Dr. Horvitz followed Dib to the ditch in the construction zone. The older man stopped at the ledge; however the younger man walked right down to the box itself.

"Dib, don't stand so close to it!" The professor warned.

Dib ignored his teacher and knelt down right next to the box. He could feel the hair on his arms and neck stand up with the electricity it was putting off. Dib put the professor's laptop on the ground and pulled a cable out of his pocket. Dr. Horvitz realized what Dib was about to do and began shouting at him to stop and come away. Dib shook his head - he had to try. Dib didn't know how but he knew this device was an important part of Zim's invasion plan – he had no choice but to disable it.

Dib grabbed the cable in his gloved fist. He took a deep breath, hoping that the strong Irken fabric would shield him from the deadly electric waves. Without any more hesitation he plunged his hand into the energy field.

"Noooo . . .?!" Dr. Horvitz yell faded when he saw Dib plug the cable into a port in the alien box then connect it to his laptop, completely unharmed. He kept the cable shielded in his left hand and began immediately typing something on the keyboard with his right. Dib couldn't hide the small victory smile on his face. Dr. Horvitz inched as close to Dib as he dared, looking at the screen over his head.

"You can read that?" He said in awe. "A real alien language!"

"I turned it off." Dib said. He retrieved the box and tucked it up under his arm then turned and walked back to the school.

"How were you able to do that?" The professor asked as he followed his student.

"I was raised by an alien with advanced technology. I can do a lot more than that." Dib said grimly.

Dib set the box down on Dr. Horvitz's desk. "I'm going to open it." Dib said bravely. Dr. Horvitz was apprehensive but didn't try to stop him. He had finally learned that once Dib had his mind set on something there was no stopping him. Dib ran his fingertips along the smooth edge of the box and read the Irken characters written on it.

"What does it say?" Dr. Horvitz asked.

"'Open here'." Dib answered and pressed the circle in the middle of the alien symbol. The box opened at the seams. "That's odd." Dib mused as they both peeked in at the inner workings of the device.

"Wow." Dr. Horvitz breathed. The mechanics were like nothing he'd ever seen before – in fact it almost looked like a mechanical brain to him. Obviously they were familiar to Dib, though, as he expertly began picking through the tight bundle of wires.

"There are millions of them throughout the world. Underground." Dib explained. "They're all connected. Whatever these boxes are supposed to do they are all programmed to do it at the same time." Dib reached into the mass of wires and pulled one out. "I just disarmed them all." He said smugly.

"Well that's one less thing the alien can harm us with. Tell me where his house once stood, maybe I can find something there to help us find out where he went." Dib agreed and wrote down the address.

"I'll stay here and see if I can find out what this thing is supposed to do." Dib said, closing it up and plugging it back into the laptop. He was already thinking about how he could extract that information.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Damn that human." Zim muttered when his detonator network went dead. He tried a few times to bring at least some of them back online remotely but was not able to.

"I told you so." Computer taunted.

"Those are an essential part of my plan, without them the humans can still inflict damage to the Armada. I won't risk any Irken lives for this stupid planet." Zim tapped his claw on the computer monitor, knowing what he had to do but not happy about it.

"The technology on this space station is not advanced as it should be, I'll have to inform the Tallests when I see them." Zim complained. "Computer, I need to go back down to the planet surface to repair that detonator manually. If I'm not back in time page me when the Armada is in position for my signal." He instructed.

Zim hopped into his Voot Cruiser and programmed in the coordinates of the box that had been damaged. It was in that cursed human University. "I should have known better than to have them all connected together." He grumbled to himself. "It's my own fault for cutting corners; I can't believe I let that human take priority over my mission." He clacked his teeth together in irritation with himself and took off into the Earth's atmosphere.

Because of the humidity warning and other disasters Zim had initiated the streets were deserted. He chuckled and landed his Voot in the thick canopy of trees near the park's edge, effectively shielding it from view. He put on his wig and contacts and climbed down to the ground.

Zim briefly glanced at the abandoned equipment as he ran past it. In his imagination he could still see Dib as a child running around and terrorizing the weaker children, laughing merrily the whole time. He shook his head and forced himself to focus at the task at hand; he had to retrieve that detonator.

