Incororating Life
Epic Five
Written by Cartman's Girl and Invader Poe

~*~

Chapter 3

Meanwhile, back on Planet Irk in the Slums…

Things were going far less smoothly. The Trio was hungry, tired, and frazzled, and the way Zim was shaking, muttering to himself and staring blankly ahead probably was not a good thing. Poe sighed, leaning against a wall and slumping, running his hand through his antennae and getting them out of his face, "I don't get how things could've changed so much, or maybe my memory's just getting bad.."

"Poe we've been wandering around for hours now, and I keep telling you. Ask someone for directions!" Cten folded her arms, while glancing about the destroyed buildings and pretty deserted area. Zim shuddered some more, jumping at every small sound that could be heard. "I mean, what's the harm of asking someone where the building is?"

"You don't understand, you can't just walk up and talk to people around here.. Most are in a gang, antisocial or insane," Poe's eyes wandered over to Zim, thinking they might have one of the latter in their midst, "And would be just as apt to shoot us and steal our paks to sell them for scrap as to help us." He looked up and down the street, and spotted a shoddy, neon sign over one of the buildings, half of the letters faded out as it flickered.

"So what do we do then?" she frowned, glancing back the way they came where a few forms of Irkens could be seen watching them. Poe bristled, glancing over his shoulder at the moving shadows in the distance,

"I suggest we get into that bar," he hissed quietly, pulling on Cten's hand. Zim made no move to follow, just standing there muttering about being an Invader, as the shadows encroached on them.

"Zim, come on unless you want to be a party favor!" Cten hissed back as Poe lead her to the bar. Zim looked back at the forms, and not wanting personal harm on his body, followed quickly still muttering like crazy. Poe lead them into the bar, a bell jangling as they entered. THe place was rife with smoke from various illegal substances, the smell of alchohol permiating the air, while Rejects of all forms sat on the worn-out furniture, most brandishing weapons of some sort. There were also a few scantily clad female Irkens wandering around, either as waitresses or prostitutes, it was hard to tell. Poe scanned the crowd for someone who looked a bit more friendly, which was like trying to pick the nicest crocodile out of a river. Zim glared at a few of the Irkens, baring his teeth trying to be brave as best he could. Which was hard, seeing as how he was the shortest in the room by far. Some male Irkens made wolf whistles at the three, possibly aimed at Cten or Zim - who could tell. A waitress watched them as she handed a drink to one beefy looking Reject, before going back to her work. The beefy Reject puffed on something that resembled a cigarette, before downing his drink not even bothering to take the cigarette out. In a more darkened part of the bar, a figure could barely be seen due to the lack of light but the Irken obviously was someone of high order seeing how the chair it was sat on, was proabably the best in the joint. Poe motioned to his shorter companions to get behind him, while he drew himself up, taking a deep breath. His antennae twitched towards the darkened part of the bar, and he tilted his head, stepping towards it,

"Something about that one is familiar.." The one in the shadows head lifted, then a bug in the room landed on the dimly lit bulb causing it to sway. Light shon down on the Irken, showing the figure. It's eyes were red, with obvious claw marks over the two rendering the Irken blind. This was obvious, for one eye pointed in one direction, the other in another direction. Long, very limp grey antennae hung by it's side and it held what used to be a metal robot's arm, now his walking stick. He tilted his head, one antennae slithering like a snake.

"..Poe?" came the harsh and raspy voice which got the attention of not only Poe, but everyone else in the bar. Poe raised his antennae, then lowered them,

"Vivor." He said simply, without a trace of either compassion or hostility. A few of the members of the bar looked back and forth, looking impressed. Poe glanced back at his, er, charges, "You two stay here, I'm going to see if he knows where the warehouse is." And with that he wandered off towards the old, blind Irken, while Zim looked around the room warily. A tallish Irken in brightly coloured, clashing clothes took notice when Poe abandoned them, and rose out of his seat, striding towards them, pulling something like a cigar out of his needle-like teeth with his knuckles.

"Well, well, what have we here.." He said, appraising them with his dingy yellow eyes. Zim glared at him,

"I, am Irken Invader Zim. And I don't have the time to-" he was silence when Cten slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Zim, his name is Zim. I'm Cten." she didn't especially like the look of this Irken, or the others around him but no use being rude or anything in a place like this. Vivor made a grunting sound as he sensed Poe stand in front of him and smiled slightly.

