Zim growled and pulled out his gun and took aim, firing at Tak in order to get her to be quiet. Tak laughed and jumped gracefully, landing on a branch behind her.
Zim rushed forward and tried to hit Tak with his fist but she countered by thrusting out her spider legs, creating a shield with the glowing ends. Zim jumped back and looked around for a way to break through the shield without getting hurt by the angry female Irken.
"You're weak," Tak whispered.
Zim's eyes widened and he jumped back, matching her gaze glare for glare. Then he jumped up above Tak and looked down at her from his vantage point. Tak laughed harshly and drew out her own gun pointing it through her shield and shaking her head. Zim didn't take the bait and continued to climb up the branches, going higher and higher as Tak shot blindly at him. "What, are you running away?" she yelled angrily.
Zim reached the top of the tree branches and looked down, seeing Tak's shield far below him. He shot a branch a few feet away from himself, making it snap and watched as several laser shots were aimed at the area where he had just fired his own attack. Then he pocketed his gun and quietly jumped off the branch, pointing all four of his spider legs below him.
Tak continued to fire up at the part of the tree where she had seen and heard movement. Then she saw Zim when he was a full ten feet above her, grinning wickedly with all four of his laser cutters aimed at her. She took a step back and felt herself loosing her balance on the thin branch.
She began to fire wildly at Zim as she fell backwards. Zim came up to her level fast and she dropped the gun she was holding in favor of keeping her shield online. She held out her hands and glared at Zim's large red eyes, feeling a hate as she had never felt in her life.
Zim pushed on the shield with his weapons and took the shots from Tak's gun, refusing to move a bit in order to make sure that his plan would work. As they both fell through the trees Zim kept his laser pointers on the edge of Tak's shield. The metal that made up his weapons hissed and sparked with the prolonged contact but he didn't care. He knew what he was doing was a last ditch effort anyways.
The branches slapped Tak's shield and broke beneath their combined weight. The last branch that they landed on took most of the impact but snapped in half after Tak's shield melted through it. Together, both Irkens fell the remaining ten feet to the ground where Tak's shield finally fell completely off line after Zim's spider legs pushed through the front.
Tak shut her eyes tightly, waiting for Zim's lasers to cut her and end her life but it never came. She opened one bright purple eye and looked up, staring at the heavily panting Irken above her. "You fool," she hissed in Irken. "Finish me off."
"I don't take orders from anyone, anymore," Zim replied, smiling. "I don't have to do what you tell me."
"What?" Tak gasped. "You just fought me in a life and death battle and you refuse to end it because I told you to kill me?"
Zim laughed. It was his normal insane, evil, obnoxious laugh but Tak had no idea why Zim was so happy when they were both in such a sorry state. "Pretty much, Tak."
"And if I hadn't told you to kill me?" she asked.
Zim grinned and brought his face close to hers. She took a look at his bleeding, grinning face and shivered. "Then I probably would have killed you. But since I won't take orders from anyone, I won't."
"You…" Tak struggled to find a word to describe the sheer idiocy of that thought process but her own vocabulary failed her. "Zim…"
Zim felt his Pak spark and shook his head to clear the rush of warning data. "Now I," he paused, his eyes growing a little out of focus. "Pig."
"What?" Tak asked, confused.
Zim's Pak fell offline completely and he collapsed on top of Tak's sore, battle scarred body, unconscious. Tak hissed in pain and struggled to sit up as the Titans and Skooge came running over.
"Is he…" Starfire said in a small voice.
Tak looked down at Zim, infuriated. "HEY! You little obnoxious twit! Don't you dare collapse on me after a battle, I need to yell at you properly. How dare you!"
Skooge breathed a sigh of relief as he felt Zim's Pak and nodded. "He's fine, he just overloaded his Pak's circuits. Probably busted them absorbing the impact from that fall."
"What do you mean absorbed? My Pak absorbed that shock," Tak yelled angrily. "He made sure I was underneath him."
Skooge and the Titans looked at her oddly. Tak frowned and looked down at Zim, "What did this freaking moron do?" she asked.
"He broke through your shield right before impact and thrust his spider legs underneath your body," Skooge told her. "Well, I guess you being okay wasn't his intention but it did save your life. The shock wave caused from your shield going off line created enough force to keep you from breaking anything at least. Zim probably just wanted to break your shield though."
"Didn't even think about the consequences," Tak hissed. "How in the freaking hell did he become an invader?" she asked loudly.
Skooge laughed and shrugged. "I don't know, you know we take the tests alone."
Tak reached up and grabbed the collar of Skooge's invader uniform and pulled him towards her. "Familiarize yourself with the concept of 'rhetorical' twit," she hissed.
Skooge's antennae lowered as he laughed nervously. "Y-yes ma'am," he said quietly.
"What are you doing here?" Raven asked them.
Skooge and Tak looked at the dark human and then back at each other. Tak let go of Skooge's shirt and thrust him away from her. "I came here for revenge. This…" again Tak looked for a word she could use to describe Zim but fell short. "Irken," she spat. "Ruined my life and plans, twice. Actually, I should kill him now but I want answers."
"Answers?" Skooge asked.
"I want to know why he is affiliated with a known superhero force," Tak murmured as she looked up at the Titans. "Unless you're trying to kill him too, but somehow I doubt that because of how worried that Tameranian girl was about him when the battle was over. I also want to know the real reason why he didn't kill me," Tak sniffed as she pushed Zim's body off her own. She stood up and winced at the pain in her shoulder and glared at the short Irken lying on the ground. Sighing she knelt down and picked him up, throwing his weight over her good shoulder and turned to the Titans.
"You know who we are?" Robin asked.
