"Hand me th -" Zim cut off as the tool he was looking for was already being offered forward by one of the many mechanical arms that were laced throughout the base. He was doing his best to re-attach the PAK on Skoodge's back. From the look of things, it had never been attached properly to begin with. It bothered Zim just a bit that, throughout all of Skoodge's life, he had been to the PAK technicians many times. (Admittedly, some of those visits were because of Zim , back in the days of training ). Surely someone should have noticed it was not properly installed.
He wordlessly took the next tool from C.B. as he continued. It was not the job he had been coded for, but Zim knew a good bit about PAK repair. It had been a necessity back in his Elite Training given how many times he would get injured.
He didn't recall Skoodge ever complaining about an ill-fitting PAK, but admittedly, Zim had not paid much attention to Skoodge back in his training days. Despite the fact that the two had been partners in their schooling, Zim was often busy with other things.
" You think he's still got the pizza ?" Unblinking glowing blue eyes peered over the edge of the table. Zim narrowed his eyes.
"He's not the pizza guy, GIR. He's Skoodge , a fellow Irken invader like myself. Do you understand that?" The robot tilted its head to the side.
" Yeah! "
"Do you really?"
" Noooooo ." At least GIR was being honest.
"C.B., deal with this. Zim has no time for GIR's games!" While the immediate danger for Skoodge had passed, Zim had decided to fix the connectors on his back to- hopefully- stop this from happening again. Why? He wasn't exactly sure, but Skoodge had come all this way and Zim's computer had nearly killed him, so maybe it was just Zim's way of apologizing.
A metal arm came down from the ceiling and picked the SIR up by its torso. GIR giggled and flailed wildly as he vanished into the ceiling. " I'M GOIN' TO SPACE! " GIR's cheer faded eventually into nothing as Zim let out a long sigh.
"You didn't actually launch him into space, did you?" Zim had to be sure.
" No. I simply dumped him on the human upstairs. Why? Did you want me to launch him? It would not be hard; we still have that old canon in the weapons area. "
Zim had to think about it for a moment before finally shaking his head. "No, no leaving him with the human filth is fine." It wasn't like he had too much left to do. It was just delicate work and he did not feel like allowing GIR to run amok in his lab while he had Skoodge's central nervous system open and on display. Dib could handle GIR for a little while, and if he couldn't, that was really more of a Dib problem.
More time passed and Zim finally had fully reattached the PAK to Skoodge's back. It was even better than before, if he was being honest. At least- in his opinion it was. Really the final judge on the matter would be Skoodge . Zim reset the PAK and after only a few seconds Skoodge's eyes fluttered back open and PAK legs unfolded themselves rapidly, making a jab for Zim who easily blocked with his own metallic PAK legs. He had anticipated a reaction like this, since Skoodge had technically been attacked by Zim's (slightly faulty) security.
" Zim ." Skoodge blinked back into the moment and the legs withdrew back into his PAK. He rolled his shoulders turning his head to look more at his back. "Did you fix my PAK?"
"It was easy." Zim waved it off before Skoodge looked too far into the action. "But you have not explained why you decided to come here." Skoodge's antennae drooped at the almost accusatory tone in Zim's voice. He sighed.
"I don't want to be a part of Irk any more. I'm nothing to them. I want to disconnect from the Collective. Like you did."
"You want to disconnect!?"
The Collective.
It was the center of being Irken . It linked you to others, connecting Irkens as one despite the expanses of the universe that separated them. It made Irkens into something far greater than just themselves. All Irkens were linked to the Collective through their PAKs from table drones to Tallest. It was the very essence of their race. While it was not a true hive mind in the sense that all minds were linked to one, controlling source- it was the ever-present knowledge that you were Irken and that you were never, truly alone.
"I'm worried if I don't, they may come looking for me."
"I hardly think that you are worth the time it would take to find you." Zim was being a little harsh, but the mention of the Collective and disconnecting from it had put him on edge. To be forced out of the Collective was so... lonely. It was an unspeakable feeling of isolation as if every thought you had was just being screamed into an empty void when there used to be an audience the size of a planet. It was the harshest punishment an Irken could receive.
"You're probably right. It sounds crazy to say it out loud." Skoodge laughed, most likely feeling the shift in the tone of Zim's words. He could see the harshness in those round, crimson eyes. "But! It's actually a good thing I came anyway." He let the subject drop for now.
"Is it?" Zim was starting to regret fixing the PAK.
