I don't own Invader Zim okay? I know it's taken me awhile to update this one, and I started other stories when I really didn't have an idea what I was doing with them, but hey, that's just my style. But you don't want me complaining about how I write, you want this story so enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Sizz-lorr looked around, making sure Ceus was safe and scanned the tower hallways. Meekrob were in one of the supposed most protected places on Irk during one of the ceremonies with supposedly the highest security there was to be had. It was obvious to him that Meekrob was going to use the chaos of what had happened to take over Irk and their Empire. What they would do with it, he didn't know but he wasn't about to find out. And he wasn't going to let Ceus be hurt.

"What's going on?" Ceus asked as she panted to keep up with his pace.

"Safety." He said as he saw a boiler room and opened the door.

"Another maintenance room?" Ceus asked. "It's hot in here." She said as she waved her hand, fanning herself. "And why one so hot?"

"This isn't your typical maintenance room. It's to keep the climate control going through the whole tower. It goes both up to the Tallest's chambers and to the bottom where the Control Brains are." Sizz-lorr explained as he looked around, making sure no Meekrob was behind him. The whole of the Tallest Tower could be accessed secretly via the climate control systems that went through the whole building. Since there were many other tall Irkens for the Meekrob to go after, he hoped this would distract them enough for him to get Ceus away. Just what they were going to do, he hadn't worked that much out.

Ceus could tell that Sizz-lorr was thinking on the fly and looked at him confused. "Okay. I can get why you would hide in here. Not many would think to look in the maintenance access ports. But we can't stay here forever. Red and Purple are missing. The Massive is destroyed. The Empire is not in chaos yet, but it will be and it needs a Tallest. We were summoned because of our height because of that. We cannot do the people of Irk a disservice by hiding when everything is crumbling. It is our duty to stand tall and oversee the planet through this chaos so we can come out on top."

Sizz-lorr looked at Ceus and smiled. She had a point and he knew that as much as he hated how his past military attempts turned out and how he felt he let his men down in Meekrob, that was no reason to turn his back on all of Irk. They were the ones that helped him keep his beloved Shloogorgoh's in business. Competition on Foodcourtia was intense and the fact he had run that restaurant so well in such an environment made him proud. But he was nothing without his loyal help and the customers. "Fine. So what do we do from here?" Sizz-lorr said. "We can't save them you know."

Ceus quickly gulped but then strengthened her resolve. It was part of the reality that she was going to face if she was going to take over as Tallest. Her home needed leadership and she was one of the best to do it in this present time, "Regretfully yes." Ceus sighed. "But the planet needs stability. And for stability you need a leader. I guess since I am a little taller than you, that means me."

"I guess." Sizz-lorr said.

"As your soon to be leader, I want you to help get me to the Control Brains. They're the ones with the power to officially crown a Tallest. You can explain that once we get there what happened." Ceus said.

"Fine. Follow me." Sizz-lorr said as he started climbing down a ladder to the lower levels of the tower.

Back on Earth, Purple stood guard while Zim worked on the escape pod's components. So, it's come to this. Us trusting Zim to get the escape pod so we can go back to Irk and make something of what happened. Miyuki knows Meekrob's probably making a move as we speak. Purple scanned the horizon for signs of anything that might attack them, but as he could tell by the heat, it was now midday and most of the wildlife was hidden until the sun lowered. "It's so hot here."

"That's the desert for you." Zim sighed as he continued to work on the Escape Pod. "I don't know how I would have taken it if there wasn't air conditioning in the labs where Dib kept me prisoner." Zim growled as he attempted to turn a bolt to access a fusion reactor.

Purple looked from Red to Zim. Red seemed to be stable, which was the best they could hope for in this type of environment but it still wasn't good enough. They needed to get back to Irk where they could look after him and get him the best treatment that was needed.

"Pur?" Red asked weakly.

"Yeah Red?" Purple said looking over at his injured co-Tallest

"What will we be going back to?" Red asked.

"Huh?" Purple said confused. "Just what do you mean? We'll go back to Irk. Home. Snacks. Donuts."

"Yeah, perks we had as Tallest. But you know as the Massive went down, they sent the distress signal. Soon those who escaped will be getting back to the territory of the Empire. They'll be asking about us. If we aren't assumed dead. I'm sure they are doing a Measuring ceremony now as we speak." Red said.

"So, we'll thank whoever holds the spot for us and go back to ruling like we did." Purple said, not wanting Red to stress himself out when he was already still gravely injured.

"But we'll be blamed for wrecking the Massive. Irk was VERY proud of that as our capitol flagship. We won't get the job back. We'd be lucky if we're not locked up on Vort after this." Purple began to say something comforting about couches and Vort Dogs but Red cut him off. "We'd be experiments as it's our Military Research prison now."