Tak grinned wickedly. "Unlike this moron, I actually research the planets I plan to destroy. I know every power and force on this planet that could keep me from fulfilling my ultimate goal. When I tried before I made sure that you and the Justice League were both off the planet and made sure that my plan would happen fast enough so that no one could help."
"Then why did you fail?" Cyborg asked cheekily.
In a flash Tak had reached into her tunic and pulled out a gun that hadn't been destroyed by the impact caused by the fall. She pointed it at Cyborg and turned it on, letting the hum of its power be heard before she answered the question. "He," she said gesturing at Zim with her antennae, "got very, incredibly lucky."
Cyborg held up his hands and nodded. "Okay, I get it."
Tak turned off her weapon and re-pocketed it. Cyborg looked down at the smaller Irken who was shaking his head and eyeing Tak worriedly. "Touchy?" he asked quietly.
Skooge nodded. "Very."
"I can hear you imbeciles!" Tak yelled. "Now, are there any private medical facilities near by? I want to get my answers so I can end the life of this pathetic excuse for an Irken."
"Uh…" Beast Boy said slowly.
Robin stepped forward. "Yeah, follow us in our ship."
As they were flying back to Titans' Tower Beast Boy felt the need to speak up. "Um, Robin, why are we taking the crazy lady back to our place?"
"To find out some answers of our own. Obviously she has a personal problem against Zim but why is the other one here? Also, if they came in through the atmosphere without getting caught by the army up there then maybe they know how to get there and how many there are," Robin said quietly.
"Good plan," Cyborg said.
"Thanks," Robin replied. "I just hope everything works out the way it should."
"I second that," Beast Boy said with a huge sigh.
Robin walked into the living room of Titans' Tower and looked around. Dib was typing away at a the monitor station and muttering something under his breath. As Cyborg came in behind him, he noticed this and quickly walked over. "What's up?" he asked quietly as Dib turned around.
Dib pointed at the monitor and began to say something when Tak and Skooge came in, both looking rather upset. Then Starfire came in carrying Zim followed by Beast Boy and Raven.
Dib leapt to his feet and pointed at Tak. "What is she doing here?"
Tak crossed her arms and grinned. "I am here to take revenge on Zim and then finish what I started. After I find out a few things of course."
Cyborg patted Dib's arm and shook his head as Dib began to babbly incoherently. "B-but…"
"Everything will be explained sooner or later," Cyborg said softly.
Dib glared at Tak and then nodded, never breaking his gaze from hers. Tak grinned back at Dib and waved airily at him as she followed a silent Raven through two sliding door.
Skooge cleared his throat and blushed a dark green as everyone turned to look at him. "Um, I know how to fix Zim's Pak but I need some tools."
Suddenly Gir came running into the room screaming, followed by a panicked Minimoose. "MASTER!" he yelled.
"Where have you been?" Dib asked as everyone looked at the odd robots.
Gir stopped in his tracks and looked up at Dib vacantly. "I was SLEEPIN!" he declared.
Skooge opened Zim's Pak and began to prod around inside with the somewhat primitive tools he was offered. He sighed but put up with it, determined to get Zim awake and moving. He worked for about two minutes when there was a small spark and Zim's Pak whirred to life.
"Hey, welcome back," Skooge said cheerfully as Zim groaned.
"Shut up," Zim grumbled.
Skooge laughed and set the tool down. "Well, your Pak is fine aside from the overloading. If you cover up your wounds you should be fine in a day."
"I know that! Do not doubt the intelligence of the mighty ZIIIM," Zim told Skooge as he slid off the table he had been lying on.
Skooge grinned and nodded, following Zim as he walked over to sit on the couch. Skooge took out a first aid kit and pulled out some bandages. "Hey," he said quietly as he handed them to Zim.
"Hm?" Zim asked.
"Remember the reason why we went to the surface?" Skooge asked softly.
Zim paused for a moment, then looked down, his antennae drooping a little. "Of course I remember. ZIM never forgets unless it is convenient."
Skooge leaned against the couch and looked wistfully at the ceiling. "Yeah, you said that it was unfair that we had to stay underground for ten years and that you wanted to see the surface of the planet."
"See everything they made us learn about and train for," Zim added and sighed. "Yeah, I know."
"It was pretty cool, wasn't it?" Skooge asked brightly. "Seeing the surface of the planet for the first time? It was so big and pretty…"
Zim snorted, "I do not care if something is pretty or big. I care about knowing what the instructors of Irk were hiding from us."
"The first time you saw the planet," Skooge said, now looking at the floor. "You were speechless for the first time since I had met you."
Zim stopped winding the bandage around his arm for a split second before starting again. "I wasn't speechless fool, I was… taking a very deep breath."
"I'm glad you made me follow you," Skooge said suddenly.
Zim looked at Skooge oddly. "What? Why? I use you! Even you can't deny that. I do whatever I can to reach my goals."
Skooge kicked his feet and took in a deep breath. "Because, I think, you may be the only Irken who actually knows what freedom is like. Because you're not afraid to disobey orders when you want to do something."
Zim shook his head and sighed. "You're an idiot, Skooge."
Dib, Robin and Starfire slowly and quietly walked away from the room, carrying the first aid supplies they had brought. It seems that they weren't needed after all.
Here's a holiday update for you guys! This chapter was kinda eh but whatever, I got in the exposition and characterization I needed. OOCness abounds but I just felt the impulsive need to give Skooge a damn reason to follow Zim like a puppy. I mean sheesh o.o the guy conquered a planet and yet he still just does whatever Zim says.
Tak is so much fun to write. I love her in all her badass glory. They're all together because they all want to know what the hell is going on but really once you think about it no one does. Heh, kinda funny. Tentative relationships but after the next chapter more reason and exposition will come to light. Also, Zim didn't kill Tak because she told him to. Really. He is that stupid.
Hugs and cookies to all my reviewers and see you next chapter!