Danny frowned and gazed at the blank screen looking rather concerned. "Is… he going to be all right?" he finally asked.
Dib bit his lower lip and shook his head in a non-committal way. "I honestly have no clue," he admitted. "Knowing Zim… probably. But…"
"I do not understand," Starfire said softly. "How could life mean so little to them?"
"I don't know," Robin replied gravely. "But I don't think that's what we should worry about," he said slowly and paused. He crossed his arms and took in a deep breath waiting as if he was thinking about each word he was about to say. "If he comes back here, we may have to get ready to defend Earth, even if it means fighting him."
Danny shifted uncomfortably. He hated when he had to think about things like this. There was always something, or someone that he had to fight that he didn't want to because of who they were. Valerie Gray was a good example. The pretty teen was smart, cunning and most of all, she had a will to match Sam's, but because of her hatred of ghosts, time and again Danny had been forced to fight her. He always held back, for fear of hurting her but there was a problem with that. She was a good fighter. So holding back and keeping his own butt safe was hard to do and it all boiled down to the fact that he just couldn't bring himself to fighting her.
Another good example was his parents. Yes, his mother no longer attacked him, but that was because she knew. His dad didn't, and in order to keep his secret safe his mom had to pretend she didn't know when she was with Jack. So, whenever they met and ghost hunter and ghost out on the battle field, nine times out of ten he would be forced to defend himself against his dad's sporadic shooting and his mom's half hearted attempts. It wasn't something he enjoyed very much.
Robin noticed Danny's shifting and put his hand on Danny's shoulder. "Sorry Phantom," he murmured so that no one else could hear. "But you know what it takes."
Danny nodded, "Yeah," he conceded. "Still…"
Robin sighed, "I know. It's not something we want to do, but it is something we have to prepare for."
Dib continued to type away at his computer as the rest of the Titans looked slightly uncomfortable at the change of events. Outside, a steady patter of rain could be heard on Dib's window. It was light and soft but the dreary sky only added to the painful feelings inside the room.
Dib gazed at his screen and blinked. "Wow, he's already back inside the atmosphere," he said in surprise. "The Massive must have been pretty close by."
"Or Zim did some pretty risky driving to get back," Robin suggested.
Dib sighed and stood up. "Probably a combination of both," he muttered and grabbed a black umbrella standing by the door. "If you care then you can come with me if you want. I think I know where he's going to go. Or at least, I can figure it out by tracking him on my handheld," he said with a little grin as he held up the device.
Robin nodded and the rest of the Titans gave their silent consent as well. It was better to assess the situation then attack if needed. No one felt like fighting at the moment and so it was something they wanted to avoid.
Dib opened up his umbrella with a loud 'shoop' sound and Raven kindly offered the other Titans protection from the rain with her power. Dib looked at the power and felt his mouth drop open.
"Yes?" Raven asked.
Dib blinked at her power and shook his head, trying to focus at the problem on hand. "Uhh… demon?" he asked.
"Half," she answered stiffly, prompting Dib to drop the subject, which he did.
They walked through the drizzle to a small park that was placed in the middle of the neighborhood. Dib stopped suddenly and glanced down at his handheld and looked around. He apparently found what he was looking for and put the handheld back into his pocket.
Robin and the Titans glanced where Dib was walking towards and stopped, letting Dib handle the current situation. Zim had seated himself on the curb with no disguise underneath a tree that offered him some protection from the drizzle. Every once in awhile a large drop would fall from the tree above and land on him, causing a painful sounding hiss and some smoke to appear. Every time this happened, Zim flinched but made no move to get out of the way of the rain.
Dib walked over and held the umbrella over Zim's head and stood beneath it himself. Another drop fell from the tree and made a dull 'plink' sound as it hit the top of Dib's umbrella. Zim looked up, but never looked at Dib, likewise, Dib stared straight ahead, never letting himself look at his worst enemy.
"I take you SAW what just occurred, you filthy stink monkey," Zim hissed finally.
Dib took in a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah," he answered.
"And because you are a FILTHY huuuuuman of disgusting things, you have decided to take pity on the pathetic little alien as your idiotic emotions dictate," Zim continued.
Dib's lips twisted in a frown. "I came out here to get the whole story, space boy."
"You saw the whole story," Zim muttered, drawing his knees up to his chest and glaring at the rain. "I am a defective, and because of that I should not exist."
"So now what?" Dib asked. "You're going to sit here in the rain feeling sorry for yourself?"
Zim snorted. "First of all, dirt child, I am sitting here because the rain caught me by surprise. I WAS just walking around, seeing if you were out here so we could have an awesome battle of DOOM to take my mind off things, and then it started to rain. So I went under the tree. Second of all, I don't feel anything right now," Zim said softly.
"What makes you think I don't want to fight you?" Dib asked.
"Because if you did you would take out your stupid little gun and attack first, like you always do," Zim answered simply.
"Fine," Dib sighed heavily and continued to stare straight ahead. "I'll ask again, now what?"
"Well, if you think that I'm going to give up trying to take over this planet of filth, then you are deluding yourself, you disgusting human," Zim snarled.
Robin looked slightly upset as Zim said this, he did not want to fight the Irken any more then Danny did, but it seemed that it would be inevitable.
"So you're going to keep on trying to take over the world?" Dib asked.
Zim nodded, "That's what I just said, stupid huuuuuuman."
