If it had been a year or two prior, Dib's first reaction would have been to storm Zim's base and look around. He was over that now and he knew better. It wasn't about what Zim had in his base, it was about where Zim was. If Zim was missing then he was obviously somewhere where he was told to be, meaning he may be getting more orders or worse, more weapons to advance his cause.
Dib shuddered at the thought as he searched in vain for Zim's signal. Zim with his hastily made weapons were bad enough, if Zim was actually given a weapon he didn't create and learned how to use it properly, the world may actually be in trouble. Unless it was another giant robot that needed to be plugged in, that was just stupid.
Dib chewed his lower lip and pressed a few buttons on the floating screen next to him. It beeped for a bit then flashed a red error sign. Dib sighed and got up, stretching his hands over his head and yawning. "Time for a break," he muttered to himself and left his room half-heartedly.
Downstairs he had just finished making some of his dad's 'super toast' and pouring himself a glass of milk when he heard the bell ring. Dib growled in annoyance and set his snack on the kitchen counter. His little sister was out in some line waiting for a new game to come out and his dad was probably off somewhere inventing something to better humanity. Dib rolled his eyes as he went to the door. You would think his dad could do something to better his family before running off to better the world.
Outside Beast Boy blinked at the drab looking house. "Dude, you sure this is it?" he asked. "I mean this whole town seems kinda…" Beast Boy trailed off as he grasped for a word to explain his thoughts.
"Off?" Danny offered.
Beast Boy nodded, his pointed ears waggling excitedly. "Yeah! Off. I mean, it's so gloomy and dark and stuff."
Raven shrugged. "We're not here to sightsee, Beast Boy, we're here to gather information."
"I know that!" Beast Boy protested. "I just felt like something needed to be said."
Danny and Cyborg both chuckled at this exchange. Danny felt very at ease when he was with the Titans, even if he was used to working with Sam and Tucker. Unfortunately, because of the possible danger of facing an alien they had asked Sam and Tucker to remain behind for this particular part of the mission. Tucker was still trying to locate Zim, for what it was worth, but there was no need for them to actually be there. As Robin had lightly put it 'We're not ghost hunting, we're going after an alien. And those two things are very different, regardless of what you may think.' In the end, Sam and Tucker had reluctantly agreed and Danny actually felt a little relieved when they did. He didn't know what was coming, and if he didn't know then he didn't know how to protect himself, let alone two other people.
Robin knocked on the door again and he heard an annoyed voice say "Coming, coming," from within. They all watched as the door opened slowly. In front of them was a pale teenager dressed almost entirely in black, except for his shirt that was a pale blue with a gray neutral face in the middle of it. He wore thick glasses and had brown, intelligent eyes. He also had black hair that swooped back in an odd way that almost made it look like he had a hook of hair coming out of his head. The boy was about the same height as Beast Boy, possibly a little taller but not by much.
Robin politely extended his hand. "Hello, my name is Robin, I'm the leader of the Teen Titans. Are you Dib?"
Dib opened his mouth, then closed it again. He seemed almost speechless as he gawked at the Titans.
"A simple 'yes' or 'no' would suffice," Raven told the pasty teen dryly.
"I…" Dib managed to say before his vocal chords shut down again.
"Good job," Raven muttered. "Now, yes or no."
Dib's brain finally regained control of his body after its momentary shut down. "Who are you people?" he gasped, pointing at the Titans.
"We're the Teen Titans!" Cyborg announced. "What? You haven't heard of us?" he asked cockily.
In the back of Dib's mind he remembered reading a few things about a crime stopping group of super powered teenagers but he dismissed it for the same reason that Zim did. The local media sucked and the internet was basically nothing but lies. As a paranormal investigator he choose what to pursue and for some reason some fantastic story about well meaning superheroes didn't register high on his 'investigate' list. He just didn't believe it. For once, his intuition had turned against him and he was feeling kind of bad about it. "No…" he said slowly. "Oh my god! You're green!" he yelled at Beast Boy and then he pointed to Danny, "and you're a ghost!"
"Yes, we know," Raven growled. "Good thing we're on the same page here."
"Are you Dib?" Robin asked again.
"I…yeah…" Dib said breathlessly hardly daring to believe that a ghost, and several other beings that obviously weren't human or at least fully human had practically come to him.
"Good," Robin said authoritatively. "We're here to talk about some claims you've made."
"I can't believe it!" Dib continued, ignoring Robin completely. "And you're an alien!" he told Starfire. "You have to be!"
"I am," Starfire said pleasantly. "Pleased to meet you, Dib."
"Look," Robin said tensely, starting to get annoyed by the overzealous teen. "We're here…" he started but was cut off by a loud beeping noise.
Dib blushed and held up his wrist that had a large watch on it. "Uhh… it's my wireless communicator. It's linked to my computer," he explained and pressed a button. A small projected screen came out of the watch and Dib read it intently. He frowned and closed his watch.
"What did it say?" Robin asked.
Dib looked sharply at Robin. "I don't even know you," he told him suspiciously.
"Does it have anything to do with an alien named Zim?" Robin asked, taking a shot in the dark.
Dib blinked once then looked at all the teens that were standing on his porch. "You're here about Zim," he said finally.
"Way to state the obvious," Raven lauded him sarcastically.
"We are," Robin said.
Dib nodded. "All right then," he sighed and opened the door. "Follow me."
