Hiya dudes! I'm here with this new chapter which is SUPER LONG :O You're so spoiled! Also thank you for giving me 100+ reviews, that's more than I ever hoped to get. I love you guys :D

Chapter 18

Zim kicked over a small table filled with strange decorations. It would have been more satisfying if Dib had been there to scold him. And Lard Nar was nowhere to be seen either! Not that he knew what to do when he found him, this might have been a dumb idea.

… Nah, it had been a BRILLIANT, GENIUS and CLEVER idea! He'd just not though it though entirely. But that's what improvisation was for, no? Anyway, if he didn't find Lard Nar the Dumbthing and fixed stuff, Dib would scold him for leaving. So he kept going through the castle without any real directions.

He turned a corner and almost ran into an unknown Vortian.

"OHmygodspleasedon'tkillme!" They said, scuffling away in … panic? That was probably panic.

"I'm not-"

"I'll do anything you ask, just let me live!" The Vortian said, cutting off Zim's (hopefully) reassuring words. Zim stopped.

"… You haven't seen Lard Nar, have you?" he asked. The Vortian looked at him in chock.

"Lard Nar?"

"Yes! He's gray and looks STUPID!"

"Are you going to kill him?"

"I don't think so. I have not some up with the plan yet," he shrugged. Zim was fairly sure he wouldn't kill him, though. The Vortian, now with tears streaming down their face, weakly pointed down a hall.

"H-he went over there, to the construction area", they whispered. Zim nodded.

"Okay. Goodbye", he walked away in that direction. Behind him there was a thud. When he turned around to look, the Vortian he'd been talking to had fallen into a heap on the floor. That was strange.

"... They're sleeping", he concluded and continued after Lard Nar. As he walked, his sensitive antennae started to pick up noises that sounded a bit like the ships he'd seen flying around in the city.

This had got to be the longest hall he'd walked through yet. It took ages until he could see the sources of the noise and once he was close enough to really identify it, it felt like he'd walked across the entire jungle of Irk.

There were at least six large machines inside an enormous room a the end of the hallway. They were building … stuff in there and Vortians were running around shouting orders and looking at charts. Zim walked over to one that looked extra busy reading his chart.

"Hey! What's going on? Where's Lard Nar? What is all this? Huh? Huh? Huh?" Zim didn't stop asking questions until the Vortian started replying.

"This'll be the new theater … Yup, and over there'll be seats for the … ummm, audience, yeah. And that thing'll be a giant synthesizer ..." she drawled, not looking up from her reading. Zim huffed.

"Lard Nar? Where is Lard Nar?" He pressed. The Vortian still didn't look up, but a sour expression crossed her featured.

"He's not following the rules, unauthorized people like him can't be on the construction site … 'ts dangerous …" She said. Zim had no idea what she was talking about, but it sounded like she knew of Lard Nar. At least her expression matched how Zim currently felt about the missing coworker.

"I'll just go and find him myself", Zim told her and once again walked away.

"Whatever", the female muttered. If she had at least once looked up, she might not have sounded so bored anymore.

Meanwhile, Zim had walked deeper into the building area which he was very much NOT allowed to be. Not that he knew about that, off course. And if he had, he wouldn't have cared. It was hard to find one certain Vortian in this sea of them that were all running around, though. He could only hope that Lard Nar hadn't taken off his lab coat, as it would be the only way to tell him from the brightly clothed workers on the site.

Zim looked up, as if hoping that someone up there might have the answers. But all he saw was the ceiling high above. No sky visible at all.

But wait! A movement made him look slightly to the left. He looked at a thing protruding from a semi-finished wall meters above the ground. And off course, Lard Nar stood there, leaning on the railing. What the flarkiplark is he doing up there? Zim thought irritably. He looked around trying to find a way up there, but was filled with horror when he saw something else.

The metal where the protruding thing attached to the wall was slowly, only visible to someone with very big and sensible eyes, cracking.

