Skoodge's short antennae twitched slightly. He thought he heard Invader Zim screaming. No… no… he DID hear Invader Zim screaming. Skoodge looked straight up, dropping his cup of mixed nuts at his feet. Invader Zim was in the sky, shooting straight up towards the stars. Skoodge looked out to where Zim would land, his face turning from green to white. Zim would come down in the middle of the pool!

Without even the slightest pause to think, Skoodge ripped a Delicious Weenies sausage rope off the table. Hooking the end into a quick lasso, he flung it outward and through the air. He managed to snag Invader Zim's wrist, yanking back hard on the lasso.

Invader Zim flew sideways through the air, landing hard on the concrete lip of the pool. He rolled over, his eyes out of focus from the pain of the impact. He'd missed the water by all of a half foot… too close of a call, as far as the little Invader was concerned.

It was only then that he realized the sausages were fusing to his skin. Screaming like a howler monkey, Zim ran in circles while trailing meat. However, this is Zim we're talking about. The other kids were so used to Zim's strange behavior that they didn't even bat an eyelid.

Dib crushed his container of punch and ice in his good hand, his eyes narrowing in dark anger. He'd pushed through the crowd, endured the noise, and tolerated being laughed at by the other kids just to have a front row seat to Invader Zim's doom. To be cheated out of it…

Dib rose to his feet. He wasn't going to take this lying down. He stormed in the direction he'd last seen Invader Zim. He wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do, but he was going to do… something.

Murderer Zim, the same thought on his mind, was storming towards Invader Zim at that exact same moment. He'd lost to Invader Zim once due to dumb luck. He wasn't going to lose again.

Violet was gulping down strawberry punch when a kid ran up to another child standing next to her. "Dude, do you see what's going down at the pool? Justin and that freaky Dib kid were kicking the SH*T out of that weird Zim guy, and then this fat kid got in it, and now there's like twenty people fighting!"

Violet moaned and slapped her forehead. If that kept up, someone was bound to realize the alien costumes… weren't really costumes. Then they were REALLY in for a fun time.

"It's up to Vi to save the day… again," she sighed. "I really hated bailing Spork's butt out, and I like bailing Zim's butt out half as much. Now, what am I going to do?"

Violet looked at the stairs leading to the upper level of the house, blocked off from the partygoers by police tape. She'd just seen the short female Irken go up there. She'd also seen the longing way Murderer Zim had been looking at her. Violet's dark eyes lit up. That was it! That was the answer!

Violet wound her way up the stairs, moving slowly. Her gun was drawn and set to stun, not wanting to take any chances with Tak fighting back. The carpeted stairs creaked gently beneath her slender form, enough to be heard but probably not enough to give away her surprise attack.

Violet peered around a corner, her stun gun held in front of her body. No sign of Tak yet, so she silently slipped onto the landing. Her antennae perked up at the sound of a radio playing quietly.

Violet followed the sound of the radio through the silent halls. With the low lightning and the complete lack of other living souls in the area, it strongly reminded Violet of walking through a horror movie. A bad horror movie at that, she thought as she rounded the corner.

She found herself facing Tak with an outstretched laser in her hand. Violet, her own gun outstretched, refused to move. "Drop your weapon," Tak ordered in her thick accent.

"Like hell I'm doing that," Violet snapped.

"I'd think twice before trying anything. You are in my base," Tak reminded her, her grip on her weapon never wavering.

Violet couldn't argue with that, but she didn't release her hold. "If I'm going to go down, I prefer to go down fighting," she hissed.

Tak frowned, narrowing one eye. "Who are you? Did the tallests send you?"

Violet didn't move so much as a muscle. "Yeah, you might say that. But not your tallests, and you're not my target. Murderer Zim is."

Flames lit in the girl's young eyes. "You can't have him!" she screamed, firing at Violet.

Violet jumped backwards, shooting as she did. Tak's blast caught her in the shoulder right as her stun beam struck Tak in the chest. Both females fell backwards, their feet no longer connected to the ground.

Violet hit the wall, a spray of blood behind her. A neat hole had been burned right through her shoulder. She gripped it in pain, wincing violently. "You'll pay for that, bitch!" she hissed, getting to her feet.

Paralyzed for the blast, Tak's chest heaved with fear as Violet strode back into the room, holding her injured shoulder. She upped the setting on her weapon and put it straight against Tak's head.

The girl couldn't even so much as shut her eyes. Violet's arm twitched as she pulled back on the trigger slightly… and then let go. She sighed, her chest heaving. "I'm not a killer. However…" She turned the laser and shot Tak squarely in the shoulder.

Tears dripped from the girl's violet eyes but she couldn't move to do anything about it. "Fair is fair," Violet smirked, rubbing her own wound. The hole was beginning to close up on its own. "Damn, I hope you lose mobility in that arm. That hurt."

With that, Violet seized Tak violently by the antennae and dragged her back towards the stairs.

Murderer Zim was punching Invader Zim in the organs while Dib held his antennae so that he couldn't get away. Their fight was mostly removed from the other fighting going on, as the rest of it was simply people fighting for lack of anything better to do but fight.

"And stay away from my cousin!" Murderer Zim threw in, just in case anyone was watching and wondering why Invader Zim was getting his butt handed to him by the two of them.

