Zim narrowed his eyes and took a few steps back from the taller human. Gir giggled and latched onto Zim's arm, but didn't say anything. "What do you want, filthy human?" Zim snarled. "And why on Irk are you dressed like that? You look like one of those silly humans ready for that HORRBILE holiday of TERROR AND DOOM, Halloween."
The Titans were still for a bit, trying to process Zim's odd way of talking and the question. Finally Robin decided to answer. "I'm Robin, and I'm leader of the Teen Titans," he said calmly.
Zim's antennae raised slightly, but his battle stance did not change. "That sounds stupid," he said flatly. "You all look like some crazed rock band or something," he pointed out.
"Dude!" Beast Boy yelled, obviously annoyed. "We're not a rock band, we're super heroes!"
"Like on the TVs!" Gir cheered and tugged on Zim's hand like a hyper five year old. "Mastah! They're from the TVs!"
"What?" Zim asked, having no earthly clue on what Gir was trying to say.
"We're people with super powers who save the world," Cyborg told the confused alien. "And sometimes we're shown on TV. What, does the insane little robot watch a lot of TV or something?"
Zim sighed exasperatedly. "Yes…" he replied sullenly. "He does. But what does that have to do with this? Why are you here! I, ZIM have not done anything wrong!" He paused and grinned. "Yet."
"You are an… Irken, are you not?" Starfire asked tentatively.
Zim looked at the girl who was floating in front of him and narrowed his large red eyes. "Yes…" he said slowly. "You are not human…" he said finally. "You're a Tameranian," he hissed.
"I am," Starfire answered, obviously confused.
Zim snorted and shook his head. "So, another alien is on this miserable planet," he sneered. "And I bet you just love it here," he accused, his voice dripping with contempt.
"I do!" Starfire said boldly. "Earth is a wonderful and beautiful place!" she announced and let starbolts glow around her hands threateningly.
Zim laughed and stood up straight, but let Gir keep a hold of his hand. "So, a group of earth BRATS with powers vow to defend this pathetic little DIRT BALL?" he asked. "What, are you Saturday morning cartoon characters or something?"
"I can't believe you've never heard of the Titans," Danny spoke up. "They're all over the news!"
Zim glared at the ghost boy with obvious annoyance and sneered at him. "Zim does not concern himself with the trivialities of this stupid planet!"
"I seen them!" Gir told Zim. "They fly zoomy-like on TV! It's REAL cool!"
Zim's antennae lowered a little and he looked a little annoyed, although he did not look at Gir. "Gir, please, shut up."
"Okie dokie!" Gir said cheerfully and nodded as he stood by his Irken master.
"What kind of Alien Invader are you if you don't look at world events," Danny asked Zim, trying to understand just who they were up against. He almost seemed as incompetent as the Box Ghost, and yet something told him that he was more then what he seemed.
"I look at world events, filthy floating huuuuuman!" Zim sneered at Danny. "However, your media sources LIE constantly and so it is hard to tell what is REAL and what is not. Therefore I read however I do not believe."
Raven shrugged. "We can't argue there," she noted. "He's right about that."
"Sadly," Robin sighed. He looked back at Zim and narrowed his eyes. "Fine, then who are you and why are you here?"
"Have you not been LISTENING?" Zim yelled outrageously. "I am the MIGHTY Irken Invader ZIIIIM! And I am here to weaken the defenses on this PATHETIC dirtball you call a planet and take it over for the sake of my EMPIRE!"
"Not very smart, is he?" Raven asked Danny who was floating next to her.
Danny laughed, somewhat amused at the tiny green Irken. "No," he admitted. "But he's no worse then the Box Ghost."
Raven blinked. "Who?"
"I've never told you about the Box Ghost?" Danny asked. "He's a ghost who flies around yelling 'Beware! I am the Box Ghooooost!'" Danny mimicked his silly enemy lowering his voice and sounding as silly as possibly. "He can control boxes," Danny added wisely. "And Bubble wrap," he finished, before laughing outright.
Raven blinked at Danny and shook her head slowly. Cyborg, who was listening in laughed outright. "I think we all end up with a 'bad guy' who is just plain easy to defeat. But they keep coming back somehow."
"I know!" Danny replied knowingly. "He just won't… stay in the ghost Zone."
Beast Boy chuckled. "Oh well, at least he's easy to defeat," he said optimistically.
"True," Danny admitted.
Just then, a laser shot came out of nowhere and flew dangerously close to Starfire's head. Everyone looked back to see Zim with some kind of thin metal spear protruding from his back and smoking at the end. Obviously he had been the one to shoot the warning shot. "HEY! Are you pig monkeys done ignoring ZIM YET?" Zim yelled angrily, obviously very offended that he was not being taken seriously as a threat.
Gir giggled and clapped his hands. "Pig monkeys!" he cheered.
"He is armed!" Robin yelled in surprise. He was sure he detected no weapons on Zim's person when the alien touched down.
Zim sneered and three more metal tubes, much like the first one came out of his back and the alien used them to push himself into the air. The tubes bent in three places, so that when he was supported by them, they looked very much like spider legs. The alien launched himself into the air, leaving Gir on the ground to cheer for his master as he came dangerously close to slicing Raven with the glowing lasers on the ends of the 'spider legs.'
