(a/n: well i hope you enjoy this. i tried to get the Adventure time characters in-character but i think i failed. sorry if this chapter is crap but i just wanted to get this one over with. enjoy!)

Act 4: New kids on the block

In the laboratory of Princess Bubblegum, Finn the human watched as Princess Bubblegum carefully poured a bottle of greenish liquid onto a wilted plant in a small flowerpot.

The liquid fizzled and was absorbed into the soil and plant. They waited for a few moments then suddenly the wilted plant straitened up and it started to regain its color.

After a few seconds the plant was fully revitalized "That was awesome!" said Finn

"Thanks Finn" said Princess Bubblegum "with this revitalization solution, we can revitalize wilted crops and flowers"

"yawn" said a voice. The two looked up and saw a teenaged girl floating above them, looking bored "What is it Marceline?" asked Finn

"This is boring" she groaned "Can't we do something exciting?"

"this is exciting" said Princess Bubblegum

"No it's not, hunting treasure in a dungeon is exciting, battling an ogre is exciting, pouring a bottle of chemicals on a plant is not exciting" said Marceline.

Princess Bubblegum frowned and glanced at the revitalized plant saying, "I guess this is a little dull" She peeled off her gloves, took off her safety goggles and discarded her lab coat "I have been planning on taking a break from experiments, I might as well start now"

"Yeah!" shouted Finn.

Marceline smiled "Great, so what do you guys want to do?"

"How about we go treasure hunting" suggested Princess Bubblegum, she reached into the pocket of her lab coat and pulled out a aged scroll "I found this yesterday in the library, it's a map to a long lost treasure"

"That sounds like fun" said Finn

"Lets get going already" said Marceline who glided out of the lab, Finn and Princess Bubblegum followed her.

The trio entered the foyer where they saw Jake and Lady Rainicorn talking to a flustered Cinnamon Bun.

He was sweating and looked terrified, he was speaking at a rapid pace that made it hard to follow "What's going on?" asked Finn

Jake glanced at Finn saying "I don't know, he just running in here screaming something".

Princess Bubblegum walked over to Cinnamon Bun and placed a hand on his shoulder saying soothingly "Its ok, you're safe, just tell us what's going on?"

Cinnamon bun stopped and he took a deep breath, then explained "I was just walking in the woods and I heard this noise. It was coming from this house… it was weird because it wasn't there before, well I looked through a window and saw this green guy. He was talking to these gnomes and then this tall guy in black started killing them".

Everyone gasped, "Whoa" breathed Marceline "that's hardcore"

"What else happened?" asked Finn

Cinnamon bun shuddered "they all died and the green guy started saying that he will take over the world and return to someplace called Irk"

"He's an alien!" exclaimed Jake. Everyone gave Jake questioning looks "What makes you say that?" asked Finn

Jake shrugged "I don't know but that sounds like an alien planet"

"Makes sense" said Finn.

Princess Bubblegum frowned, thinking about Cinnamon Buns story till finally she spoke "that dose sound very troublesome"

"we should check it out" said Finn

"What about the treasure hunt?" said Princess Bubblegum

"We can do that another time" said Marceline "Besides, this sounds much more exciting"

"Yeah" said Finn "Lets go and get this psycho alien before he dose something else"

Princess Bubblegum nodded "ok, lets go" She, Cinnamon Bun, Finn and Jake hopped onto Lady Rainicorn's back and they flew out the door, Marceline glided closely behind them and they headed southward towards the supposed alien's base.

Zim was on his knees scrubbing Gnome blood off of the tiles of his living room floor as the Gravemaker was still collecting corpses and putting them in a large mound so he could dispose of them in a mass grave

"Stinking fools" murmured Zim "Thinking they could take Zim's home away, well I don't think so" he snickered as the memory of the carnage came back to his mind.

He remembered a few gnomes tried to flee but they were a cut down by a single blast of plasma.

Their shrill screams still echoed around his thoughts making him laugh harder. He wiped away the last few drops of blood and he scrambled to his feet.

He gazed around the living room, the floor was completely clean of blood "That's better" sighed Zim.

The computer beeped, Zim glanced up at the ceiling "Computer what is it?"

"After reviewing the defense grid, there has been a breech in security"

"What!" exclaimed Zim "how!"

"The defense grid had just came back on line after the intruders were terminated" explained the computer "But after the initial scan of the perimeter during that time, there was a single life sign just outside one of the walls, near the window"

Zim's heart skipped a beat "Oh no!" someone had seen them and got away.

Was it a gnome? No, not one of the gnomes was able to escape so it must have been someone on the outside who just happened to be in the area at that moment.

Zim took a few deep breaths trying to calm down, maybe they just dismissed what they saw and just left.

