I know I already said this, but things will be getting intense here, particularly between Red and Ilk. Oh, well, you'll see what I mean.

Enjoy!

Lost

Chapter 13- Scars

Meanwhile, at the camp...

When Blue went to make sure Ilk was okay he didn't protest. He might be mad at Tallest Red, but his smeet had nothing to do with the issue. He had a bad feeling when they didn't return soon, especially when Fury lifted his head and stared at the forest. "What's up, boy?" Then they heard a shriek of pain coming straight from the trees, followed by a distress call from Ilk.

The irkens were instantly on their feet, though Tallest Red was still clutching his abdomen. "What was that?!"

Fury ran straight into the woods in the blink of an eye. "Looks like we've got company!" Captain snarled, picking up Nekusarai from its resting spot. "I'll handle this, you two stay here!"

"I'm not going to sit by while my daughter is under attack!"

"You'd only get in the way, Irken, you can barely stand on your feet!"

"Red, he's right, you're still hurt…"

"I don't care, I'm going to save my smeet whether the lizard likes it or not!"

"Irken, get back here! IRKEN!" Captain snorted when his calls went unattended; Red had picked up the sword and ran straight into the woods. That idiot was going to get himself killed. Well, at least the doctor was more rational…. Nevermind, she darted into the forest with the twin sai. "I'm surrounded by idiots."

Meanwhile, Blue had barely managed to get back on his feet and carry Ilk to a safety line behind the trees just as a numerous team of Hothians ran out from between the trees, shooting at anything that moved, particularly him. It helped that Zim had sprung out of the trees on his PAK-legs, forgetting about GIR for the time being, and deflected the plasma shots with his blade with surprising skill.

"Take Ilk-smeet to safety, Blue-beast!" Zim yelled and sliced through one of the soldiers like a bar of chilled buttermilk humans eat with their toast.

Blue did as told, almost running into Fury when he stopped behind a thick treeline. The indokuro let out gentle purrs as he rubbed his head against Blue. "I'm okay, boy! Go help Zim!" Fury snorted and went in the direction of the plasma shots and the yells, the latter coming undoubtedly from Zim.

Soon after Red and Lena caught up to them, the former panting heavily with cold sweat running down his face. Blue wondered how it was even possible for him to be moving at all in his condition. Guess parental love really did have its perks, even for a race that had long given up in organic reproduction.

"Ilk, are you okay?!" Red asked, checking on his daughter for any possible injuries.

"I'm fine, dad! It's Blue who got hurt!"

"It's just a plasma burn, nothing serious." Blue assured her.

Red contained the urge to snap that he didn't care about what happened to him. The kryvtor was probably wary about him, considering what had transpired a while ago. "Take her back to the campsite while I deal with those bastards!"

"But dad-!" Ilk was about to protest only to be cut off.

"No buts, Ilk!"

"Red, wait!" Lena tried to stop him but was too slow to grab his arm; he was already gone. Men!

Ilk was too worried about Blue's injury to get mad at dad for treating her like a smeet yet again. "Lena, could you check up on Blue?"

"I'm not sure he will let me, Ilk."

Blue sighed. "Like I said, it's nothing serious, it'll heal on its own."

Right. She had forgotten the self-regeneration thing. At that moment Captain burst out from between the trees, but he did not stop to chat and instead ran past them towards the battlefield. Guess he really was itching for an actual fight. "Are you going to join them too, Lena?"

Lena shook her head. "I'd rather stay out of the conflict."

Ilk recalled she was still in Blue's arms; the last thing she needed right now after what happened a while ago. "Um… Would you mind putting me down, Blue?" As soon as she was back on the ground she skipped over to Lena's side, rubbing her forearms. "You will go back there, won't you?" She asked him.

To tell the truth it was more out of his people's lust for fighting than to actually save the Irken who was willing to have them die, but he wasn't going to tell her that. "Guess your… dad will need a hand…"

Blue noticed something else. "How about you? You'll go back to camp like he said?" Her crimson eyes flickered with a deep disappointment. "Or…?"

"Ilk, we should go back…" Lena said in a gentle manner, placing her hand on her shoulder.

"Or do you want to fight?"

"What are you saying? Red said-!"

"In case you haven't noticed he's not very good at making good decisions!"

Ilk pondered on Blue's question as they argued. Do you want to fight? Did she? She had been in the simulations, in which she excelled, and Blue had given her quite some lessons in the morning. She had the skills, but she had never been allowed to put them in practice before. Her eyes drifted towards the sound of the laser shots and the angry yells. Dad wouldn't be able to keep up for long in his condition, even with Fury, Zim and Captain there.

