Zim sighed as the human vanished from his sight, his back beginning to burn from his PAK once more.
He didn't want Dib around while he was doing this.
Taking it off with a huff, he stretched.
His vision flashed with his life clock, but Zim ignored it, it was time to get to fixing the thing.
Now, by all means, he was not a PAK technician.
But he'd been a scientist before he became an invader, so he was familiar with the subject of engineering and such.
So he'd have to hope he knew enough from the pre-installed knowledge about PAKs, and his previous engineering knowledge.
What else could he do anyway? He couldn't just call in to get the device looked at, not anymore.
Zim grimaced at his thoughts, trying to brush off the thoughts. He needed to focus.
He reached for a pair of goggles that he often wore when working on machinery.
Grabbing the screw driver from beside him, he undid the 'lid' of the PAK, sliding it off.
The wires in the device were messy and looked undone, making Zim frown.
This was normal, right? PAKs were just normally messy, he wasn't defective.
But, he couldn't help the creeping feeling in his gut.
"Computer, show me a diagram of an average Irken PAK. " He commanded, his voice not a yell, nor a whisper, just a normally said sentence.
"Do I havee tooo? " The program complained, ignoring how uncommon it was to hear Zim speak in a normal tone.
"Yes, do it now! " He clarified, in his very-Zimly tone of yelling.
The computer grumbled, but complied, presenting the Irken with the diagram.
Zims gut churned, it was not normal.
The PAK on screen was clean and well done, its wires smartly straightened in neat formation with the other parts of the device.
His was not.
His PAK was undone, the wires randomly thrown, parts in the wrong place, anything but neat.
Wires were cut where they should be long, and others were long when they should be cut.
It was so different.
He was so different.
Zim frowned, grimaced even.
He hadn't even noticed how he'd been biting down on his tongue until he tasted the sweet, sugaryness of Irken blood swirling in his mouth.
He hadn't noticed the way his Life clock had reached three minutes, the way his body started to weaken.
Until his eyelids started to droop, and his hands started to shake, only then, only then did he notice the alarmingly low time.
Hastily, he redid the PAKs lid, popping the device back into his spine.
The sensation was anything but pleasant, but he wasn't going to die such an undeserving death.
Letting his body recharge for a few minutes before he restarted the process, he looked at the room.
The room that he'd done in three hours, knowing it would've been quicker if he hadn't had to take off his PAK every thirty minutes because the device would start to heat up.
He let out a little sigh, popped off the PAK once more, and refocused.
He'd be normal.
He could fix this, right?
He shook his head, focusing on re-ordering the wires and parts first.
Zim lined the coloured wiring in straight, neat ways that resembled the PAK on the screen.
He knew it wasn't perfect, but it'll have to do.
Continuing, he picked carefully at the misplaced parts, delicately moving them to the correct area.
The PAK was a complicated device, layers of wires and parts for the first half of the thing, and the last half was where the spider-like legs were stored, along with any other tools, tablet-like devices, switch outs for the legs, like guns and lasers, and other small gadgets that he'd stored in the space.
That's why he needed to be careful, to not mess things up. One small wrong cut, or accidentally breaking the smallest parts, could easily break, or severely damage a PAK.
Zims antennae vibrated and buzzed, creating a low hum that he usually emits without knowing when focused or thinking.
It was calming, in a way.
The low humming in the background of the most stressful task an Irken could be doing.
Most wouldn't even dare to touch their PAKs, in fear of breaking the thing.
But Zim wasn't like that.
He knew most Irken would break under the pressure of getting everything right.
Especially without ever studying the PAKs technology.
But not him.
He wouldn't break.
Zim couldn't break, not under a task like this. Any who did were obviously weaker.
But he had already broken long ago. And he wasn't even going to acknowledge the fact. He wouldn't.
He tried, he really did try not to feel defeated by the way his PAK was so… different.
But it was slowly biting at his ego, destroying any confidence about himself left.
Glancing at his life timer, he repeated the routine of popping the PAK back on.
