Rain-Soaked Slave

C7: Dangerous Ways

[Disclaimer: Jhonen V. owns "Invader Zim."  I own whatever I write/create.  Don't steal and don't sue.]

Dib had managed to drag his father back to the house with Zim's help.  A day or two had passed since Ian's declaration of war, and Dib started a count on the calendar in his old room.

GIR had wondered where his master was once he came out of his shaking fit and went looking.  He was worried when he picked up Zim's signal near the TV station where Dib's father's TV show was taped.  Being worried, he activated his rockets in his feet and smashed through the doorway.  He slowed enough when he saw his master as not to break his back on impact, but it was enough to push Zim against Dib.

The little robot was a little confused at the strange way his master was acting around and with Dib, but he just shrugged it off and kept thinking his vacant lots.  No, he was really thinking of vacant lots.

In any case, Dib was trying to think of a way to pull his father out of his moping pit.  Membrane had always been the most intelligent person on Earth, and being proven wrong was something that never happened to him.  Ian knew that, and she had broken him somehow by saying his son was right.

"How does one make a human confident?" Zim questioned.

"I really don't know." Dib shook his head, "I was used to having all mine taken away."  There was a long pause as the two thought.  Dib paced in front of his father, who sat in a chair at the kitchen table.  Zim was sitting across from the human, and sighed, staring up and thinking.

"I've got it!" he leapt to his feet and ran to stand before Membrane, "You're a pathetic fool!  You can't solve a simple calculus problem!"  Dib's jaw dropped, but Zim lifted a finger to keep him quiet.  "You don't even know how an internal combustion engine works!"

"…yes I do." Membrane said something for the first time in two days.

"You don't know how to make a simple rocket."

"Yes I do."

"You can't make one that has weaponry."

"Yes I can."

"You can't make one that could take on a huge army."

"Yes I can."

"You can't help us beat an unstoppable force."

"Yes I can!  And I'll do it in time!"

"You said he doesn't like being told he can't do something." Zim shrugged at Dib.  Membrane was on his feet now, and he was muttering plans under his breath.

"I think we're in business." Dib smiled.

----------

Gaz found that she was quite content and happy to lie in Ian's lap.  It was comforting and comfortable.

"Why is it that you decided to like me?" she found herself wondering to Ian.

"Like and love are the two things that no one can decide on." Ian replied, "And when you figure out when you love someone, you can't change it.  Humans on your planet may seem to fall in and out of love easily, but when they find the right person, they stay in love.  For me, it was a matter of love at first sight."

"But why would you put everything on just something you feel in your gut?" Gaz shook her head in confusion, "That's just…I don't know.  I don't want to bet everything on just a feeling."

"You don't have to." Ian smiled benignly, "It's just how I live.  Don't worry about it."

"But I still don't understand." Gaz was confused, "How do you live like that?  I can't act like that."

"I know." Ian ruffled Gaz's dark hair with another smile, "But that's because you've been living with humans.  They have an interesting way of exploiting each other for profit.  I'm not going to make you see it my way."

Gaz looked up under Ian's hand to her smiling face.  She still couldn't understand Ian completely, but the little thing in her head told her she was really happy, and she was going to stay with Ian if it meant being so happy.

"Ian, I get to stay with you, right?" she felt as though she didn't need any kind of façade with Ian, "No tricks or anything."

"I don't use tricks." Ian closed her eyes with yet another gentle smile, "You get to stay with me.  No worries."

"But what about your war?  You're starting it in only twenty-eight days."

"Wars don't make love go away.  It's all right."

----------

"Come on people!  We have a planet to protect here!  We have to use all the time we've got!"

The workers gave a random wave to the men on the catwalk as they watched over the production.

"It looks like the first few dozen ships are done." Professor Membrane said with pride.  Dib was smiling widely, and Zim's jaw was dropped.

"How can you humans make so many ships in such short time?" the green-skinned boy gaped.  Because the world knew of aliens and such, he found no need to have his costume on.  His red eyes blinked at the sight of all the blue ships.

"It's my dad." Dib shrugged, "He's built more in less time.  I expect that we'll have a few hundred more by the end of tomorrow."

"Well, I'm impressed." Zim shook his head with a smirk, "But I still think we need to come up with something to fight Ian one-on-one."

"That'll be my job." Dib said swiftly, "Ian's mine."

----------

"Tell me something." Ian said as she led Gaz through the ship they were in, "Do you miss your brother and father?"

"I only miss my dad." Gaz replied, "Dib is trying to kill you."

"So should I kill Dib and leave your father alive?"

"Can you try to not kill either?" the human found herself saying, "I don't like Dib at all, but I don't want him dead.  He's my brother, I guess."

"All right." Ian chuckled, "No worries."

"Do you know what they're doing right now?" Gaz asked after a moment.

"They're building ships.  They're getting ready as fast as they can.  From what I can tell, they're going to be ready in time."

"So what are you going to do?"

The two reached an empty room where all the walls were transparent.  They appeared to stand on nothing.  Ian put her hands in her pockets, staring out at the dim black that was space.  She smiled slightly, her eyes half-lidded.

"Well, I hope to not kill as many as I think may die.  I'll protect you, and I'll do everything I can to make sure your father and brother won't be hurt.  Dib, I'll try not to kill."

"I don't know how you can be so calm at a time like this." Gaz sighed, "Even I'm getting worried.  And that doesn't usually happen."

"I know." Ian put her forehead to Gaz's and smiled more, "I know."

—to be continued—