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

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Chapter 6

Three to four months later…

Zib had become increasingly protective and mushy around Enid, and the two had managed to keep their dirty deed a secret for a while; that is, until Enid started getting morning sickness. Beka'd nearly busted a circuit at them, but had let them live, so far. Gir, meanwhile, had become increasingly distant; he'd taken to sitting out in the lawn and staring up at the sky, almost like he was waiting for something; like a dog waiting for his master to return home. One night he was doing this, staring up at the stars, and slowly started wagging his tail when one of the stars in the sky started moving, getting larger. The star began shining brightly as it came closer, and closer. The light seemed to ligthen up the entire neighbourhood, then the sound of it was heard. A soft sound of an engine...

"Yay! Master!" Gir got up and started dancing on the lawn. Zib, meanwhile, was in the kitchen, probably making a feeble attempt to cook a meal for Enid before she ate the neighbors… pregnancy cravings for someone who had a carnivorous heritage could be dangerous, then he heard the noise.

"What the…" He looked out the window at the sky. Up in the Cruiser, Poe seemed to be happy for the first time in months, pressed up against the window and staring down at the enlarging ground

"Never thought I'd see this place again…" Zim kept a quiet but determined look on his face as he piloted the Cruiser as the ground grew closer and closer. He turned down the lights, so they were now dim. Cten was sat up looking outside the other window, pointing at things while telling Vist where they were. And in that few months Vist had grown a little bit, but was still small either way and now had a pak on his back.

"Finally!" Zim declared as the Cruiser landed on the front lawn of the base, quickly opening up the lid and stepping out dramatically. "Earth is mine once more!" he called out, hands on his hips and started laughing somewhat evilly until,

"MASTER!" Gir leaped onto Zim's head as soon as the Irken jumped out of the cruiser, "I MISSDED YOUUU!" He glomped onto Zim's head with his affectionate death grip, tongue sticking out. Zib stared wide-eyed out the window, dropping the spoon he was using to stir with into the stew.

"DYAH!! GIR! Get off get off get…" Zim stopped flailing his arms around and stood there for a while, before hugging GIR's legs. "I missed you too Gir!!" he yelled happily. Cten stood up, and hopped out the Cruiser,

"And that Vist, is your home!" she declared, pointing to the base.

"You gots funny clothes, Master!" Gir leaned back, picking up one of the straps of Zim's new tanktop and looking at it. Vist looked up at the base,

"You said it was orange, Mom…" He looked confused. Zib and Enid had, infact, redecorated to make it looka bit more normal since it was, in all honesty, no longer an Irken base. Poe stepped out lastly, stretching out his legs and looking around. He seemed happier, but still distant. Meanwhile, in the house,

"ENID!" Zib nearly screamed, running upstairs to the bedroom where she had been napping. Enid groaned, sitting up in bed as Zib entered the room.

"What is it?" she asked, her stomach obviously showing now. Seems since Zib was half human, his… er, semen were taking longer to form the body of the child even within the egg so this shall be a painful birth indeed. Zib hugged her happily, though he was careful of her stomach,

"Look out the window!" Cten blinked, looking slightly confused.

"It… was orange… oh well." she shrugged slightly, then grinned. "Enid must have done that." Zim set Gir down on the ground, patting his new shirt.

"Yes Gir, this is my… uh, new official shirt of the Invader. Spiffy, yes?"

"Neat-ooooooooo!" Gir agreed, "Mizz See-Ten's got one too?!" He leapt off of Zim and attached himself to the former maid, before noticing Vist over Cten's shoulder, "Who's that?!?" He screamed, happily though, just bursting with Gir-like excitement. Zib seemed a bit puzzled by the new uniforms and hatchling as well, making them out from the bed room window. Enid got off the bed slowly and went to the window, her eyes widening as she saw the group.

"…oh my God." she muttered.

"Gir, this is Vist. Vist, this is Gir, the little robot I told you about." Cten patted Gir on the head, making the robot's tail wag happily. At that time, the houses door opened and Beka stood there, looking agape.

"MISTRESS!" she squealed happily, and ran up to Cten and hugged her around the waist. "Oh Mistress you're back! I missed you ever so much and always knew you'd come back!"

"...and this is Beka." Cten added.

