A/N: Hello, one and all, boys and girls, carbon-based and digital lifeforms. Welcome, at long last, to the long awaited premiere of Season 2 of The New Adventures of Invader Zim! Yaaaayyy!

Seriously, though, welcome back to this new edition in what I've come to think of as the magnum opus of my fanfic writing. This series has been the most detailed, exciting, fun, and — by far — most popular IZ project I've ever worked on. I can only hope this new season continues to live up to the hype that started in Season 1.

Oh, and before we start, I'd like to make a few acknowledgements. Aside from all you awesome people who take the time to read, review, follow and fave my work, I'd also like to extend special thanks to the ever reliable Eduard Kassel, for always being willing to be a springboard and helping me shape my ideas; CMR Rosa, for commissioning for me some amazing fan art of Norlock, Steve and Viera (which can all be viewed on the character page of this story's TV Tropes page, or on Amethyst Ocean's DA page); and nightmaster000 for offering me the use of a couple of great OCs (whom you'll meet shortly). You are all wonderful people.

Okay, with the mushy stuff out of the way, let's get this party started!

Last season, on The New Adventures of Invader Zim: A spaceship dogfight between Zim and Dib led them to meeting the vampire Norlock, who took a liking to Zim and allied with him. Shortly after, Tak returned to Earth, to finally prove herself as a true Invader (and totally-definitely not for revenge on Zim. Honest). In response to this increased threat level, Dib turned to the Swollen Eyeballs for help, who eventually responded by sending him new partners, the twins Steve and Viera; after a rough start, the trio became a solid team, calling themselves Team Save Earth.

The discovery by Team Save Earth and both Irken factions of a Meekrob ship on Earth, which crashed carrying a mysterious cargo, caused the Tallest to have Invader Tenn investigate. Learning of the existence of a long-lost superweapon called Project Domination, she was dispatched to Earth with a data crystal containing the transponder codes to find it. However, shortly after her arrival and alliance with Tak, the crystal was shattered into pieces, which all three groups fought for control of. Zim eventually recombined the crystal, only for the panicked Tallest to reveal the truth of his "mission" to prevent him from gaining possession of the weapon. And while initially giving into depression, at Norlock's prodding Zim turned to rage and rebelled against the Tallest, intending to build his own empire.

Things eventually came to a head at Project Domination's resting place in Siberia, where Norlock betrayed Zim and tried to take the weapon for himself. Thanks to the combined efforts of the three teams, Norlock was killed and the weapon destroyed. Afterwards, all but Tak and Dib wrote Zim off as no longer a threat on his own, even as he began recruiting for his rebellion in the guise of the masked figure "Miz".

But what's past is prologue, and now a new chapter begins…

Disclaimer: Even after the success of Season 1 of this story, I still don't own Invader Zim. I only own the OCs, except for Senior (who belongs to SaintHeartwing) and Nyx and Ying (who belong to nightmaster000).

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Zim'sMostLoyalServant Proudly Presents:

The New Adventures of Invader Zim

Season 2

Episode 1: New Doom, Same as the Old Doom

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It was a new, bright and sunny day in Doomsville. At the Membrane household, Dib and Gaz were seated at the kitchen table, idly eating breakfast while focused on other matters. Gaz, of course, was tapping away on her Game Slave, while Dib was writing in a journal, jotting down notes on his latest fight.

It had been a relatively quiet couple of months since the fight in Siberia. Oh, sure, there had been the hypnotic weenie incident, and the flock of rabid seagulls, and the sentient mutant zucchini monster. But compared to the chaotic period when Norlock had been egging on Zim's conquest attempts, it had all been relatively tame. And that, right there, was the crux of what had Dib's current obsessive focus.

All the recent monster attacks and world takeover plots had been carried out by Tak and Tenn. Sure, Zim had usually shown up, to defy his rivals' attempts, flinging insults all the while, but he himself hadn't actually enacted any plans of his own lately. In fact, according to Dib's surveillance cameras, aside from attending skool to keep up appearances, Zim hadn't even left his house recently. And him laying low for a long period was never a good sign.

"What is Zim up to?" Dib mused out loud, lightly tapping his pencil against the journal, "He's had months to put something together, but it's like he's just reacting instead of acting. He has to be planning something, but what?"

"I don't care. Shut up," Gaz responded, not looking up from her game or her cereal.

"Gaz, this is serious!" Dib exclaimed, waving around his pencil for emphasis, "Zim doesn't just sit around doing nothing. And Norlock might be gone, but he still taught Zim plenty to make him even more dangerous than he ever was."

"That's not saying much," Gaz replied dryly, "Besides, you ever think maybe he just finally grew a brain and realized that without a badass vampire or a superweapon he can't win, and just gave up?"

"Now you just sound like Steve and Viera," Dib said, rolling his eyes. That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, as it elicited a glare from his sister.

"Don't ever compare me to your bitch girlfriend," she growled. Dib, who had just started to drink some of his orange juice, promptly spat it out in an impressive spray; fortunately for his health, none of it hit Gaz.

"Wha- she is not my girlfriend!" he practically yelled, cheeks flushing brightly.

"Whatever," Gaz snorted, slight amusement at Dib's reaction nullifying her anger at his comparing her to her hated nemesis. Downing the last of her cereal, she got up from the table to dump the bowl in the sink for the auto-cleaner to handle, and then left the room. Dib meanwhile, glowered after her in embarrassed anger for a moment, before huffing in annoyance and shaking his head to return himself to his original train of thought.

Despite Gaz's sarcastic dismissals, and his friends' more understanding yet naive views, he knew Zim would never just throw in the towel just because he'd lost an asset. He'd regroup, start over from scratch if necessary, and then come back swinging hard. And after everything Norlock had taught him, Dib was extremely worried about just what he'd be swinging with.

Still, he was at least willing to admit that there was nothing he could do about it right now. In the meantime, he'd just continue on as he had been, dealing with Tak and Tenn's newest plans as they came and staying alert for when Zim made his move.

That course of action settled on, Dib finished up his breakfast and set about getting ready for skool.

The Massive, Same Time

Onboard the bridge of the Armada flagship, the Tallest were reclining on their thrones, sipping sodas as they looked to the main screen, which was currently displaying the main control room of Tak and Tenn's base. The pair in question were standing in front of a object the size of a double-decker bus, which was currently covered by a large tarp. MIMI stood off to the side, apparently waiting to pull the tarp off.

"So, what brilliant new plan have you two come up with this week?" Red asked dryly, the females both wincing slightly at the unspoken accusation in those words. However, they braced themselves and carried on with their presentation.

"My Tallest," Tak spoke first, "While I admit that our efforts to conquer this primitive planet have been… less than optimal, they have been informative."

"Of what? That your plans fail almost as often as Zim's used to?" Purple asked. Tak's eyes visibly twitched at that, and her mouth twisted into a snarl, but before she could instinctively spit out something she might end up regretting, Tenn quickly stepped in.

"What we've learned, my Tallest, is that overt attempts to outright seize control of the planet won't work on a small scale," she said, "It leaves too much room for enemy forces to move in and counteract them before they can be fully effective."

"And by 'enemy forces', I'm assuming you're referring to those human smeets and Zim's little traitor group?" Red asked, "Still not very impressed that you haven't managed to deal with any of them yet."

"You're highly underestimating how effective the humans are, for all their lack of training, my Tallest," Tenn protested as politely as she could, "And Zim… well, we all know how disruptive he is even when he isn't actively malicious, like he's being with us."

"Good point," Purple admitted, "Though I still can't believe he hasn't given up on that ridiculous rebellion idea and come crawling back to us."

"He's far too egotistical to ever do that, my Tallest," Tak spoke up, having regained her composure, "Regardless, if I may return to what Tenn was saying? We've realized that we have two real options for operations going forward — either work slowly and more subtly, or go all out in the biggest way we can. And that's what we've done!"

With that, Tak waved to MIMI, who responded by pulling back on the tarp, which fell away to reveal what looked like a giant turbine engine.

"Behold, the Pan-Chemical Global Conversion Engine!" Tak said, "Once activated, it will release a planet-wide transfiguration wave, which will cause the chemical composition of all targeted liquids to transform into whatever we wish!"