Dib sighed but looked a little relieved. "You know I'll just have to stop you, then."
Zim grinned, looking quite devious. "I look forward to it, Dib stink."
Danny looked vaguely confused at this exchange. "It's like… they want to fight," he said quietly.
Cyborg shrugged. "For all we know, they do," he said softly. "We don't know how they act, we barely know them. Maybe they want to fight, and maybe they're not serious about it."
"That is very… odd," Starfire said softly. "I do not understand."
"It's okay," Robin replied. "You don't need to worry about it."
Zim
stood up and turned around, glaring at the Titans. "It's not my fault
that your puny minds cannot comprehend how my incredibly AWESOME mind
works, human filth. However, you do not need to care about how I do my
own things because it does not concern you"
All the Titans stared back numbly as Dib tried not to laugh. "We're you guys talking?" he asked.
Robin nodded, "Uh, yeah. I didn't think…"
"My hearing is far superior to your PATHETIC human range. I could hear everything," Zim said dryly.
"Um, you don't have any ears," Danny pointed out.
Dib snorted and began to laugh as Zim glared at Danny. "That does not mean I can't hear, floating…person thing."
"Ghost," Dib and Danny said together. Danny smiled at Dib who shrugged sheepishly. "I'm half ghost," Danny explained.
Zim shrugged, obviously not caring about this at all. "Whatever," he muttered.
"Well, now that everything is done I guess we should go," Robin said.
"You will be all right, Irken Zim?" Starfire asked.
Zim's antennae twitched as he looked at the Tameranian. "I have no need for your pity or concern, Tameranian."
"But I wish to give it," Starfire pressed gently.
Zim glared at her. "I am Zim," he said simply. "There is no need to worry about my well being, I am far superior to beings such as yourself and therefore there is no point in caring." With that Zim left the shade of the tree and walked out into the mist. He winced as the thick air hit his skin and did not react to it. He did his best to look as stoic as he possibly could as he walked away.
Dib shrugged, looking obviously amused. "Eh, don't worry about. Zim is a moron but something tells me he'll bounce back soon."
"So do you hate this guy or what?" Cyborg asked. "I thought he was your enemy."
"He is my enemy and yes, I do hate him," Dib answered.
Everyone stared at Dib blankly and the Teen blushed. "It's complicated," he sighed. "Don't worry about Zim though. I'll take care of things over here. I've done it for years," he said with a grin.
Robin nodded, "All right. If you need help though, feel free to get in touch. The last thing we need is for this planet to be attacked by someone we should have an eye on."
Dib laughed. "It's not hard to beat him," he said. "But thanks, I guess. I can't say I've ever had anyone offer me help. How should I call?"
Robin pulled a yellow and black disc out and handed it to Dib. "It's a communicator," he explained. "If you need help, call."
Dib nodded, looking a little happy. Danny remembered when he got his own communicator and wondered if Dib felt the same way that he did. A sense of belonging.
As Dib walked away, Cyborg looked at Robin. "You sure?" he asked. "You've been handing out a lot of those things lately."
Robin nodded. "I'm sure. We need to have eyes and ears everywhere," he told Cyborg. "Otherwise something will slip past us and we'll end up regretting it."
Danny laughed. "I can't see that alien slipping past anything."
"More like running past and setting off fireworks," Beast Boy added, prompting the boys to all laugh.
"You can never be to careful," Robin said finally.
Everyone nodded in agreement. "Definitely," Danny said.
Up in space, just out of reach of any tracking equipment on earth, a small spaceship sat, hidden by a cloaking device. "He has returned to Earth, my Tallest," a woman spoke into her communicator.
Tallest Red grinned. "Of course he did. Where else would he go?"
"Orders?" the woman asked.
"Stay where you are, soldier. We'll give you your orders once we set up a few things. We'll take over that planet and any surrounding it while deactivating that eyesore. But we must have patience."
"Yes," Purple nodded behind Red. "Patience."
"Yes, my Tallest," Tak said with a grin as she saluted the monitor. Soon she would get her chance. Very soon.
Aaaaand here is the end of part 1! Yaaaay! Now we go to fluff and comedy while the Irken empire sets up for its attack. (So does the resisty but that comes later.) Basically, the poor planet gets caught in this huge intergalatic war and Zim could care less, he just wants to rule the planet on his own. Dib, Danny and the Titans are trying to save it and a few other suprises. Look! There's the rest of the story! (only not)
Someone was concerned that Zim would become a 'good guy'. Rest assured, he doesn't. He just doesn't think of himself as an irken soldier anymore. He sees himself as being too good for answering to anyone. So, he's a bad guy and he only thinks that he is fit for Earth conquest. Ah... poor deluded Zim.
Dib gets better with time. He's like the only person who gets half of what is going on. No, he's not a Titan. He doesn't even know what having a communicator means yet. He just sees it as means of talking to the Titans. Make sense? When Danny was given his, he understood. He knew he was being asked to join the Titans. Dib doesn't and Robin knows this. So right now all that thing does it let Dib contact the Titans and vice versa. Later he may learn what it means but right now it's just a tool. (I was worried I may have pissed someone off with that scene. If I did I'm sorry but I couldn't think of any other way to handle that)
So there you go! End of part one! Bring on the FLUFF! And thanks for reading the author's notes. As always hugs to all my reviewers and I can't wait to see you in part two.