Disclaimer: I don't own Invader Zim, Jhonen Vasquez does. I only own this story and if anything I write resembles anything that already exists, it is coincidence and I don't mean to copy anything.

The lemon will show up in the next two or three chapters. I love your guys' reviews so keep them up. Now, back to the story. ENJOY!

Chapter 10

To the Massive…

"Purple, they have been bombarding us none stop for weeks. We are running out of options."

"No, it's too soon. Besides, that's why we were going to speak with the Control Brain. It was the Brain who told us after all, remember?" Purple stomped his foot like a child. Red remembered well, the day they were told by the Control Brain that that little former nuisance would be the one to change their way of life either for the better or for the worst. After all, he did take after them.

An alarm blared through the ship and a red light blinked in warning.

"What is happening?" Purple said, cowering behind Red.

"The ship has been breached in sectors 3, 4, 7, and 9." Announced one of the officers.

"Then we are out of time. Sound the alert for evacuation!" Red boomed.

They heard blasts from outside the door. Purple started to panic as the doors were blasted open and Irken guards were falling left and right. The shots ceased as the smoke cleared.

"Looks like our victory is close at hand." A voice came from the entrance. The two Irken leaders stared at the being, Red scowling all the while.

It's been about three weeks since the incident in the lab and Rayne hasn't seen Zim at school. She would have gone to see if he was okay if she wasn't too much of a coward to face him again.

"Rayne, are you okay? You seem kind of down." Dib looked at her, worry written on his face as they walked to school. Even Gaz looked up from her game to see what was happening. Rayne and Gaz were starting to become good friends, even if she didn't show it that often.

"I just haven't seen Zim in a while. It's strange, isn't it?" She said, putting on a fake smile.

"He's probably plotting something. He always disappears before something big." He explained, thinking to himself. I doubt that is the reason. She couldn't help but think she was the reason he wasn't showing up, but she wasn't about to tell Dib about anything that happened. What would he think if she told him that he put a strange device on her, or that they kissed in his lab? Memories of that day flooded her mind, how could she be so stupid?

"I'm going on ahead, I'll see you later Rayne." Gaz said before running off to the school. Rayne waved goodbye but froze when she saw a green face come around the corner. Dib glared and ran towards him, dragging Rayne along behind him.

"Hey, Zim, where have you been lately? Planning another attempt at world domination?" Dib accused, but Zim just ignored him; his eyes were on Rayne, his face was unreadable. Rayne made eye contact then turned away, blushing; feeling a familiar sensation fill her body.

Zim turned away quickly and started walking towards the school steps without another word.

"I'll stop whatever your scheming!" Dib yelled as he pounced on Zim.

"Get off of me, filthy human!" Zim yelled back, turning over and pushing Dib to the ground. They struggled on the ground for a while, taking turns slugging each other in the gut; Rayne just rolled her eyes at their childish fight. They must do this a lot. She thought, shaking her head. When Zim finally managed to push Dib off, he got up with his back facing Dib. Dib took this chance to reach into his pocket and grab a taser. Rayne spotted it right away and saw him looking at Zim's PAK; she then knew what he was planning to do. If he shocks Zim's PAK, he could hurt him or even-. She stopped her mind from thinking of the other outcome; she couldn't let that happen. When Dib launched himself at Zim, without thinking, Rayne jumped in the way.

"NO!" She yelled as the taser touched the middle of her back, sending a painful shock run through her body. She felt the chip on her neck start to pull back the wires that ran through her body as it fell off her neck and hit the pavement with a loud 'Click'. She fell to the ground and slipped into unconsciousness.

Zim spun around and was in shock by what he had just witnessed. Rayne had saved him, but why? Dib was in just as much shock and knelt down by her side. He instantly spotted the chip and noticed the Irken insignia.

"What is this? Did you make her do this?" He shouted, holding up the chip. Zim quickly grabbed the chip from him and glared.

"I did no such thing!" He yelled at the accusation, stepping towards Rayne.

"Don't come near her!" Dib yelled as he picked her up and headed for the nurse's office.

Zim stood there, gazing at the tiny chip. The shock from the taser had short circuited it, but it was easily fixable. Zim started to feel sorrow. It was a mistake to come today. She got hurt protecting me; she got hurt because of me. He glared at the device for a long time before crushing it between his claws.

Rayne awoke in the nurse's office in a daze.

"You're awake." She turned to see Dib sitting a chair next to the cot that she was on.

"What happened?" She asked, then shot up, remembering what happened. A sharp pain shot through her back and she gasped.

"Don't move around too much." Dib yelled, frantically. "I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell me Zim was controlling you, this wouldn't have happened if you did." He questioned.

"He wasn't controlling me; I jump in front of him by myself." She shouted. Realizing what she said, she instantly regretted it.

"What?" Dib looked completely lost. "What's being going on? Tell Me!" He seemed to start getting angry. Rayne stood up slowly

"It's nothing." She calmly stated.

"It's not 'nothing', what was that thing on your neck?" He pushed the issue, wanting to get an answer.

"It doesn't matter now, it's gone, end of story." Dib was furious but he knew she wasn't going to answer him, so he stormed out of the room and slammed the door. Rayne walked over to the bathroom sink and splashed her face with cold water, then stared at her reflection.

"You're such an idiot, you know that?" She spat as if her reflection would reply. She grabbed her stuff and left the school, not wanting to be there for another minute, and headed home.

Zim sat in his lab for hours, not able to concentrate on anything. Even when Gir ran in and knocked a bunch of shelves over, he said nothing.

"What's wrong, Master?" Even Gir was able to tell that something was wrong. Zim looked at his companion, almost smiling.

"Don't worry about it. Why don't you go make some waffles?" Gir smiled and ran off to make the waffles.

Zim stood up and put his disguise back on, deciding to take a walk in order to gather his thoughts.

Rayne stared at the ceiling in her room. She flipped over and turned on the T.V. to the news, trying to get her mind off everything. She half-listened to the story that was on.

The black haired, female news reporter sat in the studio as she listed off the current events. "The body of twenty-four year old Tracie Louis was discovered today, police say this is the third body found within the last two weeks and advise everyone to lock their doors and windows to better protect them from the person behind these savage murders."

She stared at the T.V. in disbelief. Thank goodness the murders seemed to occur on the other side of town. She reassured herself. She shut off the T.V. and stared back at the ceiling; the T.V. was not helping to distract her mind. There was only one thing she could do. I can't deny it anymore, I have to tell him. Gathering as much courage as possible, she grabbed a jacket and headed for the door. It was almost dark outside and remembering what was said on the news, she grabbed her can of pepper spray. Better safe than sorry. She told herself. She walked down the street towards Zim's base; unaware of the danger she had just put herself in.