"In this case, that means turning all the water on Earth into caramel sugar," Tenn elaborated, "That much acidy sugar will melt all life on the planet, leaving it ripe for the Armada to move in and take over."

"Plus, it'll effectively turn the entire planet into one big piece of candy," Tak added, "It's not the same as the giant snack container I originally promised you when I first came here, my Tallest, but I think it's the next best thing."

"Oooh, okay, now that's pretty awesome!" Purple said, rubbing his hands together excitedly and causing the pair of Invaders to preen.

"Meh, it's okay," Red commented, instantly deflating the pair and causing Purple to glare at him.

"'Okay'?" he echoed, "It's not 'okay', it's incredible! They're going to turn a whole planet into candy! You're just being a jerk about it because you don't like caramel!"

"That has nothing to do with it," Red replied, getting annoyed, "And for the trillionth time, it's pronounced car-a-mel, not car-mel, you idiot!"

"Is not! The 'a' is silent, like the 'k' in knife!" Purple protested.

"No it isn't!"

"Yes it is!"

"No it isn't!"

"Yes it is!"

"…Uh, my Tallest?" Tenn hesitantly spoke up, trying to get their attention, while next to her Tak was face-palming at the display.

"I wouldn't bother. This little pronunciation debate's been going on for years, it's not stopping any time soon," Senior commented from his console, smirking in mild amusement.

SCREECH!

And then he and all the other communications officers were wincing in pain, clutching at their cranial implants, which were suddenly giving off squeals of feedback. Seconds later, every screen on the bridge went to static for a moment, before they resolved into the same image — the Irken letters for N, I, and O, stylized to form a rough triangle, in black on a red field. For a moment nothing else happened, and then with a flicker of static a figure appeared in front of that banner, the by-now familiar cloaked-and-masked person known as "Miz".

"My fellow Irkens, this is Miz speaking," Miz said in his digitally-altered voice.

"Ugh, this guy again?" Purple muttered.

"Quiet!" Red shushed his partner, while glaring at the screen.

"Today, I wish to talk to you about the hoarding and waste of resources by our so-called 'Almighty' Tallest," Miz said, "Are you all aware that the Massive alone contains enough snack supplies to provide every Irken on an average Imperial planet a full day's worth of meals, for an entire year? And that there are countless more supply depots just like it across the Empire? And yet, all that food is stored and locked away, to only be used by the Tallest themselves and any Elites whom they deign 'worthy'. Meanwhile, across the Empire — even onboard the Massive itself — non-Elites have to scrape by every day just to avoid starvation."

"That's why it's called being 'Elite'! You get perks!" Purple protested.

"You know he can't hear you, right?" Red asked dryly, causing Purple to stick his tongue out at him.

"But it need not be this way, my brothers and sisters," Miz continued, "When the New Irken Order rises, all Irkens will be able to partake in the benefits and privileges of our race's natural dominance of the universe. We will all feast like never before, and never again worry about our hard-earned food being taken out of our mouths by those who have done nothing to deserve it.

"And we can achieve this dream, my brethren! We need only to work together. Rise up and fight! Bring the Tallest and their corrupt system to their knees! And when it all comes crumbling down, we shall build our united, glorious paradise in its place! Love live the New Order!"

With that final cry, Miz spread his arms wide in an embracing gesture. Then, with another burst of static, the screens all reverted back to what they'd been before, the main one once again displaying Tak and Tenn; judging by the looks on their faces, they'd been watching the broadcast as well.

"You know, for those first few broadcasts, the novelty of the situation was almost amusing," Red commented, an undercurrent of controlled anger in his voice, "But I do believe I'm getting to the point where this guy's blatant treason is just ticking me off."

"Yeah, why can't you guys do your job and block him?" Purple demanded of the communications officers, who were still rubbing their heads, "Or at least tell us where he's broadcasting from?"

"We're tried, my Tallest," Senior responded, "But from what we can tell, he's using a signal blaster to simulcast his transmissions across every frequency and scramble its origin signal. Combined with how short his broadcasts are, limiting our window of opportunity to analyze them, we just can't backtrace them to their source."

"Hmph," Red snorted, scowling, "Well, I hate to admit it, but despite being a traitor he's clever, whoever he is."

"Whoever he is?" Tak echoed incredulously, reminding everyone she and Tenn were still on the screen, "My Tallest, I would think it's pretty obvious that this is Zim's doing."

"Here we go again," Tenn muttered, pinching the space between her eyes.

"What makes you think that?" Purple asked, narrowing an eye in confusion.

"First Zim goes rogue and starts rebelling against the Empire, and then this 'Miz' figure shows up shortly afterwards preaching the same thing? That's too much of a coincidence to actually be a coincidence," Tak explained, before throwing her arms up in exasperation, "Not to mention the fact that Miz is Zim spelled backwards! How much more obvious could it be than that?!"

"Mind your tone, Invader," Red said sternly, Tak wincing and bowing respectfully in response, "As for what you're saying… no way. Zim's stupid, but he's not stupid enough to use such an obvious alias. If for no other reason than he's also an egotist who'd want people to know he's doing this."

"Besides, Zim's annoying," Purple added, "This Miz guy's kinda cool. Still a traitor, but cool."

"That too," Red reluctantly admitted, "So, yeah, it's definitely not Zim, no matter what your revenge obsession is telling you."

"I am not obsessed-!" Tak sputtered, only to be cut off by Tenn slapping a hand over her mouth.

"To get this conversation back on track, my Tallest," she said quickly, "The Conversion Engine should be fully operational within the next few days, at which point we'll be ready to proceed with the plan."

"Good. Report back afterwards," Red said dismissively, gesturing to Senior to end the transmission. After the green-eyed communications officer did so, he turned to the Tallest with an arched antenna.

"Just out of curiosity, my Tallest, what is being done about this Miz situation?" he asked, "Aside from making us try to track down his broadcasts, I mean."

"Meh, we have the Consulars looking into it," Red said, waving a hand lazily, while next to him Purple gave a brief shudder.

"Did we have to get those guys involved?" he asked, "They're so creepy."

"They're a secret police organization, Pur, they're supposed to be creepy," Red replied with an eye roll, "More importantly, they'll route out Miz wherever he's hiding, and then we kill him for his sedition."

"What about anyone who might, you know, actually be listening to him?" Senior asked, receiving snorts in response.

"Yeah right, like anyone would listen to his nonsense," Red chuckled.

"Yeah," Purple agreed, while tossing his empty soda can at a nearby Table-Headed Service Drone's head, "Now someone go get me some of those snacks we've been 'hoarding and wasting'!"

As both Tallest burst into laughter, they failed to notice the Service Drone — and several others on the bridge — glowering at them. Nor did they realize that those same glaring eyes had previously been watching Miz's broadcast with very rapt attention…

Planet Slumia, Two Days Later

Planet Slumia was like many worlds in the Irken Empire not directly connected to its military/political hierarchy. That is to say, it was overcrowded and underfunded, as large swaths of the Empire's civilian population was dumped here to keep them out of the way, then virtually ignored as most focus and money went to Irk, its core colonies, and the Armada. As such, planets like Slumia were covered in mega-cities which were left to decay under the weight of their own overburdened infrastructures.

Which wasn't to say that the Empire completely ignored Slumia's existence. It was the site of many major snack production plants, which aided in the process of keeping the Massive and the rest of the Armada well stocked. These factories churned out metric tons of snacks, which were then transported by convoy to nearby spaceports, where they were then shipped off to the Armada. It was the only aspect of life on the planet that the Empire bothered to acknowledge the existence of.

One such convoy was currently making its trip across Slumia's primary city, a pair of tank-like armored hover-trucks zooming down the street, flanked in front and behind by two pairs of Irken soldiers on hover-bikes. It was a routine assignment for all involved, one they'd each carried out dozens of times without anything happening outside the established perimeters.

As such, one can imagine their surprise when a bag came flying out of a nearby alley just after the lead guards flew by. It landed on the street in front of the first truck, and before the driver could fully register it, the truck passed over it. Caught up in the magnetic backwash of its hover-tracks, the bag was pulled up and attached to the undercarriage of the truck…

BOOM!

