The Insanity Continues: Trip into Darkness
Note: The sequel to "Interview with Alu". Alu is plotting once more and with Zim working by her side, she's more formidable than ever. Will the Irkens have the advantage when its lights out for the Earth ? Read on to find out.
"Fortune favors the brave."—Virgil
"I like being bad. It makes me HAPPY."—Venom, Spiderman 3
Chapter 1—Blueprints, Drawing Boards, Implements of Doom
Irkens hardly ever slept, except for short naps they would take from time to time, but not consistently, and Alu was not an exception to this well-known fact. The brilliant bright-blue eyed, royal-purple cloaked inventor pondered over many findings she had received from Rigel's trip to the library.
"I mustn't forget to return these before their due dates. People, particularly the librarians are funny about those. We don't have any moneys to pay them if we get caught with a fine, so it's better for us to be careful.", Rigel mentioned.
"I swear, you remind me of my facilitator.", Alu said, narrowing her eyes. She loathed being interrupted in the midst of her work. Rigel, knowing she could be potentially dangerous when angered, decided to leave the inventor to her invention.
As Alu continued to develop her machine, she started to test it. At first, it worked by causing a massive blackout in the city. Yet, the effect was short lived.
"I need to tap into the main source of this 'electricity'. Without it, these earth monkeys are nothing. From there, conquest will be swift and Irk shall score one more victory. Then maybe at last the Tallest will no longer think I am an incompetent fool and accept me as a true invader !", she squealed in her lab. Even with the pitch and tone of her voice, none had heard her, but they were about to experience her wrath fairly soon.
A few more tests and a few more whacks with a rubber mallet and the Doom Generator had been started. With one simple throw of a switch, part 1 of her latest vicious plot was about to commence. Her icy blue eyes narrowed as she chuckled manically. Her black glove clasped the handle and hit the switch, sending electricity crackling into the generator to be stored. With the electricity that it drained, it would be enough power to detonate the planet at its core. Destroying the planet from the inside out would be deliciously messy, but it would serve her purpose well.
Chapter 2—Out Into the Darkness
The lack of light didn't affect Alu's vision in any way. In fact, she could see just as well in the darkness as she could when the sun was shining. She rubbed her hands together greedily, gathering all the weaponry she would need before embarking on her journey to take over Earth. Whether the humans were dead or alive, she would come to rule the planet one way or the other. And like her companion Irken soldiers, she wasn't one to give up easily.
Rigel had given Alu a full status report on the city.
"The whole world is covered in darkness. Now we can begin our attack.", Rigel stated, saluting proudly.
"Marvelous. All is going as I have planned. With my alternative source of power, the monkeys will see me as their one and only savior. If they want it, they have to bow down to me in order to get it. I cannot rule the world alone. A Queen must have her King.", Alu said as she ventured out into the darkness. Her power source was contained within a single tube that glowed eerily purple in her hands. In it was enough energy to keep Earth running for eons. Either that or it could be used to implode it. Seeing as she didn't want to destroy the humans straightforwardly, slowly enslaving them and having them work for the Irken empire would be far a more crueler and painful method of punishment and eventual death.
GIR had grown very saddened that his favorite television show Angry Monkey had gone off the air.
"The monkey's not on TV anymore. I don't like it ! I want the monkey back, Master !", GIR said crying wildly and flailing his arms. Zim gave him a lollypop, which assuaged his blubbering and a handheld game to play.
"This'll quiet you for the moment.", Zim said to his companion. The base still had power inwardly but outwardly, looked like every other house on the block without any energy being used in any item whatsoever.
Alu came walking by and knocked at Zim's door.
"Zim, the process has begun.", she said, in a serious tone, hoping he would be pleased.
"I was hoping it would be. You my dear, are a GENIUS !", Zim shouted, which in turn caused his idolizer to fluoresce green once more. To be praised by such a wry wit as Zim's was the closest thing to paradise she would ever experience on Earth or Irk alike.
Chapter 3—Near Flawless
As people began to become panicked, they followed the source of the light coming from Alu and begged to know what they could to obtain their energy in return.
"Pitiful creatures, I will allow you all of this power that you cannot POSSIBLY comprehend if you vow your allegiance to me.", Alu said.
"Don't forget Zim !", Zim added. She was a little bashful to ask him whether he wanted to be her King or not, but that would wait until later. Thus far, the plan was moving along rather smoothly and the humans were starting to bow to them. It was incredible how much pull electricity had upon them. If the mood wasn't so serious, Alu would've been on her side, laughing from the ludicrous nature of it all.
Before she gave them the ability of the plasma power cell, Dib and Aurora had shown up to expose them as what they truly were. Alegra and her friends were among the masses, unable to live without the benefits and luxuries of electricity. Dib looked at Alegra and shook his head. He was ashamed she had stooped to this level, but having no access to the History channel was her greatest weakness. The same could be said of the others, whether it was the internet that was their vice, or video games, or even something as simple as an electric keyboard, all of them depended on electricity to maintain their sanity.
"Don't listen to them. They're not like us. Look at that container Lou is holding. That is not anything earthly !", Dib observed. The mob didn't listen to him, but Aurora had a trick of her own. She had some LED flashlights that could be charged with a couple of turns of their cranks. For some strange reason, she had bought them in bulk.
