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

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Chapter Seven

At the base, out from the shadows steps Gor, and no more is he disguised either, nope-nope. He marches across the street, up past the fence and gate, and up to the door. He then knocks three times, very loudly at that. Poe blinked in surprise, having drifted asleep again.

"Cten?" Who else could it be? He opened the door, looking around in slight confusion, then looked down, and went pale… well, paler. Gor looked up at Poe, then smiled at him in his usual evil demenor.

"Well, glad to see you too, Slave…" he said almost gently. Poe bristled, his fear being replaced by anger as he remembered what Gor did, and he narrowed his eyes, lip twitching,

"I'm not your slave anymore, Gor." Gor stared back at him, a hint of smug across his metalic features as he crossed his arms, in his hand, not his regular bull-whip anymore, but one similar and with spites jutting out of it.

"Freedom, I see, has given you a sense of false independancy." his eyecams narrowed, flashing red. "It must come to an end, you do realise."

"My freedom isn't the thing that's going to be ending," Poe growled, baring his teeth, his anger giving him a new sense of confidence, "It's just as well you came here. I was going to hunt you down and make you pay for what you did to Cten's base!"

"Oh, she survived did she? Hm, I didn't plan on that…" Gor put a hand to his chin, "That does confuse things… and pardon, but I must have lint in my hearing system but did you say you were going to hunt me down? Oh ho, Slave, you amuse me so. I don't know why I let you run off in the first place…" before Poe could say anything in defence, the robot pushed past him into the house, glancing at the surroundings.

"Hrm, freedom hasn't changed your taste."

"Wah-hey!" Poe stumbled as he was pushed aside, the robot being a good deal stronger than him afterall, but quickly moved to try and block him again, trying to make himself appear intimidating,

"Get OUT! You're not doing anything to our base again!"

"Oh I'm through with base destruction, Slave." Gor replied simply. "Right now I'm into personal destruction, and I must say, it does seem more me then vandilism."

"Personal desctuction?" Poe growled lowly, raising his fist, "If you so much as lay a claw on her…" Gor just smiles at Poe, before his feet egnite and he hovers in the air, above Poe.

"Oh I'll lay more then just my claws on her, as well as you, Slave." he sadly shook his head while holding his whip in his hands, "I had so many hopes that you'd do as you're told… obviously I have to tighten the choke chain." Poe was only getting angrier, easily manipulated by the robot's cool-headedness, and reached up, sliding his claws beneath his spike collar and ripping it off, flinging it at Gor in hopes one of the spikes would impale him. Gor very easily grabbed the collar in his hands, looked at it then down at Poe.

"Oh Slave… that hurt so much… do you know how much this collar cost?" obviously by the tone of his voice it hadn't, but he seemed to very much enjoy pushing Poe's buttons. At this moment, Cten was arriving home but stopped and was listening outside the door, hearing Gor's voice her eyes widened somewhat.

"What about Cten's base?! You destroyed all her hard work, just because you're a deficiant SIR unit!" He paused, then sneered, "You're worse than Gir."

"You dare to compare me to that brainless hunk of junk!?" Gor's eyes flashed black then red again, and he threw the collar away. "You should watch your tongue Slave before you find it ripped off and fed to a pig!"

"I dare alright!" Poe smirked toothily as he managed to push a few of Gor's buttons as well, "You're not even as intelligent as the humans!"

"My intelligence is FAR superior to all the wrotten animals and humans living on this vile pile of dirt!" Gor whipped his whip around behind him, "Now are you going to apologise or am I to teach you a lesson or two?" Poe glared at him dangerously, narrowing his eyes until they were black slits,

"Never." And with that, he spit at Gor's eyecam. Gor snarled and wiped at the spit in his eyecams, but not enough to get them out of his view.

"VERY WELL!" he screamed, and now pay attention, this happens very quickly.

Gor whips the whip around, and it's about unleash the very sharp and dangerous metal spikes to Poe - who know has his eyes shut preparing for the blow, when the door slams open. Cten - as we know has been listening in rushes in and just as the spikes come ripping down to cause damage to Poe - Cten actually blocks them with her own back as she pushes him away. This prooves fatal, as the spikes are stronger then they seem. They rip through her pak, sending metalic shards through the air, and through her body, possibly even through her pak so you can imagine the mess and mix of Irken petrol and her blood. Gor hovers back and wipes the spit finally from his eyes, and sees what he's done.