…and promptly exploded, with enough force that the truck was flipped up into a vertical position. Unable to react in time, the second truck slammed into the first with a crunch of metal. Now practically a conjoined object, the trucks skidded across the street, coming to a crash in the side of a nearby dilapidated building.

This all happened within seconds. By the time it was done, the rear guards had come to a screeching halt, while the front guards had pulled quick u-turns in order to see what had just happened.

"What the flirk?" one of the lead guards, the head of the escort, exclaimed in shock. He was about to start giving emergency orders when a sudden shout cut him off.

"Long live the New Order!"

With that battlecry, dozens of Irkens dressed like Miz — albeit in ratty cloaks and cheap plastic masks — came pouring out into the streets from the surrounding alleyways. The surprised and confused guards barely had a chance to even pull their blasters out of their holsters before the attacking mob swarmed over them. They managed to fire off a few shots, before being dragged off their bikes and disappearing beneath a virtual sea of fists, clubs, and other blunt objects.

While part of the mob assaulted the guards, the rest set about attacking the crashed trucks, to force them open and get at the precious snacks locked inside. All except for one, who stood out for oddity — while the others were running around in a mad flurry of action, this one was casually strolling through the chaos. In fact, if one listened carefully, they could even hear that this person was whistling cheerfully, as if they were in the middle of a park, not a riot.

Reaching the trucks, the masked figure didn't join in with the group that was using a plasma blowtorch to cut an opening into it. Instead, they pulled out a spray paint can, and set to work graffitiing the side of the truck. By the time the others had put a hole in the side of the truck, running inside to start grabbing every box and bag they could, the side of the truck was covered in NIO symbols and the messages "Long Live The New Order!" and "Miz Rules!", among other things.

While the graffiti artist was admiring their work, sirens started sounding in the distance.

"Security reinforcements!" one of the rioters yelled, "Run for it!"

The rioters, both those who had been focusing on the downed guards and those who had been raiding the trucks, scattered in a dozen different directions in panic. The graffiti tagger was, once again, the lone exception. Instead, just as casually as before, they grabbed a supply box that had been dropped in the chaos and walked over to a nearby manhole cover. Reaching it, PAK legs emerged from under their cloak to pry it loose, hold it in the air for a moment, and then lower it back into place as the figure dropped into the manhole itself, disappearing from view just before the security mechs arrived on the scene.

Now in the sewer, the figure walked down the tunnel they were in for several minutes, before stopping and placing a hand against a random spot on the wall. It lit up, hidden mechanisms running a thorough scan of the figure, before the color of the light shifted and a chime sounded.

"Welcome back, Mistress Nyx," an automated voice spoke up, as a portion of the wall slid open, creating a doorway.

"I really need to reprogram it to ditch the 'Mistress' part," the figure now identified as Nyx murmured to herself. Walking through the doorway, she emerged into a mid-sized semi-circular room, several doors to other rooms ringing the wall. Most of one side was dominated by a bank of computer monitors and keyboards, a rolling chair parked in front of them, while the rest of the room contained only a pair of couches and a large table, which was covered with random junk which, rather oddly, was quite neatly stacked.

Walking over to the table, Nyx placed the supply box down, before removing her mask and cloak, revealing herself to be a female Irken. She was just over four feet tall, with an emerald skin tone and purple eyes, wearing a dark purple jumpsuit, and black boots and gloves, both of which had white trim on their edges. And, most shocking to anyone who might have seen her, her PAK looked slightly scorched, and its nodes were a dull grey instead of an active pink.

"Ying! I'm back!" she called out, as she tossed her discarded disguise aside.

"Welcome home, Madame," a voice with what a human would call an upper-class British accent responded, as a black SIR Unit with dark purple eyes and panels emerged from the kitchen. His was holding up a silver tray with a can of soda on it with one hand, while the other arm was held out horizontally in front of his chest, a towel draped over it.

"I take it the operation was a success?" Ying asked as he reached Nyx, holding the tray out to her.

"Yep," Nyx said happily, pulling Ying's head against her chest in a quick hug before snagging the soda, "A few more military drones taken out of commission, tons of snacks liberated for the people, including a decent resupply for us, and I've confirmed that my new bomb design works perfectly. Overall, it's been a good night."

"I'm pleased to hear that," Ying said, while cables extended from his head to grab the Miz costume, folding the cloak carefully before setting it and the mask neatly off to the side of the table, "Especially considering how quickly tonight's events were organized in a single Dark Irk-Net chatroom."

"Never underestimate the power of the angry masses," Nyx replied in-between sips of soda, "Especially when it's allowed to brew in places where the Control Brains can't see. Miz stirred everything up, I just lit the match for the kindling."

Ignoring the somewhat mixed metaphor, Ying instead chose to redirect the conversation, gesturing towards the computers, "Speaking of business conducted under the Control Brains' nonexistent noses, Madame, there was a message from one of your black market contacts while you were out. It's marked as important business."

Arching an antenna in surprise at that, Nyx handed the soda back to Ying and walked over to the computers. Sitting down, she typed away at the main keyboard and brought the message up on the primary monitor. It was text only, with a single file attached to it. Eyes widening as she read the message, she quickly opened the file to confirm it contained what the message said it did, and when she did, a wide grin split her face.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, fist pumping in excitement, "Finally! It took forever to find, Ying, but there it is! My ticket into the big leagues!"

"Shall I prep the ship for departure, then?" Ying asked.

"As quick as possible," Nyx said, downloading the file onto a data chip, while activating the other screens to all bring up images of a certain specific Irken.

"We're heading to Earth!"

Zim's Base, A Few Hours Later

Skoodge emerged from the toilet elevator, holding a datapad and feeling pretty cheerful. Looking around, he saw Zim sitting at the kitchen table, scowling and pushing around forkfuls of mush on his plate, while Minimoose floating nearby, watching GIR stir a bowl of… something oddly colored that Skoodge couldn't identify. He was pretty sure he didn't want to.

Ignoring the bad mood Zim was apparently in (how was that different from normal, after all?), Skoodge walked over to him, smiling widely.

"Hey Zim, great news!" he said, "I was scanning through the Irk-Net forums — well, the Dark Irk-Net, anyway. No one's going to risk saying anything positive on the monitored forums… anyway, the latest Miz broadcast has been a huge hit. And we're finally seeing results! A ton of people are talking about staging riots to steal food from the military, and it sounds like most of them have been successful."

"Wonderful," Zim said dryly, mood not lightening in the slightest, to Skoodge's confusion.

"Uh, you okay? I thought you'd be more excited about this," he commented, "I mean, I've had my doubts about this whole rebellion thing, but so far it's going pretty good."

"Yes, yes, it's going fine out there, but what about here on Earth?!" Zim shouted, jumping up from his seat to glare at Skoodge face-to-face, "What's the point of inspiring a revolution across the Empire if I can't even conquer this pathetic mud ball? I haven't even come up with a decent plan in months! Meanwhile, those pair of c'horta-kissing hacks keep coming up with stuff; obviously inferior to anything I could come up with, of course. But still! The fact is that they're still at least making the attempt, while I'm stuck in a rut!"

"Er, uh," Skoodge stammered for a moment before getting his bearings back, "Come on, Zim, that's not true! You've had plenty of great ideas! Like the… er, no, that was Tak and Tenn's idea. Oh, how about when you… no, wait, that was them too. Okay, um, how about, er…"

"How about when you's made everyone hug each other so much they all exploded!" GIR suggested happily.

"…GIR, that wasn't one of my plans, that was an episode of Floopsy Bloops Shmoopsy!" Zim snapped, glaring at the robot.

"Oh yeah," GIR said, blinking, before turning back to his cooking. Zim, meanwhile, merely snarled and kicked aside the chair he'd been sitting in, before stomping over to the living room, Skoodge following at a respectful distance.

"I'm sure it's just a creative block that'll wear off in no time. Happens to everyone!" he offered, which Zim only sniffed dismissively in response to.

"Whatever," he muttered, putting on his disguise, "Zim will triumph regardless!"

"That's the spirit!" Skoodge replied, grabbing his own disguise and following Zim out the door, heading down the street towards skool.