"It's gonna break", Zim realized. And Lard Nar would fall and die if he didn't move.

"LARD NAR! GET DOWN FROM THEEEEERE", Zim screamed, but there was no reaction. Zim growled angrily cursing Lard Nar's stubborn ignoring of his voice. (If he'd stopped to think, he'd realized that Lard Nar was too far away to hear him, but he didn't) Time was running out, this wasn't a good time to idly stand by and hope for a miracle. So Zim looked around and jumped on a passing machine, climbing over it to get closer to the wall with Lard Nar. The machine hosted a large crane, which Zim hurriedly climbed along.

The truck driver, a middle aged Vortian noticed and gasped, impulsively turning the crane around to shake the creature off (He would later get fired for doing this). Zim gasped and slipped, but managed to hold on and jump to a ladder close by. He had now arrived at the wall, but the place where Lard Nar stood was still high above him, and the cracks in the metal had spread.

Zim grunted, climbing up the ladder two steps at a time. It was difficult, the metal was cold and slippery in contrast to the rough trees he'd climbed his whole life. But a growing sense of panic kept him going. And he got close to Lard Nat faster than anyone could have thought possible.

But none of that might have mattered, for Zim was still a few feet too far away when the bone-chilling crack of metal breaking echoed through the place, and Lard Nar fell.

…

Just a minute before, the Vortian was still standing there, eyes closed, and mind wandering. He had always found the noise of machines soothing, and thus he'd developed a bad habit of illegally entering construction sites whenever he was upset. People found him weird, but he could live with that. Some workers had even started greeting him whenever he dropped in.

And today, he'd really needed to calm down. He'd found a place where he wasn't in the way, which was high up on what was going to be a balcony and settled there.

Lard Nar somewhat regretted his actions, but not enough to want to go back just yet. And if anything, that Zim should be the first to apologize. Apologize and maybe make him a sandwich. And then, Lard Nar would nod and say 'all is forgiven, let's not think about this anymore'.

He growled. That would never happen, because, while Dib was a talented and nice young man overall, he had a habit of defending everything that Irken did. Lard Nar could bet that if Zim really did kill someone, the human would be there, freeing him from any charges. And when Lad Nar returned to the lab, he would have to be the one to ask for forgiveness, and tell them that he shouldn't have provoked the thing. He sighed.

Suddenly, everything jerked, cutting Lard Nar's thoughts off. He heard metal breaking, and suddenly, he was falling. Falling toward a concrete floor a hundred feet down.

I should have listened to mother when she told me not to go to places I shouldn't be, was the last (oddly … odd) thought he would ever have …

… had not a small, strong and particularly green hand grabbed his arm at that very moment.

He yelped as his body was pulled between the force of gravity and the power of whatever was stopping him from falling. His shoulder twisted painfully. Screams could be heard all around him, but he would not for the love of anything open his eyes.

"Oh gods!"

"What happened?"

"Isn't that the Irken up there?!"

"The Irken sabotaged our work!"

"I DID NOT! YOU'RE CRAZY!"

Wait, that last voice sounded oddly familiar, and much closer than the others. Lard Nar peeked an eye open. He saw his own legs dangling too far above the ground. He screamed.

"Oh gods, oh gods! This is the end! I'm gonna die!" He babbled in an embarrassingly squeaky voice.

"Stop moving!" Zim grunted from above. Lard Nar looked up in surprise. It really was Zim, holding him with one hand and the broken wall with the other.

"Don't drop me! Please!"

"I'm trying! Just do not move so much", Zim snapped and Lard Nar did his best to be both still and silent. That was, until Zim started moving. Swinging, more specifically.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" the helpless Vortian gasped. Zim didn't answer, but kept on swinging until he could hook one leg around the cavity where the balcony used to be. With one mighty movement, he lifted Lard Nar to the wall, so that he could grab it.

