Chapter Two - Old Skool Invaders

Mar struggled as he tried to get up. He had no idea how long he and Sen were unconscious, but it was night already, and they couldn't just stay there. Whoever the native inhabitants are, the irkens could be found out by them, and considering their luck, the planets natives wouldn't be very welcoming to irkens, or any other aliens for that matter. Mar grunted as he landed onto the grass after getting out from under his partner. He dusted off his uniform and walked back into the cockpit. The Black Ops Lieutenant stopped in front of his Captain and frowned. Mar picked her up and set Sen down on the grass and sighed. He looked around and wondered what he was forgetting, then he realized- "Taco? Where are you?", he called.

The irken began to worry as he dove back into the ship and started searching the cabin. As he looked inside the control panel, he chuckled to himself as he saw the little SIR unit tangled in various wires and pipes. "Quit laughing and get me out of here!", growled Taco.

Mar smiled as he carefully took the SIR out of the makeshift net and set him down on the cabins slanted floor. Sparks issued at random intervals from broken wiring on the walls and ceiling, and coolant gasses leaked from a ruptured pipe. "Where's Sen? Is she ok?", the robot inquired.

He shook his head, "Not sure.", he said.

Taco jumped down into the grass and inspected Sen carefully. "She's fine. No scratches, bruises, nothing broken. She just passed out due to stress. You, on the other hand, aren't doing as well.", Taco said, pointing to Mar's cut cheek.

He wiped the blood off of his face and walked back into the ship with the SIR unit in tow. "Don't worry about me,", he said as he carefully climbed up the access ladder to the second level, "Worry about the mission. Its more important at this point.".

This level seemed untouched structurally, while anything that wasn't welded or bolted to a wall or the floor was rolling freely to the front of the ship. Mar walked carefully through the hallway and turned to the second door on his right and entered it. The room was full of Invading supplies, backup power cells, and various other spare parts for Sen's ship. He briskly strode to a number of small drawers and reached into one. He pulled out a long purple device. It was a base generator, standard issue for any Invader, former or otherwise. While he took out the stylus and unfolded the touch-screen, he walked through the hallway and dropped though the hatch. "Mar? What are you thinking?", asked Taco.

"We're going through with the mission, like the Tallest's wanted. And, considering our predicament, we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way.", said the exhausted Mar.

As he said that, he dropped onto the grass and quickly observed the houses around them. He couldn't see that many due to the local plant life, but he saw several good examples. The dwellings of the dominant species, which he assumed were the same species that the two native targets were, were self enclosed, had two doors, several windows, and had with flat or slanted roofs. He also noted that they were either single or double storied. He quickly drew a flat roofed two storied building with a garage large enough to store the ship. He tucked the stylus back into the base generator as it turned into a small drill. He set it in a large enough patch of vacant dirt near a primitive street. The ground shook and rumbled as the base began to grow and construct itself. The ship automatically moved right where the garage's walls began to rise. The outside of the house quickly sprung up and affixed itself there. As the ground settled, Mar inspected the base generator's handiwork. It looked as if it was made by the same locals that made the houses around it.

"Good job. Now all we need are disguises.", said a firm, yet amused female voice.

Mar turned around to see Sen smirking at him. He scoffed and walked into the house as she stood there with Taco at her side. "What's up with him?", Sen asked quietly.

The SIR chuckled slightly as he heard that. "He worries about you. You two have been working together for years, so its to be expected.".

Sen eyed the SIR and shook her head as she walked inside. The house looked interesting enough. Most of the floor an furniture was soft, unlike what they've been used to during their travels. The walls were plain white instead of the traditional irken reds and purples, while the plumbing and wiring were concealed.

"Hmmm. Well, I have to say that the natives have weird tastes in home décor. What do they look like anyway?", she asked Mar.

He walked to a small view screen and selected the dominant species. As the picture loaded completely Mar and Sen both cocked their heads to the side slightly. "That's them? They look… Weird.", they said in unison.

-- -- --

"Well class, due to overcrowding schools, we are having two new students join the class. Meet Mar and Sen.", hissed Miss Bitters behind her desk.

As the class greeted them, Sen leaned to Mar slightly, "What are we doing? We cant get involved with the rest of these humans!", she whispered to him frantically.