"…damn, missed." Poe had closed his eyes and prepared to recieve the blow, as mentioned before hand, when he felt her run into him.

"Wha- CTEN!" He yelped and held onto her shoulders, glancing over and wincing at the damage, "Oh Tallest… Cten?" He shook her, quickly getting ill and forgetting about Gor for the moment. Cten couldn't help but put her weight onto him now, her eyes slowly closing.

"Told you…" she said quietly as her antennae lowered, some of her blood trickling at the corner of her mouth. "I told you… you were…" her eyes shut, "…my best friend…" with that she went quiet. Poe stared at her in disbelief, before closing his eyes and hugging her shoulders tightly. Gor held up his whip while this was happening, observing the blood and petrol on his whip.

"And this was brand new…" he muttered.

Gor's voice snapped him out of it, and he looked up, setting Cten down gently, if not mechanically. Poe stared at Gor silently, before lowering his head, narrowed eyes still focused on Gor. He had a different aura now; gone was the immature rage he had before, replaced by cool, tightly controlled hatred in his black eyes that was probably disturbing, even to the robot. He strode forward toward Gor, his coat swaying behind him, claws clenching into fists.

Gor looked down at Poe, looking slightly surprised but then the surprised look overcome with pure malice and glee at the sight. He lowered himself so at least now, he was face to face with Poe. His eyecams narrowed, the evil burning behind them probably just as powerful as the aura Poe had, and it seemed this had been the moment he had been waiting for all this time. Not to get Poe back to be his Slave, but to at least get some entertainment from the Irken before he ends his life.

There was a whirring, creaking sound as Poe's primarily dormat pak came to life, the first black segment of the wicked legs unfolding, unfurling outwards until they arched over his head. Poe usually wasn't strong enough to balance or hold them up, but his anger gave him slightly superhu-well, Irken strength. There was a chance Gor'd never even seen Poe's weaponized legs, as the last time he used them in front of someone was on Irk.

The robot's eyes watched as the legs unfold, yes he had never seen them, but was that an impressed look on his face? Still, Gor didn't budge from his place. Either the evil streak in him was too powerful to be over shadowed by fear or any other kind of feeling in his body, either way, he just stood glaring at Poe. Could it be Gor had a transformation himself, but had never shown it either? We shall see.

Poe's lip twitched into a slight snarl, and the lasers on the tips of the legs alighted with a snap, crackling and sending a few sparks off. Poe reared back suddenly and one of the legs shot forward, like a knife on pnunamic spring. Gor had the advantage of being a robot specialized to observe and react to changes in the environment quickly, but Poe had a temper inherited from a War General.

Poe had the advantage, he had taken Gor by surprise. The robot managed to swerve, but one of the legs ripped through Gor's left hand, ripping the arm clear off and sending sparks shooting from the stub, a few wires sticking out. Gor seemed to ignore this as his head opened up and his own weapons creaked out. Think of the lasers Gir has hidden in his, made more awful and disturbing times ten. In defence, he shot a few blasts at the legs.

Poe managed to dodge, jumping towards the door. He didn't want Gor to hurt Cten's prone form any more than he already had- heck, he thought she was dead, but still. The two legs at the bottom of the pod unfolded as well, stabbing into the ground outside the door and lifting him off the ground. The thought that someone might see him didn't even enter his mind as he tried to draw Gor outside, teeth bared.

Gor landed on the ground, his guns flaring as they were preparing for another attack, seeing Poe backing away gave him the idea he was already winning. He bared his own teeth and snarled at Poe, moving forward. Behind him, Beka, who throughout this time had been trying to re-trace Cten's lost data from the previous base downstairs - entered. She looks very shocked at this, but then sees her Mistress' form on the ground. With Gor's back to her, she manages to grab Cten by the arms and haul her out of the room. Gor let another blast shoot towards Poe, this time connecting with one of his legs.

"Grah!" Poe recoiled as the laser hit the joint of the left arched leg, melting it slightly and rendering it immobile from the second joint down, the laser tip fizzing off. Poe charged forward and swung the undamaged leg at Gor's lasers, the white sparks at that end pluming into a small inferno.

