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Where there is a will, there is a way. If there is a chance in a million that you can do something, anything, to keep what you want from ending, do it. Pry the door open or, if need be, wedge your foot in that door and keep it open.

Pauline Kael

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Chapter 20

OUR PROVERBIAL FOOT IN THE DOOR

The rain continued to pound outside like an angry landlady who wants her back rent would pound on a door. The ground was saddened with rain and deep, wide puddles formed a patchwork quilt of evil water in the grass. Lightning ripped across the sky in frightening displays of nature's destructive power. But, down below in the depths of Zim's base, it was cool and dry. You would never have even been able to tell it was storming outside. It was so far down below the surface of the Earth, that even the thunder's most fearsome roar was disarmed before it reached Zim and Byron's antennae.

Both Byron and Zim stood poised in front of the towering communication screen. Byron stood with his boots firmly planted on the floor and his back straight like a proud general or a warlord who surveys the battlefield with the utmost sense of stoic duty with his hands firmly clasped behind his back as Zim quickly typed onto and adjusted the control panel. His eyes were cool and calm and he seemed as if he were waiting for the bus, but inside he was on fire with a raging inferno of impatient excitement. The moments it took for Zim to finish his task seemed to take forever.

"Prepare yourself, Byron!" Zim finally yelled as he scurried away from the screen and took his place next to him. And now the pair stood like statues waiting. Albeit the formal nature of the situation, it was rather humorous. The screen turned white for a moment and then appeared the Tallests.

"Great! What is it now, Zim?" Tallest Purple asked in a bored but snappy tone. He and Tallest Red were sitting on a large, magenta colored couch eating. The little coffee table in front of them was heavily loaded with a vast array of snacks and junk food. Its legs were beginning to buckle under the immense strain.

"Ah, my Tallests!" Zim said as he practically crawled across the floor in his groveling. "I have wonderful news!" Zim announced eagerly.

"You've contracted Targenian space-flu and you've only got twelve vexes to live?" Red asked hopefully as he stuffed another donut in his mouth, and then another.

Zim doubled over laughing, "Hahaha! What a wonderful joke my Tallests! Your humor is still as fresh as when you banished me to Foodcourtia!" He looked over at Byron and said, "Aren't they great? They always tell me jokes like that!"

'What the hell?' Sora thought to herself. She was quietly sneaking into the communication chamber. She hid behind a crate and, as she drank her fresh can of Irken soda through a bendie-straw, watched her newfound friends speaking with two very tall creatures on the monster, big screen.

"Who's that?" Tallest Purple asked. There was a split moment when the air is tense for Sora. Did they notice the strange, human girl who was gallivanting about in the background while happily drinking her soda? Of course not!

Byron saluted his new leaders and boldly declared, "I am Byron: loyal servant to the Irken Empire! It is my honor to finally meet you, my Tallests!"

Sora's shoulders relax once she knew she hadn't been seen. She hid behind her crate, still drinking her soda, and looked at the two aliens on the screen. 'That one in red hues looks more of the leader type than his comrade,' she thought to herself. There was something intriguing about him; something she couldn't quite explain. Deciding to press her luck to an even more obscene extreme, Sora moved from behind her crate to a closer vantage point. Still somehow, she remained undetected by the four Irkens.

"That's all well and good then." Purple said and then looked over at his co-leader, "Not like we're running low on servants."

"Duh." He said and began to eat a burrito. "So, Zim, what was so important that you had to interrupt us watching midget wrestling? Hmmm?" Red asked.

"Yeah, hmmm?" Purple added.

"Uh, I, a thousand apologies my Tallests! I'm very sorry. I didn't realize you were watching something as important as that! It's just been so long since I'd last checked in and I thought you might have become worried or..."

"Oh, yeah, Zim. We were worried alright!" Purple said.

"I'd almost lost hope that we'd ever hear from you, our most prized Invader, ever again," Red said while trying to stifle a laugh.

Byron looked down at Zim and asked, "Could I have a moment alone to talk with my new leaders?"

"Of course," he said with a nod and left the room.

"Let me guess," Byron said and looked back up at the screen, "he was a Grade-A-fuck-up on Irk, right? He caused all types of trouble for you, so you sent him here and told him it was a 'special' mission, right?"

The Tallests nod in agreement. "Pretty much."

"Why do you ask?" Purple asked.

"Just wondering." Byron said. "I had a feeling."

Sora decided now is as good a time as any and came out from behind her crate. Then, just before she was noticed, she exclaimed a very sudden, and rational statement, "WICKED UNIFORMS! They look tight around the waist though... are they? How are you able to hold your chests up with such tiny waists? Are they comfortable?"

The room went silent. Tallest Red dropped his burrito in shock and Purple started choking on his donut in mid-swallow. Byron just flinched for a moment and turned around to say, "Aw, crap!"

"Hi!" Sora said.

"I thought we told you to stay upstairs?" Byron asked in a very perturbed tone. His fists were clenched in anger. In one felled swoop, Sora had completely humiliated him in front of the Tallests.

