Return (Invader Zim Fanfic)

17

"Hm?" The Irken in the striped yellow shirt cocked his head to the side, and then looked down at the bee. "This little cutie is yours?" He picked it up and held it in the air.  The bee buzzed happily. 

"Hi, Zim! It's me!" The bee emanated a voice.  The Voice. 

"We've been listening to one of Zim's shitty inventions this entire time!?"  Tak felt her anger begin to boil.

"Hey..." Zim said.

"Not exactly," The unknown Irken spoke up again. "I modified him a bit. So he could speak to you. Though, he did already have that personality when I found him.  He just said what I asked him to is all."

Tak opened her mouth, but there were just too many questions.  Her brain was having trouble picking out just one.  Before she could decide, she was interrupted.

"O-oh I'm Skeeto, by the way. With all the excitement, I forgot to introduce myself."  Skeeto held out his hand for them to shake.  Tak folded her arms, but Zim took the hand and gave it one firm shake.

"Give me back my robot bee," demanded Zim.

"Er, of course, just one moment. I can put him back the way he was." Skeeto set the bee down on his desk. "Wendy! Could you bring me my precision screwdrivers?"

The others looked around to see who Skeeto was talking to.  From a corner of the room came a small pitter-patter sound.  It quickly grew louder and soon a large spider made its way past them. Holding a small case of even smaller screwdrivers.  Tak instinctively jumped back upon seeing the sizeable spider. 

"--- .... .-.-.- / .-- . -. -.. -.-- / .. ... / .- / - .- .-. .- -. - ..- .-.. .- .-.-.- / .... --- .-- / ..-. ..- -. .-.-.-" Mimi mumbled.

"Why?" That was all that Tak could manage. But, it still wholly covered any question that she could have. 

Skeeto got to immediate work, removing his modifications from the robot bee.  "Why a tarantula? Or why Wendy?" 

Zim replied for Tak. "Both!"

"Spiders are beautiful and generally docile creatures," he scratched under Wendy's chin with one finger. "I mean, just like us, they'll use self-defense, but honestly- These precious beans are just such good friends."

Wendy tapped her legs on the table in agreement.

"I- Did you call them 'precious beans?'" Tak was beginning to regret coming on this adventure.

"Yes." Skeeto defended.

Tak closed her eyes, the headache was coming back.

"She's my emotional support spider..." Mentioned Skeeto matter-of-factly as he got back to work on Zim's robot bee. 

"There is something seriously wrong with you, man." Zim decided.

"Right. Hence the emotional support spider."  Skeeto finished up his work, looked up and smiled. "It's just part of being a defective, Zim. Once you accept that, I think you can better grasp the concept." He let go of the bee and it flew back to Zim.

"Thanks?" Zim accepted the bee, confused. 

"That robot is an interesting one. Bees are very strong insects- Hefty, fast and powerful. Of course, that's because they have the hive. They work as one organism. That's how they've survived for so long and on so many planets. Though, with a hive mind, all it takes is one sick bee. One case of Colony Collapse Disorder can take down the hive." He made direct eye contact with Tak. 

"You're not actually talking about bees, are you?" concluded Tak.

Skeeto spun around in his chair. "Maybe not."