"I was wonderin, when I'd hear your voice again Poe..." wheezed the old Irken, then gently tapped Poe's boots with his walking stick. "Hmm... you've been places I see." he said. How he could tell this by just tapping Poe's shoes is unknown, always had been able to tell stuff like that.

"Heh, sure you are, kid." The tall Irken lifted up his feathered hat and grinned down at them lecherously, "You two ain't been around here long, I can tell. You can call me Snab," he held out his claws, the hand holding the cigar and getting ash all over the place, and eyed Cten, "Now, what's a pretty thing like you doing in a Reject uniform?" Poe seemed unaware of the situation by the door,

"Yeah," he responded, "And I'd like to go back to them. I need to know if you know anything about an operation to get a Voot Cruiser.. It was organized by some friends of Xyth."

"Ah Xyth... your Mother's a diamond I'll tell you that.." Vivor nodded slowly, then sighed heavily. "The Voot Cruiser you're after, is not far from here. They had to move, for Patrollers were getting too close for comfort." He pointed his greying finger in one direction, "It's that way... you go past the old Nursery and keep going for five minutes. There, you'll see the biggest building in the area. Tell them I sent you, 'n you'll be fine." he closed his eyes, showing the serverity of the slash over his eyes had caused, and not a pretty sight either. Cten looked uncomfortable, but shook his hand either way after releasing Zim - him now quiet.

"Snab.. Uh, I was rejected for reproducing with one..." she said quietly, Zim glaring up at Snab at dare we say, as if he were protecting her?Snab's eyeridges arched at that, and his grin curled into a lecherous smirk, "I see.." He ignored Zim for now, holding Cten's hand and reaching over for her antennae, running it between his knuckles - and needless to say, he had, er, an experienced touch, "Let me guess, mister Tall and Dark over there? Or this mighty Invader?" He snickered. Poe nodded slightly, "Thanks.." He said reluctantly, knowing Vivor usually wanted an exchange for help. Vivor just smiled at Poe, showing how many teeth he had left - not many dare say.

"So, you have anything in exchange for my assistance? Or is this your repayment?" obviously Poe had helped him out long ago, no other reason why Poe would have came to him anyway. Cten gave a surprised gasp, not being able to really control how her body worked - especially in this situation. But she knew this was wrong, and tried to get her hand out of his and talking between gasps,

"P-Poe's he's my.. my mate." she managed to say, Zim now glaring at Snab.

"Release her fiend!" he snapped, pointing at Snab.

"Bah, fine." Snab replaced the cigar in his mouth and let go of Cten, apparently backing off for the moment and letting her stumble away, until he reached over and took *Zim's* antennae instead, smirking, "I can understand how you might be jealous." Poe shook his head slowly.

"Not on my person, no, but if you needed some sort of job or.." He flinched, "A hit.." Poe didn't seem to think he'd get off that easily, despite having done something a while ago, and was afraid to walk away lest he find himself staring at a laser belonging to one of Vivor's goons.

"No no... you helped me, with the Patrollers. I think this is enough of a return on my part." Vivor replied, then one antennae quirked. "Your friends are in a situation with Snab, and I suggest before your mate ends up pregnant to him you do something about it." Zim yelped in shock, and tried to pull away.

"Relase me!! How dare you touch an Invader there!!" he screeched loudly, Cten holding onto her antennae afraid that anyone else was about to 'mollest' her in such a way. Poe blinked and turned, having not heard or seen the commotion through the crowd,

"Oh, great.." He started back through the tables, while Snab just snickered and took a drag off his cigar, twining Zim's antennae around his finger so pulling away only resulted in pain,

"I love it when they resist.." he murmured.

"Yargh!! Don't make me hurt you!!" Zim screamed, trying once again to free his antennae from Snab. Cten glanced at the other Rejects, some who were laughing at the situation.

"Sounds kinky," Snag sniggered, unphased as his other hand took the other antennae, while Poe managed to get through the crowd,

"What's going on here?!" He noticed Cten's state and walked over to her, before blinking at the pimp-looking Irken who was giving Zim a rather sensual antennae-stroking, debating internally about whether to defend the former Invader or not. Zim managed to grab onto Snab's hands and clawed at them with his claws.

"I SAID LET ME GO!!" Cten made a small sound, and already guessed what Poe was thinking, and just said,

"Go help him." quietly. Snab seemed throughly amused, Zim's claws hardly making a dent on his calloused hands, and he picked him up *by* the antenna(ow!),

"Fiesty, I like that." Poe shook his head and strode over to Snab, who was a few inches taller than the goth,

"You heard him, let him go," Poe said firmly.

