Chapter 9

Danny stood looking at Zim with a worried expression on her face. "Zim?"

Zim's fists tightened as he glared straight ahead.

"Zim, are you ok?" Danny asked.

Zim didn't answer.

Danny watched him for a moment. "Zim...I'm so sorry."

Zim slowly turned and walked away aimlessly. "This isn't real...It can't be real..."

Danny watched him sadly in silence, wishing there was something she could do.

"All of my efforts and plans...were for nothing?" Zim said mindlessly to himself, still walking away aimlessly. He paused, looking at the ground with wide, expressionless eyes. His fists slowly began to shake. His breathing became rapid. Finally, when he couldn't take anymore, he screamed the loudest he's ever screamed in his life as weapons pop out of his PAK and he starts attacking and destroying everything in sight.

"Zim! Stop it" Danny yelled, grabbing him and holding him tighter than ever. "Zim, please! Calm down!"

Zim turned on her, still screaming uncontrollably and blinded by rage. "GET AWAY FROM ME, HUMAN!"

Danny struggled to hold on to him as he clawed at her. "ZIM! IT'S ME!" Her human disguise disappeared to reveal the tall female Irken female underneath.

Zim gasped in shock and stopped attacking her. He stared at her as he struggled to catch his breath.

Danny pulled him close again, holding him tightly. Zim, still in shock, didn't protest. He just stared at nothing with wide eyes. Tears formed in his eyes and he started to tremble. "No..." He managed to choke out. "No!" He pushed her off and backed away, suddenly scared. "NO! Stay away from me!"

Danny just looked at him, stunned. "W-what's wrong?"

"Get out of my house!" Was Zim's response as a gun popped out of his PAK and landed in his hands. He aimed it at her and shouted again. "GET OUT!"

Danny stared at him in shock for a moment before slowly getting to her feet and backing away from him toward the door.

Zim trembled as tears poured down his face, still holding the gun up to her.

Danny sadly turned to the door and opened it. Her human disguise appeared once more as she stepped outside.

Zim was now trembling so violently that the gun fell from his hands. He dropped to his hands and knees, crying out loud.

* * *
Jaz was nervously walking in circles around her lab as Flik stood by and watched her.

"INCOMING TRANSMISSION FROM THE MASSIVE!" The computer suddenly burst out.

Jaz jumped and turned to her smeet assistant. "I'm not here!" She informed him just before jumping behind a piece of equipment.

Flik nervously turned to the screen. "Send it through!" He squeaked.

The screen displayed static for a moment before two very tall and angry looking Irkens appeared.

"FLIK! Where is Jaz!?" Demanded the Irken dressed in red and black robes.

"She's not present in the base at the moment!" Flik replied.

"Well where IS she!?" Red demanded again.

"Out on another mission to destroy Zim, Sirs!"

"That's funny, we just got a call from Zim." Red replied sarcastically. "He's finally caught on. He says someone told him his mission is a fake. You wouldn't happen to know who it was, would you?"

Flik hesitated. "Not at all, Sirs."

"Are you sure!?" Asked the Irken dressed in purple.

Flik nodded. "Absolutely. I don't know anyone who would even bother telling him. He's too stubborn to listen to those kinds of things...at least so it's seemed."

Red's eyes narrowed. "Well, when you her, tell her to contact us."

"Yes, Sirs!" Flik said, saluting. "Anything else?"

"No. That will be all." Red responded. He turned his attention to a drone off-screen. "You! Cut the transmission!" The screen immediately went fuzzy again before going black a split second later.

Flik turned to his master, who was now crawling out of her hiding place. "Zim finally got it!?" He exclaimed, stunned. "But he's such an idiot!" He continued as he looked away, rubbing his head.

Jaz 's antennae perked up and her eyes grew wide. "Danny."

Flik looked at her.

"It must have been her" She got to her feet. "We've got to help her."

Unbeknownst to either of them, Danny was now walking up the sidewalk to the front door of the base, still crying.

A communicator popped out of Jaz's Pak and positioned itself in front of her face. "Danny, respond! This is Jaz! What's going on!?"