"Let's go down--er, wait." Zib frowned down at her stomach, "Maybe you should stay behind me…" He said quietly, then took her hand, leading her down the stairs. Poe stared at the house, looking somewhat sad,

"Where's Enid?" he wondered, then flattened his antennae and narrowed his eyes, "Or Zib, for that matter…"

"Ah yes Zib…" Zim started up the walk way as Cten was explaining to Beka who Vist was. "I'm sure he's done lots of things!" just as Zim reached for the door knob, Zib opened it from the other side of the door, Enid stood behind him and trying to cover her stomach with her jacket as best she could - already imagining the noise her Father would make.

"Uh… Hi, Mom," Zib grinned down at Zim, looking taller and grown up somehow, probably something to do with the clean-cut lab coat he was still wearing, having not bothered to remove it yet. Poe glared over at the two, looking pretty bad… He had a collection of new scars, afterall, not to mention was still caked with blood. "Um… what's with the Reject uniforms?" Zib wondered, trying to get their minds off of the fact Enid was staying close behind him, "…and the hatchling?"

"Zib, Enid," Cten walked up to them, Vist still in her arms and Beka sticking close to her now. "This is Vist, he's my little smeet." she smiled slightly, then to Vist as she pointed to Enid. "That's your big sister there."

"Yes yes, we had been through many adventures while back on Irk and they did the foolish thing of dubbing myself and Cten as Rejects. But now we're back on planet Earth, we shall ignore those name tag thingies!" Zim declared, then glanced back at Enid. "What's so interesting back there?" Zib quickly moved to try and conceal Zim's view,

"N-nothing!" he said quickly, pulling on his collar, backing up into Enid. Poe looked over at them, making a low, faintly growling noise in the back of his throat, while Vist waved at his sister. Enid's eye lowered, then shut.

"I can't do this." she muttered quietly, more to Zib then herself. Then she stepped out from behind him, her arms by her side but she just looked at the ground. Cten's eyes widened.

"…oh my Tallest…" she said. Zim looked lost at what to say, but decided to side-step since he had been between the two and Poe. Zib nodded in resignation and drummed his fingers together, trying to somehow disappear into the ground.

"That… was the last… thing… I needed to come home to…" Poe snarled slowly, looking rather dangerous as he advanced toward Zib.

"Daddy, Daddy please." Enid walked foward to meet him, holding her hands up. "It didn't happen on purpose please understand!" Cten still looked shocked, then Zim narrowed an eye.

"I can't leave you for almost a year can I?" he chided to Zib, glaring at him.

"…not on purpose?" Those words did absolutely nothing to ease Poe, as his brain translated them into 'without consent', "First my mate… now my daughter…" He bared his teeth and tried to push past Enid, and if looks could kill Zib would be dead and rotting.

"I'll explain later, Mom…" he muttered to Zim, backing up into the doorway and looking quite scared.

"No, no." Enid seemed to know what he was thinking, grabbing onto his arms, "Listen to me! Some stupid human spiked the drinks at the prom we went to and we ended up doing this! If I could I'd take it back I really would! Please don't hurt him, he said he'd stay with me no matter what!" fearing for Zib's life Enid was now crying as she said this. She knew her Father now would probably not want her to have anything to do with Zib, if he let him live that is. Poe turned his glare down to Enid, something he'd probably never done before. Something didn't look quite right in his eyes, like something in him had snapped a while back and was only brought to light again,

"Let me go, Enid," he growled lowly. Zib realized the kitchen wouldn't help him, so he scooted out the door and tried to hide among the Irken and robot spectators, thinking Poe'd be more reluctant to go through them. Enid looked taken back by Poe's glare, since it was true he'd never done that to her. She now looks quite scared now, and talks quietly.

"But we love each other..." her voice wasn't the same brassy tone as it had always been, now it shook slightly, her grip on his arms loosening since now is the first time she's really feared her Father. Zim glances at Zib as he moves, then keeps his eyes locked back on Poe, something telling him somethings about to happen. That was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, and Poe let out an in..Irken snarl, twisting out of Enid's hands and grabbing onto her wrists, looking down at her like a wild animal ready to attack. Zib blinked in shock, never having thought Enid was actually in danger from her Father, but his mind quickly switched gears.

"HEY! Leave her alone!" He shouted, and Poe turned his head slowly to look at Zib, his lip twitching, dismissed him and looked back down at the nearest target, Enid and grabbed het sides, and given her current condition that wasn't the best thing to do. Zib growled and clenched his fists, his pod legs unfurling, "LET HER GO!" Suddenly, Poe was jerked away from Enid, restrained by two of Zib's pod legs around his torso, causing him to thrash and slather like some… insane thing. Zim, seeing his spawn in such strife couldn't help but not intervene now. His pod legs shot out, and Poe was soon held down by four of the mechanical pod legs, gripping onto Poe by the antennae as if trying to 'steer' him.

