Chapter 3 - 2012: The Invasion Begins

Zim seemed preoccupied during the walk to school, holding my hand as if it was habit, not because he wanted to. And when he looked at me, I saw a kind of fear in his eyes.

"Are you ok?" I asked him quietly while we were in the library. We'd been dating for a year now, and normally he paid more attention to his surroundings.

"Huh?" He asked, and I laughed. He allowed me a small smile. I felt my forehead knit with worry.

"Are you ok?" I repeated.

"Oh. Um... yeah. Just... thinking."

"About...?" I pressed.

"Will you still like me when I take over the world?" He blurted out loudly. A couple of kids glanced our way before turning back to their work. I laughed out loud, and the librarian glared at me.

"You say when, I say if. And of course I will. Love is complicated, no one could understand it." I told him quietly.

"You said love." He said, his forehead furrowing in confusion, "Everyone on this planet talks of love. What is it?"

"Love is impossible to explain." I whispered, "The best way I can explain it is in how you feel when you see the person. If you're in love, you see them and everything is instantly better. You can call them just to say hi, and end up talking to them for hours. You watch their dog the day you start to really get to know them.

"If you love someone you will do anything for them, no matter what they do they are still the most amazing, kindest, handsomest person on the world. Or in the universe." I tacked on as an afterthought.

"You feel that way with me?" Zim asked in wonder.

"I think I do." I said. He smiled at me.

"It's time to test your hypothesis." He said, and spoke into his watch.

"It's time, my Tallest." He said, and I felt horror bubble up in my throat.

"What?!?" I gasped. He looked confused.

"The invasion is beginning. You did not know this? I just needed a couple thousand Irken elite soldiers to help me round all of the humans up."

"How could you?" I yelled at him. The librarian shooshed me.

"You knew I was going to, how can you be surprised?" He asked.

"I thought you'd grown a heart!" I screamed, "A conscience!" He laughed, a bonechilling noise.

"This is my job." He said, "You knew so. You knew I wasn't as incompetent as that fool Zim Jhonen made up. Ha! He hasn't gotten any better at making up stories since I first met him!"*

I stared at him for a few seconds then ran out of the room. A few seconds later Zim burst out of the library also.

"Xena! Xena wait! I'm sorry!" He called after me, but I was already running, and I wasn't about to stop.

"Gir come to the school immediately! No need for a disguise." Zim yelled into his watch as he chased me, hot on my heels. I heard doors open as the bell rang, signaling the end of the hour and I heard Zim's Mech-legs snap out at the same second. He propelled himself forward so quickly his wig fell off, revealing to the entire school what he was. He pulled off the contacts as he chased me, but I was already slowing down, trying to push my way through all the kids. He grabbed me and his Mech-legs snapped back into his PAK. He pushed me against the wall.

"Listen human!" He spat at me, "I'm sorry. I already said it, but the Armada are on their way and it's too late. I was just following orders. I never would have completed this plan if you hadn't taken Gir over to your house that day." He said, grinning at me, while tears streaked their way down my face. "You helped me, and you know it, deep inside of you. But you don't care. Think about it! You've always wanted to be something more then you are, haven't you? Well here came me, and the opportunity prevented itself. You followed your heart without knowing it." I sat down with a thump against the wall and buried my face in my hands. He sat next to me and stared at all our classmates with a rather bored look. I snuck a peek and saw they were all staring at me in horror.

A window shattered and the kids and teachers alike flinched as Gir flew over to me.

"Xena!" He screamed, holding a stuffed piggy in his arms, the same piggy I'd given to him for Halloween, marking his third year on Earth. Minimoose followed him like a dog.

"Go away Gir." I said, my voice muffled by my arm.

"Awww does someone need a hug?" He asked, and gave me a giant hug. I didn't want a hug.

"SELF DESTRUCT!" I screamed at him, and he giggled and blew up. Zim sniffed and eyed me disapprovingly.

"Put him back together Minimoose." I said after a long sigh. I noticed all my classmates were still staring at me, though some had just sat down and started to work on their homework. Kris pushed her way through the group, something she'd been trying to do for five minutes straight.

"How could you?" She asked me, a look of repulsion on her face.

"Come on, let's go now that Minimoose has put Gir back together." Zim said, standing up.

"I'm not coming with you." I said, shocked he'd even consider it.

"Don't be stupid. We need to get ready for the Tallest. Do you want to be left alone with a bunch of pissed teenagers about to be enslaved? I don't think so. Come on." I looked at him, and back at my own kind, torn.