"What? Don't tell me he's your mate too," Snab snorted, but made no move to set Zim down, despite his thrashings. By now Zim was wailing in pain, but just dug his claws into Snab's claws and hefted his weight up so his antennae wouldn't snap through his weight. Across the room, Vivor narrowed an eye slightly and got to his feet.

"Let him go," Poe growled slightly and stood on his tip-toes to be even with the taller Reject, his protective streak kicking in even if it was just Zim, and Snab glared at the other male,

"You want him, come get him!" Snab lifted the much smaller Irken high over his head, and just out of Poe's reach.

"Snab." Vivor seemed to move quicker then we thought, and was already stood besides Cten showing his height. Well over that of Snab, he possibly had been a noble, if he weren't classified as a Reject. Possibly that was why he had such connections. "Put the insane thing down now, son." his harsh voice said. Snab flinched when he heard Vivor's voice, suddenly becoming very compliant and setting Zim down, backing away and waving his hands,

"Alright, alright, sheesh, I was just havin' some fun." Poe looked down at Zim and raised an eyelid.

"You alright?"

"Ugh... though my antennae are suffering from sevre pain.... no..." Zim whimpered slightly, trying to straighten his antennae out. Vivor made a grunting sound, then tapped Zim in the head with his 'cane'.

"Oh you're all right... you'd have more done to ya in this place."

"Ow." Zim just said when the cane met his head.

"We should go before anything else happens." Poe started towards the door, opening it for Zim and Cten, "Thanks, Vivor." He nodded to the old Reject, "Bye."

"G'bye Poe." Vivor turned to walk back to his seat, Rejects getting out of his way as he did. Poe waited until Zim and Cten were outside, before swiftly decking Snab in the jaw and following them out the door. Back outside, Zim tried to pull his antennae out of the dents they were in. Cten kept rubbing her antennae, looking pretty disgusted and ashamed. Poe scrubbed the blood off of the spikes on his knuckles with his coat,

"So uh, who was that...?" she asked, while looking at the floor. "Vivor.. I knew him when I was a kid. He's fairly important among the local circles, but I distracted some Patrollers once, so he could get away."

"Miserable beasts." Zim muttered, either about Rejects or Patrollers who could tell?

"I see." she said quickly, "So did you find out where it is?" Poe nodded,

"They had to relocate it since Patrollers got wind of it. Good news is, it isn't too far away.." He looked around to get oriented, then started off in the right direction, "If we hurry, we might be able to make it before nightfall.."

"I'd hate to see this place at night..." Cten muttered glancing over her shoulder as she followed Poe. Zim still kept muttering to himself about miserable stinky beasts. So they started off again. Unfortunately, the Nursery was further away than Poe had thought, or maybe he'd been slowed some how, either by being out of practice or having to keep in pace with two much shorter-legged Irkens, who knew. Soon enough, the murky sky was a deep purple, no stars or moons shining through the layer of smog. Poe sighed,

"I guess we'd better find shelter.. It'll still be there in the morning, hopefully."

"Hopefully?!" Zim screeched, not liking the sound of that at all.

"Now come on calm down... we'll be okay if we stick together right?... Right?" Cten nudged Zim in the middle, he grumbled and muttered before saying finally,

"...right."

"A stolen 'Cruiser's a pretty major offence, I'm sure the Patrollers are all over it.." He looked at the sky, "Speaking of which, since I'm suppose to be dead, we'd better not run into any." Poe looked around, "I'd say the alleys were somewhat safer than the buildings, most of the latter are already claimed.." He started down a particular alley that didn't seem to be occupied. Zim followed after him,

"So these groups are everywhere you say?" he asked, narrowing an eyebrow at a questionable looking box of trash. Cten remained out on the street for a split second before following the two - not wanting anything else that was even remotely similar or worse then what happened before.

"Yeah. Gangs. THey're pretty complicated, most of the local gangs are just subsidaries of bigger gangs that usually dominate one 'end' of a city.." Poe explained as he sorted through the trash, with his boot foot, looking for something intently.

"And how big are these groups, mostly?" Zim glanced upwards at the starless sky, trying to figure out if he'll survive this or not.

