The Battle of Gor
Epic Two
Written by Cartman's Girl and Invader Poe

~*~

Chapter Three

Meanwhile, back at ze base, Cten is now drying a kinda damp Zib with a towel, she's also semi-drenched.

"I still don't see why you had to mess about so much…"

"That stuff is cold!" He whined, but still writhed while being dried.

Zim's odd little base appeared, the apex of the culdesac, and Poe wrenched his eyes open, coughing out the last of the smoke from his lungs, or a close approximation of them.

"But still… and you've got nothing I haven't seen before either." she stood up and walked off, taking the towel with her, then turned back to him with his clothes.

Beka eventually came to a landing outside, was about to knock but Gir happily opened it and bounded in. Poe blinked at Gir's eager entrance and wandered in. Zim had never let him actually be in his base before.

"Something tells me Zim isn't home," he murmured, knowing the Invader would've been screaming at him to get out if he'd been around.

"Hmm… Mini-Master was messy." Gir said, sitting on the couch.

"Then possibly, Mistress is cleaning him." Beka replied, looking around. "Uhrm, where's the bathroom?" she asked Gir, who shrugged in responce.

"Maybe we should make ourselves known first. Cten?" He called out, looking around the kitchen, "You here?"

Cten is presently at the moment, got her back turned since Zib refused to get dressed with her watching. Her antennae twitch slightly, and looks up at the ceiling.

"Did you hear something, Zib?" Zib looked up at the ceiling, straining to hear, then shook his head. His hair-antennae were slightly less well-equipped for hearing than normal Irken antennae.

Poe scowled and wondered where the secret entrances to Zim's base were, opening up the garbage can and calling into it,

"Cten?"

"I did hear something. Zib, you wait here." Zib scowled and sat down, scrubbing his hair with the towel she left behind. She left the room, and looked at the two exits into the house, toilet or garbage can. Disgusted at how both exits ended up, she took the bin since she knew it was better then the toilet, that's for sure… Poe felt the garbage can start to move and yelped, nearly toppling into it. He stumbled away,

"Cten?" Yup, Cten! Her gloved hands appeared from within the bin, and she pulled herself up. She blinked, still standing in the bin.

"Poe? What are you doing here?"

"Gir brought me here. Beka has… um… some bad news about what Dib did to your base." She stared at him for a while, then held a hand up.

"Hang on, I gotta get Zib first." she lowered herself back into the bin, and after a minute or two she arrived back again, Zib slung over one of her shoulders. This time she climbed out. Zib blinked and allowed himself to be carted around. He was used to it, afterall, not to mention a little kid. He yelped when he saw Poe and scrambled to hide his face in Cten's shoulder, and Poe snickered,

"Hey, Zib." Feeling Zib tighten his grip around her, Cten decided it was best she held onto him, sine it's easier walking around with a kid clinging to your shoulders then your legs.

"I guess he says hi too…" she muttered slightly, then turned to Poe. "So what news is it?" Zib whimpered faintly and Poe shrugged, sighing,

"The flames couldn't be put out, and they got into your lower lab… I guess they interacted with something and caused an explosion.." Cten's eyes widened, and her mouth hung open for a little while. Hearing Zib whimper made her snap back to reality.

"…my base is gone?"

"I don't know… the smoke was too thick for me to see anything. The explosions were pretty loud, though, and the one triggered other's…" Her antennae lowered in disbelife, and it seemed to Poe she was about to cry at any given moment. She shifted the weight of Zib slightly, and glanced to the side.

"All, all my work I've done just…" she then frowned, a look Poe had rarely seen crossed her face. Very angry young lady this is now, and she turned her eyes to him, "And who is the prime suspect in the demolition of my base?" Poe winced slightly as she went through the various moods, then shook his head,

"Beka said she detected Dib running away from the base right before the fires started and Zim called you."

"Ah." she said simply, then walked past him. "Well then… once my job here is done I shall be working on the plans to rebuild my base, then get back at Dib." She entered the lounge and came face to face with Beka, who was actually very soot-ridden and messy. She looked quiet upset as her Mistress entered, but Cten just patted her head.

"You did your best, Beka." Poe watched her go and followed,

"What did Zim want, anyway, that was so urgent?" Zib just kept clinging to her, though he eventually started to relax, loosening his death-grip on Cten, looking over his shoulder at Poe warily.

"He wanted me to watch Zib," she replied, taking a seat on the couch. "Seems he had a meeting on the Moon which was important, and since he claims not to entrust you with Zib ever again, I was the one to do the job." Beka meanwhile had began to clean herself with a cloth.