Some of Gor's lasers were destoryed, but he managed to withdraw them back into his head, probably they're either fixing themselves, or he's now without them. He shifted from one foot to the other, sparks still flying from what was left of his arm, probably waiting for Poe to make the next move, he just stood there glaring at the Irken.

As soon as that leg had swung through its full arc, he swung it in the other direction; while the blade was only sharp on one side, the shower of sparks at the tip was still dangerous. Gor turned his head just in time to see the blade flying at him, but couldn't react quickly enough and the blade sliced clean through his antennae, ripping it off. The robot screeched a metalic cry, his remaining hand flying to his head. His legs collasped under him, he tried to support hmiself with his hand, but no good. Pretty soon Gor was collapsed on the ground, still awake, but still collapsed.

"...good to see-I-taught you well... Poe..." his voice was rather static-esque, speeding up and going high, as if he had been pumped with helium. Poe twitched slightly; the technique he'd just used was one Gor had often employed with his whips. He looked slightly surprised to see Gor address him by name, but his face soon returned to the same stoic, determined hatred, looking down at the small robot.

"So I learned that from you," he seethed, before raising his non-damaged leg high, sparks flying over his head, "But I learned this on the street. Eye for an eye, tooth for tooth.." He brought the leg down, aimed toward Gor's back, "..life for a life."

"Makes sense...." Gor couldn't see the leg, but he knew it was there either way, and coming closer. "Later Poe... getalonglittledoggie."

Poe didn't hear the robot's ramblings. There was a screech of metal against metal as his leg went through Gor's back and out his front, pinning him to the ground and slicing through his main circuitry, the laser tip turning parts to slag. Then Poe lifted his leg back up, Gor's body still pierced against it, but only for a second. It slided off, and clanked onto the ground, pieces falling from Gor's body. Chips, wires, circuits and other robot parts.

Poe slowly re-folded his legs, aside from the one that was welded in place. What he'd done suddenly registered as his dangerous mood faded, and he looked around quickly, to make sure there were no witnesses. Luckily, being the middle of the day most people were at work, or skool. The overdose of adrenaline started to make him feel ill and weak in the knees, and he stumbled back into the house, jumping around Gor's fallen hull, afraid it might come back to life any moment.

As he re-entered the base, he saw the mess still inside, bits of Cten's I.D Pak still lay on the ground, caked in petrol as well as her own blood, and then it shown, on the marks that Cten had been dragged out of the room. Poe's unsettled stomach wasn't helped by the site, and he shuddered, looking around.

"Beka?" He doubted that even if Cten was alive she could've dragged herself out of the room, and he started to follow the smears on the carpet. He entered the kitchen, where a cupboard was open. The smear lead its way into the cupboard, which was obviously an elevator into the base below. Poe entered the elevator, and saw the button which Beka must have hit, since it was a bit messy. Cringing, he pressed the button, and the elevator made it's way to the room hidden under the ground, further down then the other rooms in the base. As he entered, the room was mostly dark, with a few lights on. Poe squinted to make something out in the dark, leaning against the wall to support himself. He was still shakey, and surprised he hadn't been hurt, though the same couldn't be said for his spider-leg.

"Hello?"

"Sir Poe?" Beka's voice could be heard from the darkness, and it seemed a light source re-aranged itself so it shon down near her, and she walked into the light. "Sir Poe, are you all right?"

"I'll be fine…" He murmured in a dazed tone, just now noticing his welded limb as it banged on the elevator door frame. "Well, except for that…" He ducked down and wandered over to where the light was shining on the SIR.

"The fixer bot can easily fix that for you, Sir Poe." the robot replied as he approached her.

"Fixer bot…?" He looked slightly confused, his mental state not the most coherent at the moment. He looked around again, "Where's Cten?"

"Ma'am is… just…" she pointed into the darkness. "A few of the robots are checking her I.D Pak for damage, to see if it… if it's still functioning."

"If? You mean, she might be alive?" His antennae perked, hope sparking in his eyes.

