Chapter 21: Revelation

The moment the Voot landed an army descended upon Zim's tiny frame, shackling and beating him into submission despite his attempts to cooperate. His ribs ached as the Irkens closest to him began kicking him; laughing as pink blood trickled down his chin as he attempted to lift his head to narrow his gaze at those that had dared to kick him.

Another invader met his gaze with a sneer before kicking him in the face. His head dipped slightly to allow the blood, that now poured freely from between his zipped teeth, to drain. His eyes remained locked on this invader, however. He recognized the Irken as Invader Jim. A notorious suck-up whom had reportedly conquered his planet and turned it into a doughnut shop designed to deliver doughnuts straight to the Tallest.

The Irken was soon pushed aside, however, as Invader Skoodge stepped forward and roughly grabbed Zim by the wrist and hauled him to his feet, glaring at the others in challenge as he pointed a plasma gun into Zim's back and forced him to shuffle forward.

"Invader Zim, you've been summoned by the Control Brains for accusations of high treason. An existence evaluation has been ordered and you are to appear immediately under penalty of erasure and death." Skoodge announced for the others to hear.

This seemed to be enough to stop the others, at least temporarily and Skoodge was allowed to walk with Zim just ahead of him.

Floating monitors then dispersed the crowd, informing them that their presence at the trial was mandatory and that all other orders were suspended pending sentencing as a new Tallest would be selected following the trial.

This proved enough of a distraction that Skoodge was able to whisper beside Zim's antennae.

"What the hell have you gotten yourself into now?"

Zim's shoulders slumped slightly, as he stared at his cuffed feet, but he didn't answer.

A million eyes bore into him as he was marched up onto the platform, the sensation both familiar and alien. He'd stood upon this stage before and yet he'd been able ignore the shame and terror thanks to his delusional belief that he truly was the best. He may have been intended as the best but he certainly didn't feel that way right now. There was no way to ignore the bloodlust painted on the faces of his fellow Irkens brimming the sidelines of the hall of judgment.

The idea that he was walking toward certain death screamed at him from every corner of his mind and yet he forced himself to hold his head high. He forced himself to move forward with a soldier's resolve. Even if his legs felt weak, he wouldn't be the pathetic creature everyone believed him to be. Defective or not, he was Zim and, with the new knowledge he had stored away in the confines of his pak, he would ensure at the very least that he would NEVER be forgotten.

Skoodge finally pulled away from his back, leaving him alone as the bridge fell away to the island he now stood upon and the eyes of the control brains trained on him. A snake-like tendril found its way behind him and he swallowed dryly as it slid into his pak, cold machinery filling the confines of his mind as his life was laid bare upon the screen in front of him.

The second the connection had been made an alarm began to sound.

"ERROR. ERROR. ERROR."

"Foreign memory files detected. Files belong to pak ID 1875972039: Tallest Red. Now playing recordings."

Zim stole a glance at the Irken's around him as the screen began to replay the secrets his Tallest had never wanted another soul to see.

A young, purple eyed Irken stared at a tank in the Irken smeetery. Another Irken, whom had yet to be activated floated in the tank. The Irken looked about shiftily as green hands made their way to the display below the tank.

Irken characters flashed across the screen and the purple eyed Irken seemed to see something before the Irken tinkering with the display turned to face a terrified looking Vortian. The Vortian was then led to the display and a flashdrive of some sort was inserted into the side of the device.

The Irken whom had been tinkering with the display finally spoke.

"You know the arrangement. Load the statuses." The voice spoke, sounding like a younger version of Tallest Red.

"Ye...Yes. Right away." The vortian stuttered, typing a few commands before the screens began to show something strange.

"Irken Zim. Predetermined occupation: Invader. Height allotment: Max. Notes: Potential Tallest."

All of Judgementia seemed silent in that moment, eyes flicking from the status on the screen to the diminutive figure standing alone upon the platform in front of them.

A flicker of a smile traced Zim's lips as the rest of the world seemed to have lost the ability to speak. The smile fell, however, as Purple began to speak.

"Change it. The hormones."

At this the vortian seemed to grow increasingly uncomfortable.

"You'll free me after this? There's no turning back after this."

"We had a deal didn't we." Red huffed.

After a moment the vortian opened a new panel and the hormone levels of all the tanks in the vicinity began to appear and he stepped aside to allow Purple to adjust the levels.

Purple looked to Red before grinning broadly and dragging the hormone levels to minimum for the tank in front of him. Red then shoved him aside and began dragging down the hormone levels for every Irken in the smeetery.

Lights began to dim in each tank and Red shoved the vortian forward again.

"Save the changes and make it as though this never happened."

"Ye… Yes sir." The vortian stammered, completing the work as Purple nodded toward Red and pulled out a plasma gun. Red snickered slightly behind the vortian and the unfortunate alien began to turn his head in the direction of the sound before Purple blasted his head from his shoulders. The two then dropped the gun beside the burned and bloody body and snatched the flashdrive from its hand; climbing into the ducks above and making their way back to their quarters before a guard rounded the corner.

When the recording had finished Zim's own memories began to play, one headless corpse replaced by another.

The control brains then began to glitch, beginning to talk at the same time as the others.

"Determination: Irken Zim is… Irken Purple is… Irken Red is..."

"Judgment application failed."

"Irken Tallest pak components detected."

"Assassination of Tallest determined impossible."

"Tallest indication present."

"Irken Zim status: Tallest."