Upstairs, Danny ignored the beeping coming from her PAK and walked into the base, closing the door behind her. She looked around, still ignoring the insistent beeping. "Jaz?"

Jaz was still attempting to get a hold of her friend through the communicator. "DANNY! Where are you!? We just received a call from the Tallests! Answer me!"

Finally, the beeping gets to be too much and the communicator pops out of Danny's PAK. "WHAT!?" She shouted before realizing it was Jaz on the screen. "Oh...Hi Jaz."

"Danny! What the HELL is going on!?" Jaz asked hysterically. "The Tallests just called and said that Zim knows! Are you still at his base!?"

"No. I'm not." Danny replied, exasperated. She turned the communicator around to show the rest of the base. "Does any of this look familiar to you?" She asked as she turned the communicator back on herself.

"OH!" Jaz exclaimed, relieved. "Oh, thank GOD, you're home! Hold on!" The screen goes fuzzy then black. The communicator retracts back into Danny's PAK just as Jaz and Flik come up the elevator and run over to her. "Danny, you're in danger!" Jaz cried.

"What are you talking about?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, originally the Tallests wanted to kill ME for not killing Zim yet. Now they want to kill whoever told Zim that his mission was a fake!" Jaz explained. "You told him, I know you did!"

"The Tallests don't even know I exist." Danny replied, slightly annoyed.

"Danny, this is still serious! Someone is going to get killed!"

Flik interjected. "Uhh, actually Danny, the Tallests COULD know if you're alive or not."

Both females looked down at him.

Flik looked at both of them as he explained. "Remember the Control Brains? They keep memory records of all Irkens who have had their activated or deactivated." He pointed at Danny. "Your PAK hasn't been deactivated. Therefore, the Control Brains still list you as alive and existent."

Jaz gasped in horror as she realized that what Flik was saying was true.

Danny still wasn't convinced. "But they don't even know I'm on Earth."

"It doesn't matter, they still know you're not dead." His tone turned grim. "Danny, you really are in danger."

Danny remained silent, thinking everything over.

Jaz turned to her, deciding to change the subject for the time being. "How did he take it?"

Danny remained looking down thoughtfully as she replied. "He didn't believe me at first. He thought I had been brainwashed to believe what you had told me. And it didn't help that I held a gun to his head."

"Is that all?"

"No. I couldn't bring myself to kill him, so I tried to leave, but he wouldn't let me. I finally agreed to stay with him. He tried to prove to me that he was an Invader by calling the Tallests and demanding proof that his mission was real."

Jaz's eyes grew wide in shock and horror. "Oh god."

Danny continued as if she didn't hear her. "After a while, Zim finally caught on and threatened to kill them. The transmission ended and he went crazy. I tried to calm him down, but he pointed a gun at me and told me to leave."

Jaz turned her gaze back to her in surprise. "Oh, Danny" She took a step toward her companion and hugged her.

Danny just stood there silently, unable to shed anymore tears.

"He's too dangerous to be with." Jaz said gently. He released the poor green-eyed "human" female and looked at her and Flik both. "Come on. We gotta figure out a plan. Something to keep us all alive."

There were several minutes of silence before Flik spoke up. "I got nothin'."

Jaz groaned. "Come on, you guys! We've got to figure out SOMETHING! There has to be a way out of this!"

" Well, why don't you come up with something?" Danny snapped at her.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" Jaz replied, slapping her hand to her head and shutting her eyes tight.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Everyone jolted back to reality and turned to the door.

"I'll get it." Jaz volunteered, walking up to the door as her own human disguise appears. She opens the door and gasps in shock.

On the other side of the door stood a familiar teenage boy in a trench coat. His skin and clothes black with soot, looking like he had just been burnt to a crisp. He fell face forward through the door almost as soon as it was opened.

"Dib!" Jaz exclaimed, kneeling down to him and rolling him over onto his back. "Come on, wake up!" She pleaded as Danny and Flik rush over.

Dib weakly opened his eyes and spoke hoarsely. "I was just at Zim's base...I followed him to his ship...I tried to get in too...but the engines went off...I was hoping one of you might be able to help me catch him..."