And she was right. Three minutes after emerging into the battlefield and slicing through at least five soldiers Red had to stop. The adrenaline had mitigated the pain on his side, but without his PAK giving him painkillers and with the lack of sugars and fats in his diet the past few days, soon his body reached its limit.

"My Tallest, watch out!" Zim barely had time to jump in front of Red to deflect a plasma shot directed right at his chest. Just like before, he deflected the ammunition right back towards its source, sending the Hothian backwards and stunning him.

"Thank you, Zim…" Red groaned rather begrudgingly while clutching his injured abdomen. Mental note, wash his mouth thoroughly once they were back on the Massive. He had to admit, though, Zim might be a terrible Invader, but he had been a member of the Elite corps alongside him and Purple back on the day*. Guess he had forgotten the little defective did have his perks.

"Impressive, Hitorken Zim!" Captain roared right as his blade sliced right through a Hothian's limbs, chopping them off, and finishing him off with a clean cut on the neck. The sight of the silvery blue blood pouring out of the body like water from a broken dam sent waves of adrenaline through his body.

It had the opposite effect on the Irkens, of course. Zim screamed when the dismembered head landed steps away from him. Red's eyes almost popped out of his head as he stared at it. "I'm going to throw up."

Captain laughed as a second head went rolling unto the snow. "Come on, Irken, it's not that bad! You're going to tell me you've never seen blood before?"

"I've never seen a fucking head rolling right in front of me!" Red brought a hand to his lips when the bottom of his squeedly-spooch started squirming. One of the soldiers aimed his weapon at Red, but barely had time to react as Fury's jaws closed on his head and tore it off his body. This time the Tallest did throw up. What is it with Sobrekt and beheading?!

Zim yelled in anger. "GIR! Where are you when I need you?!" Almost on cue GIR came out of the woods with a big bunch of mushrooms. He waved his hand. "Hi, master!"

"GIR, aren't you seeing we are under attack?!"

"Attack? Is that a game?"

Red would have said something, but decided to let Zim handle his robot. He knew that piece of junk better than anyone, anyway. "Yes, GIR, is a game!" Zim yelled, dodging some blows from close-range soldier. "You have to knock down all the grey men to win!"

"And what's the prize?"

"Err...!" Zim panicked and slid out the vortpad from his PAK. "This flash game pad!"

Red whipped his head to look at Zim in disbelief. "Have you lost your mind, Zim?!" It was too late to take it back. GIR had burst into a yell of excitement and jumped to the head of the nearest Hothian to pull his hairs, unintentionally using the alien as a puppet to shoot at his comrades.

At that moment reinforcements-from both sides-arrived. Blue almost flew in the air as he proceeded to… Yes, you guessed, decapitate whatever Hothian was in front of him. Trailing behind him was… Red swore he was having a squeedly-spooch stroke. "ILK?!" He watched as she ran out of the bushes with Masouri's sword.

Ilk sped over towards the nearest soldier, but unlike Blue's blows hers were non-fatal and she merely incapacitated the Hothians by slicing through their legs, rendering them immobile. Looks like that pre-Invader combat training wasn't a complete waste of time after all; it made her first blood-spilling more bearable.

"Red!" Lena made her way into the battlefield. She said she'd stay out of the conflict, but she couldn't just stand there while her Tallest was at his limit and utterly defenseless. Like she mentioned before, however, she was rather lacking in the 'field operation' department. Her movements to dodge the projectiles-either directed at her or randomly going in her direction-were clumsy and nervous, but somehow she managed to get to him unscathed. "Red, how are you feeling?!"

"Oh, I'm wonderfully! My daughter just disobeyed me and my abdomen is killing me, but I'm fine!"

"Putting the sarcasm aside, I told you you were in no condition to fight!"

"Save the sermon for later, Lena!" They whipped their heads around just in time to see a Hothian running towards them with a sharp knife aiming at Lena's stomach.

What happened next was a blur for Lena. For a brief moment she blocked out and wasn't aware of the following ten seconds. When she came back to her senses the Hothian's face was inches from hers with eyes widened in shock; a second later he collapsed unto the snow with a bleeding hole on his chest. Lena blinked slowly. Her antenna were flat against her head. She thought she heard Red talking in whispers, but she didn't quite understand what was going.