Sora smiled and shrugged, "Yeah, but when the owner of a house is an alien, I can't just sit around. This place is awesome!" She looked up and waved at the Tallests, "By the way, I like your uniforms! They match your eyes perfectly!"

Red smiled and said, "Oh, yeah, they do. You know, you're the first person to actually notice that they..." He then paused for a moment and continued, "Hey! What's she doing in there?"

"It's a long story," Byron said with a pause, "You do realize he's still choking right?"

Red waved his claw nonchalantly, "Oh, yeah, sure. I notice everything. He... Ahhhh!" Red screamed at the top of his lungs as he attempted some freakish form of the Heimlich maneuver. Finally, Red managed to pry the donut from Purple's throat.

Wide-eyed, Sora frowned slightly and commented, "Ouch! I hope he's alright."

"Sora, could you please leave? The aliens are trying to have an intelligent conversation here!" Byron said hastily and motioned towards the door.

"Yes, we're very busy trying to rule the known universe!" Purple said as the color returned to his face.

Sora slumps her shoulders, trying to look pitiful. "Aw, I just wanted to join in the mass destruction, chaos, and head-explodies while raining doom on my own race 'cause they suck." She walked toward the door, but suddenly turned around and shouted quickly, "YOUR SODA ROCKS!"

Red looks at the girl with an odd expression, while eating his newly procured donut, and said to Purple, "I like her. She can stay!"

"Whatever," Purple said and rolled his eyes.

"You," Red said and pointed at Byron, "Leave us! Leave now!"

"Yes, at once, my Tallests! As you wish!" As he sulked out of the room, he whispered to himself, "Jerks!"

After watching Byron leave, she turned to them. "Wow, sounds like you do that often."

"It's a perk." They both say at once.

"Heh, so... what's your Empire like?" Sora asked in her eager quest for knowledge.

"Ah, it's all right." Red said.

"It's big too," Purple interjected.

"So... how many planets have you conquer? Uh, never mind that question. I wanna' know what your science department's like!" She said with a big grin.

"How should we know? We're too busy having to sign autographs and deal with snack shortages to worry about sc-ie-nce," Purple says.

"Purple, quit trying to use big words. You hurt yourself last time." Red scolded.

"Sorry."

"Snack shortages? That's a shame... here on Earth there's got to be a new snack that comes out every month." Sora said.

"Month? What's a month? Is it a new snack?" Purple asked.

"No, it's part of our time frame. But I swear, there's always a new flavored chip... some sort of soda, candy galore. It makes my head spin. Say, are you really coming to Earth and take it over or something?'

"No," they both said flatly.

"We weren't really planning on it." Purple said.

"I didn't even think there was actually a planet where we sent Zim," Red laughed. "We thought he'd run into a sun or something by now."

"Oh, okay. So, uh, no weapons of mass destruction eh?"

"Nope."

"Well damn!" She yelled.

"You're very strange." Red said to her.

"Yes she is." Purple added.

"What's your name again?" Red asked with a strange glint in his eye.

She smiled and said, "Oh I'm sorry. I never fully introduced myself. My name is Sora and it is a honor to speak with such leaders as yourselves, Sirs."

"Sirs?" Red looks over at Purple. "Did she call us robots?"

"I dunno'!" Purple said.

"Oh is that what you called those little robots? Like the one Zim has? Are they... always that crazy?"

"No," Red said. Both he and Purple started laughing. "It's defective!"

"I see. I had that sort of feeling. It must have marbles for brains."

"Pocket change!" Purple laughed even harder.

Meanwhile, outside the com chamber, Zim and Byron were talking unhappily about the situation at hand. "She could compromise the entire mission!" Zim snarled. "She enrage the Tallests so that they'll banish me! Again!"

"I don't think so, Red seemed to like her." Byron paused for a moment. "I'm having a thought, Zim. She may prove useful..." Byron leaned over and began to whisper his idea to Zim.

"Brilliant!" Zim exclaimed.

"Exactly," Byron said. "This young lady my be our proverbial foot in the door."

"I'll be right back," Tallest Purple said.

"Whatever." Red said in response. Once Purple had left, Red got up from the couch and hovered closer to the screen, "So..."

Sora blinked a little surprisedly, "Yes? Is there, uh, something wrong?"

"No, I think everything is JUST right."

She smiles, "Okay. For a moment there I thought I was being annoying and you were going to shoo me off or something."

"Why'd I do that?" Red asked as he looked at the girl.

" I dunno'. Maybe because, I'm very... difficult, as I was once told. I'm very independent and stubborn. I've also been told I have great character in leadership," She stopped and laughed. "I'm not a leader, though. I just yell at people who are doing their job or make them do it faster. Heh, I love bossing people around."

"You like talking too, don't you?" Red said. He hadn't had someone other than Purple talk to him this much since that peace conference, that "accidentally" exploded, that they had to go to!

"Yeah, sorry. Is it bothering you? I won't speak in such detail then."

"Whatever you wanna' do." Red rested his chin in the palm of his claw and gazed into the screen almost transfixed.

"Oh? Okay." Her hand slipped into a pocket and pulled out a pen. "Hey! I found it! I've been wondering where this went today."