"Yes!" Jaz cried. "Yes, of course we'll help you!" She helps him sit up and puts his arm over her shoulders and stands up, pulling him up with her. "Come on." She started walking back to the elevator as Danny closed the front door.

"I'll get the human supplies for Dib!" Flik announced before running out of the room.

Jaz looked at Dib as they walked. "Zim is going to our leaders' ship to kill them. We're going to be facing a lot of serious danger, Dib."

Dib looked back at her. "Wait, what? Why would he do that?"

"It's a long story, I'll tell you on the way."

Dib looked at her in confusion. "Okay..."

Jaz paused, closing her eyes in thought for a second. "Dib," She said, turning to him. "I think maybe you shouldn't come. This is going to be a life and death situation. I don't want you to get killed."

""But I—" Dib began.

"She's right." Danny interrupted. "It's possible none of us will make it out alive."

"But—" Dib started to protest.

"Dib, I like you." Jaz said. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you." She turns around and starts walking back to the door. "I'm going to take you back home, where you'll be safe."

"No!" Dib shouted, digging his heels into the ground, forcing Jaz to stop.

"Dib, you might get killed! I can't allow that!"

"I don't care!"

"But—"

"No! I'm coming with you! And there's nothing you can say to change my mind!"

Jaz stared at him sadly, realizing that he was dead set on coming with them.

Danny spoke up. "Are you sure?"

"YES!" Dib shouted.

"But why?" Jaz asked. "You may never make it back to Earth."

"By the sound of it, you guys could use all the help you can get." Dib replied.

Jaz stared at him then hung her head in defeat. "Okay, Dib..." She looked back up at him. "But don't say I never told you."

Dib merely nodded in response.

"We STILL don't have a plan." Danny pointed out.

Jaz turned back around and walked away from the front door. "We'll think of one. Right now we just need to get to Zim and stop him before he does anything more stupid."

Just then, Flik came back up the elevator and ran over to them. "I got the supplies!"

"Great!" Jaz took the supplies from him. "Go get all the weapons you can carry!"

"Yes ma`am!" Flik ran back to the elevator which immediately took him back down to the lab.

Jaz turned to Danny. "Danny, can you help Flik? I'll get the ship ready and take care of Dib."

Danny turned and followed after Flik without a word.

Jaz turned back to Dib. "Come on, we're almost there." She smiled and continued to walk to the elevator which takes her up to the Voot hangar. She walked over to the larger of the ships and opened it, helping Dib inside and sat him down on the pilot's chair. "Are you okay?" She asked as her human disguise disappeared.

"Yeah. I'm fine" Dib replied with a smile. "Thanks"

"You don't have any cuts or wounds?"

"I don't think so."

Jaz looked him over. "You're filthy." She reached into a small compartment in the ship and pulled out a couple of cloths. "Hold still." She began to rub the dirt and ash off of his face.

Dib flinched, but then composed himself and looked at her.

Jaz continued to clean his face, but his glasses soon got in the way. "I'm gonna take your glasses off for a second." She carefully removed them from his face. "Close your eyes." She resumed cleaning off his face, rubbing a little more gently. Careful not to hurt his eyes. Once she finished, she placed the glasses back on his face. "There. Much better." She said, standing up and looking down at him with a smile.

Dib adjusted his glasses and thanked her. Jaz nodded.

"Dib, are you sure you're okay with this?" She asked. "You'll be the only human taking part, and we may be gone for a very long time...and, like Danny said before, we may all get killed. You don't really want to die...do you?"

Dib looked up at her. "I can't just let you and Danny go into this alone. You're the only friends I've ever had." He paused, looking down in surprised. "Which, if you think about it, is kinda ironic."

Jaz giggled. "Yeah, I guess it is." Her tone and expression became worried again. "I still don't want you to die, though. You're too good of a person."

Dib looked back up at her. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Jaz sat down beside him, resting her arms on her knees. "You don't even know what we're going to face. This isn't the same as trying to stop Zim. There's going to be rivers of all kinds of blood, not just Irken's. I know you've put up with some serious crap from Zim, but this is something even I can't bear." Jaz looked down in despair.