There was something in her hand. Looking down, she saw one of the dual sai in her tight grip with silver-blue blood dripping from its long, thin blade. Lena looked down at the body, then at her hand. It took her a few seconds to process what had just happened.

Red couldn't believe it. Lena had just made her first kill ever if she really meant it when she said she had never taken a life before. In an apparent instinctive act of self-defense Lena had quickly grabbed one of the dual sai and driven it right into the Hothian's heart when he tried to stab her, but then she froze in place with a blank expression.

Just then the last of the soldiers fell with his head missing. When they made sure they were safe for the time being, Ilk ran towards her father and Lena to see if they were okay. "Dad?"

The reaction he had was not what she was expecting. "You are in so much trouble, young lady." He hissed, frowning deeply.

Ilk blinked. "What? Why?"

"Why? You disobeyed a direct order and put yourself at risk!"

Flirking unbelievable. She just successfully survived her first battle and he was mad about it?! "Are you serious?! I might have saved your life!"

"That's not the point, Ilk! I gave you a simple order: go back to the camp and let me handle this!"

"Oh, yeah, You were handling it really well."

Red flattened his antenna against his head and gave his smeet the most severe glare up to then. "You will not talk to me again in that tone, Ilk. I'm not only your father, I'm your Tallest."

"Do you really have to bring that up right now?"

Captain approached and coughed loudly. "I hate to interrupt your chatter, but…" He pointed at Lena, who had not moved nor reacted to the argument.

"Doc?" Zim tugged unto her skirt, but she didn't shift. Fury purred and pushed her gently, but Lena didn't even flinch at the contact with the feared creature.

Okay, first he'd make sure she was okay. Then he'd talk with Ilk about her insubordination. "Lena?" Red placed a hand on her shoulder. Nothing. He shook her slightly. "Lena!"

Captain and Blue had a good idea as to what was wrong with her. They had seen a few hatchlings react like this when they made their first kill. The former had the feeling this would be especially harder for her given that she was a medic; doctors took their 'ethical oaths' very seriously.

GIR ran up to Zim and pulled unto his shirt. "Did I win, master?"

Minutes Later...

Lena had not said a single word since they returned to the campsite. He was getting worried.

"She's in shock." Captain said.

"But why?"

"Think about it, smeet. She has never killed anything in her entire life* and then suddenly she realizes just stabbed a guy in the heart. She's going to have nightmares about it for weeks, at best."

"At best? And what would be a worst case scenario?"

"It doesn't help that some of us are covered in blood…" Blue looked down at his silverish-stained clothing.

Zim dipped his spoon in. "Hyoomans call it Poststtraumatic stress disorder. All she needs is to be exposed to the thing causing her the stress and face it."

"That's for phobias." GIR responded.

"YOU LIE!"

Red sat down next to Lena and waved a hand in front of her eyes. Nothing. "What should we do then?"

"For now we wait," Captain stated. "She should come out of it on her own, and when she does she'll most likely cry her eyes out." He wasn't really sure of how Lena would react, actually, since he didn't know her much other than the fact she was a doctor. It really varied depending on the individual's personality.

"I think we should give her a bit of space." Blue suggested. "Otherwise she might feel… overwhelmed."

"You go ahead, I'll make sure she's okay," Red said. He frowned at Ilk. "You and I still have a pending talk." Ilk didn't respond. She just followed Zim and GIR away from the campsite as Lena and Red were left alone.

Okay, now to figure out what to do. Captain said she'd snap out of it on her own, but what if she took too long? What if they ran into trouble again? She needed to come back to her senses, and soon.

Tentatively he wrapped an arm around Lena's shoulders and pulled her closer into an embrace. "Lena, can you hear me?" How silly, of course she could hear him. She just wasn't responsive. "Listen, you have nothing to worry about. I'm here with you." He spoke softly.

The whispering returned. Who was that, again? That voice was very familiar, where had she heard it before? Lena blinked once. That felt good, the snowflakes had gathered on her ocular orbs. The voice spoke again. Her antenna twitched in response to the sound. Now she knew where she had heard it.

Red…?

Lena blinked a few more times as everything came back. She was back in the campsite (she didn't remember coming back here, though), right in front of the fire, but the others were missing. Where had they gone? What happened?

She heard Red ask. "Lena? Can you hear me now?" She could, but she didn't respond.

Her fist was still closed around something. Lena looked at said hand, noticing the bloody sai still in her grip. Wait a minute. Bloody…? Why was she holding a bloodied weapon…?