For the next couple of hours, the base and surrounding neighborhood were peaceful and quiet. Then, with a sonic boom, a small Irken ship swiftly descended from the sky. It hovered in the air over Zim's house for a few minutes, apparently contemplating its next move, before zooming down to disappear behind the house as it landed in the backyard. Several neighbors looking at or walking by the house watched all this with mild interest, before shrugging it off and going about their business.

"Must be one of them fancy drone things," one of the neighbors, sitting on a lawn chair, commented to his wife, who was watering a small garden and who hummed in agreement.

Meanwhile, in the backyard, Nyx and Ying emerged from the ship and made their way over to the base's rear door. Grabbing the handle, Nyx frowned as it gave with barely any effort, the door opening completely.

"Really? No locks? That's kinda lame," she said, disappointed.

"Considering the state of this yard, Madame, I don't believe anyone here pays much attention to this side of the building," Ying commented with a disdainful sniff, looking around the overgrown yard. Nyx hummed noncommittally in response to that, and the pair entered the house, finding themselves in the now empty kitchen. They then moved on to the living room, where GIR was now seated on the couch, Minimoose floating nearby. The latter was the first one to notice them.

"Squeak!" the floating moose gave his equivalent of a shout, catching his counterpart's attention.

"Intruders!" GIR shouted, jumping to his feet and blasters popping out of his head as his eyes flashed red… for three seconds, before they turned back to blue and the weapons retracted, and he started waving at the newcomers, "Hi!"

Ying, who had brought out his own weapons in response to GIR activating his, blinked in surprise at this, but slowly retracted them. Nyx, meanwhile, merely returned the smile and wave, apparently unperturbed by the momentary threat.

"And you are?" the Computer asked, while discreetly arming several weapons emplacements in the ceiling, just in case.

"Call us interested parties in Zim's work," Nyx replied, a certain giddy note in her voice, "So, if you could just let him know we're here-"

"The master's not home at the moment," the Computer interrupted, causing Nyx's face to fall into a scowl.

"Seriously?" she muttered, "Well, when does he get back? I have important stuff to talk with him about."

"It'll be a few hours," the Computer replied, "You may want to get comfortable."

"Yay, company! Imma gonna make waffles!" GIR shouted happily, running off into the kitchen, Minimoose floating after him while keeping a cautious eye on their new guests, who shared a look before Nyx shrugged and led the way after the other pair.

"Well, this should be interesting," the Computer commented to itself, wondering if these newcomers would do anything to snap Zim out of his annoying funk.

Doomsville Middle Skool, Several Hours Later

As the end of day bells rang, the skool's doors burst open and the students came pouring out in a mad dash to escape the clutches of the building. As the main crush passed, those who had been smart enough to hang back and wait made their exit as well. Among them were Zim, Skoodge, Tak and Tenn, the two pairs walking down opposite sides of the staircase and exchanging glares… well, Zim and Tak were. Skoodge was watching the females nervously, while Tenn was rolling her eyes at the exchange.

"I feel like you two should be facing each other on the main street of a Western town while dramatic music plays in the background," she commented dryly. When the others all stared at her, she shrugged, "What, I'm not allowed to like human movies?"

"Bah, as if there's anything worthwhile in human movies," Zim spat, "Is that where you're getting all the ideas for your pathetic plans?"

"As if you're in any position to insult the validity of my plans, considering the idiocy of everything you've ever thought up," Tak snapped back, before smirking and adding, "Especially since you haven't come up with anything at all lately. Did you finally realize what a failure you are and give up, or are you just too busy spreading your treason?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," Zim said, glaring at her, "Zim is merely resting his amazing brain-meats. Even a genius like me needs a break every now and then. But soon I'll be back to being just as brilliant and deadly as ever!"

"Then we obviously have nothing to worry about," Tak replied. As Zim sputtered angrily and tried to come up with a counter-insult, she walked away with Tenn following, content to have gotten the last word.

"Grah! Filthy kisgaree!" Zim finally yelled after her retreating form, unable to think of anything else to say. And as he stood there panting and grinding his teeth, he took notice of Team Save Earth making their way out of the skool as well, eyeing him warily.

"What are you looking at, Dib-Stink and Not-Dibs?" Zim snapped.

"Seriously, would it kill you to learn our names?" Viera asked, rolling her eyes.

"If so, please do it," Dib snarked, "And in any case, Zim, don't think that just because you haven't been up to as much as Tak has lately that I haven't been keeping an eye on you. You try anything, and we will stop you."

"We'll see about that, Dib-Monkey!" Zim said, before stomping off, Skoodge quickly following after.

"That's it?" Steve asked, arching an eyebrow as he watched the Irkens disappear from view, "No threats or screaming or insults? I think he's losing his touch."

"For now, maybe," Dib said, eyes narrowed, "But he'll bounce back and become a threat again. I can feel it."

"In the meantime, anyone want to take a wager on what Tak and Tenn are going to try next?" Viera asked, "I saw them huddled up and discussing something at lunch, like they were going over a plan."

"Let's head back to my place and check the scanners on the Spittle Runner, see if it's picking anything up," Dib said. The twins nodded in agreement, and the three started walking towards Dib's house.

Meanwhile, Zim and Skoodge had reached the cul-de-sac, the former still muttering angrily to himself.

"Insolent, filthy worm-baby!" he snarled, "Who does he think he is? And Tak! How dare she look down on me?!"

"It's okay, Zim, just ignore them and focus on how great you'll feel once you've come up with a new plan to crush all of them," Skoodge said, trying his best to calm his friend down and cheer him up. Zim ignored him, kicking the door to the base open and stomping in, likewise ignoring the Robo-Parents as he shoved them aside. Tossing aside his disguise, he headed into the kitchen so he could head down into the lab and sulk, but froze as he entered the room.

"Mmm, these are delicious! I especially love the squirmy bits!" Nyx said as helped herself to another plate of waffles. She was seated at the kitchen table, GIR happily mixing batter on the counter while Minimoose floated nearby and Ying sat to her side, frowning at her food.

"Madame, I'm not entirely certain that this food is meant to be squirming," he commented with disgust.

Zim stared at this tableau in surprise, as did Skoodge, who'd come up behind him. After a moment he snapped out of it, and glared at the intruders in his home.

"Who are you?! Why are you here?!" he demanded, catching their attention and deploying his PAK weapons, expecting some kind of threat.

What he didn't expect was for Nyx's eyes to widen and light up as she saw him, or for her to literally squee in reaction. The next thing he knew, she'd bolted out of her seat and across the room, and was lying flat on the floor at his feet, hugging his legs and speaking at a rapid-fire pace.

"Oh my Irk, it's really you, I can't believe it, I'm finally meeting you, I am your biggest fan!" she said so quickly Zim was barely able to understand a word. Blinking at this unexpected course of events, he looked back at Skoodge, who shrugged in confusion. Meanwhile, Ying walked over and pried Nyx loose.

"Contain yourself, Madame, you're drooling," he said with a note of disdain, pulling out a tissue to wipe her mouth. Nyx blushed at that, the embarrassment seeming to snap her out of her excited state.

"Eh, right, thanks," she said, clearing her throat to regain her composure before turning back to Zim, "Ahem. Anyway, as I was saying — my name is Nyx, this is my assistant Ying, and I am your biggest fan."

"Yes, well, that's understandable. Zim is amazing, after all," Zim replied, the ego stroking he was receiving causing him to puff up for a moment, before he remembered the context of the situation and narrowed his eyes at her, "But that doesn't really explain anything, least of all why you're in my base!"

"Right, sorry. I can explain everything," she said, "Ying, the presentation."

"Yes, Madame," Ying replied. Turning to face the nearest wall, his head opened up and a slideshow projector came out, projecting an image onto the wall.

"I love this show," GIR commented, everyone else ignoring him and focusing on the projected image, which appeared to be of a smeetery on Irk.

"Like all Irkens, I was programmed at birth, to be an obedient little drone who did her part and never questioned authority," Nyx narrated, as the projector rotated through several images, showing a smeet — clearly the newborn Nyx — being hatched, implanted with a PAK, and sent to a programming chamber.

