Danny took off into the air and hovered just beyond Zim's peripheral vision and nodded to Robin. Robin took note of Danny's position with a slight nod before turning his attention back to Zim. "Why do you want to take over this planet anyways?"
This question derailed Zim for a second. He was used to Dib yelling at him incoherently, not being asked his motive for doing what he did. Zim paused briefly before narrowing his eyes at Robin and scoffing haughtily. "My mighty Empire has marked this planet for conquest," he announced while he crossed his arms behind his death laser. "I was sent here as an Invader scout to find this DISGUSTING planet's weaknesses and get it ready to be destroyed before the main armada gets here."
"So, you just do whatever your leaders tell you?" Raven asked, catching on to what she hoped was Robin's plan.
Zim nodded as if this was painfully obvious. "Of course. I am an Irken!" Zim told them, as if this fact alone should have cleared up any doubt anyone had about how he worked.
Robin looked a little apprehensive. Apparently using the 'make the underling upset at the big guy' tactic wasn't going to work with the little alien. He had to think of something else, another mind game to play before he could let Phantom attack. He didn't want to hurt anyone or anything any more then he absolutely had to. On top of that, the strange creature had demonstrated that he had the ability to care, or at least have concern for another creature.
While Robin was battling with his conscience, Danny was having similar thoughts of his own. It was perplexing to have an enemy that was more aggressive once that person had something to protect. He had the same problem with Johnny and Kitty. They weren't bad people, just more misguided then anything else. It wasn't as if they were wonderfully good people either. The shades of gray that so often were used to paint the times he went through to do his job were confusing and not always appreciated. He liked it when all he had to worry about was 'another bad guy' as opposed to worrying incessantly about whether or not he was doing the right thing.
Still, a bad person was a bad person and there was no way in heaven or hell that Danny would allow anyone to try and take over the planet without doing something. That much he was sure of. It was just a matter of how powerful Zim was and how much power he was willing to use before he deemed it beyond his comfort zone.
Fortunately for the Titans, or at the very least Danny and Robin, they were saved from this moral dilemma a few minutes later when a loud beeping sound came from Zim's 'Voot' spaceship. Zim looked from the Titans, to his ready attack, to his ship then back to the Titans. You could almost hear his poor brain wondering what to do about the current situation he was in.
Finally, after his ship had continued beeping for about a minute or so, Starfire felt the need to point it out. Just in case. "Irken Zim? I think your ship is beeping."
Zim bit his lower lip as if he was trying to resist something. Whatever he was trying to resist won out in the end and Zim's laser attack dwindled to nothing as he trotted over to his space ship.
Danny and the others were too shocked at this decision to do anything else but stare. The homicidal Irken had simply put away his attack to go find out whatever was going on. Even worse was that when he pressed a large red button and the beeping stopped, a large screen appeared with two taller Irkens dressed in red and purple battle armor appeared on it.
Zim had stopped a heated battle to answer a call. Like those annoying people in the theatre that leave on their cell phones and answer them in the middle of a show. Only this was a life and death battle.
Zim almost looked guilty when he answered this call. "Yes my Tallest?" he asked the two Irkens on the screen.
The Irken in the red armor cleared his throat. "Zim, your presence is requested on the massive, immediately."
Zim's antennae sank a little and he almost looked put out. "But my Tallest, I was in the middle of…" he began before the Irken in the purple armor interrupted him.
"Woah-woah-woah…" he said quickly and gave a short laugh as he cradled his head with a claw as if he was highly amused. "Are you talking back to us, Zim?" he asked jokingly but everyone present could detect a hint of a threatening undertone in his voice.
"Of course not my Tallest!" Zim answered quickly and reassuringly. "I will be there as soon as I am able."
"Good," the red one said. "We expect you here soon. And bring your robots."