Cten grabbed Vist up, who had been on the ground and hurried over to Enid, who was just in shock to do anything else. She took her daughter by the arm and quickly got her away from the three. Gir just stared for a while, not sure waht to do, even if he could do anything. Vist, who'd been watching the whole ordeal in shock, clung onto his Mother, though he kept his eyes on the flailing Reject. Poe was making awful sounds that didn't sound like they could come from the throat of any Irken, kicking and jerking around, reopening a few of his old wounds in the process and biting at the nearest leg, actually denting it with his teeth. Zib winced, even with the combined force of 4 cybernetic limbs Poe was difficult to restrain, and one of the flailing, booted legs managed to knock Zim in the head.

Seeing his master in danger, Gir's eyes flashed red beneath the costume, and a gun unfolded from his head. There was a bang, and Poe jerked, then suddenly slumped limply in the mechanical arms, a needle sticking out of his shoulder. After a few short moments of silence, Zim stared at Gir who still had the gun suspended in his head, the robot's eyes slowing fading to blue underneath the costume.

"...excellent work Gir!" Zim cried out, hopping off of Poe, the large Irken slumping to the ground.

"I did good!" Gir declared, clapping his black paws together. Poe just laid there, eyes closed, drooling on the ground. Zib panted slightly, sensing the danger was past he slowly removed the pod legs from Poe, rubbing his shoulder which'd gotten sore from the stress on his pod and pod legs.

"What the hell…" Zib wheezed, "Is with him?" He looked down at the tallish Irken, "Enid's the last person he'd ever turn on…" Speaking of which, he looked around for where Cten had taken the group. Beka was at the door, looking out at the group.

"We have to get him restrained somewhere before he awakens." she said, hopping out towards the two, her head opening up and some cables shooting out, wrapping around Poe's legs. Zim observed Poe slightly, then lifted up his arm revealing the bite marks.

"Well, seeing from his attack with that Snab scum, I'd say he's been infected with some kind of rabies disease." he said, before Beka began dragging the snoozing Poe away.

"He's the last Irken that needs to get rabies…" Zib muttered, somewhat disturbed himself since he always had been kind of fearful of Poe. He stood up straight and rubbed the back of his head, then ran towards Enid and the others and asked, though it was mostly directed at Enid, "Are you alright?"

"She isn't." Cten answered for her, since Enid was now crying and possibly not because of what just happened.

"It… it hurts…" she whimpered, leaning against Cten and holding her stomach in pain.

"Either she's been forced into early delivery because of Poe, or it really is time." Cten said, running her hand over Enid's antennae trying to calm her  down. Gir was now being useful, and going off after Beka to help out with Poe. Zim walked up to the group, eyeing Enid.

"U-oh, not again." he muttered.

"It's whah?!" Zib suddenly looked panicked, and he reached out to take Enid's hands, not really sure what else to do. Vist looked totally lost, among all these strangers, much less knowing what was going on. Enid just sobbed as she held onto her stomach, grasping onto Zib's hand with one of hers.

"Zim, go check on how Gir and Beka's doing with Poe. Vist honey," she picked Vist up into her lap, "Your sister's just going to lay her egg and I know how hard this must be for you, but don't be scared okay?" Enid then screamed, ah the joys of birth eh? Cten, with her free hand pulled down Enid's black pants, "Just push honey, I know it hurts." Zim nodded and ran to assist the SIRs. Gir had gotten distracted by the shinies on Poe's antennae, and the sedative was starting to wear off, having been a dosage for a smaller Irken. Zim looked somewhat panicked,

"Um… Gir, get some of the… wire thingees off of the ceiling!" Vist nodded, staring over at the screaming female and folding his antennae back, wincing at the sound. Zib suddenly looked very guilty and put an arm around Enid's shoulders, trying to comfort her desperately. Enid just gripped Zib by the hand as she cried, pushing was definetely hard since she had pains in both her sides now due to Poe's grabbing onto her. Gir salluted Zim, and leapt up, grabbing the wires from above and pulling them down and Beka took them from him, and began wrapping Poe around with them, before sedating him again with her own gun needle thingie.

"We gonna keep him in a cage Master?" Gir asked Zim, "Like the zoo??"