Suddenly the computer beeped again "Proximity alert" said the computer "six life signs, coming from the north" Zim froze, so much for that idea.

Any lesser Irken would have packed it in and called it a career but Zim was not a lesser Irken, he did a quick inspection of the living room. It was clean, except for the mountain of corpses but that could be cleaned up quick.

He barked at the Gravemaker "Get rid of the bodies and hurry!" the Gravemaker nodded and he scooped up the bodies and rushed outside in a burst of speed, carefully not dropping a single corpse.

Once the living room was cleaned of the corpses he rushed out of the room and saw GIR sitting on the table, lathered in melted nacho cheese "GIR, clean this mess up and get into you're disguise"

"Why?" whined GIR

"We got uh guests coming" said Zim.

GIR perked up and he quickly licked the cheese off of his body and donned his doggy disguise.

Zim ran through a list of things that were completed muttering "is that everything?" suddenly there was a soft knock at the door causing Zim's heart to jump.

They were here.

GIR giggled, "They're here!"

Zim hissed, "Silence!" but the robot just kept giggling.

Zim rushed to the door, he took one last look around the living room making sure that it was clean of anything that could implicate that they were aliens.

Zim adjusted his wig and cleared his throat then he opened the door.

Cinnamon Bun had guided the group through the forest till they reached a small clearing. In the middle of that clearing was a tall green house.

It had a purple roof, disproportionate windows and gnome statues surrounded the house.

Marceline raised an eyebrow "is this the right place?"

Cinnamon Bun nodded quickly "Uh huh that's it"

Marceline frowned "What kind of alien would hid in a place like that? This place just screams that he's an alien, not exactly discreet"

"Maybe he's not an alien, he's probably a guy with a weird taste in architecture" said Jake

"Maybe" agreed Marceline

"Or maybe he really is an alien and he just designed his base poorly" said Finn

"Or that" said Marceline.

Princess Bubblegum stepped up to the door saying "Well we won't find out by just standing around here" she raised a hand and knocked.

After a minute of waiting the door opened slowly revealing a short green skinned boy with jet-black hair. Beside him was a small green dog with eyes that were the size of baseballs.

The boy looked at the group suspiciously "Yes, what do you want?"

"Hi" said Princess Bubblegum, smiling a little "We're here on an investigation"

"investigate what?" asked the boy before Princess Bubblegum could answer Finn cut in "We're looking for a crazy, psycho alien who's trying to take over the world"

"Aliens?" said the boy looking surprised, his eyes darted around to the individual members of the group "that's ridiculous, there's no such thing as aliens".

Marceline narrowed her eyes saying, "I've never seen you around before" "Neither have I" said Princess Bubblegum

"I'm new around here" the boy said quickly "I just moved here"

"Oh really?" said Marceline "Where did you move here from?"

The boy glanced around at the surroundings then said "I'm uh from the south".

Finn spoke up "And you don't have any ears, what's up with that?"

the boy frowned "That's part of my skin condition" he looked a little embarrassed "I was born with green skin and no ears, I may not have ears and I may have green skin doesn't mean that I'm an alien dose it?" the boy sniffed and his eyes watered a little

"Guess not" said Finn, feeling a little sorry for the boy.

The boy asked, "What made you think that I was an alien?"

"Oh Cinnamon Bun said that he over heard a person in you're house talking about conquering the world" said Princess Bubblegum

"But I did" said Cinnamon Bun

"We know you did" said Princess Bubblegum, she patted him on the back but she leaned in close to the boy whispering "He's half baked" the boy nodded understanding but he didn't really understand what she meant.

The boy scratched his head "Well if that's all you are here for then I'm sorry to disappoint you, there are no aliens here. It is just I, Zim, my dog GIR" he patted the green dog on the head "And my, uh, older brother, we're normal yes perfectly normal humans"

"Older brother?" said Princess Bubblegum

"Normal?" said Marceline

"Humans?" said Finn, looking skeptical.

Zim was starting to sweat. He saw the looks on the newcomer's faces; they weren't buying his lie of being human.

Zim had to stall them till the Gravemaker gets back from burying the bodies. He was programmed to not only be a skilled killer but also a skilled infiltrator, he could assume a human likeness and influence humans with great ease.

The Gravemaker should be able to convince them of the lie, thought Zim, if not he would have to kill them.

Zim coughed "how do I know that you aren't the aliens? You haven't even introduced yourselves, I heard that aliens don't introduce themselves"

the pink girl blinked "oh sorry, I'm Princess Bubblegum"

"I'm Marceline" said the dark haired girl

"I'm Finn" said the boy then he pointed to the dog "and this is my best bud, Jake".

