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

~*~

Chapter Five

Meanwhile, Poe sitting in his tree, watching the sky blearily; heck, maybe he'd slept in it, who knew. Then he heard a familiar whistling tune on the breeze, and glanced down. There was Dib, in camoflauge and carrying a backpack. He seems pretty happy as he's making his way down the pavement.

Poe snapped awake, glancing around until he spied the source of the whistling. He narrowed his eyes and leapt down from the tree, directly in Dib's path, and loomed over him, looking very unhappy with the human boy. Dib came to a stop, and stared blankly at Poe for a while, then looked somewhat nervous now.

"…what is it?" he asked.

"You," He nearly growled, stepping forward, "Cten and I are out of a place to sleep now, you know that?"

"What, just cause I was there you thought I did it?" Dib took a step backwards, the nervous look now over come with an angry look.

"Who ELSE would?" Poe glared at him, acting unusually aggressive for the usually passive, doormat of an Irken, "It's in the middle of the country, and you're the only one on this planet who knows we're aliens, much less cares about stopping Zim! And you just happened to be there?"

"For your information, I was coming back from checking my bigfoot traps and I see some weird alien-robot-dog thingie near that place, I go forward to try and capture it and the next thing I know the whole place is on fire!" Dib narrowed his eyes at the alien, sure he was fraid but he wasn't about to show it, the alien might suck his brains out if he did. "So don't blame me because you and your spouse is now out of base and home!" Poe bristled and backed away slightly, cheeks flushing againg,

"She's my friend," He shook his head, "Who set her base on fire then?" he mumbled, assuming by robot-alien-dog thing he'd meant Beka.

"You want proof? Fine!" Dib pulled his backpack off and slammed it on the ground, he then searched around and pulled out his polaroid, handing a photo to Poe.

"THERE! Proof of the robot-alien-dog thing setting fire to your precious base! I wish I was the on who thought of it though." on the photo, it showed a very familiar looking robot clad in a doberman-disguise, holding a flame-thrower.

"What the… GRAH!" He snarled loudly, complete with fangs, and threw the photo to the ground, pounding his fist into his claws, "I'm going to kill him," he mumbled dangerously.

"I take it you know it then." Dib said, picking the photo up and shoving it back into his backpack.

"Yes… He is… was… sort of… my SIR unit." He paced back and forth in irritation, "He's not exactly programmed right, though. I should've KNOWN he'd do something like that… Cten could've been hurt!" He started cursing various things under his breath, and satisfied himself by punching the tree, causing some bark to fly off. "…ow."

"So wait, robots can turn against their masters?" Dib's eyes widened, then returned to normal. Maybe he could get Gir to turn against Zim and take the alien out for him, then he could turn the robot in as proof of alien existance…

"Normally, no," Poe rubbed his nearly broken wrist and knuckles, muttering, "Gor used to belong to another Invader and I… kinda borrowed him," Poe looked around with shifty eyes, "I had to reprogram him to recognize me as his master and something botched up."

"So what, he won't do what you say like Gir?" Dib scratched his head, this was informative stuff! He'll have one heck of a journal entry to write when he gets home. Poe glanced over at Dib,

"He thinks he's the master and that I belong to him. He's rather… persuasive too."

"So I take you left and he hunted you down, thought you were in the base and tried to kill you?" Dib folded his arms.

"He didn't want to kill me." He grumbled, shaking his head, "He can track me down with his guidance chip. He knew I wasn't there… he just wanted to destroy my new home, and he probably wouldn't have minded taking Cten out either." He growled and pondered kicking the tree, but wasn't that dumb.

"Whoa, maniac robots sweeping the town, destorying things… how could no one not notice that?" Dib pondered a loud, then looked to Poe. "Well! Hope… uh, hope things work well for you and Cten then. I mean, not that I want you guys not to be found out for the aliens you are, but I wouldn't appreciate having MY house burnt to the ground by someone I hate." Poe nodded briefly and ran a claw through his wig.

"Thanks… I think. Sorry I snapped at you," he mumbled, the anger passing and becoming guilt, since it was, in his mind, primarily his fault Gor'd done what he had.