"Grab a hold of the wall", Zim said, struggling to not loose his grip.

"What? I can't do that, I'll fall!"

"If you don't, WE WILL BOTH FALL!" Zim screamed. Lard Nar whimpered, grabbing the edge. His heart almost stopped the Zim let go of his arm so that he was suddenly hanging there all by himself.

Without the extra weight, Zim got himself over the edge to a sitting position on in the hole above Lard Nar.

"Now get up here", Zim said, looking down at the terrified Vortian.

"I can't!" Lard Nar whimpered. Zim growled and stood up, pulling Lard Nar upwards.

"Yes you can. Just swing you leg a bit", Zim grunted. Lard Nar weakly obliged, putting his hind leg over the edge and grabbing it with his other arm. "Good", Zim said, loosening his grip a bit," now let's get down from here." He looked around. He'd jumped off the ladder and accidentally kicked it over in the process, so that option was out.

"I – I thought I was dead", Lard Nar stammered. With legs too weak to stand on, he crawled into the wall cavity, and collapsed. Heart racing and hands trembling, he found himself unable to move or think.

"I am hungry", Zim said, walking a few steps into the hole. It widened into a room and later to some stairs.

"Really", Lard Nar dead panned. He tried to calm his racing heart to sort through the questions spinning around in his head. Where had Zim come from? Why had the Irken saved him? What had really happened?

"Yes. We must go find food", Zim nodded. Lard Nar tried to get up, and felt how his shoulder was pulsing now that his adrenaline had dropped.

"No", he groaned", we must find a doctor. My shoulder's dislocated."

"Does this doctor have food?" Zim asked.

"Sure, whatever", Lard Nar mumbled, walking downstairs on wobbly legs. Zim walked behind him. None of them said anything, until:

"I didn't brake it, you know", Zim said.

"Brake what?" he asked. He wasn't focused on whatever Zim had to say, as getting to a doctor was priority number one for now.

"The thing! That fell!"

"Oh", Lard Nar stopped as his shoulder accidentally bumped against the wall, causing millions of stars to dance across his eyes. "Well. You wouldn't have done that just to risk your life to save me, right?"

"NO, but … Someone down there said so! You must tell them they're wrong!" Zim exclaimed. Lard Nar raised his eye ridge. He only had a vague memory of someone shouting that Zim had sabotaged the balcony. But why would Zim care?

He shook his head. No. Anyone in their right mind would care if they were accused of something like that. He had to stop judging Zim like that.

"Fine. I'll tell them you didn't do anything", he said, and Zim relaxed.

"Good. If Dib heard that, he would … punish me, somehow. Ground me from eating, or something."

"Oh", Lard Nar mumbled. His arm hurt even more now, and all he could think about was to get it treated ASAP.

But that proved to have to wait, for everyone who'd been watching them on the ground where now waiting for them at the base of the stairs.

"What did he do?"

"Are you all right?"

"Did he hurt you?" were all questions thrown into Lard Nar's face as soon and he became visible to them. He could feel a headache building up as well. Oh, just great. And someone was pointing a metal rod at Zim, looking ready to strike him down. Zim had gotten on his fours and was hissing, which off course made nothing better.

"Listen, everyone, and you, put that rod away, you idiot! Zim didn't cause that accident. He saved my life! You all need to stop judging him just because you've heard some dumb stories about Irkens!" he snapped, and everyone looked at him in surprise. Including Zim. That was when he realized what he'd said. He'd basically admitted that all he'd thought just this morning was wrong and that everyone had to realize this. He glared at everyone to prove that he was serious and the he walked off. Zim grinned and followed. Behind them, he could hear someone say:

"Bean, I thought I told you to put off limits stickers over that part of the site, that accident could have been much worse!"

"S-sorry, boss!"

"Should I put him in a cage?" Was the first thing the doctor, a pastel green Vortian lady, asked.

"What?" Lard Nar said, having no idea what she meant by that.