Sighing at the realisation that this was going to become a common occurrence into the next hour or two.
But even so, he pushed on.
He'll push on until the PAK that he held in his hands, and the PAK on screen matched.
And he did.
But it didn't look the same.
All the wires, the parts, were all In the correct place.
Everything was identical.
Except it wasn't.
Something, just something, something wasn't right.
There was nothing out of place, but he still found something off about it.
He'd even fixed his PAK legs, they worked effortlessly now.
But it was just different.
Would that always be how it is?
Would he always be different?
No matter how much he changed?
His eyes squinted into angered slits, no. He wouldn't be.
He'd change. He'd be normal, he would fix himself.
Placing the newly adjusted PAK onto his back, he stretched as the life clock disappeared from his vision.
Now, any Irken would've called it a day.
But Zim wasn't finished, not yet.
He knew this was extremely forbidden for any Irken that aren't PAK technicians, or of course the Tallest.
But if he wanted to be completely normal, he had to.
"C-computer, open my PAKs files- I need to… check them. " Zim stumbled, his sentence nervous and unsure.
He felt guilty for this. He didn't know why, he was doing the right thing, fixing himself..
"Are you sure, master? It would be unwise, tampering with the PAKs code could result in fatal errors, along with it being highly illegal on Irk. " The computer reasoned, with no sassiness in his voice.
"I.. I need to do this. Connect my PAK! " He dismisses the warnings.
"Alright, if you say so. "
A thick tube-like wire connected onto his PAK, and after a few moments, a screen appeared in Zims face.
The screen was bright and had many different options and words.
He scanned the screen, not knowing where to start, he tapped on a folder titled 'Attributes'.
The folder opened, revealing many more files.
One in particular caught his eye, the 'emotion' folder.
Clicking on it, he was immediately faced with a graph of his emotion levels.
First was his pride, which he smirked at, hoping it was accurate.
Then his anger, a bit higher than he'd expected, but anger is always seen as good in an Irken!
But then was sadness, why was it even there?
Turns out, it was very closely levelled with anger.
"Why is the sadness so high? " Zim blurted in disbelief, surely it was wrong.
"I dunno, you're just really sad I guess. " The computer Hummed.
"Silence! " He shouted.
Turning back, he analysed the screen, there was an option to look into more emotional data, an emotion stabiliser, that was turned off, and-
"Is that a loyalty enforcer?" He almost yelled, there had to be a mistake, maybe it just looked alike.
"Seems like it " The computer confirmed his worries.
"What? But those are only used on inferior foreign species!" Zim blabbled.
"Yep, and it's cranked up much higher than it usually is on the average foreign species. " The machine showed the surprised Irken the percentage.
Zim gasped at the pop up- 200%!
Even the most rebellious species only get up to 150%, why was his so high? He was one of the most loyal of his kind!
His eyes widened, maybe that was why.
Does this mean he isn't loyal without it? Impossible!
"Turn that thing off! " Zim shouted urgently, antennae perked.
"kay' " The computer complied, turning off the enforcer.
Zim froze, eyes widened as his spine made a cold shiver.
He felt… different.
Something was right, or maybe wrong. Changed.
It was as if he'd broken out of chains, the invisible bounds that held him back.
He felt.. Free.
And he didn't feel guilty.
He didn't think he did.
He felt like himself, it was funny really.
For many, many centuries, he'd lived thinking that he was his fullest self. But he wasn't.
He hasn't ever been, not until now.
It was actually kind of sad.
Ever since his PAK was placed on him- that over enforcer PAK, he'd never been himself, always restricted.
The tallest had done that.
The realisation shook him, the Tallest, the leaders of his species- his leaders, had encoded him to forever be loyal.
Was it the same for every Irken? Did they all have higher loyalty enforcer percentages than the species that we enslave?
Or was he the only one?
Was he the only one who had enforcers, or was he the only one who had such a high percentage?
He felt so confused.
Too many questions, not enough answers.