"Depends. The network can spread across half the city, but they usually run in little cliques." Poe picked up a needle carefully from the trash, scowled at it and tossed it away, "A group of four or five might claim a block, and several of these groups will exist in a given sector of the slums." Next he pulled a dead six-armed, purple, rat-like thing away, examined it for a while, then set it back on the ground in front of them. "They mark their territory with graffiti and also use it to issue challenges and such.. all the gangs hate each other. You can usually tell them by if they're wearing a certain colour or have an initiation scar.. that's supper, by the way." Zim stared at the dead six-armed purple rat wide-eyed while listening to Poe explain it all. He coughs.

"Urhm....." Cten stared blankly at the rat for a while, blinking a few times. "You have GOT to be kidding." Zim said, scowling slightly.

"Hm, fine." Poe motioned to some scritching sounds coming from the corner, where some trash was moving about, "You could always catch a fresh one if you want." He sat down by his find, sawing off a leg of the rat with his claw.

"I think I'll eat nothing tonight." Zim sat down on the ground, holding himself and muttering nastily about years of Academy training waisted to be sat out here with Rejects. Cten sighed, still standing near Zim as she watched Poe prepare dinner.

"I'd eat something if I were you, Zim." Poe bit down on the leg and tore off a hunk, holding it in his teeth as he sliced off a drumstick for Cten, "We haven't been getting much food, much water, much sleep," he glanced up at the smoggy sky, "Hell, even less air than we were on Earth." He pulled the leg out of his mouth, ripping off most of the meat as he did, chewing, "Your body'll give out on you before you know it."

"I don't eat meat." Zim muttered more to himself, not particularly proud of his vegitarianism - which he hoped would have kept quiet all throughout his life. Cten cautiously took the drumstick from Poe and looked at it. Meat wasn't her big fantasy either, what with Poe always asking her to consider putting BBQ sauce on her from time to time.

"If we stay out here much longer, you will." He swallowed and cracked the bone between his fangs, "Trust me. There might be a dead body in the next alley we have to sleep in, afterall, better to eat rat for a night than have to become a cannibal."  Zim turned his back to Poe, glaring out at the street and will keep his silence for the rest of the night. Cten took a very tentive bite of the drumstick, but pulled it away to look downright disgusted by the taste of fur, blood and meat mixed together. Poe smirked to himself,

"Suit yourself, but trust me, Irken meat is stringy.." He worried at the bone in his mouth and glanced over at Cten, "Maybe they'll have food reserves on the Cruiser.. Maybe not." Cten now just stared at Poe blankly for the first comment he said, the blankness looking to shock slowly. She sat down, note not so close to Poe and just tries to eat the drumstick without being sick. Poe blinked over at Cten and chuckled to himself. He poked her side, leaning over and whispering,

"I was kidding." She made a 'hmm' sound, probably cause her mouth was full or because all of this was now weighing down on her head. Hey, being calm and collected for so long is hard in a situation like this. Poe leaned back into an upright position and sighed. He seemed calm enough, this was his homeland afterall,

"I think I'm going to kiss the first patch of Earth soil I see when we land.." A snoring sound came from Zim, as he still sat crunched up. Cten glanced at him, then handed Poe the bone that was left of the drumstick.

"Here." she just said. Poe sighed and took it, gnawing on the joint end.

"I hate to sound like a pessimist, but there's always the chance the Cruiser might not even work."

"Thanks for destorying my last fleeting glint of hope in my head." Cten muttered, sounding rather nasty now, before laying down and holding herself. Poe flinched slightly and sighed, leaning against the wall he was nearest to.

"We should have known as soon as we were tossed in those Patroller cars that there was a good chance we'd never see home again." He set his head back against the wall, "I'd say we've been pretty lucky so far."

"I'm trying my best to keep telling myself I'll see Enid again and Beka. I know how slim it is we'll get home again at all and this could be the way I end up living the rest of my life okay? I'm not brainless." came her responce, still turned away from him and trying to keep herself warm, "But I'll keep thinking what I think, you do whatever you want. You're the one who's most at home here."

"Fine." He stood up suddenly and started walking out of the alley.

"Fine." she said quietly and shut her eyes, holding her hands up and over them. Poe threw his coat at her before he disappeared, probably off to find something else to eat or to clear his head, who knew. Zim made another snorting sound. She winced as the coat hit her, but still made no move to take it and just rolled over onto her other side.

"I knew he'd abandon us the first chance he got!" Zim muttered to himself.. so much for silence.

