"Zim. Zim. Zim." Riddick kept one hand on the steering of the small craft he'd found in Zim's attic, and with the other kept poking Zim in the side of the face. "Zim. Zim. ZIM."

Zim had not stopped staring, unblinking, since GIR had surfaced the base just long enough to release them. A modified cloaking device hid them from Earthly and Irken eyes alike as they flew toward the coordinates of the obliterated city. Zim hadn't said a word.

"Zim, I swear if you don't snap out of it, I'll jolt you back to reality by ejecting you."

Zim batted at his hand, irritated. "How do YOU not overload on information like that?"

Shrugging, Riddick replied, "It's best to just take it in and move on. There's no time to break down. A town just exploded, and there will be another town, and another, and another. They won't stop just because they have Maneem. We have no time to waste. We can't overthink, or we may as well be dead."

"Well I HAVE to think if we're to believe Selm!" Zim snapped. "I have to figure this thing out and somehow deduce the weakness of a creature that's millennia old and can turn whole species on their heads so EXCUSE me if I break down on occasion!"

"Well that's why I'm here, to drag your broken body along with." He reached over, pinching Zim's cheek. "Isn't that what a good brother does?"

Slapping his hand away, Zim growled, "You'll lose it next time."

"I don't know where you got your temper from, but it's most unbecoming. Try being a bit smoother. It's all in the voi—right. Sorry, just realized that's an impossible road for you."

"Swear to Irk Riddick, push me again. This has not been a good day."

"Oh come now, I can't try and make light of the mood? I think given the situation, we could use a bit of small talk. For example, I saw a lot of stuff in your mind, and I can't help wondering, why was a nut-eating moose your ultimate weapon?"

Sulking, Zim glowered, "That was a long time ago. Besides, it scared Dib speechless. Did the trick."

"But it's a moose. How is a moose scary? I mean, those animatronic things at the dwelling of the 'Pizza Hog' I get, but-"

"It just was at the time." Zim interrupted, irritated. "You'd have to ask Dib, but he's not here. Idiot couldn't let go and move on and got himself possessed. Who the flirk would want to possess the Dib, he's smelly."

Riddick shook his head. "I kind of wish I had met you back then. You were just the cutest little thing. I could have tossed you around like a little ball, or held you in midair while you futilely kicked your feet at me. It's moments like that I miss out on."

"That's it!" Zim lunged at Riddick, tackling him to the floor of the cruiser. "I've had just about enough! Zim is not CUTE, Zim is not ADORABLE, and Zim is NOT TO BE LAUGHED AT!"

Riddick stared up at Zim, dully. "Oh come now, you were cute. I'm sure there were others who said the same. You were especially cute when you were a smeet. Too bad I only saw that in your head, why couldn't you stay like that? Make my life loads easier, and I'd get someone to look up to me."

"I'm not cute! Stop saying that! I didn't even know you until you came crashing into my life yesterday!" He grabbed the collar of Riddick's cloak, seething. "Who are you to call me CUTE?"

"Well you were cute, now. Not so much now. You lost the tiny look, kind of grew out of it, and now you're just, meh."

"I'm not a joke!" Zim drew back a fist, memories of the Tallests laughing at him radiating through their contact. "Stop laughing at me!"

Riddick stared up at him. "Zim. Calm down. I'm not serious. I hope you realize that."

Hesitating, Zim asked, "You're not?"

"Why the flirk would I ever be serious about that? Haven't you ever heard of playful banter?" He sighed. "Well, maybe you haven't, maybe that's my fault. I'm just pushing your buttons. I would never say anything like that and mean it. You're not a joke, Zim, I promise."

Zim sat back on his heels, letting go of Riddick. "Like when the Dib calls—called—me Spaceboy," he said slowly, "But didn't mean anything bad by it."

Riddick sat up. "Yes. We're brothers. We argue, we fight, in the end we don't mean anything by it and love each other no matter what."

"How do you know this already?" Zim demanded. "It took Zim much longer than this to learn how family behaves."

"Because I had a family." Riddick paused. "I mean, sort of. I had Miestro."

Zim glanced away, a twist of shame at the memory of using Miestro against Riddick. "I'm sorry he did not survive."

"Yes. Me too." Riddick's eyes lowered. "Couldn't save him. That's when I got this power." His mouth curled wryly. "Instead of using it to protect others so it wouldn't happen again, I took more lives. Some hero, eh?" His mouth straightened out again. "At least you had an excuse. You were insane. I just closed off the world and deemed it all bad for taking away the greatest thing in my life. Unlike you, I was fully aware of every Irken I mutilated, and I didn't care. In my eyes, they truly deserved it. It's a bit harder to think about now."

Swallowing, Zim turned away, still nauseated by the idea. "Well, you're making the right choice now. I think the saying is, better late than never." He turned back, catching on something. "But, are you saying you won't… take them alive again?"

Riddick pulled his hat brim lower, sighing. "I don't think I rightly could, not anymore. If they were alive, and I had to see the fear in their eyes or hear them scream… I'd just see you."

Eyeing him for a minute, Zim said quietly, "Thank you."

Folding his arms, Riddick mused, "I'm glad you're taller anyway. If you were that bite-sized thing when I came here to kill you, it would have been too easy."

