Irksome

Summary: He had no idea it was going to rain. Zim barely had time to look up at the first sound of thunder before the down pour began. He also had no idea that there was someone out there that could help him or the impact she would have as their lives intertwined.

*Note about Zim's speech patterns: He's been on earth approximately 5 years now, but his speech still isn't natural, but it's getting there. He still sometimes refers to himself in the third person but his vocabulary has expanded.

Disclaimer: Ha! If I owned Zim, I'd rule the world through the utter chaos of GIR's mind! Wahahahaha ha…ha. On with the show…


Ground: 0NE

Zim hurt. Everywhere. Gritting his teeth and swallowing a groan, he sat up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the human said. Zim turned slowly, feeling the burns on his back stretch and scream in protest. She was leaning against the far wall. She was wearing the nasty gym clothes and was holding a stick the worm-babies at skool used to play bass-ball. He didn't understand the game. It had nothing to do with fish.

"Why are you dressed for recreational activities of…activeness, human?" If Zim had felt up to it, he would have screamed this and pointed at the dirt-creature. However, he settled for glaring at her. She just blinked back.

Whatever she had been expecting, it wasn't this. "Recreational activities?" She looked down at the bat and let it swing a little. "No. This is if you're hostile, Martian."

"I am no Martian. What would make you say that?" Zim laughed nervously.

"Are you kidding me? Look at yourself." Zim did.

"Ah! My disguise! What have you done?" She picked one of his contacts off a shelf and flapped it around.

"You mean this? How could this possibly be a disguise?" Zim growled and pushed himself to his elbows. The human pointed the bat at him. "Careful, you'll open your wounds." The sight of the bat infuriated Zim.

"Inferior being," he shouted. He could feel some of the wounds open just like she said. "Do you think that stick could stop ZIM?"

"In your condition, yes."

"You underestimate me, worm-baby," Zim's mechanical legs shot from the Pak, lifting him off the couch. The human's jaw fell open and her eyes widened. Zim relished in her fear. It was almost enough to ignore the fire eating at his skin.

He lunged, raising a leg to hit her. She swung the bat to meet him. He skittered sideways, a mechanical leg glancing her shoulder. She cried out and swung the bat. It swept the legs out from under the alien and they retracted into the Pak, sending him to the ground. He screamed in agony.

His antennas were ringing and spots danced across his vision. Someone was cursing in the background. As his senses cleared he found the human leaning over him, speaking.

"You idiot," she shouted. "The wounds are open again." Zim could feel heat soaking into his back and sides. The human began peeling away layers of bandages, using a nearby towel to soak up extra blood.

"Why?" It was all he could manage. He hated her touch.

She didn't respond for a while, still unraveling the gauze. "I don't have an answer for you yet." She got up, disappearing from Zim's sight, and came back with more bandages and clean towels.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

Zim growled. She continued to touch. "I'll kill you. Your entire race, I'll kill all of you dirt-monkeys. Your planet will be turned into a parking-station for the glory of the Empire." The human reached behind her, bringing out the bat. "I'll dis—," she swung and Zim's world went black.

She finally finished redressing the alien's wounds. It went faster once it was quiet and stopped squirming. She hoped she didn't hit it too hard. She shrugged to no one and sat back, questioning her sanity.

Why?

It was obvious it was hostile. It already tried to kill her, or at least maim her. It was bleeding too much anyway. Why was she keeping it alive?

Paranormal science held no interest for her. She didn't want fame or fortune for her find. She didn't was government recognition for turning the alien over to the FBI.

She just wanted out—away from the business, away from the streets. And it had the ability to escape to the stars. She could rehabilitate it, make it nice. Surely her sweet and tender nature would show it that there were things worth saving in this world. Then it would agree to take her into its spaceship. It would fly her to a friendly planet and give her everything she needed to survive, then fly away to find it inner self in the starry unknown.

Karis snorted then burst out laughing. Like that would ever happen. It was a boring idea anyway. But it did explain at least some of her hope in the situation.

Oh well, no sense dwelling on it. She, hopefully, disabled the metal appendages that had come out of its back. And there were other things that needed tending, like getting more bandages and finding Daniel.


Zim couldn't get his mechanical limbs out. They refused to budge.

When he had woken up, Zim found he was on the bed again, his wounds treated and his Pak's arms unresponsive. The dirt-monkey would pay for touching him. Oh, how she will pay.

Zim tried the communicator. He smirked when the device shot over his head and dangled in front of his face. It connected to the one that sat in GIR's empty head.

"Hiya, Masta'!" The bot screamed between strings of chocolate-bubblegum Freezey. It oozed and bubbled out the opening of his dog suit.

"GIR, I've told you not to eat those disgusting things. And where are you?"

"Aww, not the Brain Freezey," the SIR pouted. Behind him loud voices echoed and legs streamed in and out of the view screen. "I'm at the mall with Gaz!" Brain Freezey forgotten, the robot gave a stupid grin.

"GIR," someone off screen shouted angrily. The Gaz-human no doubt.

"I gotta go Masta', demon piggies are coming out tonight."

"No, GIR, wait!" The robot paused. "GIR, go back to the base and get the shiny green tube that I told you to never touch out of the lab. Then hack into the pitiful humans' satellite system and use it to track my location. Bring the green tube here. Got it GIR?"

GIR's eyes flashed red and he saluted. "Yes, Master." There was a flash of cerulean and a "after we get the piggies" as the screen disconnected. Zim groaned. It would take forever for Gaz to get her new game, and even longer for GIR to remember his orders.

Zim sat up the best he could with a pained grunt. He took in the small room. There was a large window, the sun glaring through and illuminating everything. It was surprisingly clean for a dirt-monkey, everything organized neatly in little cubbies and organizing thingies around the room. The TeleVisor was in one corner, on but muted, the news-humans' mouths flapping silently. A shelf stacked with books stood next to the inferior technology. There was little else in the room.

Zim wondered if he could make it out the door before the female meat-sack returned.

He had only made it to the middle of the room before she returned. It was excruciating. Then he thought she was going to kill him because he opened his wounds from dragging himself along the floor. Instead, she stepped over his prone form and threw curses at him for a while as she unloaded the multitude of plastic bags she had come back with. Of course, being Zim, he could only take so much. He started yelling back after the first comment.

"How can you be so dumb?" She slammed a box of foodstuffs on the kitchen table in the next room.

"Don't mock Zim, meat-sack! Your whole race put together could not match the smartness that is Zim."

"Jeez, what planet spawned you and your superego?"

"I'm an elite solder from the planet Irk."

She snorted. "Irk? You do realize that we have a term in English that sounds the same, right?"

"It means 'amazing', doesn't it," he really sounded convinced. The human peeked around the corner of the doorframe. Zim realized it was the first she looked at him since the shouting match began.

"You're serious, aren't you," she said as she fled back into the kitchen.

"Of course I'm serious, Zim is always serious."

"Ah, I see," her voice paused and she came to stand in the doorway. "So, what is Irk like?" The human said it quietly and, what was the earth term, timidly. Zim grew suspicious, then realized she avoided telling the English term 'Irk'.

"Tell me what your meaning of Irk is, first, human." She fidgeted.

But she never had the chance to answer. Something hit the front door hard, rattling the hinges. Both beings jumped.


Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate. I also wanted to apologize for the long wait. I know that when I read fanfictions I quickly lose interest if the author doesn't update at least every few months. Too much happens in daily life. That goes for writing, too. Just hang in there with me—I promise it's well worth your time!