Then it came back. The battle, going to Red to make sure he was okay, the Hothian coming towards her with a knife threatening to stab her, her self-defense triggering and… Lena opened her eyes at the realization of what she had done. She had gone against everything she stood for. She had killed… No. No, no, no!

Red panicked when tears started trickling down Lena's face. She took a hand to her mouth and broke into a sobbing fit. "Lena?"

"I killed him…! I killed him!" Lena chanted repeatedly. She wrapped her arms around herself in a sort of protective ball.

"Lena-!" He tried to get her attention, but she ignored him. Usually he would have snapped by then, but she wasn't just a common drone he could get mad at. Besides, he remembered Miyuki having a similar reaction back in their Elite days… Why did he bring Miyuki into this again? As Lena continued to sob and repeat how she had killed that Hothian, however, he realized he would have to be firm.

He grabbed Lena by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "Lena, stop crying and listen to me! Stop making such a fuss over that man, would you?!" He shouted. She didn't respond, but her eyes went wider as they set on him, which let him know she was listening. "So what if you killed him?! He would have killed you if you hadn't done so, so don't feel sorry for the bastard!

"I know you are a doctor, Lena! I know you made an oath! And believe me, I know killing is not a pleasant experience for some people, but sometimes there isn't another choice! Some people don't deserve to die, that's right, but there are others who should be wiped out from the face of the universe! This guy was of the latter group! So you have to get over this and move on!" That might sound a bit harsh, but it's the truth. He knew what he was talking about.

Lena merely stared at him in utter shock. Red initially thought she would argue back, snap at him, punch him or something, but she didn't. Instead she looked at the fire and rubbed her forearms. "How can you live with it…?"

"What?"

"You were a soldier. You still are even if you are not as active as before. You have killed thousands of people of different races and yet you are not bothered by it in the least. How do you do it…?"

Well, the PAK's emotion filter dealt with that issue, plus all those people he killed were of inferior species, so he didn't give it a damn about them, but that was not the answer Lena wanted to hear at the moment. And besides, despite usually feeling no remorse over deaths Red had to admit he still had some… demons. "It's not that simple. While it's true my hands are stained with alien blood and I don't care about it, there are a few cases that do haunt me."

"Such as…?"

Red sighed and looked into the fire. "Three years ago. Two kryvtor assassins somehow got into the Massive. One of them went to Ilk's room to kidnap her while the other came after me and Purple," he still remembered how he looked like. Blue reminded him of that assassin in particular, except that one's eyes had been a toxic green and his face was covered in scars. "He gave a hard fight, but in the end we managed to defeat him; I landed the killing blow on him when he started making threats about Ilk..."

"Then the other one was brought before us. When he saw the other's body he broke down; he got free of the guards restraining him, but instead of attacking he… he went to the corpse, held it tightly and wept as if he were his most precious treasure. Then he glared at me and called me a murderer… and nearly attacked me until he was recaptured."

"Why does that case in particular bother you? You hate the Sobrekt."

"It's not about the species I killed. It's about who I had killed," Red sighed again. "The kryvtor I had killed was his son. I had deprived a father of his child. That didn't use to bother me, but..." he glanced at the woods briefly. "...Ever since I got Ilk… I saw myself in that kryvtor… I saw what could happen to me someday, what I would do if I lost her… Then I realized that if I had not done it, he would have gone after Ilk next. It's just like the issue with the flower: I might have doomed others, but I saved Ilk. That's all that matters."

"So yes, Lena. Killing somebody is not an easy task, and certainly not everybody has the cold blood to do it, but when you do, you have to understand it's either their life… or yours or that of somebody you love."

Lena placed a hand on his shoulder sympathetically. He was not as heartless as some people (all of them alien, no Irken would ever think such a thing of their Tallest)said, he did have his own fears and insecurities. She found the love he had for his smeet quite… endearing. Even if they were currently having some issues.

Red looked for something in his PAK. He might not be able to fully access to the compartments, but there was a particular space the virus had left untouched because it didn't have any weapons. It was a blue cinnamon roll from the batch Miyuki had made for him. These always cheered him up, and he certainly needed some of that right now.

Lena blinked. "Is that…?"

"Yes. Just don't tell Purple or he'll kill me." Red thought for a moment. To Lena's surprise he carefully tore the roll in two parts and held out one of the pieces to her. "Here."

Lena blinked. "R-Red, I could never…"

"I insist."