"That's nice." Red replied.

She smiled, and pressed a button on the pen. "It's my lucky laser pen!" She laughed. "I love lasers."

"You like lasers?" Red asked. " What about smoke machines?"

"They're kinda sucky. And they smell funny! But Lasers are wicked!"

Red's smile grew wider revealing his teeth. "I couldn't agree more."

She smiles back. "I take it you like lasers too?"

"Yeah." He laughed. "Do you like Earth?"

"Not really." She said. "I like science and stuff like that."

"I was never really into science. It's boring." Red picked up a donut and shoveled it into his mouth. "You want one?"

"Um, how? You're over there and I'm here."

"It's easy." Red popped a couple of donuts in a transmitter cell and within a few seconds, they were resting in an identical cell on the communication desktop.

"Like I was saying, science is boring." Red said completely ignoring the amazing flaunt of scientific triumph.

"Oh that's cool!" She ate a donut. "Hey, these are WAY better than our donuts!" She looked up at Red and said, "Well... I do more than just science ya' know." She winked.

"And what would that be?" Red asked trying his damnedest to look suave.

"Oh... fighting, I can make weapons from scratch, hmm... I dunno'. I've done a lot on my own. I will admit that I've never dated before... unless you don't know what dating is..."

"I know what dating is." Red said.

"Oh you do? That's good, for a moment I thought I'd have to go into some sort of boring lecture."

"So, you wanna' uh, go out sometime?" Red was being his typical bold self. His boldness had gotten him this far in life, how could he fail?

Poor Sora just stood there for a moment. His request had taken her completely by surprise. She blinked once and managed to open her unbelievably, dry mouth, "You mean on a date? You're asking me out on a date?"

"Yeah"

After a few more seconds of silence she spoke again, "Despite the fact we're not the same species?"

"Yeah."

And then, there was yet another pause. Finally, Sora grinned and said, "Sounds like fun!"

A muted "Yes!" could be heard from outside the door.

"I bet it'd be better than what most human males do anyways on dates."

Red grinned bigger. "What's that?"

"Oh boring stuff! My idea of a date is..." Just as she was about to explain, Purple hovered back into the room.

"So, what are you guys talking about? You hitting on another girl?" Purple laughed.

"Mind your own business Purple! I'm busy!"

"Fine! Purple said. "If anybody get's worried, I'll be in my room! So there!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Go on then!"

"I am!"

"Good!"

Purple left in a huff. "You suck!"

"So, where were we?" He said and then arched over the couch, "No, YOU suck!"

Sora suddenly bursts out laughing.

"What's funny?"

After a few caught breaths, she said, "You two. You both act like typical brothers. I love it!"

"Oh, okay," Red said completely oblivious to what the word "brother" meant. "Who's that 'Byron' Irken. I don't remember sending him to be banished with Zim."

"He didn't used to be Irken. He used to be like me."

"You mean, HE used to be human!" Red asked in amazement.

She nods. "From what I heard, yes. I've never saw him as human, though. He develop a serum that changed him into an Irken."

"Cool. That would make dating easier." He said with a smile.

"Not to be rude or anything but... how tall do your people consider 'Tall to rule?'"

"I'm not sure. We don't have the same units of measure."

"Okay. In that case, I think you look very attractive for your height," Sora said.

"Thank you. You're the first person to ever say that without being forced."

"You're welcome, "Sora said. She was just about to add on her previous statement when Byron and Zim reentered the room.

"Did I say you could come back yet?" Red snapped at the two. Without another word the two turned back around and left. "How hard is it to have a conversation around here?" Red asked.

She shrugs. "Beats me," she said. "What do you do as a Tallest?"

"Tell people what to do. Eat snacks. It's really fun," Red told her.

"It does sound fun."

And so the two continued to talk for the next two hours about this and that. Every now and then, Zim would pop in and Red would immediately send him away. As they talked more and more to each other, a bond began to form between them. Finally, Red said, "I wonder what you'll look like with antennae..." Red said dreamily.

She smiles, "Cool."

"Yeah," Red said and absentmindedly reached out accidentally tapping his claw on the screen.

Sora snickered before checking her wristwatch. "Oh drat, I didn't realize what time it was. It was a pleasure speaking with you Tallest Red. I hope we can speak another time?"

"So do I, Sora. I'll miss you."

She smiled once more. "Me too. Compared to the average human male, I'd choose you over all of them."

"Thanks," Red said. "It fills me with great joy to know you'd forsake your entire species for me. We'll get along so well!"

"I know we will," she said.

As the screen went black, Tallest Red leaned back in the couch and thought to himself about the girl named "Sora". He was experiencing a strange feeling he'd never felt before. He sat there for the longest time trying to diagnose this mystery feeling. Then, the thought raced through his mind, 'Could it be LOVE?'

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A/N: Yes, yes, I know. Very mushy. So, what'd you think? I hope it wasn't too drawn out for you. I'm just trying to establish the continuing plot AND introduce a new character. Jeez! Anyway, tell me what you think and give me reviews. Lots of them! Now! Lol Thank you.