When I get few reviews, I forget to update.

For the next few months, Zim's house was not a happy one. Zim and Kurt had almost constant clashes whenever the subjects of "Marriage" or "Leni" were brought up, and there was increasing tension between the German and French nations, which led to increased tension between Kurt and the village.

These tensions were brought to a head on the 10th of May (in the beginning of the year?), when Germany invaded France.

-----

Captain (Hauptmann) Kreiner was having a good day. The invasion of France was going well, and they had finally reached the town where an apparently eccentric, yet genius, inventor lived. The Fuhrer must believe that such a person existed, because he had sent an agent in to assess the situation. The Captain was meeting the agent today, to see if the information was valuable or useful.

He saw the spy coming in from the distance, and stood up. 'What news do you have?'

She saluted. 'I have infiltrated the house of the scientist, and the information received appears to be accurate. I have personally seen an electrical refrigerator and a radio in operation in the house, but the house itself is not connected to any external forms of electricity, or a generator that requires petrol. The car driven by the owner of the house also appears to not need any oil or fuel to run.'

The captain nodded at her information. 'Very good. And do you have an identity for the scientist?'

She looked about herself conspiratorially, and leaned in closer to the Captain/Sargeant. 'I saw the owner of the house once, when he thought I was sleeping. He seems to be dwarfish in height, but I didn't see a nose on him, and his eyes weren't the normal shape or size.'

The captain shrugged. 'Possibly just a side effect of some disease. If he's no good to us, he'll end up with a bullet in his head anyway.'

Leni nodded, not convinced by the captains explanation. 'Return to your post in the house. We will be there at 16:00 hours this evening. Do you think extra force will be needed to bring in this inventor?'

Leni thought hard. 'It may be required. My contact has mentioned that the inventor has armed himself, in case anything like this happens. I do not know what weapons he has armed himself with, but it would be best to be prepared.'

The captain nodded. He had been given strict instructions from Herr Himmler himself that the inventor was to be brought in alive, and as unharmed as possible. Kreiner accepted these instructions, and wasn't about to risk his life, or position, by getting the inventor killed. 'And what of the contact?'

'He is harmless. You would do best to not waste a bullet in killing him.'

Kreiner looked up at her, with a slight smile on his face. 'You're not developing feelings for him, are you?'

Leni stood up straighter. 'No, Sir! My first and only love is for the German nation and the Fuhrer.' She saluted again, just to show her devotion.

Kreiner tried to stop his smile. He knew a denial when he heard one. 'You are dismissed. Go and wait for us to arrive.'

She saluted once more and left. Kreiner sighed and shuffled about some papers on his makeshift desk. Maybe he could get some leave when the inventor was brought in. That would be good.

-----

Zim was down in the basement, fiddling with the car motor. He had figured out how it worked, and played around with it so it worked better, when he had first stolen it, but now he was fiddling just to give him something to do. That stupid female was here again, and he didn't want to see her again. That first time had been enough; to see her there, with her eyes open, sleeping soundly. It sickened Zim He couldn't stand humans, and his enforced exile among them in an even more primitive time than the one he had arrived in wasn't endearing him to them any more.

He cursed as he dropped the spanner he wasn't using, and bent down to pick it up. He blamed that stupid human, banging doors open, and shouting. His basement wasn't soundproof, so he had to put up with any noises that crept down to him.

Zim dropped the spanner again, this time because a gunshot had gone off. This was something worth investigating. He put on his helmet and old coat, grabbed the pistol he had removed from a body during the first war, and climbed up the stairs to investigate.

Slowly opening the trapdoor, Zim saw no boots on the floor of his kitchen, so he quickly exited, locking the basement door after him. He was then pulled up and into the air by a pair of arms wrapping him around his underarms, and dragging his arms out to the side. He immediately started kicking against his captor, and was rewarded by a grunt when he hit one of their shins. When Zim realised the human wouldn't let him go, he aimed the pistol back and behind himself.

'Uh uh uh. We can't have untrained children playing with guns.' Zim saw the pistol getting taken from his hand. He tightened his grip on it, but kept his face pointed downwards. He so wanted to glare at the human, though, and see which one it was that dared to condescend to Zim! Instead of glaring, he just started shouting. He was good at shouting.

'You won't get Zim! I'll destroy you all! One by one! Then I'll make you into rope! And you can all be used to hang your leaders! Because you're all going to fail! All you pitiful humans will be crushed by the Ir-' he realised what he was shouting, and changed quickly, 'allies! The allied forces will crush your attempts to take over the world! And then I will be able to defeat all of you easier!'

