Zim was smiling, while sitting next to her in the mess hall. It brought back some old funny memories. His flashback was cut short by the sound of a tapping finger.

Zim turned around to see Tak, with a questionably irritated look on her face, looking at him, wide awake and tapping her finger as if waiting for an explanation.

“Um…hey there.” Zim said in a kind of `cover up' manner.

“Hey yourself Zim. What do you think you're doing in my stuff?” She said getting up and walking closer. She wasn't mad, just in search of details. Zim turned all the way to face her now. He was still holding, the holo-disk. Immediately, her eyes locked on to it, and a look of apprehension was stuck on her face.

“Oh, just reminiscing…” Zim said to her, noticing her look of terror, while still looking at the 3d photo. “I can't believe you kept this, after all these years. I'm touched.” He joked to her with a smirk, now looking at her slightly reddened face.

“Zim! Give me that!” She shouted and started to run at him. He saw her, and began running in the other direction. She chased him around irritated but happy at the same time. Zim laughed and ran and teased her the whole time. Finally Tak released her spider legs and shot herself up into the air, falling and tackling Zim onto the ground.

They both laid there, side by side and laughing, until the giggles finally left them. Then they just sat in silence staring at the ceiling. Zim was the first to break the quiet.

“Tak?...I need to know something.” He said quietly.

“What?”

“You came back to Earth so you could kill me, didn't you?” He said without looking at her. Tak felt a lump swell up in her heart. She didn't answer the question. Zim waited for her answer, but when it became apparent she wouldn't respond, he continued.

“Just tell me…would you have gone through with it?” Zim asked her, still staring at the ceiling. Tak thought about the question for a long time.

“I don't know.” She finally admitted. Zim now turned his head to look at her. She didn't look at him though. There was another pause in the conversation.

“Zim…I don't want to think about what I would've done. I only want to think about what I'm going to do, if that makes any sense to you.” She chuckled slightly at he end, knowing how funny she must have sounded at the end. Zim stayed focused on her. Then she turned her head to face him, wearing a warm smile.

They both just stared into each others eyes for a long time.

beep! beep!

Taks wrist went off.

“What's that?” Zim broke the eye contact to find the source of the beeping.

“Oh! I forgot! I was gonna wake you up so we could watch the dimension transfer.” She told him.

“Really? Well thank you, I missed it the first time I passed through it; thanks to GIR and his…singing.” Zim said sitting up. Tak chuckled.

“Your welcome. I've seen it before, and it does look amazing. I figured you would like to see it.

(Dimension Transfer- Traveling between one of the three dimensions of space. It has an effect in my story.)

Tak pressed a button on her wrist and the metal on the side of her ship scaled to the side revealing a large window. The two watched out of the front and the side as everything turned red, then blue, then yellow. The colors were bright and vibrant. Soon they ensnared the vessel, moving around it in a multitude of strange ways with no set pattern.

“This is…beautiful…” Zim spoke slowly, walking to Taks side.

“It sure is.” Tak agreed. They watched the spectacle for ten minutes before it was over.

“Well…I feel kind of tired.” Zim yawned. Tak walked over to a storage door and pulled out two sleeping bags, throwing him one.

“Go ahead and sleep. We've got a long trip ahead of us.” She told him.

_____

“Hey Zim, wake up…Heelllooo.” Tak raised her voice into Zims antennae. Zim stirred a little, and his eyes started to open up slightly. He looked up to see Tak staring down at him.

“Morning fat head…” She spoke in a joking manner. “You slept, pretty much the whole way to the base.” She told him, trying to give insight on his current predicament while he was in this dazed state of mind.

“Ohh, we're already there?” Zim asked rubbing his eyes, now a little more awake.

“What do you mean already? You were asleep for a while now.” Tak told him.

“Really? Wow! I had no idea…What about you, did you sleep at all?” Zim asked her. Tak just shrugged, and walked off. Zim got up and followed. “So we made it to the base of these so called Allies.” Zim asked.