As Raven dodged the homicidal alien, she noticed that the legs weren't coming from his back, but they were actually coming from a small, circular device that was attached to the alien's back. It was no bigger then a conventional back pack and it appeared that the legs were coming from inside of it, which left the question, what else could come from it. She intended to not find out and prepared to attack the Irken's small pack like device without a second thought. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" she yelled, sending a jet of black power at Zim's back.
Zim turned around in mid air and straightened the legs out on either side of him. A circular shield formed around his person and protected him from Raven's blast. However, because he was in mid air and unable to adjust his pack-like device to fly quickly enough, the blast propelled him into the ground where he lay, still covered by his force field. Dust and sand came up from the blast and covered Zim from view while Gir ran over to the fallen alien.
"Master!" Gir squeaked and ran into the fray, not caring about anything going on around him.
"STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" Zim yelled as the dust settled. He was standing, although somewhat shakily and he was still covered with his force field.
"Master!" Gir yelled again and took a step forward.
Zim glared at his robot. "Gir, this is a direct order! Do NOT come over here, do you understand? This is ZIM'S battle."
Gir frowned but backed off as Zim turned back to the Titans. "Not bad," he said haughtily as he straightened up. "For a HYUUUUU-MAN!"
Robin pulled out his Bo-staff and stood in front of his team. "He's not bad either," he muttered. "We don't know what he can do. Be careful."
"I think I can get past his shield," Danny said softly, looking at the purpleish haze that was covering Zim.
"Aim for the thing on his back," Raven told Danny. "I think it's his source of power."
"All right," Robin said. "Cover Phantom and distract Zim. Phantom, we're counting on you."
Danny gave the rest of the Titans a small grin. A few months ago and he would have laughed at the idea of being a part of a team, or even being with other heroes. And yet, here he was, fighting alongside the Titans against a silly alien who thought he could take over the planet. Sure it wasn't the most epic of adventures, but somehow, being a part of a team made Danny feel good in a way he never expected. He was being depended upon to help and he was trusted to do it right. And the fact that he was trusted and counted on as a team member had an effect on Danny that the Titans would probably never understand.
When you spend the first few months of your super hero carrier in the shadows and the next few months viewed as some kind of monster, acceptance and faith in his person meant all the world to the teen. He was someone when he was with the Titans. He was Phantom, and he knew he had people depending upon him, which kept him from making some of the reckless decisions that he made when he was alone. This was why he was so proud that he was a Titan. Not because it made him a hero in the world's eyes, but because it made him a hero to people he viewed as heroes. And that meant more to him then anything else.
"Titans, go!" Robin yelled, giving the age old signal to the rest of the team. Starfire and Raven fired off a few of their attacks at Zim, temporarily blinding the Irken as he tried to stave off the powerful blasts with his shield. Danny flew up behind him and went invisible and intangible and flew in past the shield.
"MASTER!" Gir yelled as Danny's hands began to glow a bright green color. "No! Don't hurt my master!" Gir whined as small jets of flame came out of his feet. Obviously the robot was built with the ability to fly, which came as a surprise to more then one Titan.
Zim's force field gave out at that moment and Gir flew into Zim's side, knocking him out of the way of Danny's attack. Danny's attack mixed with Raven and Starfire's combined efforts and created a large explosion.
Danny remained intangible and Raven covered the other Titans with her own power. Danny flew over to where the other Titans were and shook his head. "The robot thing knocked Zim out of the way before I could land a clean attack."
"Obviously it's very loyal," Robin frowned. "I don't like to say this, but maybe we should try a take out Gir before we attack Zim again."
"He!" Zim's voice snarled.
The other Titans turned to see the dust settle from the explosion. Everyone went still, surprised at the scene in front of them. Zim was curled around his robot protectively and covered with his force field. He had his head up and he was glaring at the Titans with obvious fury in his eyes. "Gir is a he!" he snapped again. Slowly Zim stood up and Gir whimpered, hiding behind his Irken master. "And you will PAY!" he said slowly, deploying his spider legs and focusing a ball of energy between the four points.
"Why does a ruthless alien bent on taking over the planet care about a robot he practically called a slave a few minutes ago?" Raven asked quietly.
"Who knows?" Robin asked. "More importantly, we don't have the time to speculate. We have to end this. Now."
All right, there you have it. I hope I explained everything well enough to the people who don't know Invader Zim as well as others. His 'Pak' or the thing on his back will get an explenation soon, too. I promise. Also, to counter 'Zim's not acting very IC' about the whole Gir thing. Actually, as I see him, he seems to be rather fond of Gir, just not too open about it. So, if Gir was about to get blown up in a horrible explosion I think he would protect him like that and get rightfully pissed off. This is to show the Titans that Zim isn't exactly what he seems. And when they learn about the Irken Empire they'll understand how... not irken-like Zim is acting.
Also, introspective Danny is such a treat to write. XD I looooooooove it when he gets all deep. As immature as he can act some times, he's shown a lot of suprisingly mature decisions in the show. Just thought I'd try my hand at it. Yey Danny! I can't wait to develop him. Something tells me it's going to be a lot of fun.
So, awesome people who read the author's notes, cheers to you and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The plot-plot gets rolling at the end of the next one I beleive. Until next time! Hugs to my reviewers, I absolutely love getting feedback on this. Any ideas or suggestions you may have I'm more then willing to listen to.
Bye for now.