"It all depends, Sir Poe." she replied, "Her body has shut down… b-but if they can repair her I.D Pak in time then she can live." the little robot glanced sadly into the darkness, "Those machines better work darn well." Poe nodded slightly, sitting down slowly where he sat and resting his jawline on his palms, staring into the darkness,

"I can't believe she did that for me…"

"What did she do, Sir Poe?" Beka sat down on the ground besides him. Her mistress out of commission, she felt taking orders from anyone else would seem wrong, she'd just talk with Poe until she felt like… cleaning that mess above.

"Gor had this whip with spikes woven into it. I thought if maybe he got me with it, he'd be satisfied and leave us alone, but she jumped in front of me just as soon as he brought the whip down…" Beka's eyecams widened in shock, then she reeled back, clutching herself.

"Oooo, that's… ow!" Poe blinked,

"Beka?" Beka's antennae blinked slightly, then stood up.

"The machines are done checking her!" He looked up eagerly, glancing into the darkness,

"What's their, um, analysis?" Beka frowned as her antennae blinked a few more times,

"They say… they can fix the ID Pak… but they'll need help from another one of their own kind…" she looked at him, "Meaning, Mr. Zim may have to aid us in saving Ma'am, before her body is out of commission for too long, and even if her I.D Pak is fixed, it'd mean nothing!" Poe nodded quickly and jumped to his feet.

"I'll go get him, whether he likes it or not." He ran into the elevator and quickly pushed the buttons to take himself to the house level. He ran through the living room, activating his disguise as he shot out the door, looking around and trying to remember the way to Zim's base. He managed, and soon enough, he was at Zim's door, panting and leaning on his knees. He took a deep, pained breath and pounded on Zim's door loudly. The door slowly opened by Gir, who looked up at Poe blankly through his Puppy disguise.

"Meow?" he hadn't seen Poe in this disguise yet, it was still the 'adult' one, Poe had failed to realise. Poe looked around and deactivated his disguise for a moment,

"It's me, Gir. Cten needs your master's help, NOW. It's urgent."

"Oooooo..." the robot toddled off into the base, soon returning dragging Zim, who was still clutching Zib - luckily still fast asleep - in his arms.

"Gir! What's the meaning of this?! Let me go N-" Zim stopped protesting as he saw Poe stood in the door way, his eyes widening somewhat. "You?! What are you doing here?!" Poe glared at Zim and shook his head, getting straight to the point

"Cten is going to die without the help of your fixer-machines." Zim blinked a few times, Zib began to move in his arms and make little whiney sounds, Zim halted this by sticking his finger into Zib's mouth.

"You aren't saying this just to get me out of my base now, are you Reject?" Gir had already left the room quickly, after dragging Zim in.

"No! Just look at my boots if you don't believe me!" The toes of his boots were caked in Irken blood and petrol from an ID pod. Zim looked down at them, and he backed away. Either he was actually afraid that Poe had done it to Cten, if it really was her blood, or he had allowed germs into his base, any possibility, Zim looked freaked.

"Gah! Uhm, uh… er…" He turned his head to where the robot had been. "Gir! Get-" he was cut off as Gir zipped back into the room, holding what looked like a lunch-box, but it actually was the contracted version of the Fixer-Machines, handy dandy traveling case.

"Here!"

"…thank you, Gir." Zim took the device from Gir and handed it to Poe. "Here! Take it," he then leaned off screen and pulled his wig onto place, and his contacts over his eyes. "But I'm coming to check this out for myself." Poe yanked the box away and tucked it under his arm,

"Fine. Follow me," He reactivated his disguise, took a deep breath and started running in the direction of the base, forgetting that with his longer legs he'd quickly outpace Zim. Zim pulled the blanket over Zib's head and hurried out after him, Gir trailing behind them. Yup, Poe out-ran Zim, but eventually the group arrived, once inside the new base Zim stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the mess on the ground, his jaw opened in shock for a moment, before hurrying after Poe.

"Reject! What on Irk happened here?!" Poe had managed to wait for Zim, with Zib, to enter the elevator.

"I'll explain later," He muttered, entering the elevator, "Just get inside, there's not much time." He jammed the button again, leading them down into deepest, dark room. Zim was about to snap back with something witty in his Zimmy way of his, but decided it wasn't the best time or place to say something that might anger the Reject, Reject yes, but taller and probably more stronger then him. Not to mention the Reject was still pumped on adrenaline. He leaned against the back wall of the elevator, trying to catch his breath, having not run like that in a while. Eventually the elevator door opened in the dark room, Beka stood waiting by a large door which was now lit by the lights in the room. Poe stumbled forwar and handed the box to Beka before slumping to his knees, sitting back against the wall of the lab.