"Wait, where did you get these pictures?" Skoodge asked.

"Oh, I hacked into the security archives," Nyx replied offhandedly, "It was easy. See, the role I was encoded with was as a Technician Drone, so I was given all the skills needed to be able to handle any machine known to Irkens, and in exchange was expected to act like a mindless machine myself, doing whatever the Control Brains decreed. Which is what happened, until Horrible Painful Overload Day came along."

By now, the slideshow was showing an older Nyx in a small lab space, hooked up via a PAK cable into a row of computers.

"It started as an average day, and I was doing some routine maintenance on some servers when the power surge that created the planet-wide blackout hit."

The next slide displayed a fuzzy image of Nyx apparently in the middle of being blown off of her feet by an electrical surge.

"Squeak!" Minimoose commented.

"Yeah, it hurt like hell," Nyx admitted, "And for the first week afterwards everything tasted yellow. But it was worth it, as my PAK was fried — not enough to disrupt the life support mechanisms, but enough to wipe the programming that had kept me in line for my whole life up to that point."

Both male Irkens' eyes widened at that, noticing for the first time the condition that her PAK was in. Apparently either not registering or not caring about that, Nyx kept talking, "I didn't realize what had happened to me at first, obviously. But I soon found myself having ideas about things I wanted to try with the systems I was programming, ideas which fell outside the parameters I was supposed to stay in line with, which I quickly realized were stifling and pointlessly restrictive. Of course, once this was discovered I was declared Defective and ordered to be deactivated, so I stole a ship and fled Irk for the outer colonies, where I've been living ever since."

"Yes, yes, that's all very interesting," Zim finally cut in, "But I still fail to see what this has to do with me."

"Well, your reputation precedes you. It wasn't long before I heard all about how you were the one responsible for the blackout," Nyx explained, "After that, you kind of became my hero. I mean, you made me what I am, opened my eyes, even if it was unintentional. And every time you caused damage of any kind to the Empire, I celebrated the blows you were striking against an oppressive system. And it inspired me to do the same."

Now the slideshow quickly flashed through several photos of Nyx grinning at the camera and flashing victory signs, while in the backgrounds various buildings, ships, and military vehicles could be seen exploding or in flames.

"Wait, if you've been blowing stuff up for years, how come I've never heard about it?" Skoodge asked, confused.

"Like I said, I've been on the outer edges of the Empire," Nyx explained, "Between the Tallest not caring much about what happens out there, and keeping news about it quiet so they don't inspire copycats, word of my actions have been pretty much kept under wraps. Plus, I've tended to keep my actions sporadic and spaced-out so that what security forces were actually looking for me wouldn't connect the dots. It was only recently when you started up the Miz broadcasts that I was inspired to step things up a notch."

"Well, that's understand-WHAT?!" Zim yelled as he processed what Nyx had just said, while next to him Skoodge's eyes bugged out, "How did you know that?!"

"It wasn't that hard," Nyx said with a shrug, "I mean, on top of the fact that 'Miz' first showed up shortly after word spread that the Tallest had cut you loose and you'd rebelled against them — I cheered when I heard that, by the way — his name is just yours spelled backwards. Which at first I thought was too obvious. Then I thought, that's probably what you want everyone to think, only to stop and consider that maybe Miz really is someone else and is just trying to trick people into deducing that you're him as a decoy. But then I realized that that's just what you'd want anyone clever enough to get that far to think, and knew that it had to actually be you."

As Nyx finished her explanation with a proud smile, Zim stood there silently for a few moments, face scrunched up in thought as he tried to decipher what she'd just said.

"Well, that's pretty clever," he eventually said, before glaring, "But that just means you know too much! Computer, restrain her and her SIR!"

Nyx blinked in surprise, but before she could respond a series of metal tendrils suddenly shot down from the ceiling and wrapped around her, leaving her dangling in midair. Ying reacted quickly, retracting the projector and bringing out a pair of mounted blasters in its place, only for a giant magnet to pop out of the ceiling above him. Before he could fire at anything, it activated, and he went zooming into the air, slamming into it and being left frozen in place.

"If I may say so, sir, this is hardly a polite way to treat your guests," the black SIR commented dryly, unable to angle his weapons at anything.

"You're not guests, you're intruders who know my mighty revolutionary secret identity!" Zim snapped back, "And it is far too early to let anyone know that Zim is the one underneath Miz's mask. So I can't let you go while you know that."

"Zim, don't you think you're overreacting?" Skoodge asked, "I mean, she's like a super-fan of yours. I think that makes her at least a little trustworthy."

"Like I trusted that filthy, backstabbing vampire?" Zim snarled, "No, Zim will not make that mistake again and blindly trust a stranger. So they'll be staying right there until I decide how to deal with them."

"Makes sense to me," Nyx commented casually, catching both males by surprise, "I mean, I can see why you wouldn't be too trusting in your situation. In fact, I think I'd be disappointed if you just rolled over and accepted what I said at face value like that, honestly."

"Oh. Er, good," Zim said, before looking away with a glower, "Can't even intimidate a captive anymore…"

Before anyone could say anything else, alarms suddenly started blaring, startling everyone.

"Now what?!" Zim snapped, "Computer! What is the meaning of this? And turn off those alarms!"

"Massive energy surge detected in the City Park," the Computer replied, "Purpose is unclear, but it's definitely Irken in nature."

"Tak," Zim hissed, "As if I didn't have enough to deal with already, now I have another one of that wannabe's worthless plans. Let's go, Skoodge."

"Can I come?" Nyx asked, watching the pair make their way towards the door.

"No!" Zim snapped, before exiting the base, followed by Skoodge, GIR and Minimoose, leaving Nyx dangling in the air, pouting in disappointment.

"Aw, come on, seriously?" she protested, "A chance to actually see Zim in action in person, and I'm being left behind? Uh-uh, that ain't happening!"

"What are you going to do, break free?" the Computer asked sarcastically as Nyx started squirming in the tendrils, "Hate to break it to you, but those are solid titanium, you're not gonna-"

CRACK

"The hell?" the Computer asked, trying to process where that sound had come from. Meanwhile, Nyx continued to squirm, now with a noticeably pained look on her face. A few moments later, she was worming her way out of the tendril cocoon and fell to the floor, her left arm hanging at an odd angle.

"…Did you just dislocate your own arm so you could squeeze out of there?" the Computer asked, stunned.

"Yeah, I dislocated it by accident years ago, and because of the damage to my PAK it never healed quite right," Nyx explained with a grunt as she got to her feet, "As a side effect, now I can pop it loose whenever I want. Comes in handy on occasion."

"Okay… But doesn't that hurt?"

"Yep. But not nearly as much as putting it back in," Nyx said, bracing herself against a wall with her good arm. Pausing to take a deep breath, she then gave a primal cry and slammed her dislocated shoulder against the wall, popping it back into place with a snapping sound.

"GAHAH! Sweet Mother Irk, I swear it gets worse every time!" she yelled, grimacing as she flexed her arm to make sure it was fully back in place.

"Then perhaps, Madame, you should consider ceasing to perform that particular act?" Ying asked, from his spot still attached to the magnet.

"What, and give up one of my best escape tricks?" Nyx asked, by now apparently back to normal.

"Of course. How foolish of me to suggest such a thing," Ying said dryly. Not really registering her robot's sarcasm, Nyx deployed one of her PAK legs and fired a small, surgical shot into the base of the magnet holding him. It sparked and went dead, dropping Ying into Nyx's waiting arms. Placing him gently on the floor and taking a moment to brush him off, Nyx started making her way to the door.

"Come on. If we hurry, we can get there in time to catch the whole fight!" she said excitedly, bolting out of the base, Ying following close behind.

After they left, there was a moment of silence, which the Computer eventually broke.

"Well, that was… something," it mused, "But at least I was right — things are getting interesting around here again."

Doomsville City Park, Shortly After

The Conversion Engine had been set up in the middle of a field, around which Tak and Tenn had set up barricades and signs proclaiming the area closed for renovations. It was a flimsy cover story, but in theory it should be enough to keep any random humans from wandering into the area and interfering in their plan. Speaking of which, they were standing next to the Engine, which was coming online. The interior fans were spinning at a high speed, and a dark purple swirl of energy was building up inside of it, while a similarly-colored corona was building up around its exterior.