"Aw, jeeze. All I did was tell him one story I had on hand." Poe sat down on the couch, though he kept his distance.

"That wasn't a good story," Zib mumbled sulkily, and let got of Cten, sitting beside her, making a point to sit on the side that Poe wasn't on.

"Well, from what I heard it must have upset him a lot." Cten ran a finger through Zib's hair gently, "You gotta remember who you're telling the story to, Poe." she smiled slightly,

"So I don't have a lot of experience with kids.. There aren't too many of them wandering around where I come from." He shrugged,

"Still, you know you'll have to leave before Zim gets back."

"Yeah, I know, but he isn't here yet, is he?" He grinned slightly.

"Nooo… I'm not even sure when he'll come back either. Do you Zib?" Zib shook his head,

"He just said he was gonna go. Maybe he told Gir?" Zib cast a glance over at the robot, who was sitting transfixed to the television.. which was currently off. "…not that that would've done any good."

"Now Zib… we don't want a re-enactment of before." Zib just scowled and nodded grudgingly. Cten leant forward slightly,

"Gir?" the little robot turned his head around to see the group, his body staying in the right direction.

"Yeesssss?"

"Did Zim tell you when he'd be back from his Moon Meeting?" she asked very slowly, so the robot heard each word and understood the question. Gir frowned and tilted his head to the side.

"Uhhhrrmmmmm…" Poe rest his chin on his knuckles, leaning against the arm of the couch and watching Gir, then shrugged,

"It's not that important. I can go now if there's a danger of him coming back soon…"

"When da moon goes away!" Gir then chirped, turning his head back towards the blank television screen. Cten blinked,

"…that's some meeting if it goes all night…" she mumbled, then sighed and sat back against the couch. "Oh well."

"Unless he means when there's a lunar eclipse." Poe raised his eyelid, then looked over at Cten, "There's no real reason you can't work on your plans now, is there? There are two of us, and the SIR units, to keep an eye on Zib."

"…but really… what can I do to get back at Dib for destroying my base?" she sighed, her antennae lowering again. "I've got the strength of a baby and just as meek." Poe shrugged,

"So? You've got me to help!" He grinned slightly, then admitted, "Not that I'm all that strong, but I have… experience." Cten smiled slightly, resting one arm around Zib gently.

"Aw Poe, you're so nice to me…" she looked over at him, "So what would you do?" Poe scratched the back of his head,

"Aw, it's nothing… but… hm. Well, what's important to him? His research?"

"To Dib? What's important to him that he uncovers us for the aliens we are and get to slice us up…" she scowled, "Little jerk." Poe grunted, pondering.

"What are his weaknesses, then?" Zib looked a little uncomfortable at this conversation, staring down at his lap. Cten paused a moment to think this over, then glanced down at Zib. She then sat up slightly,

"Zib?" Zib glanced up at her out of the corner of his eye, an easy thing to see since he was the only one there with technical pupils.

"Yeah, Ms. Cten?"

"Do you want something to drink from the kitchen?" she glanced at Poe, "Same question goes to you."

"Alright," he said in a quiet, dispirited tone, before going back to staring at his lap.

"What's Zim got to drink?" Poe asked.

"Well depends what you want…" she got off the couch, "You can have the usual Irken juice, or I can make hot choclate or something." Gir's eyecams lit up at this,

"I wanna chocolate." he said happily,

"Okay Gir, hot choloate for you.."

"I'd rather have hot chocolate. I got enough Irken juice back on Irk." Poe said with a face, then hopped off as well, before glancing back at Zib, who had drawn up his knees and was hugging them. "Hey, what's wrong?" Poe wandered back over to Zib and sat down beside him. Zib just made a noncommittal noise. Cten looked back at Zib, raising an antennae.

"Is it that we're talking about your Dad, and it's upsetting you?" Zib winced slightly, indicating she'd hit the nail on the head.

"It's just… I mean… I live with Mom and I talk to you guys more than him… And he doesn't like you… does that mean he doesn't like me?" He said, the last sentance coming out in a pathetic, quiet voice.

"Oh I see." Cten said gently, she walked over and leaned against the couch arm and put her hand onto his shoulder gently. "Dib, well Dib is a very confusing person to work out, to me anyway. He hates us Irkens, cause for all he knows - Zim was sent to rule the planet. So that's why he's so bitter to myself, Zim and Poe. But you, you're not just an Irken and you know that, you're human and Irken." she looked at Poe, then down at Zib again. "I'm sure he likes you, and cares for you."