"Yes, my Tallest," Zim said authoritatively and saluted the monitor. After the screen went blank he hopped out of the Voot cockpit and glared at the Titans. "You silly Teen Titaniums or Aluminums or whatever you're called, know that you are incredibly LUCKY that this awesome battle of power and might has been stopped. For had it continued you surely would have been defeated by my awesome strength."
No one, not even the wise cracking Cyborg had anything to say to that. It was just so ludicrous that by the time he was ready with a come back, Zim was already halfway into his ship.
"Come Gir! Let us flee this arena of doom and answer to my Tallest!" Zim announced in an exaggerated voice before jumping into his Voot and lifting into the air. Danny turned quickly to see Zim pick up the extra Voot in some kind of tractor beam before flying off into the distance and disappearing quickly.
Danny sunk slowly back to Earth and lit gently next to Robin. "That was…" Danny searched for the right word to describe the sheer insanity of what just happened, but his limited vocabulary came up short.
"Interesting?" Beast Boy supplied weakly, adding a chuckle at the end.
"You could say that," Cyborg agreed.
"That was annoying," Raven said darkly. "I'll be glad if we never fight him again."
"Sorry Raven," Robin told the tall girl. "He… is a threat. Or at least, I think the idea of him calling a giant armada of war ready aliens is a threat. As such, we should probably research this more."
"Well, I'll have to dig a bit but I bet I can find out where his base is," Cyborg supplied.
"Sounds good," Robin agreed. "But if he's leaving for his leaders now, then it we need all the time we can get. Base is pretty far away. Is there any possible way you could do it from our ship?"
"I need more powerful computers then that," Cyborg admitted reluctantly. "Or at least a really powerful little computer."
Danny literally jumped into the air and hovered a few inches above the ground as an idea came to him. "I think I know someone who can help us technologically," he told the Titans. "And he lives in Amity Park too."
"Who is he?" Robin asked Danny, raising an eyebrow at Danny's obvious excitement.
"Them, actually. The computer person of our group is really Tucker, though," Danny explained. He was excited because he finally could show the Titans how he worked. In his town. Not to mention that Sam and Tucker would be thrilled.
Robin exchanged glances with the other Titans and finally nodded to Danny. "Lead the way."
Danny floated into a park cautiously and glanced around. After he assured himself that no one who he knew was around, he planted his feet onto the ground and waved his arms. "Hey guys!"
The Titans looked on as a pretty girl with purple eyes and dark black hair pulled into a top knot and a geeky looking African American boy with teal eyes and a red beret stepped out into the clearing. The boy was the first to react. "OH MY GOSH!" he yelled. "It's the TEEN TITANS!"
Danny nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah Tuck. I already explained it, right now we need your tech. Can you calm down enough to track someone?"
Tucker blinked once and grinned. "Of course! I got the best of the best on this baby," he said as he pulled out his PDA. "Latest in any kind of public and private GPS software AND voice controlled tracking system."
Cyborg couldn't resist. He looked over Tucker's shoulder at the sleek device with glee. "Wow! This thing is more advanced then anything out on the market. What did you do to it?"
"I just added a few things," Tucker said modestly while pretending to blush. "Plus I get every new software that comes out. Watch this, I can even pinpoint where we are in about .556 seconds!"
"Ah, boys and their toys," Sam said slowly as she walked over to stand next to Danny. "I especially like how he forgets to mention that when companies send me their promotional stuff, I give it to him to improve his PDA."
Tucker and Cyborg stopped babbling over the small device long enough for Tucker to give Sam a guilty smile. Then he quickly resumed giving Cyborg the virtual tour of his nifty little device.
Robin laughed and held out his hand for Sam to shake. "I'm Robin, leader of the Teen Titans. I hope it wasn't too much trouble to call you out."
Sam shook her head and took Robin's hand in a firm shake. "Nah, anything to get away from my parents. They were trying to talk me into going to some stupid dinner with them. I'm Sam by the way. Sam Manson."