"It's been five minutes already," Tak said, irritably, glancing at her watch, "I thought we'd fine-tuned the charge time down to less than this?"

"No, we fine-tuned it down to less than an hour," Tenn replied, looking over a control pad, "Which, given it's meant to affect the entire planet near-simultaneously, I think is still a major accomplishment. Give it a few more minutes."

Tak harrumphed and looked away with a frown, which deepened as she noticed some rustling in the nearby foliage. Eyes narrowing, she made a discrete hand gesture to Tenn, who stiffened as she caught sight of it. Then she sent another gesture towards MIMI, who saluted, and then zoomed into the bushes. There were several panicked yells, a few bolts of plasma came shooting out of the bushes, and then Team Save Earth came tumbling out, landing in a heap as MIMI followed them out. She advanced on them, only to zoom away and back to Tak's side as Viera launched a stream of fire at her.

"I hate that robot," the Goth muttered as she and the boys scrambled to their feet and faced off with the Irkens.

"The feeling's mutual, human, believe me," Tak spat, as Tenn came up to stand beside her.

"I told you we should have done this inside the base," Tenn said in a clear I-told-you-so tone.

"And risk the energy backwash damaging vital equipment?" Tak countered, "There's no point in victory in we blow ourselves up in the process. Dealing with these pests is far less of a threat."

"Now that's just hurtful," Steve said dryly, keeping his blaster leveled at them.

"I don't know what that thing does, Tak, but we're not going to let you activate it," Dib said, holding up his gauntlets, which were already charged and crackling with energy, "And then we'll-"

"Blah, blah, heroic speech, expose you as aliens, blah," Tak cut him off, "Do you practice those lines in the mirror, Dib? Because they get less impressive every time I hear them. So why don't you just-"

"Incoming!" Tenn shouted, tackling Tak to the side just before several bolts of plasma cut through where she'd just been standing. The humans, caught by surprise, threw themselves back to the ground, barely avoiding a similar attack. Looking up, both groups found Zim standing several yards away, PAK legs still smoking, Skoodge and his robots just behind him.

"So sorry, was Zim interrupting something?" he asked sarcastically, "Well, I'll let you get back to it while I do this — Minimoose, destroy that machine!"

"Squeak!" Minimoose responded, before launching a large energy blast at the Engine… which failed to strike it, instead dispersing as it hit the aura surrounding it. There was a moment of silence as Zim's group stared at the machine awkwardly, while Team Save Earth looked on in surprise, and then Tak barked with laughter.

"Ha! Really? You tried using an energy attack against a machine creating its own plasma field?" she sneered, "It didn't occur to you that that would cancel out your attack?"

"Er, uh, of course Zim knew that!" Zim said quickly, and entirely unconvincingly, "I was merely confirming my hypothesis!"

"So, that barrier kind of removes most of our options for destroying that thing," Steve said quietly to the others while the Irkens traded insults, "What do we do?"

"Tenn's got that pad," Dib replied, discretely nodding his head in her direction, "It's probably the control mechanism. We get ahold of that, we can probably shut this thing down, maybe even cause it to overload or something."

"You go for it, we'll keep the others busy," Viera said. The three nodded at each other, then turned their attention back to the aliens.

"…insolent wretch who's never had an original thought in your life!" Zim was in the middle of screaming.

"Whereas you've hardly ever had any thoughts at all," Tak shot back.

"Not your best comeback," Tenn commented, rolling her eyes at the whole display and wishing that the Engine would finish charging already.

"Who asked-GAH!" Tak started to reply, only to have to jump aside as a torrent of flame burst out of Viera's Eye of Fire and headed right for her, Steve added shots from his blaster into the mix as well. While Tak and Tenn backpedaled from the assault, MIMI attempted to zoom forward and counter-attack the twins, only for Dib to charge forward and slam a plasma-charged gauntlet right into her, sending her flying to smack into Tenn, knocking her to the ground.

"Ah! Get off!" Tenn screamed, the unexpected contact triggering her robot-related PTSD. As she flailed about, Dib dashed forward and grabbed the control pad, which she'd dropped when hit. However, before he could do anything with it, Zim came flying out of nowhere to tackle him.

"Thanks for the help, Dib-Monkey!" Zim said with a smirk, grabbing the pad. But he didn't have any more of a chance than Dib did to get more than a glance at it before he too was tackled, this time by Tak, who had managed to duck under the twins' fire.

"Give me that!" she snarled, shoving Zim's face into the ground and trying to grab ahold of the pad. However, Dib threw himself onto the pair, turning it into a full dog-pile and making it nearly impossible for any of the three of them to get a proper hold on the pad.

Seeing all of this, the twins tried to rush to help their friend, only for Skoodge to suddenly jump in front of them, PAK legs deployed.

"Hoo-ah!" the pudgy Irken gave a battlecry, firing off all four legs at nearly point-blank range. The twins gave matching yelps and jumped back far enough to dodge it, only to run almost directly into another attack, this one from Minimoose, which hit the ground right next to them and sent them flying to land in a heap nearby.

"…Can we add the moose to the list of things we hate?" Steve groaned to his sister.

"I'm down with that," she replied, forcing herself to her feet.

Skoodge, meanwhile, paused only long enough to confirm they were momentarily out of commission, before running over to the Zim-Tak-Dib tangle.

"Minimoose, keep the other humans busy!" he shouted over his shoulder, "GIR, you…"

Skoodge trailed off as he saw that GIR was sitting off to the side, face planted in a plus-side bucket of chicken doused in mayonnaise, chomping away and oblivious to the world around him.

"…Never mind," he sighed, knowing a lost cause when he saw one. He turned his attention back to where he was going, just in time for Tenn's flying kick to connect with his face, knocking him flat on his back.

"Sorry Skoodge, but I'm not letting you interfere this time," she said. Looking to the side, she grimaced as she saw that MIMI had gone blue-eyed and joined GIR in his snacking binge. Shaking off her disgust and discomfort at the sight of the crazy robots, she tried to head towards where the control pad was lying on the ground next to where Dib, Tak, and Zim were still struggling with each other, only for Skoodge to suddenly jump up and return the favor, grabbing her around the waist and letting his momentum carry them to the ground.

As Skoodge and Tenn fought each other, and Minimoose traded attacks with the twins, the three team leaders were still tangled up with each other, trading punches and kicks as each tried to break free of the other two and reach the control pad.

"Give up has-been," Zim gasped out as best he could while Tak choked him with one hand and held one of Dib's arms at bay by gripping it firmly with her other one.

"You wish, traitor," she hissed back at him, ignoring the pain from his grip on her antennae and Dib's grip on one of her legs with his free hand.

"You should -OOF- both give up -BAH- cause I won't -GAH-!" Dib grit out, as Zim kicked him repeatedly in the face, "And I won't -ERGH- let you turn on -PFF- whatever that thing is!"

"Ha! That just shows how foolish you are, Dib-Stink!" Zim hissed, actually stopping the kicking for a moment, "Otherwise you'd have realized that's clearly a Pan-Chemical Conversion Engine designed to turn all this planet's filthy water into caramel!"

"Wha- how did you figure that out?!" Tak demanded, glaring daggers at him.

"Wait, seriously? That's really what it does?" Dib asked, arching an eyebrow at her, "First hollowing Earth's core to fill it with snacks and now this? What is it with you and planet-sized candy?"

"Who asked your opinion?" she snapped.

"And to answer your question, Tak," Zim said, smirking, "All I needed was a quick look at that control pad. It was all quite obvious after that."

"Oh, whoop-de-doo," she replied caustically, "You think you're so clever? No one's impressed!"

"I am!" a new voice cut in from nearby. All the fighting stopped dead as everyone registered it, and turned to see its source — Nyx, who was sitting on a bench and casually eating from a popcorn bowl Ying was holding for her. As the humans and the other female Irkens stared at her in confusion, Skoodge blinked in surprise and Zim's eyes widened in shock.

"You?! I left you imprisoned back at base!"