The gun was tugged on harder. He was really noisy for a little guy. 'You should let it go now, or somebody might get hurt.' There was a scuffle in the doorway, and Zim saw a pair of pants that belonged to Kurt get dragged into the room by a uniformed pair of legs.

Zim grinned. Did they think he cared about them killing the other human? He ventured this question towards them, and kept his grip tight on the gun, trying to point it at the voice that was talking.

The human who had been talking noticed the lack of gun getting dropped, and instead grabbed Zims wrist, squeezing it tightly in a grip that suggested ape rather than human.

Zim felt the bones or his wrist rubbing together uncomfortably, and was forced to loosen his grip on the weapon, dropping it to his captor's feet.

'Isn't that better?' the voice asked. 'Children should always do as they're told, or they'll just get into trouble for it. But you'll learn that soon.' Zim hung limply in the humans arms. He didn't want to admit it, but he was almost scared of what might be coming up. A terrible feeling of dread settled over him, as he remembered all the experiments Miss Bitters had made them to look at and learn about. He was starting to understand why Zita had vomited during the lessons.

Two more people walked into the room, which was now starting to get a bit crowded. 'You were right Leni, he is short.' One of the new people said. Zim noted a pair of skirted legs standing next to the man who just entered. Zim stated struggling again, he would not let these humans take him. Not to be tortured, not by them, not before he even got here! He felt the human who was holding him's grip loosen, and put extra effort into fighting him off.

Captain Kreiner sighed. He had been having such a good day, too. Now he had to put up with a struggling dwarf. 'Soldier, remove his helmet.' He wanted to see if it really was as deformed as Leni had suggested during the meeting, or if it was just an effect of the dark.

The soldier with the apes grip pulled Zims helmet off, ignoring his rather loud protests, resulting in gasps from the surrounding troops, and the guard holding Zim almost dropped him in shock.

Zim glared at the surrounding humans. There was a bulky looking human holding Zims helmet against his chest in shock. There was a gangly, red haired human, looking at Zim interestedly, standing next to the blonde female traitor that Zim should have killed when she entered the house. She was looking anywhere except for Zim and Kurt, who was still in the hold of a guard, and was trying to look surprised at the revelation of Zims non-human-ness. The guard holding him was looking away indifferently. He didn't want to remember anything, in case what he was seeing would get him killed.

Captain Kreiner moved towards Zim slowly. 'That's amazing.' He put out a hand and moved it towards Zims face, who flinched away from the hand, but couldn't escape. The hand touched his cheek, and stroked the skin there. 'It feels so soft.' Zim closed his eyes tightly against the intrusion into his personal space, but one of them was forced open, and he found himself staring right at the red-haired human, who eventually stood up.

'Take it back to the camp. It'll have to be guarded before we can send it back to Germany.' He pointed towards the soldier holding Kurt. 'And you can stay on guard at this house. Make sure that he doesn't contact anyone, either.' He pointed towards Kurt.

'You're leaving him here?' The ape-grip soldier asked.

Kriener shrugged. 'He's not what we came here for. Move out.' he turned around and left the kitchen, with Leni, the two soldiers and Zim following him. The other soldier and Kurt were left behind.

-----

After a bumpy car ride Zim was tied to a chair in a tent in the German soldiers' camp. He looked at the one nervous guard who was standing watch over him.

'Don't look at me.' he said, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. He was quite scared of Zim, and wished he had been given a different job, instead of coming to capture a scientist. He had been told the job would be easy, not that he would have to stand guard over some creature afterwards.

Zim grinned at the scared soldier, showing off all his teeth as he did. Human soldiers had no backbone. A good soldier would not show fear in front of a prisoner. 'Are you scared, hu-man?' Zim asked, trying to open his PAK without the soldier noticing.

'N-no.' The soldier said, unconvincingly. 'What's that?!' He asked, noticing the spider leg that Zim was trying to use to cut his bonds.

'Nothing.' Zim replied, edging the spider leg out of sight.

The soldier raised his rifle. 'What are you doing? I can shoot you, you know!'

'You can't shoot me.' Zim said. 'Don't you know bullets can't hurt me?' Zim hoped the soldier didn't call his bluff. He did not want to get shot again.

The soldiers' gun dipped slightly, then rose again. 'You're lying.'

Zim paused slightly. He was slowly loosening the cuff tying his right hand to the chair. 'Your superiors wouldn't want me harmed. I'm sure they'd be very angry if I got hurt.'

'Not really. They don't want you killed, but they also don't want you to escape.' He pointed the gun in the direction of Zims leg. 'Stop what you're doing or I'll shoot you.'