Dib watched her thoughtfully. "I'm still coming." He said after a while.

Jaz looked at him. "You're really not afraid of death, are you?"

Dib managed a smile. "Not if it's a result of doing the right thing."

Jaz stared at him. Suddenly, she threw her arms around him and hugged him.

Dib nearly jumped in surprise and just sat there, unsure of what to do. After a moment, he returned the hug.

Jaz pulled away, smiling and rubbing her head in embarrassment. "I guess I'm really glad you're coming. You're actually a big support to me." She said, her face turning a darker shade of green.

Dib stared at her. "Really?"

"Yeah." Jaz put her feet up on the seat and hugged her legs, looking straight out the window into the hangar. "To be perfectly honest, I'm scared to death. I mean, I was threatened by my own leaders that I would be killed if I failed to stop Zim again, and now all my friend's lives are in danger...because I didn't get rid of him..." She hung her head. "But...even with being the biggest pain in my neck, I can't REALLY kill Zim. Danny likes him too much..." Her expression turned from worry to exhaustion. "But honestly, I don't know what she sees in him." She remained looking down, not speaking for several minutes. "It's kind of weird...how both of us don't get along with our own kind." She said thoughtfully.

"You didn't get along with anyone on your home planet?" Dib asked, intrigued by this new piece of information.

"I'm a Defective, just like Danny and Zim. Of course I don't get along with anyone...But it's okay. They're all idiots anyway."

There was another moment of silence as Jaz continued to look down and Dib watched her.

"But I can't just abandon it. It's the only home I got." Jaz continued. "I don't really have a choice to leave. Every Irken, Defective or not, is programmed to stay with the Empire, whether we choose to serve it or not. The only ones who truly want to serve it are the Regulars. As for me...well...I just want things to be different."

"Different, how?" Dib asked.

Jaz looked at him. "Different like YOUR planet. Where everyone is allowed to be different and not be destroyed for it. My home planet is a prison. A giant gang club. In Earth-terms, a clan of Nazis. Nothing more than that." She closed her eyes and hung her head sadly. She looked back at him with big eyes. "I sometimes wish I was a human instead."

Dib only stared at her in thoughtful silence.

Jaz watched him. When he didn't reply, she hung her head again. "Ugh. Never mind. I don't expect you to get it anyway. It's not like YOU ever wanted to belong to another race or species."

Dib finally spoke up. "Actually, I do get it. I've never wanted to be part of another race or species, but I HAVE wanted to leave Earth on several occasions." He looked out the window into the Voot hangar. "The humans on this planet are just DUMB. Most of them, anyway."

Jaz looked at him thoughtfully as a smile crept across her face. "I like you a lot, Dib."

Dib whipped his gaze back to her in surprise.

Jaz giggled at his reaction. "If I wasn't Irken, I'd be a human so I can hang with you all the time."

"Oh..." Said Dib, failing to mask his disappointment. "Yeah, that would be cool."

Jaz rolled her eyes to the side, still smiling. "And then I could say I secretly admire you without feeling guilty about it."

Dib's face went bright red. "Huh? Y-you do?"

Jaz looked at him, smiling sweetly and nodded.

Dib could only stare in shock, blushing like mad.

Jaz tried to continue smiling. "Still, it's hard for Irkens and humans to really get along in life without a billion complications. It's best that they don't." No longer smiling, she stood up and walked over to the controls to prepare the ship for lift-off.

Dib watched her go and slumped his shoulders, hanging his head.

Just then, Danny and Flik appeared, both holding large bags.

"We got all the weapons, Jaz!" Flik announced proudly.

"Great!" Said Jaz, her spirits lifted slightly. "Throw them in the back and let's get out of here!"

Danny and Flik climbed into the ship and dumped the bags out into large compartments in the back of the ship.

Jaz fired up the engines, causing the ship to shake a little. "Everyone hang onto something!"

The roof of the house opened up and the ship shot out, sending the small group on their way.