"Yeah, but that was boring, so I broke out and came to watch the fight instead," she replied with a shrug, "Got here about the time you got into that dog-pile with what's-her-face and the big-headed human."

"My head's not big!" Dib snapped, "And who the heck are you, anyway?"

"Her name's Nyx, apparently she's a big fan of Zim's," Skoodge answered, which got some incredulous looks from everyone else.

"Who in the six hells of Vort would be a fan of this idiot?" Tak snarled.

"Zim has many admirers!" Zim snapped defensively.

"I doubt that highly," Dib said dryly.

"Silence!"

"Actually, he's right," Nyx said, "There's plenty of Irkens out there who see how awesome he is and respect him for all the blows he's struck against the Control Brains and their corrupt system. Power to the people, whoo!"

"…Well, you're obviously Defective," Tenn said after a moment of everyone staring at Nyx in awkward silence. Nyx scowled at that, turning her attention away from Zim for the first time since she arrived to glare at Tenn.

"Better that than being just another mindless drone," she spat, "I'm curious, does it hurt when the Tallest stick their hands up your back to make your mouth move like a sock puppet?"

"I…buh…how dare you?!" Tenn shrieked, face contorted with rage, "Do you have any idea who I am?!"

"Yeah, a drone, we've established that," Nyx replied, fake yawning, "Now would you stop talking so I can go back to watching Zim be awesome?"

"Excellent suggestion!" Zim crowed, before suddenly head-butting the distracted Tak, allowing him to break her grip and slip free to scramble away a few feet. Dodging Dib's attempt to intercept him, he then darted forward and grabbed the control pad off the ground.

"Nyx!" he called out to her as Dib and Tak got to their feet and advanced on him, "If you really are loyal to Zim, prove it now and attack my enemies!"

"Really? I get to help you in a fight?" she asked, eyes wide and practically gleaming.

"Yes, now do something!" Zim snapped, backing up to put distance between himself and the others.

"Oh, this should be rich," Tenn snarked, "Go ahead, Little Miss Defective, show us your sad little attempt at fighting."

Excitement switching to annoyance, Nyx stood up and reached into her PAK, pulling out a cubical device roughly the size of her torso and colored black, with the words "My Little Friend" stenciled on the side in purple. She hit a small switch in its base, causing the back to open up and unfold into a grip and trigger mechanism. Simultaneously, a circular panel on the front opened, allowing a series of tubes to emerge, quickly forming a rotary barrel assembly.

There was a moment of stunned silence as everyone registered the sight of Nyx holding what was clearly a minigun.

"…Caragash," Tenn swore, before screaming and jumping aside as Nyx opened fire, unleashing a rapid stream of plasma blasts, laughing maniacally. She then swept the minigun back and forth across the field, carefully avoiding Zim and Skoodge, while sending everyone else scattering.

Zim, meanwhile, stared in shock at the display for a moment, before composing himself.

"Well, that's… somewhat impressive," he conceded haughtily. He then turned his attention to the pad in his hands, "Now, let's see if I can't make this thing work for me."

From where she was taking cover behind a water fountain that had just had its top blown off by the minigun, Tak watched as Zim ran off with the pad.

"Oh no you don't," she growled, "Tenn! I'm going after Zim, you deal with this lunatic!"

"How?!" Tenn shouted back, as she ran around, barely staying ahead of the plasma.

"Figure it out!" Tak snapped, before getting up and sprinting after Zim.

Meanwhile, Dib had joined the twins where they were crouching behind a small hill, which was scorched and smoking from the steady amount of plasma being thrown around.

"Just what we need, another psychotic alien," he muttered, "And this one has a giant gun on top of everything else."

"Anyone got any bright ideas?" Steve asked, peeking over the top of hill, watching Nyx practically chasing Tenn around.

"Well, she's pretty distracted dealing with Tenn," Viera commented, "I say we rush her now when she's not looking."

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that," a stiff British voice spoke up. The three humans looked to the side to see Ying standing there, steady gaze locked on them.

"As my primary concern is the Madame's well-being, I cannot allow you to harm her," he said, "So, terribly sorry, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to inflict harm on you three."

The humans were quiet for a moment, exchanging looks, before turning back to the robot.

"Yeah, no offense?" Dib said, as he and the others pointed their weapons at Ying, "But considering you're outnumbered and outgunned, I'm not seeing much of a threat here. So why don't you-"

Whatever Dib was going to say was cut off as Ying's purple eyes and panels turned red. More surprisingly, however, his legs suddenly telescoped, until he was towering over the humans, his arms also telescoping out to a proportional length. Almost as soon as that was done, cables and panels began sliding out of his limbs' sockets and every seam, coating his limbs and torso, adding massive amounts of bulk. And several more emerged from the base of his neck and wrapped around his head, forming a helm.

After only a few moments, the transformation was complete, and the two foot tall SIR had become a seven foot tall robotic knight. Team Save Earth could only stare up at him in shock, trying to process what had just happened. This hesitation proved almost fatal, as Ying raised his now much larger fists over his head and brought them down, just barely missing the humans as they jumped away with a scream and instead striking the ground hard enough to crater it.

"How the hell did he have all that stuff inside him?!" Steve yelled, as he frantically fired at Ying, only for each shot to bounce off, "How was there room for all of it?!"

"Who cares?! Just shoot him!" Viera shouted, dodging another strike and launching a fireball which splashed off of Ying without causing any damage.

From where she was still firing away at everything in sight, Nyx paused to grin in delight at the sight of Ying in his Battle Mode fighting the humans. This momentary diversion of her attention provided Tenn the opening she needed, and she tackled Nyx, knocking her to the ground and the minigun out of her grip. After a couple of minutes of struggle, Tenn had Nyx in a chokehold.

"Give up, Defect," she snarled, "Just pass out, so I can get back to the real fight, and-AH!"

Tenn gave a pained scream as Nyx, struggling to breathe, suddenly bit down hard on the arm wrapped around her neck. As Tenn instinctively let go and reared back, Nyx barely took a second to regain her breath before springing into action. She slammed her elbows backwards into Tenn's abdomen, and as the Invader doubled over, grabbed her by the forearms and flung her forward, sending her flying over Nyx's head and through the air.

In a credit to her profession, despite her disorientation Tenn quickly got ahold of herself and curled into a ball as she hit the ground, rolling several feet before coming to a halt and jumping back up to face Nyx again.

"Did you just bite me?" she demanded incredulously.

"Whatever it takes to win, Drone," Nyx replied with a smirk, "Didn't they teach you that in your fancy training?"

Growling, Tenn deployed her PAK legs and charged.

XXXXXXX

Elsewhere in the park, Zim crouched with the control pad clutched to his chest as he peered around the side of the tree he was hiding behind, taking in the current state of the battle.

Dib and the Not-Dibs were totally tied up trying to deal with the much larger Ying, who was tanking just about everything they threw at him, while they barely managed to avoid his own blows. Nyx and Tenn were grappling with each other, trading punches and kicks and PAK leg strikes. And Skoodge… was being used as a bludgeon by a once again red-eyed MIMI, who had grabbed him by the leg and was swinging him around at Minimoose, who was barely avoiding being hit by the screaming Irken.

GIR, meanwhile, had apparently finished his chicken and was now drinking a Suck Monkey and staring absently into the distance.

"Useless robot," Zim muttered, "Hmph, well at least Nyx is proving her worth. I might just keep her around after all. In the meantime, what to do with this?"

Zim looked at the control pad in his hands, quickly analyzing the information scrolling along its screen.

"Hmm, should I steal Tak's thunder by activating this myself?" he mused, before scowling, "No, that would still be her plan succeeding. Perhaps I can repurpose this to something else-AH!"

Zim trailed off into a yell as a plasma blast suddenly slammed into him, sending him flying through the air. As he hit the ground and bounced to a halt after several feet, Tak ran over, PAK legs still smoking, and brought a foot down on his head, pinning him in place as she ripped the pad out of his grip.

"Here's a suggestion. Why don't you just lie there and watch a real Invader at work?" she said sarcastically, as he struggled to get out from under her. Any other insults she was going to throw on top of that was cut off as a chime beeped from the pad. Looking down at it, she smirked as she saw that it was displaying a message which stated the Engine was fully charged.