"Let him do whatever he wants." Cten muttered from her place on the floor, sounding more and more un-Cten like each time she spoke tonight, isn't she? A look of panic suddenly struck Zim's face, and he scrunched up onto himself,

"Maybe we should make a break for it, he might eat us when he gets back.."

"Or maybe some group will find us and do it before he does." she muttered.

"Well then--" Zim started, then sighed, realizing there wasn't anything they could do. He groaned and held his forehead,

"Compared to this, I miss Dib.." he mumbled to himself. Cten sat up now, sighing.

"Miserable planet full of Reject scum." she hissed. Zim blinked at her blankly, thinking those would be the last words he'd ever hear from her, then shook his head,

"I agree with you fully! Maybe we should find that stupid Voot Cruiser on our own and leave him behind!" She shrugged slightly,

"We don't even know the way Zim, so how could we? If we leave, we'd get eaten from a group. Stay here, we'd possibly be raped then eaten or left to die. So we're Reject food whatever we do."

"Bah!" Zim scrunched his face up and scooted back against the wall, "He caught me off guard," he muttered in embaressment. And speak of the devil, voices started to drift into their lonely alley, a familiar male voice and a distruntled female one.

"I made you what you are today!"

"..I'm a whore, Snab!"

"So?" Cten and Zim's antennae both perked at the same time, then they glanced at each other. Cten mouthed "Don't move." to Zim, so they just kept really quite right now, couldn't help but listen in on the conversation going on. Shadows started to play on the wall opposite of the alley, and sure enough, there was the Pimp, dragging behind him a female about his height, who wasn't dressed in much but a lot of makeup, and smelled rather foul from a combonation of disgusting things. She was grumbling and trying to yank away from Snab, who promptly slapped her across the cheek,

"I ain't had a good day, so you behave!" He snarled.  Zim scooted into the wall, moving to the side. Cten looked down right disgusted at this, slowly moving aside and hoping neither of the two would see her or Zim for that matter.

"Lovely time to take a walk Poe..." she thought to herself.

"So how much of my stash did you steal?" Snab accused, bringing the whore to face him,

"Enough." She snickered and huffed smoke into his face, and he clenched his fists, tossing her away roughly,

"You'd better earn it back before I grind up your antennae and smoke that instead!" The female muttered and rubbed her shoulder, stalking off. Snab stood in distgruntedlness for a while, before he tilted his head, taking off his hat and perking his antennae.

"Hmm.." and he started towards the alley. Zim was by now, out of sight hidden behind some garbage bags. Cten was now holding her breath, and onto her antennae as the shadow of Snab loomed closer as he made his way into the alley and kept walking. Laid before him was what was left of the rat thing, a few legs missing and such. Snab adjusted his suit shirt and looked down at the eaten rat. He snorted and picked it up, tossing it away,

"Nice to see your mate's feeding you well," he said sarcastically, turning to look at Cten. She just stared at him blankly, then shifted slightly.

"It's all we can have..." she said quietly.

"Hangin' out with that trash eater, yeah." He grinned charmingly and leaned forward on his cane, "Now, if you knew someone of class, with a wealthy career, like me.. I eat gourmet every night!" He snickered.

"I'm sure." she muttered, trying not to show her fear at how close he was now.

"Hey, I'm feeling gentleIrkly tonight." He swung his cane around, "How 'bout I take you out someplace to eat a proper meal?"

"No thank you."

"Why not? You like eating carrion?"


"I'm fine, thank you."

"I think you been hanging out with that low-life too long." He reached down and took her hand, somewhat forcefully, "You don't even want to accept help!"

"Let me go." she snarled, today not being a good day she yanked at her hand - trying to free it.

"Maybe I should show you what a real Irken is like..." He glared down at her, his tone suddenly changing dramatically as he hissed through his teeth, surprisingly strong as he yanked her to her feet. She couldn't help but be scared how, and tried to get his hand off of hers. From what he did before, she had good idea what he had in mind now. While all this was happening, Zim has been watching these events. Despite the fact he wants to help her, he knows he can't manage it. He frowns, then gets to his feet and hurries out of the alley way, trying to find Poe.