Zim pulled a tracker out of his PAK and followed the beeping light through the University. He stealthily made his way to the room where the broken detonator was. In his haste he didn't scan the room for life forms and blindly walked right into the lab.

Zim stopped short as soon as the door closed and he saw Dib fiddling with the box. Dib looked up at the sound and their eyes locked.

Dib stood up and immediately raced over to Zim. Zim ejected his PAK legs defensively, waiting to see what his adversary would do. Dib unexpectedly enveloped him in a fierce hug.

"Oh my God, Zim." Dib breathed as he held him close. Zim charged the lasers in the tips of the spider legs and curled them up on themselves to aim at Dib.

"I'll kill you . . . human." Zim threatened but his voice hitched in his throat and his spider legs faltered. "Give me back . . . my . . ." His voice trailed off and he buried his face in Dib's shoulder.

"I know." Dib kissed the top of Zim's head and didn't let him go. Zim's hands snaked around Dib and held him back just as tightly. Dib reached his hand up behind Zim's head and tugged on his wig. It held for a moment but then came off in his hand. Dib's gasped in amazement when he saw the two long black antennae growing out of Zim's bald, green head twitch. Dib dropped the wig on the floor and ran his fingers down one of the velvety stalks, Zim's eyes rolled back in his head and he shivered when Dib did it.

Zim reached his hands up to his own eyes and popped out both of his large, violet contacts. Dib gaped in amazement when he looked into two very large and deep maroon eyes without pupils. Dib put his hands on Zim's cheeks lovingly. "Look at you." He said, almost breathlessly. "I never knew aliens could be so beautiful."

Dib bent down and kissed Zim on the mouth and was astounded when the alien kissed him back. He felt heat creeping up around his neck and ears and his breathing sped up. Dib noticed that Zim's antennae were shuddering slightly and, remembering Zim's reaction before, ran his fingers down one of them again. Zim melted and began making a rapid clicking sound deep in his throat.

"You purr." Dib said out loud, more to himself than to Zim.

"Lekku are sensitive . . . " Zim said, his voice sounded very far away.

Dib continued to stroke the appendage. "Lekku." He said softly, liking the way the word sounded.

Suddenly Dib felt a searing pain in his back as one of Zim's sharp PAK legs stabbed into him and through his gut. Zim smiled evilly and tossed Dib off to the side like a rag doll. The human fell back limply and stared up at Zim in disbelief, clutching his stomach which was now oozing blood. It hurt like Hell but he didn't think any vital organs had been damaged.

"You still show me your weakness so easily." Zim sneered. He re-charged his PAK legs again and kept them trained on Dib as he walked over to his mysterious box.

"No! Zim, don't do this. Please." Dib tried to stand but slipped in his own blood, gritting his teeth at the pain that flared up from his wound.

"Everything I am and everything I do is for the Irken Empire and my Tallests." Zim recited as he popped his contacts back in. Dib bitterly remembered the last time he had heard Zim say that; 8 years ago during that fateful training session that had led to Dib finally accepting his love for Zim.

"Without that there is nothing." Dib quietly said along with Zim. Zim approached the window, box in-hand and disguise fully in place.

"Zim, I don't want to fight you." Dib finally managed to stand shakily and pulled the gun he had in the waistband of his pants out and aimed it at Zim's back. It was an Irken weapon that Dib had taken from Zim's base before all of this started with the intention of disassembling it to figure out how it worked. Now he was glad that he hadn't found the time to do that and had just stashed it in his locker at school.

Zim looked back over his shoulder and saw what Dib was pointing at him. "I didn't know I raised a coward." He said viciously then sprang out the window. Dib pulled the trigger and it hit; one of Zim's PAK legs was shot off at the first joint and flew several feet into the air. Zim landed awkwardly and off-balance on the lawn with only three remaining PAK legs. He didn't even look back as he drew the legs in and ran off. Dib hesitated a brief moment, upset that he had actually fired a dangerous weapon at someone he loves so much, but recovered quickly and jumped out the window after him. As he passed it by the severed leg self-destructed, leaving a black scorch mark on the grass.