Disclaimer: I only own Merit and Zaid. All other characters belong to Mr. Vasquez.

Glass Dominos

By

Lisa-Chu

Chapter 5

Airplanes pt. 2

"Left!" Zim barked, and Merit threw a left hook as hard as her small body would let her. Zim was determined to make a fighter out of her yet, and so far, she hadn't done too bad. Not spectacular, but not as bad as he thought she would be. "Good. That's all for today, but don't get lazy. Bathe yourself and get ready for school." They had been at this training for the past few days, since Tak's transmission, which Merit had overheard. She, being the type, of course, blamed herself and wanted to help, but weakling were no help to Zim, so he had put off his mission to training her every morning and every night, before and after school.

Dib was simply there to watch. Something about seeing the two interact with each other made his heart feel…warm. And something about seeing Zim, pale green flesh taut over lean muscle with a slight mist of sweat made other parts of Dib feel warm. Of course, the boy wasted no time coming to terms with his lust for the alien, especially with the threat of impending doom looming overhead. In fact, it gave the whole realization a new "do-or-die" perspective, which made it more exciting. Dib had decided that, if he were going to die, he was going to do it with that insane little alien in his arms.

Zim eased himself down in the plush chair, his muscles sore. To be honest, the hardest part of training was, in fact, training. Was it was finished, you were given highly effective and very destructive technology that required little more than the lifting of a claw. Given that Zim hadn't been in training in decades, he had to condition himself all over again to train his smeet.

"She's coming along great." Dib piped up as he rose from his perch, not far from Zim, but far enough to be out of the way. "She's better than I thought." Zim's antennae perked as the human moved closer to him, placing a warm, fleshy hand on the invader's back. Something about his touch alarmed and excited Zim all at the same time, and something in him screamed for more. "You, on the other hand, look like you're about to keel over, old man." Dib laughed.

The human placed his other hand on Zim's back and began kneading the tense flesh, eliciting a soft keen from the slender form beneath him. In an act of boldness, Dib moved his hands to Zim's neck, massaging the tender flesh before gliding those nimble fingers to his chin and tilting his head back. Ruby red orbs blinked up at him curiously before Dib decided, now or never. He captured Zim's lips in a tender kiss. He didn't know what to expect of a kiss from an alien, but he certainly wasn't expecting it to be so soft, almost feather soft. And certainly not gentle. But here he was, drinking in this invader, swimming in the pleasure and the danger of it all.

"Um…I'm ready…" Merit peeped out from the entrance of the labs, and the two practically flew to opposite sides of the lab, faces burning. Getting caught hadn't been in Dib's plan for his first alien kiss.

"Care to tell me what that was all about, Dib-stink?" Zim whispered harshly as the three walked to the middle school Merit attended, due mostly to her small size. Dib simply shrugged, not even dignifying the question with a response. As far as he was concerned, it was nothing to talk about with Merit still around. It was bad enough she caught them. "Answer Zim!"

"Okay, well, I know those girls so I'm gonna go on ahead! See you guys later!" And Merit darted off, her face burning red, to catch up with some girls from her grade. Knowing her, she only did it to give the boys some privacy.

"Well, worm baby?" Zim prodded on, stopping dead in his tracks and crossing his arms expectantly. "Why did you molest the Almighty Zim?"

"Oh, please, Zim. The last thing I did was MOLEST you. And I didn't see you pushing me away. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that you liked it." Zim's eyes widened behind purple synthetic lenses and his face grow hot. The reaction gave Dib a major confidence boost, and he stepped closer to the alien, wrapping an arm around that slender waist. The Irken's breath caught in his throat as Dib leaned down and pressed his lips against the skin of the alien's neck. Zim's knees nearly buckled as Dib's breath ghosted over every sinfully hot kiss, as he made a trail from his neck all the way up to his antennae.

"Let's go," he whispered hotly, sending shivers through Zim's entire being.

"Go where?"

"To school, clown. We're going to be late." With a quick grope to Zim's behind, Dib turned on his heel, leaving a hot and bothered, and quite pissed off, alien in his wake.

Tak stood before Tallest Red and Purple, knelt obediently on one knee, and it was in that position that she faced her first setback in her master plan.

"Sorry, Tak, but we're afraid you're asking too much. We might be able to spare a few smeets, but a whole fleet? To take out an uncharted planet?"

"You don't understand, these are hostile life forms! They could be planning an attack as we speak!" Purple waived a hand at her, dismissing her pleas.

"We have statistics on that planet and its technology is far too primitive to even know we exist, let alone to stage an attack. Now we did you a favor letting you come back, but now you're crossing the line." The two leaders glared down at the Invader, her begging beginning to grate on their last nerve. She hadn't even told them what they would gain from this mini-invasion of hers.

"My Tallest, consider it a business venture. The food on that planet is quite delectable, and they have a wide variety of alien snacks. It could be…a second Foodcourtia! All of its proceeds would go to you and the Empire, of course." She was pulling at straws. The last thing Irk needed was a new source of snacks, but she would say whatever she had to, if it got her what she needed.

"Hmm…we could always use more snacks…"Red rubbed his chin thoughtfully before nodding to Purple in agreement. "Alright Tak, we'll pursue this…business venture of yours, but you'll have to make due with what we can afford to give you. Five ships, two soldiers each." Five ships and ten men? That was it? Tak was severely disappointed, but like Red said, she had to take what she could get. Besides, how hard could it be to conquer Earth, of all places.