"Oh thank you Sir Poe and Sir Zim!" Beka hurried out the room, the big door slamming shut behind her. Zim still looked very confused as he stood there, and looked at Poe blankly. Zib was now awake, but since he couldn't see where he was, he just made tiny noises now and again.

"…now… are you going to tell Zim what happened here?" Poe deactivated his disguise and ran his claws through his antennae,

"Gor… Gor was what burnt down Cten's old base," he wheezed, "He came here while she was out with you, and Gor was about to strike me with some spiked whip thing… when she came in and took the blow for me." Zim stared at Poe for a while, before taking a seat on the other side of the room, sat against the wall.

"She… huh…" Zim wasn't sure how to say this without sounding like a sap, despite the fact he still held a baby in his arms. "I guess… she really cared about you then. I guess."

"I would've stopped her if I could, but it happened in a matter of seconds…" He sat his forehead against his hands. In the back of his mind, he was relieved that Zim didn't wonder what he'd been doing in Cten's base, or why Gor had targetted her in the first place.

"She was, uh, is a fine soilder, Reject." Zim held his head up, closing his eyes. "She went out defending someone, a Reject yes, but someone who meaned a lot to her." he opened his eyes and smirked, "Must have since you've been living together since she got that old base, er, when it was new."

"Wha? How'd you know?" Poe blinked slightly, lifting his head.

"Reject, you have a smell about you and I've smelt that more on Cten then before she had that old base." Zim pulled his wig off, "An Invader I am, but I have no reason to annoy Cten with what she does, or who she does in her spare time." he threw it to the ground, pulling his lenses out. Poe flushed slightly, but was too strung out to get too embaressed. He just nodded slightly, hanging his head wearily,

"Yeah… She offered to let me move in with her a while ago… to get away from Gor." Zim just nodded in responce slowly.

"Ah, Gor… Cten told me about him a while ago… evil… stink beast of a robot."

"Even if most wouldn't consider me a 'true' member of the species?" He shook his head slightly, "I wasn't totally unscathed though," He mumbled, glancing at his slightly twisted, stuck leg, something his disguise hologram had made invisible, "I'll worry about that later."

"Reject or not, you are an Irken… still." Zim held Zib closer, since he had began to shiver since the room wasn't exactly warm, being all metal made it very cold.

"Really. You seemed to think differently when we first met," Poe snickered slightly, looking over at Zib, "I think that kid's made you soft."

"Soft?! Me? Never!" Zim snorted back, still cradling Zib in his arms, who was beginning to 'weh' slightly. "It's the situation that has to have the propper way of reacting and speaking! If this were anything else… hoo I'd be insulting you so much your head would spin!" Poe just kept snickering quietly,

"If you say so, Zim." He sat up, glancing at the door, going from snickering to worrying, "I wonder how she's doing…" The two went quiet, looking at the door. A few 'whirring' sounds could be heard, and other sounds which sounded like it belonged in a metal works classroom then behind a closed door. Zaps, and shots of light came from beneath the door, Zim shuddered and scooted away from the door.

"Well let's hope it all works."

"Yeah…" Poe drew his knees up and rested his head on them, muttering to himself about how he should have found Gor first or lead him away from the base to begin with or whatnot.

Time ticked by, Zib cried a few times but that was just gas, luckily. Minutes turned into hours, as they usually do. A few hours passed, when finally the noises from inside died down. Poe drifted in and out of sleep, but mostly stayed as he was. Zim was already fast asleep, drool lingering at the corner of his mouth. Zib was still curled up in his Mom's arms, looking very similar and the same drool lingering out of his mouth. The door then slowly opened and Beka walked out. Poe looked up when the door opened,

"How is she?" Beka walked past Zim and Zib, allowing sleeping Irkens/Clones to sleep and took Poe by the hand, smiling.

"She wants to see you!" Poe stood up immediately and followed Beka, practically ending up dragging her along,

"Cten?!"

[To be continued]