She could hardly believe this. Tallest Red was sharing a snack with her*. Tallests never shared their snacks with anyone, they were a very expensive luxury available only to the Irken leaders, or whoever had enough monies to afford them every now and then. And he was offering some of it to her! She couldn't just refuse it, it would be insulting for the Tallest.

Tentatively she grabbed the half of the cinnamon roll and gave it a small bite. Her antenna stood straight. "This is very good!"

Red just smiled as he enjoyed the treat alongside her.

Meanwhile...

"Zim?"

"What is it, captain-beast?"

"Is this… normal?"

"What do you mean?"

Captain pointed at Ilk, who was currently smashing yet another crudely-made snow version of Tallest Red. GIR was more than glad to help her vent off by making lots of mini snow-red heads while Ilk proceeded to hit, crush and smash them with a stick or her feet. All the while she yelled words in the Irken native tongue. The Sobrekt were glad not to understand what she was calling Tallest Red, the rather obvious object of her anger.

"Shouldn't we do something?" Blue asked.

"You should never get in the crossfire when an Irken is venting off, Blue-beast." Zim pointed out matter-of-factly. He was aware that Ilk had Tallest Red's temper.

"At the very least could we… I don't know, ask her why she's in that state?" Blue inquired.

"Be my guest, Blue-beast, but Zim warned you."

Blue approached the fuming Irkenette warily, his talon claw tapping on the snow unconsciously. She certainly was scary when angry. "Um, Ilk…?"

"WHAT?!" Ilk shouted at him.

He didn't step back in fear. Rather he blinked in surprise, his crest bristling in response. It was very hard to actually frighten a Sobrekt, or 'take them by surprise' as they prefer to say. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Of course I'm not! For the first time ever I actually battled and wiped the floor with real opponents and dad gets mad?! What's his flirking problem?! And he wants me to be an Invader?! It's always the same with him!" For emphasis she stepped on another snow-red's head with all the force her foot could muster. GIR wailed for a few seconds before shrugging it off and going to make another.

Captain gulped internally at the display. "Blue, perhaps we should give her some space…"

"Let her finish." GIR said. Oddly, his eyes had flashed red for a brief moment there before going back to his crafting.

"He insists to treat me as if I were a little smeet! I'm almost one Irk year old, for the Tallest's sake! I can take care of myself, I don't need him to send in a whole group of guards when I go to the flirking restroom! How does he expect me to be an stupid Invader if he won't even let me out of the Massive?! He expects me to learn everything from such an arrogant, self-serving idiot like Larb?!"

This angry rambling went on for about ten more minutes, letting out all the frustration that had been eating her on the inside for a long time. It turned out to be a good thing. By the time she got tired of shouting, she felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest.

GIR had lost interest in the snow-reds and started making a snow-zim instead. Zim joined him in part because he wanted the 'snow statue in his likeness' to look as close as the original as possible. Blue and Captain hadn't moved yet, but they were staring at her with slit pupils.

Ilk felt a hot breath snort her. This time she didn't jump in fright like before. She merely turned her head around. Fury was staring down at her with his head tilting to the side. He made a purring-like noise.

"He's worried about you." Blue translated the body language.

"Oh, well… I feel better now that I got all of that out of my chest…" Ilk said a bit hesitantly. "Thank you for your… concern, though." This apparently wasn't enough for him, though. He lowered his head further and gently rubbed against her shoulder. Ilk did jump a bit backwards this time. "D-Don't do that…!"

"He's trying to comfort you, Ilk. Chill out, he will not hurt you if he's not ordered to."

"I know, but…" She couldn't explain it, but everytime she looked at Fury something inside her brain made her freeze. It was a sort of deja-vu feeling, but that was impossible, she had never seen an Indokuro before Fury. At least that's what she thought, but then why did a part of her tell her that was not the case?

Thankfully Fury's attention shifted from her to GIR and Zim, who had switched the snowirken-making process to draw on the ground with sticks.

"I know it's not my business, smeet, but from all those things you just rambled about.. You don't want to be an 'Invader'?" Captain asked tentatively.

Ilk sighed. There was no point in denying it anymore. "I don't. I don't have the stone-cold heart to stab people in the back, and I don't like the idea of enslaving a species and destroying their home," she crossed her arms with a deep frown. "But dad for some reason thinks otherwise and he put me in an impossible situation."

"Impossible situation?" Blue inquired.

"He convinced the Control Brains and now they're sending me to Devastis to become an Elite, and then an Invader. I have no way out of it. Not even dad or uncle Pur can help me, the Brains' decisions override even the Tallest's. I don't know what to do about it… My soul technically belongs to the Control Brains."