"Well, he seems to have hurt you", she said. Her voice was flat and rusty and she had clearly seen too much to ever be surprised again. The gashes Zim had inflicted on his cheeks was a reminder that this was sort of true, but...

"Oh, no. He actually prevented anything worse from happening", he said, shuddering at the memory of falling, knowing you would soon be but a splat on the floor...

"Suits me just fine", the doctor shrugged," have a seat and I'll have a look at your arm."

"Wait, just one thing..." Lard Nar said," you don't happen to have any food here? Leftovers, or a fruit bowl, or anything..." The doctor raised an eye ridge.

"There's a vending machine outside, just around the corner", she said.

"Right. I'll be back in a moment", he said, scuffling off. He bought a candy bar for Zim, which was the least he could do, really.

A minute later, Zim was wide eyed, eating the first candy he'd ever had, while Lard Nar had just gotten his arm relocated in the most excruciating way possible. They were both on a hospital bed, Lard Nar tucked in on one side, and Zim sitting on the edge of the other, dangling his legs. The Vortian groaned. At least he could go home soon, he figured. Well at home he would take a long bath and drink all the caffeinated water he had. Then he would watch TV and fall asleep on the couch. Yup, that sounded like a plan.

The doors opened, and a very out of breath human stepped in.

"What the hell happened?" Dib exclaimed, eyes roaming between the two of them. Lard Nar opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by another person steeping in.

"Lard Nar, are you okay?" Sev En asked," we heard about an accident and I got worried."

"You know me too well", Lard Nar said dryly, "I'm fine. Just traumatized for life, but otherwise fine."

"Zim, what did you do? Man, I shouldn't have let you run off on your own" Dib asked sternly.

"I DID NOTHING!"

"Someone said an Irken caused a wall to fall apart and almost kill someone", Sev En said.

"Really? Aren't rumors just the best thing ever?", Lard Nar muttered with sarcasm.

"They're LYING", Zim exclaimed, waving his candy bar around dangerously.

"Then what happened?" Sev En asked.

"Well, if Zim hadn't been there, I wouldn't be here, for starters. I would be a big bloodstain on the ground", Lard Nar explained. Two pairs of eyes, one human and one Vortian, started at him.

"There was a thing, and it went like this", Zim said and broke the candy bar in half. "And Lard Nar fell, so I jumped to grab him, and he wailed like a smeet, but I-"

"I shouldn't have given you that candy", Lard Nar tried to cut him off, but the Irken didn't listen, too busy telling his story. At least Dib's attention wasn't on the story anymore. The human groaned.

"Great. The last thing everyone needs, is Zim being high on sugar", he said, throwing his hands in the air.

"Well, he's your problem now. I'm going home", Lard Nar said and got up from the hospital bed. Sev En nodded slowly.

"Yes. Let us all go home. It's been a rough day", he said. Good, then Lard Nar wouldn't miss too much work. The door opened and he walked through it.

"... And walking here took FOREVER! Lard Nar's really slo-"

"Zim, get off the ceiling lamp, damnit!"

… Lard Nar didn't wanna look back, but he remembered one last thing he had to do. He turned around.

"Zim? Thanks. And sorry for earlier", he said. Zim only glanced at him for a second before going back to retelling their adventure to no one in particular. Dib on the other hand, suddenly looked genuinely happy. He smiled and nodded, before Lard Nar turned around and left. He could hear Dib and Sev En exchanging goodbyes, but by now, he was very keen on getting home.

"Dib! I can not breathe", came a muffled Irken's voice from underneath the pillow Dib was currently pressing him down with. "Get it off! It's HORRIBLE!"

"No, Zim. You're too hyper", Dib said, sipping his soda. He was still a bit stunned from what he'd heard happened, but there was no way he could talk to Zim about it before the alien had calmed down from his sugar rush. Which should be any minute now. There had to be a LIMIT to how long someone could be affected by one bar of candy, right?