Zim frowned and started making mental notes of the group standing before him.

The pink girl was Princess Bubblegum, the current ruler of the earth, she seemed intelligent and resourceful. She could be trouble.

He glanced over to the dark haired girl, something about her made him uneasy yet something about her seems familiar to him. Zim noticed that there were two holes on her neck, they looked like bite marks. Zim remembered something that Dib was ranting about in class a few days before the war started, something about creatures with bite marks on their necks but Zim hardly paid any attention to his ranting.

Lastly he glanced at the boy, he was the first human he saw since he awoke.

Maybe the boy was the last human on earth, thought Zim.

The thought made him happy, one little pest to take care of then he'll be going home. Zim was unsure of the dog, the dog might be trouble but he could be easily taken care of.

Zim scratched himself "Well if that's all, leave, I got things to do"

"But they can't leave" said GIR he looked up to Zim with his big eyes

"Why not?" said Zim glaring down at GIR.

GIR smiled "They can't leave, we need help with the waffles"

"Waffles?" said Zim he turned towards the kitchen "What about waaaaa?" he stopped and his jaw dropped when he saw the mountain of waffles sitting on the kitchen table.

The group looked inside and saw the mountain of waffles "That's a lot of waffles" breathed Finn, his stomach grumbled and everyone looked at him.

Finn blushed "I didn't have breakfast this morning"

"Come on in" said GIR he jumped out of the way and he motioned for the group to enter "You look like you need waffles" Finn smiled and entered the house "Thanks"

Princess Bubblegum followed after "Well I am feeling a little hungry"

Marceline floated in after her, which caused Zim's eyes to almost pop out of their sockets.

Cinnamon Bun just said that he'd wait outside; Zim slammed the door shut, fuming.

The group took seats around the table and GIR handed them forks, knives and plates, then the group started digging into the mountain of waffles.

Zim was flabbergasted, how could GIR make that many waffles so quickly and how could he just allow the enemy into the house.

Before Zim could begin scolding his robot minion he thought of something

"Computer" he whispered, "Take bio scans of our guests then catalog them for later" "Scanning" said the computer in a low volume.

After a few minutes the group had finished devouring the waffles, Finn burped saying, "Those were some good waffles" he looked at GIR who was sprawled out on the table, completely full of waffles "What was in them?"

"There's waffle in em" squeaked GIR.

Zim heard the door open and he saw a tall slim human enter the house. He had spiky black hair with flecks of grey, his skin was a light grey color and his eyes were black as coal. The human wore a black and white flannel shirt, jeans and red tennis shoes. He knelt down next to Zim saying in a quiet voice "What's going on?".

Zim frowned "Who are you?"

"You know who I am, boss" said the human, his right eye changed from black to red then back in an instant "Gravemaker" whispered Zim the human nodded.

Zim then spoke quietly "Some guests coming to investigate the recent incident"

"Should I take care of them?" asked the Gravemaker, reaching for a hidden knife that was strapped to his ankle

"No just get them out of here before our cover is blown" said Zim.

The Gravemaker nodded "Will do" he got up and made his way to the kitchen while Zim opened a hatch in the wall next to the couch and he climbed into it, making his way to the secret labs.

Finn drummed his fingers on the tabletop frowning.

Princess Bubblegum noticed his frown "What's wrong Finn?"

"Something doesn't fit" said Finn "Something about what Zim said, is it rally true? I hardly know the dude but something about him just seems weird"

"you're point?" said Marceline

"Is Zim really human?" said Finn in a serious tone "I've never met another human who acts like a person or has green skin, could he be human or could he be something else?"

"Of course he's human" said a warm voice.

Everyone looked and saw standing in the entrance of the kitchen was a tall, slender human. He was eighteen, had grayish skin, black hair with flecks of grey with black eyes. He wore black and white shirt with jeans.

The newcomer smiled warmly "My little brother is a hundred percent human" he walked into the kitchen and looked at each member of the group, he bowed his head a little "I'm Marcus, pleased to meet you" everyone introduced themselves and Marcus smiled "Nice to have some guests" he pulled up a chair and sat down next to Marceline

"we don't really get many visitors since we moved here a few months back" he sighed.

Marceline stared at Marcus, not paying attention to what he is saying. Something about Marcus was familiar, like they met somewhere long ago.

Marcus glanced at Marceline then to Princess Bubblegum then to Finn and Jake "So what brings two lovely ladies, a young lad and a dog to this neck of the woods?" Princess Bubblegum blushed at the comment and explained what happened with Cinnamon Bun and the recent conversation with Zim.