"Eh, think nothing of it." Dib pulled his backpack back on again, "I get that treatment from Zim when I forget to pick Zib up for my weekend of looking after him."

"Being like Zim is the last thing I want to do," he pushed his bangs out of his face and leaned against the tree. Poe just angsted, kicking anything neraby that wasn't animate and wasn't rooted to the earth, waiting for Cten to show up.

"Don't blame you. Well, see ya!" with that Dib made his way past him, and out of the picture.

Meanwhile, back at Zim's place, the Scary Monkey Show now finished, Cten was not just giving Zib a bath, but both Zib and Gir, in the cleansing gel. Since the gel was specified to clean off any mess, sticky or not, both needed it. Zib was quite disgruntled at having had two baths so close together, but even he had agreed that he was a mess. He scowled ahead as his hair was scrubbed, while Zim tinkered about the base, doing… Zimmy things. Gir giggled as he managed to balance the gell on his head, and eventually Cten pulled Zib out.

"And here you go, all clean again." after drying him off, she gave him some clean clothes and then got to work on drying Gir, who was easier since he was already able to dry himself. "And after this, I have to go find Poe and talk about our living arangements again."

"Ooo!" Gir declared, giggling like a little kid, which he was the equivilant of.

"Don't start Gir." Zib pulled on his shirt, having some difficulty getting his large head through the collar, and sat down to start on his pants. Dressing and undressing himself were fairly recent habits for him, after Zim finally got sick of doing it and taught him how. He looked over at Gir, then up at Cten, confusedly,

"Huh?"

"Gir thinks me and Poe are dating." she said, grinning slightly as she cleaned Gir's antennae. "We keep telling him we're just friends, but you try explaining to this little guy."

"Dating?" He looked at her with the same confusion.

"He thinks we're in love." she said gently.

"Ooooooh." Zib giggled slightly, managing to finally yank his pants up, and put on his coat, looking up at her, "Are you?" She blushed slightly, standing up from drying Gir off.

"No, we're just best friends, that's all."

"Lookit Mini-Master, she all red again!" Gir pointed to Cten's face. Zib giggled louder, covering his mouth,

"Why are your cheeks all red-like, Ms. Cten?" he wondered, mostly innocently.

"…because they are." she replied, still blushing but now smiling somewhat. "Ooh okay okay. I like Poe, I like him a lot." She leant down and tickled Zib's tummy, "But you tell him that 'n I won't make you pancakes for a month!" Zib squeeked and burst out laughing, falling onto his back,

"Aw, why not?" He squirmed, managing to get the words out between fits of giggles. She stopped tickling him and scooped him into her arms.

"Because, if I ever tell him, I wanna be the one to say it. Okay?"

"Oo-kay," His giggles died down, and he relaxed, snuggling against her and rubbing at his eyes beneath his glasses, "I promise I won't tell."

"Thanks Zib." she nuzzled her head against his gently, "You know, I really love being around you two guys," she held Zib up with one hand and led Gir out of the room by the hand, "Yer just… so fun to be with."

"Aw, I like you too!" Gir squeaked, nuzzling her hand with his head. Zib scrunched his shoulders up and nodded, the last of his giggles dying down,

"I like you too, Ms. Cten. Sometimes…" He looked around, making sure Zim was out of sight, "You're more like a Mom than Mom."

"Aw sweetie, your Mom just isn't the Mom type... but he tries, it doesn't show, but he does." she led the two into the lounge, Gir letting go of her hand and sitting on the couch.

"I guess…" Zib looked at the front door, then up at her somewhat sadly, "I guess you're gonna go now?"

"Yeah, I gotta go and find out where I'm gonna live." she set Zib on the couch, "But if you ever wanna see me, just ask your Mom to call me." she smiled at the two, "'N I'll come over." Zib smiled,

"I will! Bye, Ms. Cten!" He sat back against the couch and waved at her.

"Bye bye Zib, bye bye Gir." she gave them a small wave before putting her wig, contacts and activating her clothes disguise. "See you two around, and try to keep out of trouble."

"Who… us?" Gir looked all innocent 'n angelic like.

"Heh, yes Gir. Bye guys." with that she opened the door and headed out, closing it behind her, but then opening it quickly for Beka to hurry out after her.