“Yes, we have. And to be honest, I don't completely trust their words of treason against the Empire.” Tak admitted to him. Zim smirked at this.

“You too huh?” He said. “Did you program Mimi to…” He was cut off as Tak finished his sentence.

“...gather information on this…group, and decide if we should turn them in?…Yes I did.” Tak looked back at Zim, who was now grinning evilly. She joined him in this moment of pure, devilish, betrayal with an evil smile of her own.

“Hehe, it is rather funny…how we both are probably going to hell.” Zim said sarcastically.

“Yeah…it's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.” Tak responded with a laugh.

“Well, lets get going. That base isn't going to infiltrate itself.” Zim said. Tak nodded.

“Sure, just let me go wake up the robots.” She told him.

“Okay. I'll go greet the welcoming party that seems to be walking up to your ship.” Zim told her. Tak nodded, and walked to the back. Zim turned the other way and opened the door on the side of her ship to get out.

“OUCH!! What the Fuck!”

He was immediately met with a shocky stick colliding with his stomach.

“WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU!” Zim wailed through the bursts of fluctuating pain in his stomach.

“Halt!…” Said the Irken in front. “…Friend or foe?” He asked.

“Are You Kidding Me!...OWW!” Zim yelled up at him and he was then shocked again on his back.

“I'm On Your Side You Brain Dead Space Monkeys!!” Zim to shouted now. The Irken in front backed off for a second and started whispering to his group…

“Should we believe him?”

“I don't know.”

“C'mon you tell me.”

“Well you're the leader.”

“Oh, I suppose your right.” The Irken who shocked Zim turned back to find him beginning to stand already.

“Wow!.. Your will is very strong indeed, to be standing after two shocks like that.” He said to the now furious Zim, who was panting slightly and shooting a death glare.

“Hmm…hey boss, I don't like the way this guy looks. He's all…scary-like. Better shock'm again.” One of the cronies said.

“Yeah I see what you mean.” The leader responded and the quickly thrust the shock-stick at Zim, but he saw it coming and reacted by dodging it, grabbing the end right behind the electric charge, and breaking it off. He then kicked the leader in the stomach causing him to open his mouth in a pain filled yell. Zim took the, violently pulsing, end off the shock stick and threw it into the Irkens mouth, who soon after, went into convulsions on the ground.

“Now then, who else wants to try me?...Huh!” Zim said standing over the body of the defeated leader. The other Irkens backed away and stared at him in horror.

“Good…now maybe I can explain myself a little better.” Zim said, standing up straight. But before he got the chance, he was interrupted by Tak who had just showed up with Mimi and GIR.

“ZIM! What The Hell Did You Do?!” She yelled at him. He turned his head to face her.

“Hey don't look at me! He attacked first.” He clued her in, but then turned his attention back to the group of people in front of him. “This was self defense against a stupid, punkish, jerk. In fact, This Whole Group of Irkens Is a Disgrace! They're nothing but a bunch of thugs!” Zim yelled at them. They all turned around and ran off.

“Zim! Seriously now, our mission is to infiltrate. Not destroy the base before the armada can get here.” Tak said now standing beside him.

“Well, like I said, this was self defense.” Zim said sounding triumphant, but then grabbed his stomach were the shock stick originally hit him. Tak noticed his look of pain.

“Are you hurt?” She asked, sounding a little concerned.

“No, no…I'll be fine.” He reassured her. “But thanks for worrying.” Zim said with a snicker, and a friendly smile. Tak blushed, at this.

“I…umm…I just didn't want to have to work with someone who happened to be injured; that's all.” Tak quickly replied. Zim was still smiling, but looking forward now.

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” He said, mockingly. “Lets get to that base; shall we.” He changed the subject. Tak nodded and the four of them proceeded to the structure. The trip wasn't complete without GIRs, melodic interjections of…

“Taky and Zimy,

Sittin in a tree!,

K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“What's he saying?” Tak asked. Zim just shook his head and replied...