Zim flashed a crooked grin. "Never underestimate Zim of any size."

"What would you have done, crawled up my pant leg and bit me?... you would have."

Zim snickered, then blinked a moment, a thought hitting him. "You're on the floor."

"Indeed I am."

"I'm on the floor."

"Brilliant deduction."

"Who's driving?" Zim shrilled.

"Taken care of." Riddick brushed his cloak off. "You notice I didn't fight you when you tackled me."

Turning, Zim spotted Mikko at the controls, looking furious.

"You're idiots. Both of you." She spat angrily.

"Hey, don't pin that on me!" Riddick objected. "HE'S the one that tackled me out of the chair."

"You knew?" She demanded.

He shrugged. "The Control Brain mentioned a stowaway in passing."

"Yeah. He sprung me. As soon as GIR wasn't in control, I wasn't restrained anymore, and listened in."

"I wondered who would sneak aboard the ship. To be honest, my money was on the crazy haired woman, but you were up there. At least you can drive."

"Actually I'm just holding the steering," she replied tersely. "And it would be great if one of you would steer us out of the way of the oncoming building."

"Ah, well then." Hurriedly levitating Mikko out of the way, Riddick leaped back into the seat, veering out of the way.

Grabbing onto a seat for balance, Zim began, "What the flirk are you think—"

"Not a word, Zim." Mikko interrupted, glaring at him. He flinched at the sight of her cheek, still bandaged. "Not one word. I don't want to hear you go on about how it's dangerous, and how it's your thing to do. I've just about had it up to here with that."

"But—"

"I know you care, I know you worry, but it's wearing thin. I had to learn a blaster in secret with Dib just so I could figure out how to protect myself, when really you should have taught me. But turns out I'm not half bad if I can outsmart the ringmaster over there."

"Mikko, I—"

"And if there is ANY guilt complex over a stupid set of scratches on my face, then here!" She slapped his cheek hard. "Get over it! We have to get everyone back, so don't even bother turning the ship around, cause I'll walk if I have to." Turning around, she plunked down in the rear seat, fuming.

Zim stood in place, stunned, unsure what had just happened.

"You are your mother's child, I see." Riddick remarked idly.

"Shut up, I'm still mad at you." She folded her arms. "You already dealt with it, I heard, and I'll get over it. But I don't like people hurting Zim."

"You care about him." Riddick shrugged. "I understand that." He glanced back at her. "Even if you hate me, I'll help get Dib back. Least I can do, hmm?"

"It's the least you can do, cause he's your brother too, in case you forgot that detail." She shot back.

"Exactly. I haven't left out that detail. And at the rate you care about him, you'll end up my sister in law." At her narrowed eyes, he flicked an antenna and muttered, "Grabbed your wrist when you tried to assault me. Primary feelings were at the forefront, Dib and Zim most heavily on your mind."

Zim sank into the seat next to Mikko, his mind still trying to catch up with the conversation. Hesitantly, he put a hand on Mikko's arm.

"I forgive you already." She brushed his hand aside. "Let's just do something. I'm tired of being pushed to the corner."

With a heavy sigh, Zim gestured behind them. "Blasters in the back."

Nodding, Mikko left her seat to rummage for weapons.

"Be diligent with your weapons choice." Riddick called. "If what I think is there is actually there, we may be in for a fight."

Zim scooted up to the co-pilot's seat. "So that thing… that ridiculous looking thing… that's really what we're up against?"

"Ridiculous looking thing?" Riddick's head snapped around. "You know what this thing is?"

"I saw it for a moment. When it gave me my powers and dropped the…" he swallowed. "The first feeding by me."

"What did it look like?"

Zim glanced back, checking to make sure Mikko was busy, before leaning over to whisper to Riddick. Riddick's eyes bulged, and Zim watched him, confused. "Didn't you ever see it?"

"No, I didn't. Maybe that was part of its plan." Riddick glanced at Zim, perturbed. "Are you sure? I mean, you could have just been insane and hallucinated that."

Zim grimaced. "No, I'm not sure. You could very well be right, I'm not even sure I believe it."

"I don't like whispering." Mikko plunked down in the back seat, at least four blasters strapped to her person. "Are we almost there?"

"Coming up on it." Riddick veered around a skyscraper and into empty airspace. Below, all roads ended abruptly at a desolate crater full of jagged rubble and scorched metal frameworks of buildings.

"Well," Zim remarked, "I must have been hallucinating. Nothing that ridiculous could have possibly caused this, even using Irkens."

"Why isn't anyone here?" Mikko scanned the area. "This place should be crawling with swat teams and government agents."

"Now who watches too many Earth films?" Zim teased half-heartedly. "They're probably afraid of being targeted. Looks like nobody's there."

"Almost…" Mikko pointed down into the crater. In the depths of the crater, a pink streak dashed back and forth, almost faster than the eye could move. It was trailed by a plume of blackish red smoke at every turn.

"Ready your weapons." Riddick turned the ship to land. "Looks like a fight."

….

Note: Swear to… even RIDDICK and ZIM poke fun at Zim's height inconsistency. You know it's bad when the characters in the story are laughing at the writer… By the way there's this really awesome guest artist doing Ask answers on the Tumblr… just saying… she's a lot better than I am.