The Fallen Invader

Chapter 22: Call of the PAK

All rational thought was gone from my mind. It didn't matter where I was or what I was supposed to be doing, all I knew was that Zim was hurt, and the ability to transfer that pain to the one who hurt him was at my disposal.

Gaz kept screaming at me to stop and tried to wrestle the controller away from me, but for once, she couldn't stop me.

Under my control, GIR leaped towards Miyuki, clawing at her face. For the first time, she was caught off guard. I guess she didn't expect me to fight.

With a kick to the back of the head, she was knocked down, and I commanded GIR to latch onto her PAK. Before I could make him pull it off, Miyuki went into a fit of sadistic laughter.

"You won't do it! I'll admit, I was surprised you attacked me at all, but there's no way you'll go through with it!" She stated, a twisted smile on her face.

"Try me!" I snapped.

"If you rip my PAK out, I'll die after ten minutes, and you don't have Mip's PAK to replace it. Kill me, and you'll never get her back." She chuckled.

"You're wrong, Tak's getting the PAK as we speak. She should be back any minute." I argued.

"Ten minutes is a very short time, Dib. You can't count on her to make it, especially given how massive the dump is. So, what'll it be? Surrender, or brutally murder your pwecious widdle Mipsy?" She taunted.

I couldn't let her get in my head. There had to be another way. I just had to speak her language.

"How about this? If I can't find Mip's PAK within ten minutes, I'll give you yours back and let you do whatever you want to us."

She smirked. "That would be ideal, but I have a feeling you're not done talking."

"If I DO find the PAK, I give it to Mip and smash your PAK to bits, and we all go home."

Miyuki burst out laughing again. "Alright, alright, I'll play your little game. But you won't win. The only downside is that I won't be conscious to see you fail."

At that, she willingly allowed her PAK to detach, and her expression immediately changed. The previously confident and maniacal Miyuki was replaced with pure terror.

"W-What happened? Why am I in this suit? What's going on!?"

Without the PAK, she was functioning on only her brain. No outside influence, just Mip.

I dropped the controller and ran to her, and helped her pull the armor off. As soon as she was free, she went to bury her face in my chest, but froze when she saw the bloody rips in my shirt from when she scratched me.

"Dad? Y-You're hurt!"

"I'm fine. Now come on, we don't have a lot of time. Gaz, destroy that PAK. I don't care what I agreed to, I was lying. I don't ever want her coming back. Also, try and get Zim's PAK back on him. There should still be time to save him, it hasn't been ten minutes yet."

With Mip cradled in my arms, I was about to head out the door, but Gaz ran after me. "Hold up! I'm going with you."

"Gaz, I don't have time to wait. Save Zim and destroy Miyuki first, then catch up with me if you can. I have to go."

Though I had no idea where the dump was, I was able to find it by the smell alone. Skoodge and Miyuki weren't exaggerating when they said the dump was huge. I wasn't sure where to start looking.

"Why do I feel like...? Dad, I think I've been here before. Put me down for a second."

I really didn't want to let her go, given that I just got her back and could potentially lose her again, but her familiarity with the dump could help us.