"Hey, what the-" Snab turned as Zim scurried by, but assumed he was running off in fear. Snab grinned wickedly down at her and grabbed one of her antennae roughly, "Looks like it's just you and me now.." And with that, pressed her up against the brick wall. Her free hand grabbed at his hand, clawing at it as she was pushed against the wall. Now she was panicing. Snab growled and let go of her antennae, grabbing the clawing hand tightly and squeezing it, slamming it back against the brick wall,

"You females just can't behave, can you?!" He snarled in her face with his acrid, smoke-filled breath, one of his pod-legs unfurling, "Maybe you like being punished?" The pod leg loomed forward, catching on the open collar of her tank top and ripping downward. Now since it's best we try to keep this story as PG as we can, we pan away to where Zim is. He looks paniced as anything, rushing along the streets stopping to look down each alley way as he did - hoping to see the Reject. He turned a sharp corner, and collided with an Irken who, luckily enough was Poe. Zim yelped as he hit the ground, looking upwards to see Poe's black eyes staring down at him.

"POE!" Zim screeched, quickly getting to his feet. "Poe you have to come quickly there's that jerk Snacb and he's got Cten and and you got to come QUICK!" he gripped at Poe's collar while he spoke a hundred words per second.

"What?!" Poe looked up from his brooding over at Zim, and snarled to himself, getting to his feet and taking off, leaving Zim behind. His long legs carried him pretty quickly, and he turned the corner into the alley. Snab being far too - preoccupied - to notice, suddenly felt a weight come down on his back, claws wrapping around his thin throat as he was suddenly yanked bodily off of Cten. Cten fell to the ground, now crying and she pulls her shaking hands over herself, as if trying to fix her grey tanktop as well as her pants from being ripped and pretty much destoryed. Zim arrives, finally around the corner and hurries over to Cten and took her hand. She yelped as he touched her, but he managed to move her away from the now feuding Irken Rejects. Snab started to sit up from his place on the wall, his pants around his ankles, but he went down again when Poe kicked him in the jaw, hard. He tried to kick the Pimp again, when Snab snarled and caught his foot, and pretty soon the two pointy-toothed Irkens were embroiled in a rather fierce, bloody fight, more like a pair of wild animals than anything Irken. Zim lead Cten to the other end of the alley way, and his eyes glistened as he saw it. The building they had been after for so long, was right on the other end of the alley way. He turned his head back to the brawl, but knew he had to get Cten to safety in this kind of situation. The small used-to be Invader lead her across the street to the building, the two vanishing inside quickly. If there was fur, it'd be flying; both Irkens were fairly evenly matched in experience and size, but Poe was so enraged he probably was twice as dangerous as he usually was. He finally grabbed hold of Snab's antennae, yanked his head back, and ripped out his throat with his teeth, a strangled, gurgling scream probably being heard by Cten and Zib, but it was impossible to tell who it was.

"...oh Slark..." Zim muttered to himself as he heard the scream ring out which was quickly silenced. Cten was still quite upset, wiping her eyes as best she could barely hear the sound and even if she could, it'd make her worse. A shadow soon fell across the room they were in as an Irken entered, breathing hard, hard to tell who it was in the light, just like a cheesy horror movie. Zim frowned, standing up in front of Cten and raising his fists in an attempt to be brave now.

"W-who are you?!" Poe stepped into the dim light that was filtering through one of the half-boarded up windows, panting raggedly and looking rather wild-eyed, blood covering his mouth, hands, and multiple other places, impossible to tell if he was hurt or what. He dropped to his knees and leaned over, the adrenaline high making him shake and cough, hacking up blood onto the floor.

"....oh." Zim lowered his fists, looking from Poe to Cten. He looked pretty distressed at what to do, then opened his pak and began handing Poe some bandage-like things. Poe lifted his head and snarled at Zim ferally, the look in his eyes telling him something wasn't quite at home. Zim pulled back, frowning and putting the things away.

"Fine." he snuffed. Cten, who had managed to get Poe's jacket before leaving the alley way had it over herself as she laid against the wall, eyes shut. Poe turned towards Cten and stood up, stalking towards her, with who knows what intentions. She opened her eyes, looking up at him. The way he looked, did not look good at all. She cowered now, covering her eyes with his jacket, starting to cry again. He sat down beside her when he reached her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tighly and closing his eyes, looking suddenly rather exhausted. Cten kept the jacket over her eyes, couldn't help but lean into him as she sobbed. Zim stood off to the side, glancing around seeing the Irkens stood around. Poe set his chin on top of her head, though it was probably slimey and stank of blood. He curled up around her somewhat, practically asleep already. Zim shrugged, then looked to an Irken stood besides him.