"Ungh", Zim huffed and stopped struggling. Was that the clue to set him free? He didn't want to risk total destruction though, so he kept the pillow where it was. "Diiiiiib…" Zim moaned.

"Fine, fine. Don't destroy anything, okay?" Dib laughed, finally removing the pillow. Zim rose on his arms, gasping like a fish on dry land.

"I will destroy you", Zim muttered back, rolling over to his back. He closed his eyes though and made absolutely no attempt at destruction.

"Oh, and hey, I just remembered! When you left I took this to our room. Sev En and I agreed that you could have it", Dib exclaimed and brought out the broken robot from earlier – the SIR unit. Zim opened his eyes lazily, but immediately perked up when he saw what it was.

"Ooooh! Neat!" he said, sitting up.

"Although you can't turn it on because, well, it DID kind of destroy almost everything", Dib reminded him.

"Yes yes, destroy everything, got it", Zim mumbled. Off course he hadn't payed attention to anything. Dib sighed. Oh well, at least now Zim had something to occupy himself with during their spare time. He had already opened the head and begun ripping out the contents, making a mess on Dib's bed.

"And don't spread your stuff all over my bed! Make a mess in your own bed!" Dib protested. Good thing Zim was light enough to just pick up and move around.

"Hey! I'm working, put Zim down! Now!" Zim gasped. Dib grinned and dumped Zim on his bed.

"As you wish", he snickered. Zim huffed and turned his back to him. Dib shrugged and went back to his soda. Today had been exhausting enough and if Zim would be quiet for a while then he wouldn't complain. Instead, he picked up his phone to browse the Internet of a while until either of them became hungry.

...

"Nu-uh! They said SIR, with an S. Not GIR! You lie!" Dib heard Zim saying through a fog of dreams. Shit, he must've fallen asleep. How late was it? Would his eating pattern be destroyed forever now?

"I had an elephant in my head …" wait, that wasn't Zim's voice! Someone else must have snuck in when he was asleep! He opened his eyes; ready for anything that might be there.

… Zim had turned on the robot. OFF COURSE he had.

"Oh my god, Zim, what did I tell you NOT to do?!" Dib exclaimed, not sounding as angry as he'd hoped, still groggy and hoarse from his nap.

"Oh, Dib-thing! I found this", Zim pulled out a plush elephant from nowhere," in GIR's head and when I removed it, he woke up!" The Irken sounded annoyingly happy about this. Dib though, had a rising feeling of dread as he remembered their coworkers' description of the SIR unit. It went bonkers … destroyed a lot …

"Turn it off right now! It's defective", Dib hurried. He stumbled out of bed, reaching for the robot.

"Yay! LET'S PLAY TAG!" the SIR unit giggled and jumped out of reach, making Dib fall onto Zim's bed.

"Zim, catch it and turn it off!" he screamed.

"But he just started working!" Zim protested.

"You weren't supposed to get it working", Dib said. The SIR unit shrieked and ran into the kitchen, much to Dib's horror.

"We can't let it destroy our room! I can't pay for that", he gasped and ran after.

"GIR! Don't destroy our room", Zim called, following. At least he agreed on that, Dib figured. Then, to Dib's great chock and surprise, the rampaging robot stopped.

"Yes, my master", it said, turning around and saluting. Its eyes had turned red and its voice suddenly sounded serious. What the hell?

"Good, GIR! Go back to the bed and be a nice robot", Zim said. The SIR unit – GIR? – marched back to the beck and sat down. Just … marched right past them and sat down all obediently. Then its eyes flashed turned back to blue and it giggled.

"Why's it calling you 'master'?" Dib asked, staring wide eyed at it.

"Oh, um, I dunno", Zim shrugged," he's done that ever since he woke up. What's it mean anyway?"

"Um, it's kinda like what you call someone more important than yourself – But that's not important right now", Dib stopped himself, but Zim's eyes had already lit up in interest," What matters is that it's not destroying everything and that you turn it off before an accident happens."