"We need to be here to identify who the native is, besides, I already see Zim. His disguise sucks. So don't worry, and act natural.", he whispered back as they sat down at their seats.

Dib raised an eyebrow as Tak eyed them suspiciously. That's them, the irkens that crashed nearby, she thought to herself. But why are they here? "Now class, today's lesson is about how the world is destined to be destroyed by the eventual implosion of the rest of the universe. So, Earth is essentially doomed! Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom!", said Miss Bitters as she started her rant and interrupted Tak's thoughts.

Dib looked intently at the two new students and looked back at Tak. He wondered what they would have in common. Wait. Dib looked closely at Mars hands. There were only three fingers, three fingers is an irken trait. He looked quickly to the new girl, Sen. As he inspected both of the new students, he found more and more evidence to the theory that they were irkens. Dib continued observing them during Skool, and noticed that their disguises, actions, even the way they spoke were more 'normal' than even Tak. If he didn't know what to look for, he would've never guessed they were irkens. During recess he decided to confront them about it, quietly. Dib walked next to Mar as the irken leaned against the side of the building watching the other kids. The would-be paranormal investigator waved at a kid playing basketball as he spoke, "I know what you are, irken. Don't think that I don't know your weaknesses.", he added carefully.

Mar smiled and replied, "How did you notice?".

"You've only got three fingers for one. You have an irken PAK for another.", Dib said to him confidently.

Mar contemplated how this human child knew how to look for irkens. This kid's knowledge could warrant assassination, if so deemed by the Tallest. Mar realized where his thought was going before it completed. "What's your name?", he asked casually.

"Dib. I don't suppose you're anything like Zim, are you?".

"Why? How much do you know about itkens?", Mar said as he thought.

Dib, huh? This mere child is an assassination target for the Irken Black Ops? Less and less of this mission was making sense. "I know that irkens are trying to take over Earth, your species is weak against water and most of our food and meat, and I'm the only one here who knows what you are, that isn't another irken.", Dib said, interrupting the former invader's thoughts.

Mar turned to him abruptly, "No we aren't. The Tallest only heard of Earth AFTER they sent Zim to your 'mystery planet'. They only wanted to get rid of Zim, not take over Earth.", he said truthfully.

Dib looked at him skeptically. Of course he'd say that, he thought, he wouldn't want to bring an operation to take over a planet into the open to someone who wasn't a moron. The irken and the human looked into each others eyes sternly while the other kids played on the playground. Out of the corner of the eyes of the two in the stare down, a dodge ball streaked towards Mar. He caught it deftly without blinking or even averting his eyes, and threw it right back into the face of the kid who threw it in the first place. "Torque!", the kids yelled as they gathered around the quite unconscious young body builder.

Dib slowly looked away from the irken to look at young Torque Smacky, and saw a large red mark on his forehead, and slight bleeding. This irken, Mar, was nothing like Zim, and, if anything, scarier than Tak. He could only wonder what Sen, the other irken disguised new student, was like. Mar grimaced as he saw the damage he did to the poor thing. He wasn't even thinking when he threw that ball back at him, it was simply reflexes. Not to mention, the stare down with his target, Dib, had contributed to the strength he put behind that ball. Well, nevertheless, he found one of the targets that weren't that easy to find, so in that respect, the mission was going smoothly. Mar looked back at Dib and saw exactly what he was thinking- "If you're wondering about my companion, Sen, she's a lot like me, but an engineer and pilot instead of a soldier and weapons expert. She's a lot cuter too, obviously.", Mar said with a smirk.

She was actually more than cute, he thought as he walked back to base after Skool, she was quite pretty. He shook his head hard and punched himself there too. Now isn't the time to be thinking of Sen as anything other than another operative in the same mission. Rule's #2 of the Black Ops Training Academy: Never let personal feelings get in the way of the mission, and #3: Never get involved with another operative while on active duty. Rule's #2 and #3 weren't as well known as #1 (Trust no one.), but were just as important. But, Mar couldn't help feeling… He shook his head again, more violently this time and sighed. He couldn't help being male, but he and Sen had a mission. Not to mention, even if they didn't have the stupid mission, he wasn't sure that Sen felt at all the same way. Mar walked off of the sidewalk onto the grass by the curb and stopped by a lamppost and carefully aimed… He suddenly bashed his own head into the metal of the post so as to clear his thoughts and yelled in pain. "Ow!".