Danny nodded and motioned to her and Tucker. "They're my best friends," he explained. "And they have helped me since day one to capture ghosts and deal with my powers."
Starfire floated over to Sam and clasped her hands together. "Oh, it is wonderful that Phantom has such wonderful friends. Please, may I inquire as to what your favorite color, food, music, pastime and books are and will you be my friend?"
Sam blinked while Danny guffawed by her shoulder. He remembered when Starfire had given him basically the same greeting. "Well, sure," Sam replied slowly. "Uh, black, tofu, Dumpty Humpty, I like to meditate and help Danny capture ghosts, my favorite books are probably anything dark or with a good story and sure. If you don't mind me being goth that is."
"No, I do not mind," Starfire replied happily and smiled. "Yay new friend!" she announced and hugged the poor goth girl.
Sam twitched a little and frowned. "Okay, while the idea is appreciated the affection scares me."
Raven grinned. "Don't worry. Unless you state otherwise this is the only hug you get."
Sam looked relieved as Beast Boy looked ecstatic. "Dude! You like tofu?" he asked.
Sam nodded, "Yeup. I'm an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian."
"Me too!" Beast Boy said happily.
"Oh man, there are more people like you?" Cyborg groaned. He was lending an ear to the conversation and he couldn't pass up the chance to comment on it.
Tucker nodded. "I know, I think she's insane too. Meat is the only way to go."
Cyborg pulled Tucker into a one armed hug and laughed. "I love this guy," he announced. Tucker looked like he was about to faint from happiness.
Robin decided that it was time to step in and continue what they were there for. "All right guys, introductions aside, I think we need get to the reason that we're here."
"Danny only said that he needed us to track something when he called," Sam said. She looked pointedly at Danny who shrugged sheepishly before continuing. "What's going on?"
"Well, we need you to find an alien base," Robin explained. "Or at least a signal foreign enough to be considered an alien base."
Tucker raised an eyebrow. "Alien base? Who are we looking for?"
"We're looking for an alien named Zim," Robin told him. "He's trying to take over the world, and we need to stop it before it gets too big."
Tucker nodded and opened a window on his PDA. "I'll do my best," he said seriously and set to work, with Cyborg looking over his shoulder.
Danny nodded at Tucker and turned to Robin. "He's really reliable, if anyone can find it, it's Tucker."
"Yeah, but don't tell him that or his head will swell," Sam whispered loudly in a joking way.
After about fifteen minutes, Tucker sighed and shook his head. Beast Boy perked his ears and looked over. "Find anything?" he asked.
"No location on Zim," Tucker replied. He pointed at the PDA screen, which was too small for anyone to actually read. "But there are reports filed by someone named 'Dib' who claims that a kid at his school is an alien who is going to take over the world."
Cyborg nodded. "Yeah, and he mentions once that the kid's name is Zim. I'm thinking it's enough that we check out this 'Dib' kid and see what's really going on."
"Sounds like a plan," Robin agreed. "Let's go."
Okay, here's the next bit! Everyone who read the author's notes, you guys are awesome! And I thank you very much for doing so. To add on more here, the next part of this fic will take place wherever Zim lives and then the next next part will take place in Amity Park. All of Danny's development will take place in Amity. Sam and Tucker are here but obviously they can't tag around for some of the bigger stuff, like the massive space battles I got planned (heh heh) and such.
Speaking of which, you know if Sam and Tucker ever DID meet the Titans, you know it would happen like this XD That scene has been in my head for literally a year now. I'm glad to finally get it out. So, here's your next part! Hugs to my reviewers, I love you guys. Reviews make me want to write more. Thanks for the motivation.
Edit: okay, I'm noticing that the reviews are going way down. And to me that signifies problems with the story. I won't change the Zim story line because it has a plot already, but if anything else is screwed up or you don't like it, feel free to tell me and I'll see what I can do. It's a bit discouraging to get 10 reviews per chapter then suddenly only get five. I usually take that as a warning XD