"Nothing happened until you attacked him! He was just sitting there!"

"I didn't 'attack' anyone, I was trying to catch the robot before he broke something!"

"BE QUIET! He was doing nothingggg", Zim exclaimed and then, GIR started screaming. Dib covered his read and scrunched up his face while Zim did the same with his antennae. The Irken walked over to GIR, hitting over the head with a clank and it stopped with another giggle.

"I wuz bein' real loud … Just like you two!" GIR said.

"Yes, you were. I heard", Zim nodded. Dib had never see Zim this … patient before. It was almost freaky. Like seeing a side of a friend you didn't know they had. "But you cannot scream, because it hurts! And you cannot destroy anything! Or run around. Or, I don't know, dance."

"Aw, I wanted to dance", GIR sighed. Oh dear, his antennae even drooped as he said it. This wasn't just any intelligent robot; this thing had a real sentience! Dib had to sit down at the realization.

"It's because you did some bad things last time", Zim said," so now no one likes you and everyone thinks your horrible."

"But I had fun! I was doing like this!" GIR stood up and spun around like a tornado, tangling himself in Zim's sheets. "Weeeeeeee! Weeeeeee!"

"GIR, GIR, stop it!" Dib cut in before anything bad could happen. It seemed hopeless, though, as he didn't stop at all, but actually seemed to accelerate at the words.

"Be still, GIR", Zim snapped, having fallen off the bed at GIR's antics. Only then did the robot stop.

"Okee-dokee, mastah!" he grinned. Again, Zim looked unfittingly pleased with the name, which might just make it harder to get him to agree to turn off the robot. Hoo boy.

"Zim", Dib tried, once GIR had quieted down," Do you remember what I told you to NOT do? I'll remind you: you could not turn on the SIR unit. And look what you did! This is why I don't want you out of sight."

"Well", Zim said," He says his name is GIR, so I never actually turned on a SIR unit. "

"That's – That's not the point! Don't you remember that Sev En and Lard Nar told us it destroyed everything?"

"He's not doing that right now, so what's your problem?"

"Aww, don't fight! Let's all make taco and watch TV together!" GIR interrupted and Dib had to admit it. Nothing bad was happening and the only almost incident had been because of him.

"Okay, okay", he sighed," you can keep it on as long as it's obedient. BUT you need to turn it off while you sleep." Who knows what would happen if nobody was watching.

… Dude, he really sounded like Lard Nar had about Zim, didn't he? All suspicious and distrustful and stuff.

"Sorry", he sighed," but be careful."

"Whatever," Zim huffed and turned back to GIR. Dib's stomach growled, reminding him that it was time for dinner. Geez, can this day get any more exhausting?

"Zim, I'm gonna make some food. Don't let GIR do … stuff," he said and left them alone.

Zim looked after him sourly. That dinner had to be really good to make up for being all rude and assuming stuff about GIR. They hadn't even met before and he already blamed GIR for EVERYTHING! Just like- Zim growled.

"Watcha thinkin' about?" GIR asked and put his cold metal hands on Zim's cheeks.

"How Dib is a DOOKIE", Zim answered while removing GIR's hands. Was it ALWAYS gonna be like this?! An eternity of arguing and fighting just for people to not think of him as dangerous? At least GIR didn't seem to care. Now, Zim didn't know much about robots, but right there, in that moment, he wished he was one. If that meant not having to worry about all this.

Wait.

Dib, Lard Nar and Sev En were trying to make a cyborg, but didn't know who to put the robot parts on. HE wanted to be a robot so he didn't have to care so much … Zim gasped.

"DIB! I just had a glorious idea!"

TBC

Next chapter might take a while. It's the end of the semester and my teachers are bombarding us with tests and essays and homework. You know how it is, right? Please don't be angry if I don't update before summer vacation starts!

/Sagapaga