"Why?" Cyborg asked, suspiciously. First the kid was ranting at them and now he was inviting them inside his house.
Dib looked over his shoulder at them and grinned. "I found Zim," he said simply.
The Titans followed Dib into his room. It was small and about half of it was taken up by a large computer network. There was one large main monitor and one large tower that was surrounded by at least ten floating monitors and other various computer paraphernalia that looked relatively delicate. In all it was a pretty impressive set up. Cyborg whistled. "Nice," he said simply.
Dib grinned, obviously happy to be praised. "Thanks," he said and pointed to the main monitor. "My computer tracked Zim by his Pak. I think he was called back to be told something or worse, given something to help him take over Earth."
"We can confirm that," Robin told Dib. "He was called back to something called the Massive."
Dib nodded as he typed away on the keyboard and looked around. "Great," he said simply and pressed the enter button. "Let's listen in, shall we?" he asked as the main monitor went blank for a second then a scene of the two tall Irkens that had called Zim and Zim himself with Gir and a new robot that looked like a small floating purple moose behind him. The tall Irkens were standing behind a podium and glaring at Zim. Zim was standing confidently on a platform below them, grinning.
Dib sighed, glad that nothing had happened yet. "Oh, by the way," Dib said slowly. "Why are you after him?"
"Long story," Robin sighed. "Basically, he told us he was going to take over the world and we're going to stop him."
Dib's grin grew larger. "Finally!" he said happily. Before anyone could ask what he meant by that, the tall Irken in red armor began to speak.
"Irken Zim, you are brought before us today for the sole reason of deactivation. Of course our law dictates that we give you a trial but you ruined your last one so we're just going to come out and say it. Zim, as your Tallest, we're going to pass the verdict of defective and deactivate your Pak and erase it."
Dib's mouth dropped wide open. The other Titans looked down at the shocked Teen. "Deactivate?" Danny asked.
"Execution…" Dib said softly. "They're going to execute him."
On screen Zim laughed cockily but everyone could hear a note of panic in his voice. "What are these accusations of being defective?" he asked in a smooth voice. "I am one of the most superior Irkens to ever live! I am loyal and I would do anything for this empire. There is no more you could ask from such a perfect soldier, my Tallest." A small waver at the end of his speech gave away what fear he may have been feeling at the moment.
The purple Tallest scoffed. "Perfect?" he sneered. "You're a disgrace! You've destroyed half of Irk, you've destroyed two satellite planets, you're directly responsible for the death of two Tallest and you… you… care."
"What?" everyone in Dib's room asked aloud. The last one threw them for a loop.
"Precisely," the red Tallest said. "Your programming is defective Zim."
"I care for nothing!" Zim announced. "I am an Irken soldier! My loyalty only lies in my planet!"
The red Tallest sneered. "Fine, tell you what Zim, I personally will give you Invader status, drop all charges AND give you whatever you ask for in order to take over your enemy planet if you do one tiny thing for me."
"Really?" Zim asked, his eyes filling with hope.
"Red…" the purple Tallest muttered.
"Chill Purple," the smooth talking Tallest replied. "I've got this covered." He cleared his throat and pointed at Zim dramatically. "All you have to do, to prove your loyalty is deactivate you robots and take an official SIR unit as your aid."
Dib opened his mouth, then closed it, hardly daring to believe what he was witnessing.
"Master…" Gir whimpered. The small moose squeaked sadly and lowered a few inches.
Zim looked petrified. "I…" he said slowly.
"If you are an perfect Irken, you need perfect tools," Red said, grinning at the panicking soldier. "Your robots are defective, and so if you were to accept my offer you would need a new one."
Zim swallowed hard and looked down at Gir and Minimoose. "I…" he said again. He lowered his gaze and tightened his hands into fists as his Tallest exchanged smug grins.
"He can't…" Dib said softly, watching the Irken come to terms with his new fate. "Damn it," he hissed.
Zim shook his head and glared at his leaders. "I refuse!" he snapped, resolutely and pulled something small and circular from his Pak. "And I refuse to be deactivated! I AM ZIM!" he yelled and threw the ball into the middle of the floor where it exploded. A second later the monitor went blank.
"Well…" Beast Boy said slowly. "Who…wants pizza?" he asked, trying to break the tension.
This chapter was a bit dark but Dib's little rant at the beginning hopefully offset some of the angst. However the next chapter isn't... happy, at all. Good news thought! We're about three chapters from mindless Danny and Sam fluff filler! Yay! (I can't wait to write it X3) Plot comes next chapter, thank god. This is the climax of the first arc, so enjoy it XD this is about dramatic as poor Zim can get.
Also, coming up, Titans filler too. Because I just saw the movie and the ending made me 20 kinds of happy. I won't spoil anything but I will say that it was AWESOME. Now if DP had a movie like THAT as its finale I would die a happy, happy, fangirl. Because... damn.
Beware the character development! And... possible OOC ness in the next chapter. Zim won't take this well, and a few more things have to be set up before I have the cute scenes. So, hope you liked this chapter. I love everyone who reads the author notes! Thank you for your crit, it helps me soooooo much. I love the reviews that I'm getting for this story. They are well thought out and help me write the story. So all suggestions or even if you really liked something or hated it tell me. If I know what I'm doing right, chances are I'll do it again and if I know what I'm doing wrong I'll avoid it.
Hugs to all my reviewers! See you next chapter.