“I have no idea, some Earth thing.” They soon reached the front gate to the base, which looked like crap pretty much. It was an old satellite which had been hollowed out and given some life support features. Also at the front gate however was the group of thugs who attacked Zim earlier. The gate began to open, and a familiar figure stepped out. The group ran to him.

“Commander Skooge! That Crazy Guy Over There Attacked Us! And I Think He Killed Splorg! (pronounced the way it sounds) Skooge observed the scene, ignoring the men at his side, before turned his attention to Zim and Tak with a little smile.

“Well you finally made it huh?” Skooge said. Tak nodded in reply. “And Zim, I see you had no problem making yourself at home.” Zim smirked.

“Yeah, the trip wasn't bad. But what's with the Riff-Raff you got guarding the front?” Zim asked.

“Well, we are short on men. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.” Skooge replied. “Please come inside. I will take you to Tenn.” Skooge told them. So they followed him into this base, leaving the guards in a state of pure speechlessness.

Zim and Tak both were expecting this place to be small, in shambles, and have a very little population…Oh how wrong they were. The Base was complete, and well built. Machine gun turrets guarded the front gate. It was filled with the latest technology, and displayed the finest type of modern Irken engineering. The halls were filled to the brim with, Members of their race who were deemed Defective. The whole picture caught the gang completely off guard.

“Skooge? How long has this whole Defective Execution thing been going on?” Tak asked, trying to sound curious and not surprised.

“Ohhh, about 3 years.” He told her nonchalantly. Tak and Zim were blown away by this.

“Impressive what we can build in such a short period of time, isn't it?” Skooge told them. They couldn't help but to nod, jaw dropped. As they walked through the halls, they past by many medical rooms. All of them were filled to the brim with very injured people.

“Hey Skooge, why are your hospitals so packed here?” Zim asked him. Skooge looked at the floor, and didn't say anything for a while.

“We've rescued a lot of our people from the executions. Some however, weren't so lucky. Most of these Irkens were picked up from… the Piles.” Skooge almost lost his cool for a second, but quickly regained his composure.

“The, Piles?” Tak said inquisitively.

“Huge, m-mounds of Irken bodies. Most of them die during the procedures on Conventi-uh, but some live, and are thrown into the Piles with the rest of the dead, to starve, or be eaten.” Skooge was almost crying now. Again he just sucked it all back up and pressed on.

“Were here. Tenn will be right down that hallway.” Skooge pointed down a long tall hall, lined with cameras and mounted laser turrets, on his left. “I need to go take care of other issues in the base, so when you finish talking to Tenn, ask invader Slax to escort you to your quarters. That is, if you choose to stay.” He lowered his hand and walked away.

Tak looked at Zim, with concernment in her expression. He gave her the same look, and then their gazes just fell to the floor. And for a while they sat there. Zim finally broke the silence.

“You know, I remember learning one thing, about Earths history in that cursed Earth Skool.” Zim said. Tak peered up at him for a second, and then looked back at the ground. Zim continued on.

“A very evil man, started to take over many nations. He believed in a pure race, with no loose ends, everyone exactly the same. And if you didn't look like he wanted you to, you were to be killed. This man single handedly caused the deaths of millions. The humans had a name for a great purging of life like this. I think, they called it…The Holocaust…” Zim finished and looked back down at the ground. They sat in silence again, until Zim spoke once more.

“I can't go through with it.” He said. Tak looked back up at him. She knew he was talking about the mission.

“Me neither… Skooge couldn't have been lying about all of the injured Irkens; could he?” Tak asked with a frown. Zim shook his head and looked forward, down the hall.

“I say, that we join them. And fight for their cause.” Zim said regaining buoyancy over his emotions. Tak nodded, and they both walked down the hall into Tenns chamber for briefing.