"So?" Purple said, starting to get mad at Red's depression. "I guess we'll be leaders in exile for a while, wait for the new guy to fuck up and take it back from them. What would you rather have? Us to die here on this rock of stinky pig monkeys? We're Tallests Red and Purple. We've added so much to the Irken Empire with Operation Impending Doom II. We won't let something like this stop us."

"HIDE!" Zim yelled as he perked up his antenna and looked around. "I see some jeeps off in the distance. Humans like driving them in this terrain and that is what the guards at Dib's base used."

"SHIT!" Purple said as he crawled next to Red under the rock and held his breath.

"This isn't helping my recovery." Red said angered.

"Neither will be being trapped in a tube for 20 years." Zim said as he crawled next to Purple.

Gaz stepped off the jeep and looked around. So this is where the escape pod had crashed She thought as she looked at the sand in the ground. "Footprints." She said. "Pointy."

"Why did it have to be her?" Zim whispered.

"What do you mean?" Purple asked.

"That's Gaz. Dib's sister. And she is as smart as he is but any ego she has is well earned. She helped to train Dib to be more combat effective and planned a lot of the attack that was done in the first place. I cannot deny that Dib has much more intelligence than most humans if he could keep competing with me but that right there, Gaz, she is better than him at so much. She's not going to miss us."

"Fuck!" Red said a little too loud.

"Huh?" Gaz said as she looked to the guards.

"Sorry?" One of the search squad said.

"Page Dib." Gaz commanded. "Give him the coordinates as we have found the Tallest's escape pod. I can tell from the coloring and Irken writing. It looks pretty burned and damaged. They are likely injured themselves. They could not have gotten far. One, I think the purple one, may have been well enough to break Zim free but there were two Tallests. The wildlife would have been bound to find him if he was dead. There's pointy dots here with circles around them, meaning that one of the Tallests is around here recently. The more triangular ones are likely Zim's. I remember some of the footprints in the mud from Dib and mine's childhood. I want you to turn over the rocks and look. I doubt they are far."

"Yes mam!" The soldiers saluted as one got on the radio to page Dib and the rest split into teams and began to look for the Tallest and Zim.

"This is not good…. Not good…." Purple whimpered to himself, hoping that these soldiers would be as careless as the guards he had run into before were.

"This is beyond not good. We're fucked." Zim said.

Back in the maintenance passages of Tallest Tower, Sizz-lorr and Ceus made their way to where the Control Brains were kept. If Ceus wanted the job so badly, she was about to get it, but he also couldn't deny she had the ability to do so. Irk was a great Empire and only the greats could keep it going as long as strong as it has been. "This is it." Ceus said as she noticed a door to the Control Brain sanctuary.

"Who goes there?" The control brain said. "Speak."

"It is I, scientist Ceus and head of Shloogorgoh's Sizz-lorr. Both of us were summoned for a Measuring ceremony when the Massive went down and current Tallest Red and Purple where assumed dead. Normally we would not break the protocol of such an important event if it wasn't serious. But it is. Meekrob has attacked the ceremony and killed many of the candidates. Sizz-lorr made sure I was safe and took me here to see you to petition a request." Ceus explained standing fearless in front of the Control Brains, the most powerful force on Irk.

"Make me the Tallest until this emergency is over. If you want to do a proper ceremony and replace me when it is under control, fine. But until then, I need to take command to make sure that Irk keeps its independence and maybe even make Meekrob pay if the rumors are true." Ceus said.

"The rumors of a human whose genetic they tampered with was what was responsible for destroying the Massive?" The control brain asked.

"Yes. I see we cannot keep rumors from you either." Ceus said.

"Rumors travel faster than light." The control brain said. "Your request is granted."

"Thank you." Ceus said.

"Under one condition." The control brain said.

Uh oh…. I don't like where this is going….. Sizz-lorr thought.

"Yes my Control Brain." Ceus said.

"Sizz-lorr is your co-Tallest. He has shown great loyalty and bravery saving you and he is already pretty tall himself. Another mind with his skills and diplomatic connections, being Shloogorgoh's head manager will be invaluable at this time."

"Sizz-lorr?" Ceus asked.

Sizz-lorr looked down. This was what he did not want. But Ceus had a point. They did have a duty and he was not about to let Meekrob run his restaurant for him. "I guess. But I won't like it." He said.

"No one said you had to." The Control Brain replied. "Let us begin the reencoding."

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I love seeing the response this has gotten and I cannot guarantee anyone's safety in this story, but that's the nature of these things. I'm sorry it took so long to update but hopefully this can give me more inspiration to build on more. So anyway, remember to read, well you just did and to review! Ciao for now

Otherrealmwriter

Aka

Realm