"Yeah. He hates us because we're aliens; you're not."

"But…" Zib shook his head slightly, "You guys don't like him either… And, well…" Zib frowned and shrugged slightly, "He's my Dad…" Poe sighed.

"He's not very nice to us, Zib. We can only take so much." Pee looked back and forth, then added, "It's not like we were going to hurt him or anything."

"I know Dib's always tried to get into Zim's base… but it's really upset me Zib that… that my house is gone now. I don't know if my Voot Runner survived, or it blew up in the explosion so I now might be homeless." Cten glanced at Beka who was now polishing her arms. "Look, if I do even attempt to get revenge - which is something a Maid as myself would never even attempt - it won't be physically harmful to…" she trailed off, realising she'd pointed out being a maid. Zib sighed.

"I don't like it when he's mean either… but still." He shrugged and went quiet, before blinking up at Cten, "You're a Maid? Mom said you were his Invader assistant.." Cten sighed, no reason to keep up her act now.

"Zib look, I'm a Maid. I've always been a Maid to the Tallest and they sent me here to make… to make your Mom beleive he was on a real mission. There." she folded her arms and looked away, "I'm not happy about it either."

"On a real mission?" Zib looked confused, "I thought he was on a real mission though.."

"Zib, from what I understand, your Mom wasn't very popular back on Irk…" Poe said.

"Not very popular?" Cten looked aghast, "Zib, you have to know but never let your Mom know this but… he almost destoryed Irk. I'm not even sure why, but he did!" her face paled somewhat, as visions of the day flashed in her head. "Just, the robot of destruction seemed to be everywhere, Irkens were injured, houses destroyed… I believe that's why they sent Zim so far away - so he wouldn't cause problems." she sat down on the ground, sighing. "And they sent me, to make him belive it was more real." Zib looked a little pale as well.

"I knew Mom liked destroying things… but…" He looked down at his shoes. "I guess I'm not suppose to tell him, huh?" Poe shook his head,

"Who knows how he'd react."

"He'd know who told you…" Cten replied, sighing, "I'd be in big trouble if he found out what I really was… he'd probably send me back and I'd never see you or Poe, or Gir again." Zib nodded slightly.

"Alright…"

"This is important, Zib, you gotta promise you won't tell." The Reject looked at the hybrid evenly, and Zib nodded quickly, edging away from Poe,

"I… I promise."

"He won't hurt you Zib, if he did he'd be in more trouble then he's worth." Cten grinned slightly, but then gave Zib a quick hug. "Thanks anyway." Poe snorted and crossed his arms in mock indignation, then stuck his tongue out at Zib.

"I'm harmless."

"You're scary," Zib mumbled, while hugging Cten back and hiding for protection. Cten laughed slightly, and since Zib was now giving her the idea he wasn't going to let go again, in fear of Poe, she lifted him up into her arms again.

"How you look is so important, is it not Poe?" Zib clung onto Cten, and Poe shrugged,

"Well, I don't try to be scary… just comes off naturally." He put on an evil, toothy grin.

"Yeah, see?" she pointed to his teeth, then flicked at where his nose would be. "So, hot chocolate all around now is it?"

"Ow!" Poe rubbed his nose-area, then nodded, "Sure. Zib probably wants some too, huh?" Zib frowned when the Reject guessed correctly, then huffed a bit,

"I guess."

"All right boys, and Beka, you want some?" Beka shook her head in responce,

"I need to recharge, Ma'am."

"Right then." Cten replied, and carried Zib through into the kitchen. Poe followed,

"Can I help?" He offered, looking around, then muttered, "Not that I have any experience whatsoever…" Zib blinked at him and fought back a giggle.

"Well you can do the water I guess… I saw a kettle like thing in the fridge - Zim knows why it's in there, I don't."

"A… kettle? Um, sure…" He coughed and opened the fridge, digging through it until he found something that looked like it would be called a 'kettle'. He pulled out a carton of rotten milk and held it up, grinning hopefully, "…this it?" She smiled slightly,

"Uh… no, that's… bad milk. The kettle's there." she pointed to the door, where the metal kettle was sat.

"…oh! I knew that!" He stuffed the milk back in and pulled out the kettle, "I was… testing you. Yeah." Zib covered his mouth with one of his gloved claws to surpress the giggles, his bad mood quickly forgotten.