Poe was still by his tree, but he was sitting on the ground and holding one of his feet painfully, having kicked something too hard, or maybe it kicked back, who knew. Eventually Cten arrived, Beka in her feline disguise following her.

"Sorry I'm late Poe, had to bathe Gir 'n Zib after breakfast." Poe looked up from holding his poor foot,

"Cten!" He stood up quickly and winced, stumbling slightly, the various Poe-boot-shape imprints on all nearby stationary items telling the story of an incredibly grumpy Irken, "It's alright. I have bad news anyway."

"I can see that…" she glanced at the shoe prints everywhere.

"I ran into Dib earlier. He wasn't the one that set your base on fire," He sighed, "He showed me a photo. It was Gor." Cten blinked,

"…Gor? Oh… oh no…" she glanced over her shoulder. Beka made a hissing sound. Poe rubbed his forehead with his fist,

"Dib had been there because he was checking some Bigfoot traps, or something, and saw him by the house with a flamethrower." He sighed again and shook his head, the stress and guilt evident on his face, "I'm sorry, Cten, this is all my fault…"

"No, no it isn't your fault at all Poe." Cten sighed, and ran a hand through her blond wig. "I… I met Gor a few weeks ago… he was pretty livid about me 'stealing' his slave and he said he'd get me, I said I wasn't afraid of him." she sighed, "Sure showed me, but don't blame yourself, okay?"

"I should've known he'd do something like this, though. I mean, what if you hadn't been able to get out of the base?" He shook his head furiously, "He's not going to get away with this…"

"Poe, I got out of the base, that's what's important…" Cten took his hand into hers, stroaking it gently. "I've never met a robot like him, but I know we can deal with it somehow, okay?" Poe blinked and looked up at her hand, then seemed to finally relax, nodding slightly,

"I hope so,"

"Good. Now you've calmed down, let's go search my base for my Voot Cruiser." she smiled, letting go of his hand. Poe nodded again and dropped his hand to this side, before sliding them both into his pockets. He started in the direction of her base, still being quiet and looking somewhat angsty, but that wasn't exactly unusual for him.

She followed along after him, glancing at any shadowed area they'd come across. Having her memory jolted of her meeting with Gor, made her feel very nervous and worried. Eventually the three arrived at the charred remains that was once her base. She sighed, tears beginning to brim at her eyes as she saw the destruction. Poe looked over at her and frowned, setting his hand on her shoulder again, albiet this time it was on the shoulder furththest away from him.

"Voot Cruisers are pretty tough, it's gotta be in here somewhere, right?"

"I hope so," she said gently. Beka was already scanning through the wrecks, she pulled out what looked similar to the remains of a painting, and tossed it aside and kept searching. Looking at the ruins he couldn't help but feel guilty, and he shook his head slowly. Poe let his arm rest against her back and sighed,

"Any luck, Beka?"

"None yet sir Poe." Beka replied, throwing large parts of what used to be the base over her shoulder. Cten shuddered as she saw what was once her bed tossed to the side.

"I doubt my experiments survived either." she muttered, leaning against Poe. Poe glanced down at her and hugged her slightly,

"Well, like you said, everyone's okay, and that's what matters the most." He smiled slightly though he didn't seem too sure himself.

"I was so close though." she said, wrapping her arm around him slowly. "I had almost, almost made something that could make us be in water without suffering effects and without the paste too." He frowned and added his other arm to the hug, holding her to him,

"You still have what you learned, at least, right?"

"I guess you're right." she looked up at him and smiles slightly, "Thanks Poe." He smiled back,

"It's alright. I'm sure you'll be able to get your base and experiments back up and running in no time."

"Yeah, but thanks for being here, that's all." she leant up and kissed him on the cheek, "Means a lot." He blinked in surprise, cheeks turning an odd shade of red, and his smile became somewhat shakey,

"It's… my pleasure."

"Ma'am! Sir!" Beka ran up to the two, jumping up and down on the spot hysterically, not taking note of the two hugging each other or Poe's blushing. "I found the Voot Cruiser!" Poe looked up quickly,

"Really? What shape is it in?" he asked, his shyness making him eager to change topics.