The room at the end of the hall was huge, and full of computer screens. Seated in it were many Irken military figures. Zim was looking around for Tenn. He spotted her immediately. She was tall now, very tall, taller than Zim with GIR on his shoulders. She wore a blue garb with pink adornments on it. They all walked up to her hesitantly. Slax was standing by her side.

“Umm…Tenn?” Zim tried to get her attention. She turned around and gave a confused look.

“Uh…you should know civilians aren't allowed back here.” She said to the group.

“It's me, Zim. Remember from the great assigning?” He tried to remind her.

“Oh, Zim. Wow, it's been a while hasn't it?” She gave a smile. “Slax here has already informed me of the…incident at the hotel, and we have sent a tow vehicle to recover your ship for repairs. Oh and Tak! You're here too, this is good. Do you two plan on staying and helping out?” Tenn asked them.

Zim and Tak looked at each-other and then back at Tenn, and spoke in unison…

“Yes, we do.” They answered, with confidence in their voices.

“I am overjoyed to hear this. We are short handed on military personnel. Slax organizes our training program. Unfortunately, these people here just aren't cut out for any armed force occupations.” Tenn told the group.

“Any help we can give to aid our people would be our pleasure. Thank you for recruiting us.” Tak said, and she and Zim both bowed their heads to her as a sign of allegiance. Tenn looked rather surprised at this, and quickly reached her hands down to either Irken in front of her and picked their heads up.

As Zim and Tak looked up, they saw Tenn was smiling.

“Please…you don't have to do that.” She told them, and then she bowed before them instead. Everyone was surprised at this. Tenn straightened up, and began to speak.

“If there is any one who needs to be thanked, it's the ones who volunteer for work against the Empire. That takes true spirit, to turn your back on the only form of existence you have ever known, even if it is corrupt. So this is your last chance, having heard this, do you still want to stay and fight? If you choose The Empire over us, than we will not stop you from leaving.” She spoke sternly to them both.

Zim looked at his uniform. It bared the symbol of the Irken Empire. His whole life had been for one purpose only, and that was to serve the Empire willingly and without hesitation. His loyalty to the Tallest ran deep and was unquestionable. But how far did his leaders loyalty run with him?

Zim grabbed the symbol and tore it from his outfit, throwing it to the ground. Tak saw this and without delay followed his actions. Tenn smiled again and began to speak once more.

“I hear-by, dub you Generals, in the Army of the Free Irken Citizens…” Tenn said to them. Zim and Tak were speechless. The whole room stopped what they where doing and applauded. Skooge had come in a little earlier, unnoticed, and walked up behind Zim, placing his hand on his shoulder.

“Congratulations…Sir” Skooge told him. He then turned to face Tak. “And congratulations to you too, Ma'am.” Skooge than walked up to the other side of Tenn (that Slax was not standing on) and waited for her to give the commands. Tenn spoke loud enough for everyone to hear her.

“Attention!” everyone stood up straight.

“Salute!” And they all threw a punch into the air with their right hand, above their heads, like everyone just beat a new video game, which was accompanied by a loud battle cry… “HOORAH!”

Tak and Zim saw this, and saluted back to them, with a punch and a “HOORAH” of their own. Even the robots joined in.

Meanwhile, on Conventi-uh…

“My Tallest…” Said the Irken General from the drafting hologram. “…We have just arranged safe transport from the Massive to your palace on Irk.” He said.

“Thank you General Dween” Tallest Red commemorated.

“As your reward for proving so…useful, sense this war started, you shall be placed in charge of the Massive in our short absence.” Purple finished.

“Thank you my Tallest, I will not let you down.” Dween responded.

“I would hope not General.” Purple told him.

“Lest you end up like the rest of the Defectives on this disgusting planet.” Red finished this time.

“You can count on me Sirs.” Dween said with confidence, bowing his head as they floated past him.

“Good” they both stated at the same time, and walked out to their transport.

End of Chapter 7