"Heh, I'm sure you did Poe." she opened the cupboard and pulled out the jar of hot-chocolate grainy stuff and placed it on the table. "Now be careful when putting the water in that, we don't want any skin burns." Poe stared at the kettle for a moment, trying to think. He recalled seeing a snippet of a cooking show once, and remembered a human filling something that looked like this with water and setting it on a stove.

He figured up how to open the kettle after some fiddling and ran it under the sink until water burbled out of the top, and set it on top something that looked like a stove. Zib burst out giggling, unable to contain it any longer.

"What?!" Poe looked at him, wondering what he did wrong,

"That's the toaster!" Zib said, between giggles.

"Methinks you need to spend a little time with me in the kitchen Poe dear." Cten laughed, setting Zib on a chair and walked over to him. "Now look, that." she pointed at the stove, "Is the stove, you turn it on like this." she turned the small knob, which read 'front left'. "Now you put the kettle on the ring, but don't touch it." Poe grunted and tried to conceal his embaressment, setting the kettle on the matching ring.

"Um…" he stared at it for a while, "Now what?" Zib just giggled from his seat, eventually calming down.

"Now, you wait till steam starts coming up from the spout." she pointed to the spout, "That means the water has boiled, so you take it off the ring and place it on the draining board." she pointed to the draining board near the sink. While she said this, her pod opened and she pulled four mugs from it with her hands. Poe nodded and watched the kettle intently. Soon enough, it started to steam, and whistle as well.

"Ngya!" Poe panicked and jumped back, "It's screaming!"

"Yes Poe…" Cten replied gently as she scooped the chocolate into the mugs, "That means it's boiled, now here." she handed him a tea towel, "Use that when you pick it up, or you'll burn your skin." Poe looked down at the cloth, then up at the kettle nervously, setting a stern expression on his face and reaching over with the towel carefully, as though it might leap off and attack him. He finally grabbed it and swiped it off the stove, making it go silent,

"HAH! Gotcha," He snerked victoriously at the kettle, and set it down on the board as he was instructed. Cten smiled, and politely clapped.

"Very well done Poe, making hot chocolate has never been so enjoyable!"

"Well, of course, would you expect anything less from me?" He grinned despite himself, posing haughtily in one of the many ways he'd seen Zim do so often, but it was much more effective with his height. He eyed the glasses and picked up the kettle again, pouring some carefully into the first mug, biting his lip and being careful not to make it overflow. As Poe did this, Cten pulled some fresh milk from her pod.

"Handy to have a small freezer in this thing…" she replied, and as Poe began pouring into the second mug she applied the milk and stired with a spoon. Poe finished the last two mugs with more confidence, setting down the half-empty kettle.

"There! That was easy enough." He wiped his forehead off with the towel and tossed it on the counter, looking over the mugs, "Which one's mine?"

"This one." she handed one, which actually had his name written on it, in Irken of course. "Here Zib," she walked over and handed him a mug which had his name, written in both Irken and English on it.

"Woah, cool! Personalized!" He grinned and took his mug proudly, taking a swig of his hot chocolate. His eyes widened slightly, "Hey, this is good! I usually just get a mug from the replicat-" His eyes suddenly widened further, tearing up, and he started to weeze, as it started to register that his tongue was burnt. Zib shook his head at Poe slightly and patiently waited for his own chocolate to cool off, stirring his claw-finger in it, gloves protecting him.

"Yes Poe… you should remember the water is hot…" Cten headed back to him, picking up her own mug and blew gently on his mug. "Helps to wait a while. Gir!" she called out suddenly making Poe jump a little bit, and Gir zipped into the room, arms open for his mug.

"Smart thing when you have to be…" she handed him his mug, with 'Gir' written on. He took it and hurried out again. Poe whimpered slightly, his segmented tongue hanging out of his mouth limply, smoke rising from it. He nodded weakly, rubbing his eyes with his wrist and withdrawing his tongue, once the pain wore off, and glared at his mug, taking an experimental sip this time. Zib did the same, slurping slightly, wiping off his chin with the collar of his shirt,

"This's good too, Ms. Cten! You're a good cook!"

"Aw, thank you Zib…" she sipped her own mug, "But thank Poe also, he did most of it." Zib looked up at her blankly, with slight confusion,

"But he's a Reject… Mom said…" Poe scowled and mumbled to himself, busying himself with sipping.

"Yes, I know what your Mom says. But, credit is where credit's due." she replied simply. Zib scratched the side of his head,

"Um… thanks, Poe."