Captain and Blue exchanged a glance. They didn't know much about the Control Brains, nor Irken culture in general other than their conquest-driven habits and war tactics. They could figure out she really was in dead end if these 'Control Brains' were as powerful as she made them sound. "Have you tried to talk with them?"

"The only time I saw them was when they decreed my fate." Ilk said bitterly.

"How about your dad?"

"Didn't you hear? He doesn't understand, he's just hellbent on me doing what he wants. And even if he weren't, I just said the Control Brains override even him."

Captain snorted. Typical of that Irken, one thing goes through one antennae and goes out through the other.

"He must have his… reasons to act the way he does," Blue said, looking in the direction of the campsite. "Don't be so hard on him. In the end, he just wants what's best for you even if he makes mistakes. Nobody's perfect, after all."

Ilk couldn't believe what she was hearing from Blue. "Why are you defending him? You were mad at him not long ago."

Blue simply shrugged. "Like I said, nobody's perfect."

"Especially him." Captain quickly added.

"Haha, victory for Zim!" Zim dropped his stick and lifted his arms up. The 'doodle' of himself he had made in the snow was indeed bigger and less childish than GIR's. The little robot looked down in disappointment. "Awww."

Fury stared at the two crudely-made drawings. Seconds later he went to a nearby tree, plucked a long thick branch and started drawing on the ground himself. A few turns here and there, some lines, circles and voilá!

Ilk had watched the whole thing in awe, especially when she realized he had drawn his own face. She never imagined the Indokuro would have a sense of self.

"It's better than the last one, Fury." Blue complimented.

Even Zim joined in. "Not bad for a sobrekt-beast." He said in a superior tone, much to Blue's delight. He inadvertently stepped on one of the lines in Fury's drawing, earning a snarl. Zim quickly stepped back, lifting up his hands defensively.

Ilk was certain he meant something like 'don't step on my drawing, I didn't step on yours!' Tentatively she made a gesture of placing her foot on one of the lines. Fury turned his head sharply towards her, growling at her. "Fury." Blue warned. Ilk removed her foot and Fury went back to his curious expression. Interesting.

Ilk started moving through the 'piece of art' while making sure not to step on any lines. She did not notice she had inadvertently ended up right in front of Fury until she felt his hot breath yet again on her back. Turning around she found his snout inches away from her, his piercing golden eyes looking down at her with great curiosity. This was so unlike the shadow that haunted her dreams sometimes. Unlike the monster she met a few days ago.

"Hold out your hand and turn your head away." She heard Blue say.

"What?"

"Trust me."

"Chill out, smeet. Blue told you before, Fury won't hurt you unless he's ordered to or you give him a reason to do so." Captain chuckled.

Ilk doubted for a few moments, but eventually she did as told. She stretched out her arm and held out her hand while averting her gaze. Fury's breath caressed her gloved hand. He was probably investigating her smell. Ilk shivered when she felt a mild touch pressing against her palm seconds later.

Fury had pressed his nose against it.

"What just happened?" GIR asked out of genuine curiosity.

"You could say Fury just accepted her as a friend." Blue smiled lightly at the scene.

Friend…? Ilk looked up at Fury as he opened his eyes. With one last purring sound he went back to Blue's side. She couldn't help but smile a bit. Perhaps Blue wasn't so bad after all.

Zim glanced at Captain and Blue warily and whispered to GIR. "Are you recording this?"

GIR merely saluted with a goofy smile.

*It's been mentioned that Zim is more than capable of conquering Earth, but doesn't know where to put his focus and gets distracted by unimportant threats, plus his own arrogance often gets in the way. Besides, we shouldn't forget he was an Irken Elite at some point in his life, and he must have been a really good soldier to have achieved that rank. My headcannon is that he is a very seasoned warrior when he properly focuses.

*I know Irkens are all soldiers and bred for war, but I think there might be a few jobs in which they don't get to kill on a daily basis, such as medics. Lena, in particular, never got the chance to participate in battle because she worked in Irk, so she has never killed anything. Plus, she is very serious about her job's ethic.

*The Tallest would, obviously, never share their precious snacks with anyone, so when they actually do it means the person in question is very important to them. Any hints?

I know, yet another reference to HTTYD, but as I've mentioned before I think Fury's personality is similar to Toothless.

Next chapter: Tensions within the group threaten to tear it apart, especially after an encounter with yet another nasty creature.