Grinning, she entered a code, triggering the final activation countdown. She then brought the pad down on her raised knee, smashing it.

"No stopping it now, Zim. I win!" she crowed, her following laughter almost drowned out by a mechanical roar emanating from the Engine, where the external energy field was starting to swirl up to a point directly above where the energy already collected within it was also starting to coalesce.

The sound echoed across the park, catching the attention of the other combatants. Dib, who had just managed to actually land a punch on Ying's head, sending him stumbling back a couple of feet, froze as he heard it and saw what was happening.

"Crap!" he swore, "It's activating! We have to do something!"

"Like what?" Viera asked, "We can't even get past the Iron Giant here!"

"Actually, if your only intention at this point is dealing with that device, I see no reason to continue this conflict," Ying commented, standing a respectable distance away, arms at his side in a non-threatening position. The humans blinked in surprise at that.

"Really?" Steve asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"My only reason for fighting you was because you were threatening my mistress," Ying replied, "Unless she orders otherwise, I have no reason to continue doing so. And in any case, she's rather enamored of Zim, so I imagine she'd approve of the destruction of anything built by his enemies. Speaking of which…"

As he said that, Ying turned his attention to wear Nyx was in the middle of hand-to-hand grappling with Tenn, who appeared to be gloating about her team's imminent victory.

"Madame," he called out, "Not to interrupt your fun, but my sensors indicate less than a minute until that device activates. Might I suggest intervention?"

"Meh, I guess. I'm getting bored listening to this drone anyway," Nyx replied, utterly casual, before suddenly headbutting Tenn. As the Invader reeled back from the unexpected assault, Nyx broke off and jumped backwards into the air. Reaching up, she grabbed hold of a low-hanging tree branch and swung herself up to rest on it. Mid-swing, she pulled out a handful of oblong metal devices and tossed them into the air, where they unfolded into multi-pronged clamps with rockets in their bases. By the time Nyx's feet planted on the branch, the devices were zooming towards the Engine, which they had soon attached themselves to.

A recovered Tenn watched all this, not sure what she was seeing at first… and then her eyes widened as she saw the lights that started flashing in the center of each device. Her gaze snapped up to where Nyx was now holding a small metal tube in one hand, her thumb hovering over the button at one end of it.

"Don't you dare-" she hissed, only to be met with a smug and defiant smirk.

"Boom," Nyx said flatly, pressing the button.

KABOOM!

Five seconds before the Engine could discharge, Nyx's devices detonated. The resulting explosions tore through the Engine's structure, nearly tearing it in half. As a result, all the energy it had built up and concentrated suddenly had an outlet beyond the one it was supposed to be fired through. As such, moments later it burst outward, creating an even larger explosion, which disintegrated the remains of the Engine in a blinding and deafening flash of light and sound, accompanied by a shockwave that knocked everyone off their feet.

After several minutes, sight and hearing returned as everyone groaned back to full awareness and stumbled back to their feet to take stock of the situation. It didn't take long for it to become apparent that Zim's group, Nyx and Ying included, had taken advantage of the disorientation to flee, leaving only the humans, Tak, Tenn and MIMI in the park.

"No, no, no!" Tak screamed, tugging at her antennae, "Not again!"

"Well, back to the drawing board, I suppose," Tenn muttered with a scowl, "Damned crazy Defective. I'm going to make her pay for this."

"I assume we're done here?" Steve asked, keep a weary eye on the female Irkens from where Team Save Earth were standing off to the side, "I mean, their plan literally just went up in smoke, and Zim's gone, so there's not much left for us to do."

Dib chewed his lip for a moment as he considered his friend's comments. A part of him was tempted to attack Tak and Tenn while they were distracted, to try and eliminate at least one major threat to Earth. However, the rest of him pointed out that the Irkens didn't look quite distracted enough to give them much of an advantage. Besides which, he was already exhausted and aching from all the previous fighting, and the twins didn't look much better off. It was probably wiser to take the better part of valor this time.

"Let's go, before they decide to take their frustration out on us," he said, turning and walking away quickly, with the twins following close behind.

"So… Zim's new allies," Viera said after a few minutes of the group walking in silence, "How bad a situation is this?"

"Considering we couldn't even hurt the shapeshifting robot, not to mention this Nyx girl apparently has a bunch of other tricks up her sleeve, I'd say it's very bad," Dib commented.

"Not to mention it looks like she's some kind of Zim fangirl," Steve added, "Which is all kinds of messed up, if you ask me."

"Agreed," Dib said, Viera nodding in her own agreement. With that, the three of them left the park, all of them trying to ignore the worry they were feeling at what was coming.

Zim's Base, A Short Time Later

Zim sat in his command chair in the main chamber of his base, cold compress pressed against his sore head as he glowered around the room. Skoodge was standing off to the side, with Minimoose floating nearby, and GIR having wandered off at some point. Nyx and Ying, the latter back in his regular form, were standing before him, waiting for him to speak. After a few more moments of glaring at everything and nothing, he finally did so.

"Well, Zim supposes that your aid today, while unneeded, was… satisfactory," he admitted, tossing the compress aside.

"Really? Thanks!" Nyx said, smiling brightly.

"I'm not entirely certain you should be happy to receive such a backhanded compliment, Madame," Ying commented dryly.

"Yeah, he does that a lot, you should get used to it," Skoodge said, nodding in sympathy. Zim shot him a glare, before turning back to Nyx.

"As Zim was saying," he continued, "All things considered, I suppose I can keep you around for a while-"

"Ooh, actually," Nyx cut in, "Sorry to interrupt, but about that 'all things considered' thing? You actually haven't considered everything yet."

"Eh?" Zim asked, blinking in confusion.

"You see, the reason I chose to come join you now, not just because of everything you've been doing as Miz, is because of something I managed to find which I think you're gonna love," Nyx explained, reaching into her PAK and pulling out a data chip, "I was gonna give it to you earlier, but got distracted by the whole fight and everything."

Zim narrowed an eye suspiciously, but took the offered chip and plugged it into a console. Watching the information that started to scroll across the screens, he stared in confusion, then his eyes widened in recognition.

"This, this is… where did you find this?" he demanded in shock.

"Oh, I have all kinds of contacts on the Dark Irk-Net and across the criminal underworld, Irken and non-Irken alike," Nyx replied, waving a hand dismissively, "Spread enough money around to enough people, and sooner or later you can find anything. And I knew from the stories I've heard of everything you've done here on Earth that you'd be interested in this."

"Interested?" Zim asked incredulously, "This is beyond interesting, this is a game-changer! It'll take time to put into effect, but this could be exactly what I need to finally conquer this pitiful planet, and from there have a power base to launch my revolution in full!"

"Really?" Skoodge asked, looking over Zim's shoulder, "Didn't I hear about you trying this plan already, and it failing?"

"Barely! And only because of the Dib-Stink's interference! I can make this work, even better than before, and this time it'll succeed!" Zim snapped, before turning back to Nyx, "Zim is willing to admit, this is impressive, and worthy of the privilege of serving me. I will accept your presence here, but know this — if I ever even think you are disloyal, I will destroy you myself. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" Nyx replied, snapping a fist to her chest in salute, "Long live the New Order!"

"Good. Now begone, all of you! Zim must contemplate things in private!" he commanded. As the others all filed out of the room, he turned back to the screens, studying the data intently, evil laughter starting to bubble in his chest. Already he could feel it, the familiar ecstatic energy of a plan starting to form, the giddy knowledge that he would soon rain doom down on all his enemies.

He was back in business, and soon everyone would know his wrath.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

End Episode 1

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

A/N: And whew, finally done. Took longer than I thought to get this all put together. Hope you all enjoyed the final result.

As you might have guessed from the last scene, I'm starting this season's story arc early this time around. What did Nyx give Zim that's got him so excited? I'll tell you… eventually. This arc's more of a slow burn; I'll drop hints along the way, so maybe you'll figure it out by the time of the big reveal.

In the meantime, I've got plenty of stuff to throw your way. Stick around, folks, it's going to be a wild ride.

Next time: Nyx and Ying acclimate to life on Earth as part of Team Zim.

Until then, please review!