"A bit burnt, but it's intact! Come and see!" she grabbed Cten by the hand and pulled her away from Poe towards the mess, the two eventually stopping. Beka pointed down, an sure enough, there was the Voot Cruiser.

"Oh... oh wow! It DID survive!" Cten squeed happily at the sight of the Cruiser. Poe followed them, smiling widely when he saw the Cruiser.

"See, what'd I tell you? I knew everything'd be alright." Cten lept down onto it and opened it up, climbing inside.

"This is great!" she said from inside the Cruiser, "We can make a new base somewhere else, and then Beka can finally fix that guidance thing in your pod so Gor can't follow you anymore!" Poe sat down on the edge of the crater the Cruiser was in,

"That would be nice," he agreed, "I hope it would stop him, at least." He muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

"It wouldn't stop him hunting you, but at least he wouldn't know where you are 24/7." Cten said, as she searched for a new Base creator.

"True.. And I'm still not going to let him get away for what he did." Poe glared into space, using an anger-tainted tone he rarely spoke with.

"Oo." Beka said, impressed by the tone Poe used. Poe had inherited his father's temperment, usually quite cool-headed, but make him angry - well, jeeze, you don't even want to think about that. He shook his head and peered down into the Cruiser,

"Find another base thingee?"

"Affirmative!" Cten held it up above her head, then gestued to Poe to join her. "C'mon Poe, best find another place for our base."

"Heh, alright." Something about the last sentance made him grin, and he slid down into the Cruiser, things just a bit cramped as it was only intended for one Irken. Beka leapt in after them, standing behind the two. The Cruiser closed, and Cten started it up and it hovered up into the air.

"All right, any idea where we can re-base?" Cten asked.

"I'm not sure, much further out into the country and things could get inconvienient." He peered out the window, being slightly scrunched up against it, and shrugged, "Maybe you should ask Zim? I would think he'd know the geography better since he's been here the longest.."

"Ah, good point..." she hit a button, making the Cruiser disguised as a cloud, and sped over towards Zim's base. "Methinks it'd be best if you waited in the Cruiser Poe, no need Zim getting upity if he finds out we're now living together."

"Heh, good idea." No need to make someone else angry, and knowing Zim's destructive streak who knew how he'd react. "I guess he's going to find out eventually, though.."

"Huh boy... shudder to imagine." Cten came to a stop above Zim's base, and scooted to the side. "Behave guys, no messing about."

"I'll be good." He grinned slightly and looked down at the base. Zim, meanwhile, had finished tinkering and was watching something on the couch with Zib and Gir, trying to understand the appeal of watching humans complain about their problems with other humans, to other humans. Then, there was a knock at the door. Gir looked to the door, and before Zim could say anything - he'd zipped up his doggy disguse on.

"Eh?" Zim got up and wandered over to the door, a monitor dropping down and revealing Cten waiting at the door. He opened it up, "What is it, solider?"

"Zim, I told you previously about my base being destroyed, well luckily my Cruiser survived." Cten knew that with Zim, she had to get to the point, and quickly. "I was wondering if you had any idea where a good relocation would be for my base."

"Hmmmm," He pondered, "Since the country didn't work out, I suppose you could always try the city, though I personally could not stand being so close to so many stinking human filth-lairs."

"I can manage, Zim." she replied, "It'd be easier for my trips to Skool as well, and when you need me here." Zim nodded curtly,

"Is there anything else you require of my AMAZING intellect?"

"Just.. any idea where it'd be a good place to make a base. Near enough, yet not to gather a lot of attention." Zim thought for a moment,

"You could always make it on top of one of those hugely tall human buildings. I'm sure no one'd notice," he suggested, missing the rather obvious point of just how they'd get up and down, "Or.. I thought I saw some old abandoned lots when I went out on that disgusting excursion with Gir. Try one of those?"

"Oohhh... good idea..." she nodded, "Thanks Zim." she then realised Zib was waving at her, she gave him a quick wave back. Zib grinned widely when he was noticed, and Zim nodded again.

"I'm glad to assist, afterall, few are equipped with a brain and.. smartness such as Zim possesses!" She nodded, smiling. She knew how to treat Zim to make him feel great, she cared too much to hurt him.