"What about your cousin?" Violet asked coldly. Murderer Zim's head shot up. His arms dropped to his sides. Dib, turning around to see what Murderer Zim was staring at, let go of Invader Zim's antennae. Invader Zim collapsed in a moaning heap to the ground.

Violet had her arm around Tak's neck. Her breathing was a ragged. Murderer Zim's eyes flashed lightning when he saw the hole in her arm. "What did you do to her?" Murderer Zim screeched.

"The same thing she did to me. Come with me quietly and I won't have to kill her."

Murderer Zim's arms formed fists at his sides. If he didn't, Tak would die. If he did, he'd never see her again. He would lose either way. Then, remembering MiMi's sweater, a light bulb lit over his head.

"What about the smeet?" he asked, false fear showing in his eyes.

"Smeet?" Violet asked. The whole situation seemed to have suddenly turned on its ear. Enemy or not, and bait or not, she couldn't kill an unborn smeet. No matter how bad the mother was, no matter how many crimes she had committed, the smeet had had no say in any of it. And, as much as absolutely possible, would do anything she could to never kill an innocent.

"The one inside her," Murderer Zim lied smoothly, hoping no one was listening. Over the din of the fighting, he didn't think anyone possibly could be.

"Come willingly with me and I won't have to do anything to it," Violet insisted, but her lower lip had started trembling. Murderer Zim knew he had her. After all, he knew her better than anyone else in the dimension they were currently in.

He didn't actually have to do anything, as MiMi attacked Violet's neck. Violet screamed, grabbing at the robot as Tak fell from her arms. In one swift move, Murderer Zim caught her. Hugging her to his chest, he leaped backwards.

He looked around. "There are too many humans to fight here and now, but this isn't the end… Vivy."

Violet, having just managed to dislodge MiMi after suffering great harm to her neck, glared at him. "No one's allowed to call me that," she snapped.

Murderer Zim smiled like the cat that ate the canary. "We'll settle this at a later date." With that, he stepped backwards and faded through the holographic wall of the house, vanishing from sight with a stunned Tak cradled in his arms.

With that, the police arrived at the party to break up the fight.

Violet insisted on walking herself home, despite the still closing hole in her shoulder and the wounds MiMi had inflicted on her neck and back still oozing plasma. Every ten feet it seemed Skoodge asked if he could help her, until finally she collapsed into his arms, weeping. It wasn't that she was crying from the pain; she was crying from having to admit that maybe she couldn't always be completely independent.

After Invader Zim had dragged himself down to his lab to being concocting his next brilliant plan to strike against Murderer Zim, and probably to bandage his own wounded pride, Skoodge rested Violet on the couch.

She screamed in irritation when he applied Bactine to her broken flesh. "If you hadn't gotten in a fight, I wouldn't have to make it sting," Skoodge scolded, having to stand on his tip toes to reach her neck even though she was sitting down.

Violet, a bit woozy from her injuries and too much fruity punch, smiled. "You know, in my dimension, it's YOU who has Tak's heart. Not Zim."

Skoodge blushed a deep shade of emerald. "I can't even begin to imagine how different your dimension must be from ours."

"It's not… all that different. Not anymore," she answered, watching him wrap her wounds in beige bandages. "Thank you."

Skoodge grinned stupidly. "No problem."

"You know," she said, flexing her injured arm. "Most Irken males would kill for a chance to touch me, which is exactly why I won't let them. You should be glad I'm giving it to you for free."

"You were hurt. Even if you'd tried to stop me I wouldn't have let you."

Violet's eyes started drifting shut. "I know. That's why I," she paused to yawn. "Let you."

Skoodge pulled a blanket over her body. Reaching out, he seemed to be intent on touching her antennae, maybe stroking them lightly to comfort her. Then remembering what she said, he drew his arm back and quietly left the room.

Alone in the dark, Violet let out a heavy sigh. She'd wanted him to stroke her antennae; she really needed the comforting after a failed mission. She wasn't used to failing missions, and it hurt more than she had ever imagined. "Vi, why do you have to be so damned stubborn?" she asked no one but the softly chirping crickets.

Murderer Zim tucked Tak into her bed, pulling the covers up over the two of them. She was still in pretty bad shape, shaken from the experience earlier. As a result, she hadn't wanted to sleep alone.

He drew his fingers under her chin. "Don't worry, my angel… I won't let anything happen to you. I couldn't let anything happen to you. I'd die first."

"I thought I was going to die," she said, letting him take her arm and wrap it around his body. "And when she shot my arm… it hurt…"

"Shush. I know."

"Sorry I've been such a monster to you lately. You really came through in the end."

He chucked. "Actually, MiMi did, but I forgive you. It's because you're not used to someone being kind to you. Your brain rebelled at the idea. Tak? Tak?"

The poor, exhausted girl was already sound asleep. Murderer Zim turned off the lights and lay down. His brain was turning over about a hundred thoughts of exactly what he'd do to Invader Zim… as well as that obnoxious Violet. He'd wanted to make her scream as she died for years, but Spork had been fond of her. At least one good thing had come of Spork's death, then.

His head filled with plots to rid himself of Invader Zim once and for all, Murderer Zim didn't sleep at all that night.

___

Before anyone complains about the use of the words bitch or shit, know that bitch was used in the movie Casper and that was only rated PG.