Zim sighed and slowly returned his spiderleg to it's position inside his PAK. 'What was that thing?' The soldier asked.

'What thing?' Zim returned, not willing to give these humans any information about himself.

'That thing. It came from that metal case on your back.' The soldier took a few tentative steps towards Zim, still keeping the gun pointed at him.

'No it didn't.' Zim replied, not wanting the human to get too close to him, or his PAK.

'Yes it did. What else do you have in there?' He reached out with his gun and bumped the nozzle against Zims PAK.

'Nothing.' Now it was Zims turn to be frightened. What if the human shot him? He would have to kill the human if it got too close to him, and hope it didn't shoot him in the PAK first.

Any potential problems were stopped from happening by the entrance of Captain Kreiner. He looked at the two of them. 'Lower your gun.' He told the soldier, who dipped it fractionally, so that it was no longer pointing at Zims chest.

He walked over to Zim and squatted down in front of his chair. 'I have informed my superiors about your capture, and I must say they were quite interested.' He stood back up, and looked slightly sad. 'They were so interested you will be taken away tomorrow, for locations unknown. Until then, however, I want to talk to you.' Zim looked at the human. He didn't trust him at all. Not even when he pulled up a chair and sat it down in front of Zim. 'So,' he asked, 'what are you?'

Zims antennae lowered slightly. Did this human really expect him to answer? 'You think that I will tell you?' He asked, slightly put off. This was not what he had been taught Nazi's were like.

'Yes. Please?'

Zim frowned again. 'I'm not telling you. Why should I tell a pitiful human about the glorious Irken race? You're all too stupid to deserve such knowledge.'

'So you're an Irken? I've never heard of them before. Where do you come from? Is it Scandinavia?'

'Eh? No.' Zim didn't even know what Scandinavia was. 'Who are you?'

Kreiner laughed. 'Of course, I forgot my manners. I am Captain Herman Kreiner. And who are you?'

This entire thing was just confusing Zim no end. 'I am Zim.' He couldn't even get up the passion to scream his name. What was with this human? 'Why are you so interested in Zim?'

'Because I've always just had an interest in old folk tales. I never thought they'd actually be true, though. Just stories to get children to behave. It's so great to finally get to meet someone that proves they're true.'

Zim couldn't believe it. He had travelled back in time more than 60 years, and found another Dib. 'You want to autopsy me!' Zim screeched. Dib in any time couldn't be good, especially one as primitive as this.

'Autopsy you? Now, why would I want to do that?' Kreiner looked confused. 'I just want to know more about you, and all of your lot. What are you, where are you from?'

Zim frowned. The human would probably die before the war was over, anyway, and soldiers didn't have a mind outside of the instructions given to them by their superiors, so... 'Zim is from Irk.'

'Irk?' Kreiner had never heard of such a place, though he did have a very limited knowledge of geography. 'Is that in Turkey?'

'Of course Irk is not in some stupid poultry bird!' Zim couldn't believe the nerve of the human. 'Irk is in space, and far better than any stupid, stinking bird!'

'In space?' That was interesting. 'So you're some sort of alien?' Kreiner thought about this more. 'You must come from so far away! It would have taken you centuries to get to earth! How long have you been here?'

Zim saw that the questions wouldn't end. It WAS another Dib. Another filthy human, grubbing around for information that they didn't deserve, and shouldn't be told. 'Zim will not say any more.' He started up a sulking act, though it was hard to do while being tied to a chair.

Kreiner shrugged. 'Okay.' Then he reached out, and stroked Zims antennae.

'Hey!' Zim shouted. 'Don't touch me there! Get your filthy pig-hands off Zim! Don't touch me!' He tried to struggle away from the hand, but, again, was restricted by being tied to the chair.

Kreiner ignored Zim, and ran his hand back the other way, getting a shudder out of Zim. 'It's like it's covered in small hairs.' He ran his hand back up, and Zim shivered and twitched away.

'Don't touch me.' He growled, trying to get rid of the feeling of the human touching him. He flattened his antennae against his head, and glared at the human. 'You can't touch me there.'

'Okay. shhh, it's alright.' He stroked Zims cheek, trying to calm him down, but not suceeding.

'Don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me. Get your filthy hands off me!' Zim lashed out, trying to get the human with his teeth.

Kreiner whipped his hand away from Zim as fast as he could. 'Okay, okay. No touching.' He watched as Zim slumped further down into his chair, making him seem even smaller than he was. 'Are all of your species as short as you are?'

Zim tried not to let the insult faze him. He had had much worse from the other soldiers when he was in training. He wanted to refuse to say anything, but then what if the human touched him again? Zim was rather stuck in what to do. 'Heights... vary.' He sighed. But he didn't want the human to touch him again. 'Most don't get much shorter than me.' Only drones were shorter than Zim, and some of those were taller than him.