"Come on!" He said impatiently, and I followed him, Gir, and Minimoose out of the door, and it slammed shut after me. I looked back and saw all my friends staring at me. My brother Kyle, Liam, and Kris were in the front, staring at me with angry eyes. I turned away from them and followed Zim out of the school grounds.

I looked up at the sky and felt my eyes widen. A huge mass of ships were emerging from the fog. Zim hurried along, and I followed him like a good little human. Even though right now I felt like I hated him, I knew I didn't. I'd known him for an entire year, he'd consoled me over dead pets, talked to me when I was bored, and stayed on the phone for hours when I just wanted to talk. I didn't hate him. I loved him. We reached his base.

"Computer! Ready the Voot Cruiser." He commanded. He grabbed Irken boots, a shirt, a pair of pants, and some gloves for me.

"Change into this. We need the Irkens to know that you are on our side, or they will attack." I nodded and waited for him to leave. He didn't. I made a little motion with my hand and he blushed and headed into the kitchen. I pulled on all the clothes, which fit me, miraculously. Zim came back in and looked me up and down.

"You look good." He said, and I blushed.

"Shut up." I said. He grinned.

"No, really. You look... hot, I guess that's how you humans say it." I blushed even harder, and we climbed into the Voot Cruiser. Zim was a much better pilot than in the tv show, and we began to fly towards where all the Cruisers were landing. My kind were beginning to notice, and people screamed as Zim's Cruiser flew over them. We flew over my house, and my mom looked up and I swear she saw me. Her eyes grew all wide and she fainted. My brother caught her and looked up at the Cruiser, glaring. Zim landed in the field and his cockpit opened. We stepped out, and it looked all dramatic, like in those action movies. Fog from all the Cruisers was just beginning to fade, and we emerged from it looking very mysterious.

I gasped as I saw all the Irkens assembled, as they did when they saw me.

"What is the meaning of this Zim?" One of them asked, glaring at me.

"Now now, let's not get hasty." Zim said quickly, "She helped me."

"Helped you?" An Irken female asked, now curious.

"Yes helped." Zims aaid. "Now.Onto business! We need to split up on Continents. I'm assuming you all brought multiple S.I.R.s and worker drones?" They all nodded.

"Good. Split into seven, and each one tackle a continent. You all studied, correct?" More nods.

"I will lead North America. You all pick the other leaders. The Tallest will be here in 24 hours. That is how long we have to round up the humans."

"We will start with that one." A tall Irken said, pointing at me.

"No!" Zim yelled, "I told you, she is on our side!"

"She can be a spy." The Irken pointed out. "She can say you turned on her, and that she hates you. We can equip her with a bug, so we will know all their hiding places." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Very well." Zim said, defeat in his voice. "Will you, Xena?" He turned and asked me.

"Finally someone asks me!" I said indignantly. "Yes, I will."

They outfitted me with my old clothes, placing a miniscule bug on me, an unnoticable one, and gave me a pair of the cuffs and a collar. They hurt, and Zim apologized the entire time, while the other Irkens watched him and me talk curiously. They caught another human watching in the bushed and stuck the collar and cuffs on him also, attatching both of ours together and a chain out of mine so I was on front. A S.I.R. held onto the chain dutifully.

"Ready to go?" Zim asked me. I nodded. The other man was too scared to listen.

"Tak!" Zim called. "You take these two."

"Pretend to struggle and plead when we get to town." He whispered to me. I nodded again. The S.I.R. dragged me along and Tak walked next to me. When we entered town I began to cry, loud, raucous sobs.

"Please Zim!" I cried. He gazed at me coldly. "Please..." I sobbed. I janked on the chains and the S.I.R. glared at me. "Why are you doing this?!?!?!" I screamed. People were staring now, confused. A few were staring at the group of Irken behind us and a few were watching the other Voot Cruisers taking off. Most were watching Zim and I.

"Humans are useful. You will make good slaves." He said coldly.

"I hate you." I whispered, knowing I would never say them to him again.

"Hey, consider this an official break-up." he said, and I stood stock-still in shock. Then I began to cry harder.

"Start." Zim commanded the other Irkens, and a group of Worker Drones brought out a giant cages, in which the other human and I were stuffed. The Irkens jumped on the human, cuffs snapped and children screamed. A little girl was stuffed in close to me and she huddled near me, screaming for her mother who was being forced into a different cage.



This is my fault. I thought desperately. My fault.

*Jhonen fans... don't kill me. I'm a fan too. It's a story...


A.N. Longer, eh? Took me 4ever to write, so I hope you enjoy it...

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