"With how he's acting that might not be a bad idea," Zim muttered, looking around at the disabled base. "Standard Invader bases usually come with at least one restraining room.. you know, for interrogations and thingees!" Zib winced as his hand was nearly crushed, but made no complaints, glancing, erm, downwards before quickly turning away. Enid panted, clenching her teeth as she pushed with as mugh might as she had right now. Cten checked,

"Okay honey, it's coming just keep pushing, I know it's hard to just keep at it."

"Ugh..." Enid muttered, leaning her head back as she pushed more. Beka blinked, realising Cten was back the base now wouldn't blow up, so she hit the 'reactivation' button. Soon the base lit up, base wise.

"Computer! Take this Reject to the restraining room quickly!" she called out. The floor below Poe suddenly shifted, and it sunk out of sight. Zib concentrated on holding Enid's head up with his elbow, kneeling on the ground beside her. Vist looked pretty grossed out himself, sticking out his tongue and making a sickeningly cute face, and chose that time to start squirming in Cten's arms. Cten glanced at him, but still held onto him since it was, to say the least, not a clean floor anymore. Vist huffed and gave up the fight. Enid snarled viciously, and cried out in reliefe as the egg finally passed. Her antennae hung heavily over the back of her head, panting and wheezing.

"I… now have a... big respect for... you Mom..." she gasped between deep breaths. Zib blinked his eyes open, looking down at the egg and adjusting his glasses, then smiled despite himself, hugging Enid warmly. Zim was meanwhile returning to the house level after making sure Poe was, er, safe and secure, marching over to the group and pausing mid-step, making a slight face.

"So… I'm a grandmother now?"

"Yup, we both are!" Cten grinned at him, then couldn't help but laugh slightly at the idea of Zim being called 'Grandma' by anything. Enid leant her head against Zib's, closing her eyes sleepily.

"What great... timing..." she panted.

"And you're an uncle, Vist!" Cten held Vist up in front of her, "And you're not even a year old!" Zib held onto her and stroked her cheek, reaching down for the egg and handing it to her carefully.

"Uncle?" He frowned. "What's an uncle??" Zim put on a disgusted look at the displays of affection, but he couldn't help but smile a bit.

"An uncle means, your big sisters now had a baby. So, you're now it's uncle." Cten smiled, resting him back on her lap. Enid smiled slightly, taking the egg from Zib and stroked it's surface, then looked up at Zim with a worried look.

"What, what happened to Daddy?" she asked.

"Poe is… eh…" Zim glanced towards the place where Poe had been, "He was… involved in a scuffle with another Reject who was probably carrying some form of rabid illness. I guess he'd been keeping it under control, but… snapped." Zib looked around at the adults, then over to Vist,

"And… just where did he come from?"

"He… he came from the other Reject who gave Poe the illness." Cten replied, stroking Vist's antennae soothingly. "Not my choice, but he's my son and I will look after him." she added. Enid stared at Vist, then at Cten.

"Oh Mom, I'm so sorry…" she said, Cten smiled.

"Oh it's okay… I'm back home again."

"I guess we've all had a rough time…" Zib sighed, then yelped as Zim suddenly yanked his hair-scythe,

"And it'll be getting much rougher for you if you don't start explaining yourself!"

"Ow! Alright, alright…" Zib muttered and rubbed his hair, "For starters, your base exploded…"

"It what?!" Zim screeched,

"It did it by choice!" Enid said quickly, "It.. did it to protect your Irken technology… after that we moved in here." she looked down at the egg, closing her eyes. "It wasn't our choice to have an egg at all…"

"No… I'm getting to that!" Zib recoiled from a threatening looking Zim, "Well, I had to drop out of skool… I got a job so I could power the base with… you know, normal electricity, since Poe and Cten's base had been disabled. That's why I'm in this…" He lifted up the corner of his lab coat, while Zim blinked, looking a bit… impressed(?) at Zib's responsibility. "After some time, there was this prom at skool…"

"We didn't plan to drink anything wrong… but someone spiked the drinks there and well…" Enid looked at her Mother sadly, "We… we mated while under the influence of the human substance…" Cten nodded slowly,

"Still, besides that you two have done very well, I guess…" she said, glancing over at Zim.

"Ehm… yes, yes, I suppose so." Zim waved his hand, and Zib smiled a bit, that was all the approval anyone could drag out of Zim.

"Oh… there was a… conflict… with Dad…" Zib scowled slightly at the memory. "But we're on speaking terms now-hey, think he'd want to know about this?" He didn't see Dib that often, and hadn't even told him Enid had been pregnant.