"And I am always envious of your brain Zim."

"As all should be!" He grinned proudly. Zib giggled quietly from the couch, muffling it with his cuff-covered gloves.

"We're green with jealousy, Zim." Cten grinned at her own small but lame joke.

"Nyahah, yes, I suppose you would be, wouldn't you? But then, green people are the only ones worth talking to." He scowled slightly, "Except that Reject, who isn't really green anyway, more of a minty shade."

"Well, the Reject-" she had learnt to call Poe the 'Reject' when around Zim, "-doesn't appreciate your greatness as much as he should."

"Of course not, he's an uneducated.. smelly thing!" He waved his claws in dismissal. "He has a distinct stink, and--" He scowled suddenly, antennae twitching.

"And I just saw him walking past here earlier, I must add." Cten claimed quickly, then looked down the street. "I dear say Zim, you should getting your disguise for it seems door knockers are approaching, and with that, I bid you good day. Bye!" with that she quickly hurried off.

Zim watched her leave quickly with a raised eyelid, somewhat critically, before remembering her warning and quickly ducking back into the door. Poe watched her rush away from the base curiously, from the saftey of the Voot Cruiser. Soon she was besides him again,

"I forget how well equpit Zim is with his antennae... he almost picked up your 'smell'." she said, glancing down at the base. Poe blinked curiously,

"But I'm up here.. the wind would've had to have been moving in a really weird direction for him to get that. Unless, uh.."

"Unless?"

"Unless it's on you." He turned slightly red again and scratched the side of his head, looking away. She blinked, then blushed again realising what he meant.

"Oh... OH I see.... uhrm... probably.. yeah..." she put her hand to her neck, "Silly me.."

"Maybe we should get out of here before he decides to investigate." Poe looked down at the base, before coughing, looking around for another subject, "So, uh, what'd he suggest?"

"There's some vacant blocks he said..." she replied, coughing and her blush fading. "So we should look around for them."

"Oh, good idea." He stared out the window intently, trying to seem as though he scanning for said empty blocks, "I think I might've seen some of those when I was out wandering around, but most of them were near the end of the city my old base was at."

"I'm sure there's others near by..." Cten started the Cuirser, and it began scanning the area for vacant blocks. Poe made a dedicated effort to remember,

"I thought I saw one a few blocks from the park. There were some other houses nearby, so it wouldn't look too odd."

"Good idea." She turned sharply and soon they were over the park, and there was a vacant lot.

"Yeah, that's it.. It's kind of decrepit, but I guess that's not too important." It looked like it use to be an old playground, with a well-worn, grass covered basketball court at one end, the rest overgrown with weeds, an a 'For Sale' sign jutting out of the ground.

"Ooo Poe, let's buy it." she put on a sugary-sweet voice, sounding like a newly wed. "We can do so much and raise a family! Tee-hee!" Poe snickered slightly,

"Sure, dearest. Let me see if I can afford it." He pulled some lint out of his pockets. "Oh, look, just enough!"

"Oh darling it'll be perfect once we get the rose bed put in!" she giggled, "I think we should pose as a couple though, and using our Irken technology hypnotise the client into giving it to us, no need to raise alarm that a house suddenly grew on a land that's already for sale."

"Heh, good idea. Though sometimes I really have to wonder if they'd notice." He leaned down, narrowing his eyes at the For Sale sign through the window, "I think there's a phone number on the sign.. Maybe we should land the Cruiser in some of that tall grass back there before someone notices us."

"Good idea." she moved the Cruiser over, making the disguise go from a cloud to a bush, and had it land. Poe ducked out of the cruiser and looked around,

"I think this should be big enough, providing there aren't any subways beneath it, unless the Base thingee's smart enough to dig around them."

"I think it's smart enough to do that." Cten climbed out, and then handed Poe a ring, "Wear this, and I can alter our disgusies to make us look older."

"Huh, alright," He stuffed the ring onto one of his claws with a bit of difficulty, wiggling the fingers of the hand it was on to get use to it.

"All right.... any choice you want?" she pulled out what looked like a remote, and handed him a hand-mirror as she put her own ring on.

"Hm.. Well, I don't wanna look too old. Business casual maybe?"