"I... think we'll wait a while until we see if that thing works. Yes." Poe cracked his eyes open, looking over at Zim,

"Who.. are you.. talking to?" he rasped.

"Him." Zim pointed to the Irken stood besides him.

"Uhm... yeah we... we've been looking after the Voot Cruiser since Vivor told us to..." said the rather lanky Irken. Poe's eyelid just twitched, not seeming to really comprehend, he closed his eyes again and fell asleep. Soon, morning came. Sunlight managed to pour into the building, the messy Poe still asleep besides Cten, still wrapped in his jacket. The other Irkens still stood around the guarded Voot Cruiser. Zim had fallen asleep in a cardboard box. Poe was rather soundly asleep, holding Cten in a death grip, and with the amount of blood on him and the nearby floor it might make one wonder if he was dead. Cten made a small sound, then her eyes slowly opened. She didn't seem to matter at all she had blood leaked on her, but she managed to free a bare arm, and stroaked Poe's cheek gently. Poe didn't move or react; well, he always never had been a morning person. She shut her eyes and leant her head against him again, while looking over at Zim, still snoozing. Zim slowly awoke when sunlight hit him through the window, yawning loudly and stretching out his short arms and legs. He blinked his eyes open blearily, and got up, rubbing his back and cracking out his spine; curling up in a box wasn't very good, ergonomically speaking. He looked back at Cten, wincing when he saw Poe, who looked a great deal worse now that there was light; one of his antennae was a few inches shorter, he had scratches on his face and a nasty bite mark on his arm, and that was just what was visible. She smiled slightly as Zim stood up, and wave him a small wave.

"Morning… Zim…" she said quietly. He wandered over to her, drumming his fingers together,

"Are you, er, alright?"

"I don't know... I'm kinda numb." she replied, but still had a small smile on her face.

"That's.. uh.. good, I think." He glanced over at Poe and poked him in the head, still no response. "Is he alive?" He snorted, looking slightly grossed out.

"Yeah... he's breathing." she said, "Luckily." she glanced at Poe, then looked at Zim. "Thanks Zim, for last night I mean.."

"Nonsense, it was my duty as an.." He remembered something and glanced down at his shirt, "Eh.. well.. you know."

"...my friend?" she nuzzled against Poe, her antennae curling. "I know…"

"It's against protocol to.. oh, wait." He tilted his head slightly, "I don't have to obey protocol any more, do I?" This seemed like a revelation to him.

"No." she replied simply.

"Then.. yes, I suppose friend works." He folded his arms behind his back, grinning slightly. Poe started to stir, letting out a low, pained groan. She grinned back at him before Poe started to awaken, she looked at him and stroked his cheeck which was pain and boo-boo free. Poe opened his eyes open a sliver, looking rather pained. He was breathing, alright, but it was somewhat laboured and uneven. He looked down at Cten, guilt mixing in with the pain,

"Cten.. I'm.. sorry.. I should have.. been there.."

"Shhh... it's all right..." she put her other hand to the other side of his face, "You're still here, I'm still here, Zim's here and we found the Voot Cruiser... we'll be all right."

"But.." Poe looked over, seeing the ship in the dim light. "Damn.. I should've just gone in here to begin with.. ow." He started to sit up, wincing and holding his side.

"Oh be careful.." she managed to help him up, though he couldn't stand straight due to pains in his joints, and loss of blood. Zim was already in the Voot Cruiser, seeing if it was working or not. Poe stumbled to his feet, leaning against her heavily as she lead him towards the cruiser,

"I'm fine.. I've had worse.." he wheezed, "I didn't know he had such sharp teeth though.." Zim gave a great cheer as the Voot Cruiser sprung to life, lights flashing on.

"It works! It works!!" he screeched happily, not able to contain the joy. Heck after what the groups been through, how could he not?

"Great Zim!" Cten smiled, helping Poe into the cruiser. Poe looked around at the lights, grinning slightly and being sat down. It was somewhat cramped in the cruiser, but hey, it was worth it.

"Now, let's just hope we can find the way back to Earth.."

"I found it once before, I can find it again!" Zim declared, sitting down in front of Poe as Cten entered the Voot Cruiser. Poe leaned against Cten, all three of them probably having seen better days. A door started to open in the side of the building, obviously having been a garage at one point. In a split second, the Voot Cruiser soared off into the sky and as Zim hit the 'quick speed', it was gone in a flash of light back towards the planet now six months away, Earth.

[To be continued]