"Well seeing he's a Grandfather technically…" Cten shrugged,

"If he does want to have a small role in the child's rearing so be it." Zim snuffed, folding his arms.

"No, Dad said he thought he was too young to be an… slark." Zib paled somewhat, his antennae drooping, "If he's too young…"

"Yes Zib, you are… young to be a Father." Zim eyed the egg, "But! You have to stand to your responsibilities, mistake or not. Dib just doesn't realise that." Zib nodded slowly, resting his hand over Enid's claws that were on the egg. He examined the speckled sphere, tilting his head,

"I wonder why it's so big though…"

"I believe, since Zib is half human and what with human babies being born so big maybe the child's adapted that kind of physical state?" Zim asked, leaning over and tapping the shell with a finger. Enid frowned slightly, pulling the egg closer to her.

"That… or…" He winced at the idea, but looked over at Enid, "Enid, think you could hold it up into the light for a second?"

"Why…?" she asked, somewhat suspciously.

"It should silloute the contents of the egg…" He glanced down at it. Enid frowned at him, but sat up slowly and lifted the egg up in her hands, holding it to the light of the main one in the ceiling for Zib to see. Cten glanced at Zib, then at Zim with a puzzled look. Zib, having seen plenty of eggs during his biology studies, seemed to pale again.

"Oh, great…" There was not one, but two faint black elipses in the egg, leaning away from each other.

"What is it?" Enid sounded worried, resting the egg back in her grasp again. "Is there something wrong?"

"There's… uh…" He gulped, "…there's two in there."

"Two?" echoed both Zim and Cten at the same time.

"…is that even possible?!" Zim looked to Cten, hoping she being female knew of such matters. Cten looked lost, then shrugged.

"I… have no idea." she replied.

"They might be the Irken equivillent of identical twins, which might be a human phenomenon.." Zib pondered, tapping his chin.

"Great…" Enid muttered, then sighed. "Two it is then."

"Two…" Cten shook her head. Enid back when she was a smeet was enough trouble, but two?

"We can handle it," Zib tried to sound optimistic, squeezing Enid's hand, "We've survived through all of this, should be no problem, huh?"

"…yeah I hope so…" Enid said, squeezing Zib's hand back.

"Well, just so you know I'll be happy to help out. So don't worry." Cten said, Vist now slowly falling asleep in her arms.

"I think you'll have your hands full, Ms. Cten…" Zib glanced at Vist, "Not just with Vist either…" He winced when a muffled, angry animalistic sound rose from below, signalling Poe's sedative had worn off.

"I know." Cten's antennae lowered sadly, "Grandchildren on the way, new smeet and now my mate's gone insane. Wouldn't you love to be me right now?" she asked somewhat sarcatically, but it still showed it hurt.

"Well… let's just hope this disease isn't anything like Earth rabies…" Zib said quietly.

"Last thing I need." Cten muttered sadly. Enid leant against her Mom, her antennae brushing against hers slightly.

"It'll be okay Mom, we'll try and fix things. I will at least." she said.

"I know you're probably not too happy about what I did with Enid…" Zib started, looking over at Cten, "But I'll try to be a good… uh… son-in-law." He grinned warily.

"It's all right Zib, I've known you since you were little. And I trust you'll do fine, and look after her as best you can." she smiled slightly, "I'm still very shocked, but proud at how you two have handled so well." Zib grinned a bit more broadly at the approval, and Zim coughed from behind them.

"Now that all that mushy stuff is over with… there's an issue for us to face!" He made a squeeky-clenchy-fist, "Just where is everyone going to live now?!"

"Zim, in the Cruiser there must be a base maker in the glove box." Cten replied, "You can get a new base for yourself and Gir. I'll stay here, but it's up to Zib and Enid if both of them live seperately or together." Zib looked over to Enid,

"Well, I think Enid and I have shown we can handle a household by ourselves…"

"So, you want a base by yourselves?" Cten asked.

"Well… I would… but… it's up to you, En." Zib said, and Zim muttered and rolled his eyes about how the son of an Invader should be more authorative or whatnot. Enid blinked, then glanced from Zim to her Mom, then Zib.

"Well… Mom would have her hands full with Vist and with Daddy and I don't want to cause any problems so… I guess… yeah." she nodded slightly. "I'd like that."

"I guess that settles it then." Zib looked awful happy, leaning over and nuzzling Enid's cheek dispite the fact both their Mothers were right there. "Hm… Where though…"

"Totally up to you two." Cten said, standing up with the sleeping Vist clinging to her shoulder.

[The End]