"All righty!" she flipped with the switch, and even if Poe's disguise now looked like a normal human male, she couldn't really adjust it to make it loose the long black hair, now tied back. "Tell me what you think."

"Hm.." Poe looked into the mirror, raising his eyelids to make his new eyebrows waggle, "I like it!" He looked over the mirror at her, "What about your disguise?"

"Well then." she fiddled with the disguise control, and soon enough she looked like an average blonde haired yong lady, the rings they wore on their fingers showing through the disguise as wedding rings now.

"So, what'd you think of me now, honey?" she grinned teasingly. Poe grinned widely, his teeth still a bit pointy despite his guise,

"Why, you're simply ravishing," he teased back. Cten laughed, waving one hand absently in the air,

"Oh you're too much!" she then returned to 'serious' mode, if you can call this story serious. "Now, to make the phone call…" she had her communicator-verbal only come out, the human version seemed to pull a mobile out. She entered the number and waited, tapping one foot.

"Hello?" The guy on the other end of the line greeted curiously, "Is this about the lot?" He seemed desperately eager, "I haven't been able to get rid of that thing for months!"

"Yes, yes in fact it is about the lot..." she kicked at a spider that was crawling over her foot, "I was wondering when myself and my husband could come and talk to you about it."

"Oh, any time! Heck, I'll be over right now if you need!" Poe was meanwhile poking around in the tall grass, hand stuffed in his pockets, and generally being aimless.

"Oh that'd be wonderful!" she looked over at Poe, who happened to glance at her and she gave him a thumbs up. "See you soon then?"

"Yeah!" He hung up quickly. Poe grinned slightly, and it wasn't long before a car pulled up, a moderately well-dressed guy stepping out. He raised his eyebrow slightly when he noticed their height, or lackthereof, but shrugged it off; a customer was a customer.

"The asking price is $6k, but I'm willing to negotiate.."

Cten looked around the lot, $65k for this? No wonder he wasn't getting any calls over it... she then looked at him and smiled innocently. We have a view of the wall to the side of them, and their shadows as Cten's pod opens up and an arm comes out, the man screams as the arm, which has some kind of machine on it's end clamps over his head, and the seaming halted. The arm came off and vanished back into her pod, now the man had some bizzare Irken symbol on his forehead. She looked over to Poe,

"Take over Poe, dear." she smirked. Poe winced slightly, then approached the man, trying to figure out just what to do. Acting wasn't really his forte.

"Well, um.. I believe our business here is done.. We'll, uh, have our people call your people sometime. Now, go home, relax and forget everything that had to do with this lot, alright?" The man didn't even nod, just standing there, drooling slightly, before he walked mechanically back to his car, getting in, and driving off straight ahead, several blocks down, into a wall, backing up and repeating the process several times. Cten laughed slightly,

"Aw I love humans, they're so easily manipulated!" she said, clasping her hands together. She looked over to Poe, "Well, now we have to make a house to fit in with the rest of these ones." she gave a small glance at the surrounding homes.

"Yeah.. It shouldn't be that hard." He looked around at the homes nearby, mostly remnants from when the part of the city they were in use to be the suburbs, before expansion took place; the lot they'd bought probably use to be the neighborhood park. "We could just mix and match things from the other houses, they all look the same to me, anyway."

"Hyeah really..." she pulled the Base Creator out and began scribbling, while sat on an old rusted petrol can. "They put no brains into the creation of their bases... anyone could just waltz in.."

"People do just waltz in, from what I've seen, and they welcome them," Poe shook his head, folding his arms and leaning back against the utlitarian, vine-covered chainlink fence that surrounded the property, causing the fence to jangle, "Humans seem so reliant on others.. I guess they're more social than a species like us Irkens could understand." Cten nodded in responce, then held out the Base Creator to Poe,

"So what do you think? Think it suits the area?" He leaned forward to look at it,

"Looks fine to me." Maybe the lines were a bit less straight than on most of the houses, and who knows what colour it'd actually come out as, but it was close enough.

"Brilliant." she walked to the middle of the lot, and closed up the Base Creator. She rammed it into the ground, and backed away as the ground began to shake.