"Welcome," Poe responded simply from behind his mug, finishing off his cocoa quickly.

"Isn't so hard, is it?" she asked Zib, before sipping her hot chocolate.

"I guess not. But still, Mom told me I shouldn't be nice to him, cuz he wasn't like us.."

"Like us.." Cten replied, then looked at Poe, then to Zib while pointing to Poe. "Take a good look at him, what differences do you see from him and your Mom? Really, honestly. Besides the teeth and the long antennae, he's still an Irken." Poe put down his mug and turned around, raising his eyelid slightly. Zib stared at him, then another look of confusion crossed his face.

"I don't know what to think anymore," Zib mumbled, "Mom tells me one thing, Dad tells me another, you two tell me other stuff.."

"Oh well." she said, sipping her mug again. "You're your own person Zib, you do as you want." Zib nodded and thought this over. Poe watched him for a moment and sighed,

"Don't worry about it, Zib. Just finish your hot chocolate, it's getting cold." Zib looked up in slight alarm and quickly took another sip.

"And after that, I think it's time for you, little Zib to head to bed." Cten glanced up at the clock, which read 9:00pm. Zib blinked and looked over at them from behind his now empty mug, his antennae-hair drooping.

"Aw.." He set his mug down and scowled at his lap, having hoped they would forget.

"Oh come on Zib, what would we say if your Mom came home and you were still up?" Cten walked over to him and picked up his empty mug, "We'd all be in biiiig dookie."

"I guess so." Zib got down off his chair, then quickly glared at Poe, "No bed time stories, though!" Poe grinned innocently and shrugged,

"Don't worry, I don't have my book with me."

"All right, no stories from neither of us." Cten placed the mugs into the sink. Zib looked a bit disappointed, then quickly shook it off,

"Fine! I'm too old for such sillyness anyway."

"Oh, yeah, you're teetering on the brink of adulthood," Poe snickered slightly, wandering up to Zib, "Where's your room anyway?"

"Upstairs."

"Okay Zib, lead the way. But…" she paused and pulled a book out from her pod, and held it out to him. "If you can't fall asleep you can look at the pictures of my book anyway." Zib took the book, looking at it, smiling slightly,

"Thanks, Ms. Cten." He nodded, starting toward the closet door that actually opened up into an elevator, opening it with some difficulty and stepping inside.

"Oo, nifty." Cten said, stepping inside and holding the door open for Poe, who wandered in last, and the elevator went upstairs after Zib stood on his tip-toes and hit a button. A few seconds later it stopped, opening up on the level with the Voot runner, though it'd been converted into Zib's room, sorta, hastily made since Zib hadn't exactly been expected. He wandered over to his bed and took off his coat and shirt, replacing them with his PJ top. Cten folded his shirt and placed it on a stool, then flopped his jacket over it.

"Very nice…" she said to herself, glancing around.

"Mom had the computer make a room for me, with whatever was lying around," Zib said as he struggled out of his pants and into his PJ's, climbing into bed. The room had the same strange, random taste that the rest of the house had, with a large photo of a moose hanging on one wall, and a purple sink jutting out of the wall, not connected to anything in particular.

"I can see that…" Cten smirked at the moose picture, then looked down at Zib. "Now, do you need anything before we go?" Zib thought a moment, then shook his head,

"I'm alright."

"Sure you don't need to be tucked in?" Poe teased, grinning, and Zib scowled at him,

"No!"

"My aren't we a big boy, no story, no tuck in, no glass of milk or anything…" Cten mused aloud, smiling at him.

"Of course!" Zib puffed out his chest, "Mom said I needed to be tougher since Irkens don't need stuff like that."

"Ah, Zim forgets his days in the Nest then…" Cten said more to herself, but leaned over and gave Zib a quick peck on the forehead. "G'night Zib, sleep tight and don't let the bugs bite." Zib let a small smile escape when he was given a good night kiss, but quickly put on a scowl, scrunching up his shoulders.

"Night," he said, snuggling into bed. Poe watched from the doorway, arms folded, chuckling to himself. Cten smiled and placed the book besides him and walked to the door, then looked back at him.

"I'm leaving the light on just a little bit, so enough light if you ever want to look at the book, okay?" Zib nodded, looking over at the book, but resisted the urge to reach over for it.

"Alrighty… Thanks Ms. Cten."

"You're welcome Zib." with that she turns the light lower, and walks towards the elevator. Poe waved to Zib and followed her into the elevator.

[To be continued]