"There are a few things I wanted to discuss with you. I mean, you talked so highly of Earth back on Hobo Thirteen. I wanted to see it for myself."
"I feel like there is more to it than tourism..." Zim was a tad confused by Skoodge's aloofness until he heard the elevator doors swing open and a screaming robot was thrown full force into his face. Zim, too, screamed as he tried, unsuccessfully, to pull GIR off.
" Hiya master !"
"DON'T leave me with GIR that long again!" Zim looked in the direction from which GIR had been thrown to find a very angry DIB glaring at him.
"You're still here?" Zim smirked. "I would have thought you'd have given up ages ago."
"I am not your robot baby sitter!" Dib huffed. "And I am not leaving until I get an explanation for who exactly this guy is! Is he some kind of threat? C.B took him out so I'm guessing he's here to take you back to Foodcortia ! You'll have to go through me first!" Dib whipped a little hand held laser gun out of his trench coat pointing it toward Skoodge in what Dib assumed was a threatening manner. Skoodge looked rather nonplussed by having a weapon of unknown origin shoved in his face and just sort of looked to Zim .
"Is your security system just going to let this happen? He has a weapon on him and we just allow it but I have a conversation and I get electrocuted?"
" I analyzed the weapon. It would hurt you but it is nonlethal . You would be fine ." C.B. assured him.
"Really?" Skoodge looked mildly annoyed.
" It is a risk I am willing to take ."
"Dib, put it down. You're not going to intimidate him, he survived Blorch ." Dib looked a little annoyed that his attempt to be a bad ass cop had been so easily shot down, but put the gun back in his coat. "Skoodge isn't a threat, C.B. just ran security protocols a little late." Zim turned to Skoodge , "Which I am very sure he is sorry about."
" I am not ."
Zim ignored him. " Skoodge is..." he paused. "I suppose you would call it a co-worker? He just came to get away from Irk for a little while."
"Maybe forever." Skoodge piped up.
"Right." Zim was not sure how he felt about the idea of having Skoodge back in his life. The loneliness after being severed from the Collective had been... debilitating. Zim had felt so distant from his own species- like he was something else entirely. Looking at another Irken felt almost... alien to him- more so than even looking at the hideous creature that was Dib.
"Well I don't trust him. Not yet." Dib continued to give Skoodge a skeptical look. The chubby Irken seemed unphased by Dib's attempts to be threatening.
"Do you trust me?" Zim asked, pointedly.
"Not... entirely." True the two had developed an odd friendship, but Dib could never be one hundred percent convinced Zim had truly given up on his dreams of conquest. It seemed as if the spark had been drained from him, that was true, but Dib had been fooled by him before.
"Right. You don't trust anyone."
"And I don't trust you either if it helps!" Skoodge piped in.
"Surprisingly it does." Dib was sizing up the other Irken trying to figure out if any of his old ' Zim -Catching' Plans would work on this guy.
" I HEAR BEES !" GIR interrupted the mutual distrust, still attached to Zim's head. " THEY WANT OUR TACOS! WE CAN'T LET THEM HAVE OUR TACOS MASTER! "
"I hear buzzing too." Skoodge's antennae stood up. Dib pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's my phone guys, calm down." He really should just put it on silent, Irkens were far too sensitive to the vibrations and he wasn't a fan to Zim trying to go through his messages.
ROOMMATE (11:36 PM): Hey your computer is going crazy. Is there a way to turn it off?
Dib blinked at the message. He had only left basic monitoring programs running in the background when he left. Why would those be sending out alarms? It was possible one of the many programs he had been using to check for alien entrance into the atmosphere had picked up Skoodge's arrival, but that was hours ago (Dib was only just now seeing the time) and shouldn't have only just now started making noises.
ME (11:40 PM): I'll turn it off . On my way back right now.
"I gotta go." Dib shoved the phone quickly in his pocket "But when I come back tomorrow, you had better be ready to explain what is happening."
"I feel like I've been pretty upfront about it. It isn't my fault you're stupid." Zim retorted. Dib simply flicked him off and headed into the elevator. The two Irkens watched him go in a moment of silence, only broken by the sound of GIR chewing on the top of Zim's head.
"He seems... interesting." Skoodge reached up, helping pull the SIR off of its master.
"He's really not." Zim assured him. "Tell me Skoodge , were you really just planning to up and move to Earth?"
"Honestly?" Skoodge awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "I kind of was."