Poe held onto the fence for support, wincing as the shaking and sprouting of architecture set off car alarms and even an air-raid siren in the distance, but by the grace of some deity the fact an orange, two-story, suburban home was ascending from the ground went relatively unnoticed. Soon the howling of dogs and car sirens came to a halt, and Cten looked up at the orange house and grinned.

"I like it..." the door opened, and Beka, in her cat disguise walked out.

"Brilliant house Ma'am and Sir!"

"Hey, congradulate her, I didn't do anything but watch." He looked up at the house, a satelite dish jutting out of the chimney, windows red-edged and slightly warped. "It's a bit.. bright, but I like it too."

"If I could choose colour, I would.." she shrugged and turned to Poe. "So, wanna look abouts our new abode?"

"Sure. If it's anything like the other bases, it ought to prove interesting.." He started down the walkway and through the door that had 'Employee Exit' written on it, opening it up to reveal the highly purple living room.

"Ow my eyes!" Cten put her hands to her eyes, the walls were purple, the floor was yellow… Poe winced as well,

"I think this one might require a bit of redecoration.." The couch was pink with black poka-dots, and the TV was blue, and ridiculously large. The stairs were twisted and malformed, yet somehow structurally sound. The kitchen.. well, that was just scary.

"Right now.... we'll just have to cope for now until we find the colour controls..." she whipped out a pair of black sunglasses and put them on, they magically held on how Zib's glasses held onto his head. Poe settled for squinting, wandering into the kitchen warily.

"Going to tell Zim where your new base is located?"

"Meh, I'll have to probably..." she stared at the big TV as she walked past it, and spied a kitty scratch post the colour of mud in the corner. Poe sat down on the retinal-abusing couch.

"You could always let him figure it out for himself, not like he can't use a guidance chip thingee to locate it within about.. oh, 2 seconds."

"Guess you're right.... plus we're not that far from him anyways." she sat down on a lime green bean bag, and made her disguise vanish, her normal Irken self visible again. Poe started to fiddle with his ring-dash-image inducer, fiddling with the settings,

"Uh, how do I turn this thing off?"

"Oh, sorry." she pointed to a button on her ring, which looked like a diamond. "You hit that."

"Oh, duh." Poe noticed the rock and hit it, the image frizzling out, returning him to himself, although he was still disguised. He took off his contacts and wig, "It'll be nice not to have to worry about these anymore.. though I'm not sure if I want my antennae dangling out in the open, disguised or not."

"Totally up to you, Poe." Cten replied, Beka hopping up and laying above her on the beanbag. "...so now what do we do?"

"Good question." He sighed, slumping back against the couch arm, "We could always wait around for Zim to bother us, or Dib, whichever comes first."

"Ah the life of a maid and a reject when there's no one else around." she muttered, her finger running over her leg as Beka yawned and curled up.

"Oh, yeah. Thrill a minute." He folded his ankle over his knee and drummed his claws, "I suppose it's better than being a servent or a fugitive, eh?"

"Oh yeah, very much so..." she replied, "No one calling up in the middle of the night for snacks or wanting me to locate his laser..." she paused, "Heck I miss it for some weird reason."

"Heh, it was a job.. Can't say I really miss my former life, but at the very least it wasn't boring."

"I'd say so!" she smirked at him, "But still... we're being like a fugitive. You from Gor, me from Zim..." she sighed. "Don't know how to deal with either of them."

"Yeah." He sighed, "At least the patrollers couldn't track me as well. I don't think Zim's much of a threat at least.. well, so far."

"Wonder what we'd have to put up with if he found out I've given you shelter..." she tilted her head to the side, "Probably a lot of lecturing, and then he probably won't let me see Zib again..." Poe shook his head,

"I wish I knew why he hated me so much. I guess we'll just have to be careful around him."

"He hates you, because he was trained to hate Rejects, that's why." she said, almost in a snappy tone.

"I'd swear he had a personal vendetta against me sometimes, though. I guess the fact I scare Zib doesn't help, not that I'd pick Zim as the protective type.."

"He is, in his own way... but if given half the chance, he'd show Zib he really does care about him. Dunno when one of those chances would crop up, but still."

[To be continued!]