His face scrunched up, anger swirling Inside him.
Why had they done this to him?
His claws dug into the metal of the counter, making him recoil, he knew from last time, not to let his emotions destroy his base.
Huffing an angered breath, he sighed.
He'll have plenty of time to be angry later.
Turning his attention back to the screen, he looked everything over.
Not much more was in there, so he opted for a different folder.
His antennae twitched annoyingly as he tried to focus, his mind still fogged with confusion and questions.
Zim ended up choosing the file titled 'Anatomy '.
This folder opened to reveal more folders, and he stared at the irken symbols in search of something, anything..
He curiously opened the 'height' section, not seeking any interest in the others for now.
It opened to a diagram of different Irkens- particularly measuring the heights.
First was the Smaller, represented by a service drone.
Second was the average, or more so, the acceptable height of an Irken, he took note of how his height laid around this point.
Third was the Taller, represented by a (tall) military Irken.
Then, forth and last, where Tallest. Represented of course by the current tallest, he frowned slightly.
Maybe if he had grown just a bit taller, he'd be more respected by them.
Maybe then they would have seen he didn't at all need a loyalty enforcer.
He looked around the screen, a option for a more detail, stats of his height, and-
A height setting.
Well, it was actually the amount of hormones released, but it might have well been a height setting.
The higher the amount of hormones, the taller his body would grow.
This was his chance!
Clicking on the redirecting button, he was shown a sort of moveable bar, representing the hormone levels.
It also had a typeable setting, for more precise measurements.
Biting his lip, he took a look at where his currently sat, and was surprised at how low the bar was.
Well to be fair, it was actually just one third under the halfway point, but he still thought it was pretty low.
His claws trembled slightly as he reached to adjust the bar, he wondered how fast it'd work.
He'd never studied Irken anatomy, other than the information already provided in his PAK- but he'd assume he'd probably have to take this stuff slowly…Right?
That's how humans worked.
But he was Irken.
And they were different, but by how much?
He shook his head, they were literally from different planets galaxies away.
Their appetites were completely different, their appearance, lifestyle, life span, there were too many differences.
But it still seemed logical.
Irken were superior species and were fast healers and such, but they were still organisms- they weren't completely invincible.
So he'd take what he did know rather than what he didn't.
Sliding the bar up slightly, enough to make a difference, but not enough to make it a drastic one.
Satisfied with his findings, he made one more search before he'd stop.
Clicking out of the hormone adjuster, he took a look at what else laid in the folder.
There wasn't quite too much..
Not anything that would majorly help his situation- all things he could come back to later, but he only wanted the things he needed now.
Tapping out, he spotted the thing he needed.
The 'ranking' file.
He didn't actually need it, but he was too curious to save it for later.. Would he still be ranked an invader even though…
He opened the folder, his breath held when he saw his rank.
"Food-drone? " Zim breathed, his expression defeated and almost hurt.
He frowned. He knew he wasn't an invader anymore, but he wasn't a food drone!
He scavenged the page for anything that could help- but his mind seemed to buzz out every letter and symbol he tried to read.
"Computer, remove me of that filthy rank. " He finally demanded after a while of looking with dazed eyes.
"You will be rankless, sir. " The machine hummed with point.
Zim opened his mouth to speak, but found that he didn't know if he wanted that.
Would being rankless really be worth it? He'd completely leave the empire!
But.. It was so much better than being labelled as a food drone.
Maybe if the tallest called him back.. They'd realise they've made a mistake. They'd re-rank him.
"Do it." He decided with a sure nod, expression unreadable.
The computer hummed for a few seconds, before he saw the rank reload, replaced with rankless.
"Done." The computer assured.
"Good! Now save everything and unconnect my PAK. This is finished for now" Zim demanded with a satisfied click.
"Aight' " The computer sighed as he undid the PAK and took away the screen.
He stretched, yawning as he made his was to the elevator, maybe now that things were fixed, he wouldn't have such a strange dream again.