"Thank you, my Tallest." She bowed, mostly to hide her bitter scowl. "I will not disappoint you."

"See that you don't. We're sticking our necks out for you, Tak. If this mission doesn't succeed, don't bother coming back." And with that, she was dismissed. The female Irken could certainly lay the ground work with five ships. So long as that brat, Zaid, played his part.

The day seemed to fly by, as it had the past few days, ever since that transmission. Merit had trouble focusing on her classes, as one would after hearing that an Elite Invader was on a fast track to Earth with the intention to kill them and the world around them, and because of this, the days seemed to fly by in horrid blur.

"What am I going to do, Luna?" Merit sighed, clutching the stuffed Irken to her chest. For once, Luna didn't hold any answers, although the solution was clear. She simply had to fight, or at least try to.

"Are you still carrying that old thing around?" An oh-so-familiar voice rang out behind her. Merit's breath caught in her throat as she whipped around and faced her eavesdropper. "I figured it would have burned up in the crash."

Zaid was well disguised, his normally deep green skin coated in pale white, and his lekku hidden by a thick mass of midnight black hair. Despite that, Merit knew it was him, and her heat filled with delight as she rushed to him, arms wide. Zaid swept her off her feet, literally, and twirled her around, drinking in the sound of his long-lost friend's laughter.

"How'd you know it was me?" she asked, tears welling in her eyes. Zaid smiled down at her and wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

"We promised, remember? Wherever you may go…"

"I'll find you…"Merit finished, still beaming. Zaid pressed a hand to the small of her back and began leading her in the direction she was original headed, regaling his trip to Earth and the details of his stealthy construction of his base on the other side of town. He had arrived in the middle of the night, cloaked his ship so that other technology couldn't detect him and possibly eliminate him. He asked Tak what technology she used for such an advanced tactic, and why he even needed it. She only responded that the information was confidential, as was his association with the elder Irken, and no other life form, Irken or otherwise, should know that he was working under her instruction. He didn't argue, as his only goal was to find Merit and make sure she was safe.

"Have you made a base yet?" the male asked, hoping she said no. He hadn't thought far beyond this point in his mission, aside from whatever Tak ordered him to do next, but if need be, he'd stay on this pathetic rock with Merit, protecting her as he should have done all along.

"I don't, but I've been staying with my surrogates. They found me when I crashed months ago, and they've been taking care of me ever since. They even gave me clothes to wear." She did a little spin, showing off her navy polo and jean skirt. "I'm headed there now! You'd absolutely love them."

Zim sized up the smeet that Merit had brought home, and instantly got a bad feeling about his presence. Something told the invader that this boy showing up only days after Tak contacted him was no coincidence.

"He's the one I was telling you guys about." Merit beamed, her hand clasped tightly in Zaid's as she practically bounced in excitement.

"Very nice, now, Zaid, if you'll excuse us, Merit has studying to do." The invader bit out in a hurried voice, making clear that the smeet was not as welcome in his base as his charge was. The last thing Zim was going to do was let this smeet know that they were preparing for battle, lest he really was working under that maniac Tak.

Dib, who had taken to spending time at the base after school, contemplated the scene from his place on the couch. As much as he hated to admit it, he sided with Zim completely, although he wished there were an easier way to make Merit see it. But how do you tell a child with the mindset she had that, right now, no one could be trusted, not even her dearest friend, and that all they had, until this all blew over, was each other? It didn't seem right, but it would keep them all safe.

"But Zim, can't he stay for a little while? He came all this way-"

"Enough. It's getting late and you still have a lot to do. I'm sure you'll see your friend again."

"Zim, that's not fair!"

"I'll compromise with you, smeet. Until you improve in your studies and prove to Zim that you can, in fact, survive on your own on this miserable rock, you will not see that boy. Am I clear?" Without waiting for a response, Zim turned his back on the group, dismissing himself to his lab. If Merit wanted that boy so badly, if she wanted so much to put herself, and him, at risk by interacting with this stranger, she would have to work for it.

"He doesn't understand." Merit whispered when Dib found her, sitting on Zim's front step. The eerie lawn gnomes were armed and ready to attack anything that may disturb the two. "He doesn't know how long I've waited to see him. We promised each other. He came all the way out here, just to find me."

"That's just it, Merit…" Dib interjected. "We don't know exactly why he's here. It just seems like too much of a coincidence. First Tak, now that boy? And they both seem to be looking for you." Merit bit her lip. The human had her dead to rights, but she knew Zaid better than that. He wouldn't possibly get mixed up with that evil woman. Would he? "In his own psychotic way, Zim is just trying to look out for you. He doesn't want to see you hurt, or worse. Neither of us do. We just want to make sure you can handle yourself before we let you run off on your own." Dib playfully ruffled her hair, getting a small laugh out of her. "Either way, your training is only gonna get tougher, and Zim is only going to be harder on you. And so am I. The question you need to ask yourself is: is he worth it?" He didn't expect an answer, as he meant what he said, it was something she needed to ask and answer for herself. Instead, he rose from his seat and back into the base.

Sighing, Merit lifted her gaze to the darkening sky. Another speck of light slowly drifted across the orange and violet, and the smeet clutched Luna to her chest. "It's just another airplane, Luna…but maybe I could pretend. I could really use a wish right now."

A/N: You all know my inspiration for this chapter. Sorry the ending is so cheesy. Read and review, especially if you think that this is too Dib or Merit-centric.