'Have any of them come to earth before you?' He wanted to know if the old folk tales were based on aliens.

Zim laughed. 'Why would any Irken want to come to this stinking, filthy planet?'

'Oh. What about other species?'

Zim shrugged. 'I dunno. They might've.' He didn't care about what other species did.

Kreiner sat there for another five minutes, just looking at Zim. It creeped Zim out slightly, but he preferred the looking to the questions, or the touching. Especially the touching. Eventually Kreiner got up. 'I'll see you again tomorrow, before you leave. There'll be another guard coming in in 15 minutes or so to take over for you.' He directed towards the soldier. 'Try not to hurt him if you don't have to, but none of us want to get on the wrong side of the higher-ups.' He looked at Zim again, and said, 'if you get hurt it's your own fault for trying to escape. Please don't try, because I don't want to see you get hurt.' Then he left the tent.

-----

True to his word, captain Kreiner returned to Zims tent fifteen minutes before the truck to carry him out was due to arrive. He sat on the chair in front of Zim, and asked, 'did you sleep well last night?'

'I don't sleep.' Zim replied. He may not have slept, but he still hadn't had a comfortable night. The chair was hard, and he couldn't move to get comfortable without the ape-human pointing a gun at him. And he had had the butt of the rifle slammed into his stomach when he had tried to stretch out. So, while he hadn't slept, he hadn't had a comfortable night, either.

'Oh.' He looked at the soldier standing guard. 'You can leave the tent. I have a gun, so I can protect myself if he tries anything.' The soldier didn't think it was a good idea to leave Zim alone, but accepted the captains orders anyway. He went outside, and removed a cigarette for a quick smoke.

The captain looked around to make sure the soldier was completely engaged in his smoke before turning back to Zim. 'They're not going to be nice to you when you get to where ever you're going.'

'I know that.' Zim said. How could he not?

'I don't want you to be hurt too badly, and I'm sure you don't either. Just try and please them. Don't do anything that could upset them, or they'll make you pay for it.'

Zim wanted to reply that he had been trained to withstand torture, but couldn't quite say it. He had been getting more and more scared the closer it came to the time he was to be collected. Zim kept quiet so he didn't end up voicing his fear.

'If you just keep them happy, you might even be allowed to live after the war is over.' Kreiner continued. He stroked the side of Zims head. 'Something as special as you shouldn't be killed.'

'Then let me go.' Zim said. 'If you don't want me to die, let me go.'

Kreiner smiled. 'I would love to let you go, but then they would kill me, and I don't want to die either.' He looked at his watch. 'I would love to stay for longer, but I've got a very busy morning ahead of me, so I have to go.' He reached out and touched Zim again. 'Just try to keep alive. Maybe I'll even see you when the war's over.' He made to leave the tent, but Zim stopped him.

'Don't!' Zim shouted. 'Don't go! I... I can help you! Yes! I know what's going to happen in this war. If you keep me here, I can help you to not die.'

Kreiner looked at Zim. 'I would like to accept your help, but if I don't give you up, I'll die anyway.' Then he thought for a few moments. 'Who wins the war? And when?'

Zim shook his head. 'I'll only help you if you don't make me go away. Don't let them take me apart.' Zim tried to keep the fearful quiver out of his voice, but couldn't.

Kriener sighed, and leaned back in his chair. 'I can't. If I didn't let you go, they'd kill me, and take you anyway. Even if you did get away, they'd be searching for you, and you'd be taken once the war's over. If the Reich wants you, they'll find and take you eventually, of not while the war's still going, then once it's finished.'

'They lose the war.' Zim blurted out. 'The Germans lose the war, and the allies win. All your leaders are tried and killed, or kill themselves.'

'What? What do you mean? How can you know that?' Kreiner was, to say the least, a bit sceptical. 'Can you see the future, or something?'

'No, no, no. I travelled back in time, using a time machine! You'll probably die, anyway. Millions of soldiers and civilians died.'

Kreiner gave a low whistle. 'That's a lot of people. The war must go on for a long time.'

Zim shrugged. 'Just until 1945.' It was a moderately lengthed war, in Zims experience.

Kreiner seemed to be struggling for a bit. 'I'll see what I can do to help you.' He stroked Zims head again, ignoring Zim flinching away from the touch. 'Maybe I'll see you after the war.' He left the tent, leaving Zim to continue struggling with the cuffs around his wrists, as he had been doing for the entire time while the soldier was gone. He almost had his right wrist out...