After she finished explaining Marcus nodded "Hm, well that dose sound like an alien but let me clarify" he coughed then explained, "My brother and I were playing a video game and it was about fighting an alien invasion, he defeated me and was saying that he was going to get to the final level, the alien home planet and gain glory for being the first to beat it"

Marcus scratched his cheek "I'm sure you're friend might have misunderstood what was going on".

Princess Bubblegum scratched her chin "that dose sound plausible"

"yeah it dose" agreed Finn

Marcus nodded "just a simple misunderstanding, that's all" GIR dropped a plate of waffles in front of Marcus. Marcus smiled "looks delicious" he patted GIR on the head "Thanks GIR" GIR giggled then jumped off of the table then skittered away.

Marceline stood mumbling "Well this was a waste of an afternoon"

"I wouldn't say so" said Marcus "I made some new friends, two pretty ladies and two awesome dudes, not really a waste of an afternoon"

Marceline smiled a little, something about Marcus made her smile but she couldn't place it.

Finn, Princess Bubblegum, Jake and Marceline were escorted towards the front door by Marcus "Well if you guys want to hang out, play video games or anything, just drop by" he said opening the door "We'll be right here" he said his goodbyes to everyone and they thanked him and GIR for the waffles then they left.

Marcus leaned against the door sighing "Nice kids"

"Fool!" cried Zim he rushed back into the living room from the secret hatch "You just invited them to come back, they'll find the base and everything will be ruined!"

"I got rid of them, did I?" said Marcus, crossing his arms "Besides I was only being friendly, that's the first step of infiltration. Be friendly with the enemy, gather information and gain their trust. Then when their guard is down we can strike"

Zim opened his mouth then closed, looking completely speechless.

Zim glared at the Gravemaker "I hate you"

"no you don't, you love me" said the Gravemaker, he smirked as he donned his black clothing and his cybernetic implants returned to his face.

Zim frowned and sat down on the couch

"What is it?" asked the Gravemaker, he sat down beside Zim

"I don't know" muttered Zim "Something about that girl is familiar, I can't shake this feeling that she knows us"

the Gravemaker's eyes narrowed "Who? Marceline?"

Zim nodded and the Gravemaker nodded as well "I got that feeling too"

"What do we do?" asked GIR as he crawled onto the couch "nothing for now" said Zim "But if she knows who we really are-" "She would be taken care of" said the Gravemaker, he whipped out a revolver from his coat and fired.

The shot struck a butterfly that was fluttering past the window opposite of them and it burst into flames.

On Planet Irk Tallest Xale was in her office, sorting through a mountain of reports when the doors opened and a small female Irken barged in.

The Irken was dressed in a General's uniform, she was an average sized Irken with violet eyes, curled antennas and a long scar that ran across her face. The Irken general bowed low and sat herself down in the chair across from the Tallest.

Tallest Xale, without looking up from the mountains of paper on her desk, greeted her "General Tak, what can i do for you on this fine day?"

General Tak smiled and spoke "I heard a little rumor fluttering around the Capitol" "And what is that?" asked Tallest Xale, she crumpled a few documents and tossed them aside.

General Tak's eyes gleamed "Zim is alive" Tallest Xale froze and looked up at the General.

She sighed saying "Yes, he is" "And what do you plan on handling him?" asked the General.

The Tallest sighed "Nothing, yet" "nothing?" said Tak incredulously "You are doing nothing?"

The Tallest stared at Tak "What will you have me do? we are at peace"

"Yes but the biggiest and most dangerous idiot in the whole galaxy is still alive" said Tak, her tone was growing harsh "you should take measures to ensure that he dosen't destroy that peace, have you forgotten what he did in Operation Impending doom 1?"

"No i have not" said Tallest Xale, she closed her sapphire eyes and rubbed her forehead "But I can't mobilize any of the military's reasources without drawing attention from the public" the Tallest got up and glided over to the wide window that gave a majestic view of the Irken city below

"For years these people believed that Zim was a war hero who died on on a backwater planet for his empire, so they symbolized him and the rest of those who have fallen all those years ago, they celebrate the contributions they made to the empire" she turned to the general saying sternly "but now that he's alive they are awaiting his return, even half of the military believe that he's a legend, thanks to my predecessors tampering with historical records. It wouldn't look good if the people's favorite Tallest and the most famous general murder him in cold blood."

General Tak frowned, she muttered shaking her head "this is a nightmare"

"Indeed" said Tallest Xale, she glided back to her desk "And I know what he did to you and i sympathize with you but my hands are tied, i can't do anything".

General Tak nodded then left the Tallest's office.

As she left she muttered "Maybe you can't do anything but i can" Tak clenched her fist and made her way to the elevator.

End of chapter

(a/n: well there you have it ladies and gents, i hoped you enjoyed that. please review.)