"Curse you BOTH, you filthy, stinking humans !", Zim said, as the people turned away and started rushing to Aurora for the flashlights. Dib had gone elsewhere to his father's house to see if he still had a link to the city's mainframe. Fortunately, he had, and it ran on an alternate, more economic source of power.
"Keep them at bay while you can, Aurora…I'll do what I can here to restore order from chaos.", Dib thought to himself, without actually talking out loud for once.
Zim found himself cursing in Irken at his misfortune, but no one else had heard. Alu had never seen him so upset. He knew he would be exposed if anyone saw him. Unfortunately, another mishap had also occurred because GIR had grown tired of playing with his GameSlave 2 and gotten a hold of the plasma core. He had been gnawing on it and throwing it around as if it were a ball.
"No, GIR ! That is not a plaything ! Stop ! Cease ! Desist ! ENOUGH ALRREADY !", Alu said, becoming angered as she tried to pry it away from him. Rigel would've helped, but she was so lost in GIR's eyes that she didn't much care and simply waved at him.
"Why does love make you so stupid ?!", she thought to herself, kicking herself mentally on actually hoping the Tallest would send her a SIR with more emotional capability.
As the tug-of-war with the plasma container continued, it was pulled back so far into GIRs mouth that it was launched forward into the stratosphere and into the cold, dark, void of space. It had cracked subsequently and then gave way to a huge supernova explosion. Fortunately for Earth, it was far enough away at that time that it only caused a minor aftershock, which was just a mere rumbling of rocks.
Still cursing his failure, Zim felt like knocking his head against something hard for hours until the images of this defeat no longer assaulted his mind. Alu wished to comfort him, but it had been her fault that GIR had gotten a hold of it in the first place. He didn't even wish to speak to her. Embarrassed, she took a dazed Rigel back home to her base and waited for everything to pass.
Before long, the power had been restored back to the city. Alu once more tried to cut the power, but this time everything had been encrypted with a numerical field that she couldn't seem to hack into. She sighed.
"You're a far better opponent than I figured.", she thought to herself. She felt her eyes stinging a bit. She wasn't likely to cry, but she felt that at that moment, she had lost any chance of impressing her idol and maybe catching his eye. All she wished to do was to someday become his chosen. At this point, it didn't seem likely, or at all probable.
Chapter 4—Suddenly, There's A Shadow Hanging Over Me
Alu had never been faced with depression before. She didn't think it existed in any other species but it did exist, in rare occasions, with some Irkens. Unfortunately, she had been cursed with its shadowy hold and she was starting to wonder why she even bothered trying to enslave or demolish the planet anymore.
Alu began to become rather thin, and of all things, her enemy was becoming concerned about her health.
"What's wrong, Lou ? You're not your usual dismal self…Well, you're more dismal than ever but that's not the point.", Alegra said, trying to lighten the mood.
"You wouldn't understand, mongrel.", she said, sneering at her. Her voice was so fierce that it made Alegra's blood run cold. She felt as though, momentarily, she couldn't breathe. She could only hope that Lou would snap out of her depression and return to her "normal" self.
Alu didn't do much of anything now that she had failed her potential King. All she wanted was to be by his side, maybe even have the rare honor of fathering more soldiers to the Irken army, if it was possible. Her heart sped at the thought of having smeets of her own, but since she had botched up Zim's plans so horribly she didn't think any of that would ever be a reality. That was until, she heard a timid knock on her covert base.
"Oh, Rigel ! Pookie-wookie !", GIR said affectionately from the other side of the door. Rigel quickly answered and let her beloved inside. The two joined each other in a different room, hand in hand, watching some goofy infomercials on television. I suppose just about anything is romantic when two beings (whatever they are) are in love.
"Alu, I was concerned. I hadn't heard anything from you in so many days, and I thought…perhaps you had terminated yourself.", Zim said, taking her hands into his. The touch of his hands sent a tingle up her spine that made her shiver ecstatically to the very depth of her soul. Suddenly it didn't matter if she had been upset or not. The shadows had lifted forever.
Chapter 5—Always Her Comfort
"I felt I had ruined your plans…I keep getting in the way.", Alu said, feeling she had dishonored the Irken race.
"No. Since I've met you, not once have you done such a thing. You have helped the almighty Zim in more ways than even he can imagine. Plus you have given me something altogether more valuable than our constant wont of conquering this pitiful waste of a planet.", Zim said, nearing her and tickling one of his antennae with hers. She couldn't form any words from her lips. The pleasant sensation of their antennae connecting was something of a marvel, and she wished it would never end.
Suddenly, he lifted her chin and kissed her tenderly.
Alu felt as though she had left her body momentarily when her lips had connected with Zim's, but then she was caught in his devilish gaze once more.
"Beautiful one.", he said, tenderly, kissing her hands. Again, she was at a loss for words, which was unlike her.
"I believe I have some new ideas brewing.", Alu said, fluorescing a light green after being barraged by Zim's affection. Despite his lust for destruction, he could be quite romantic.
"Ah, well then, I shan't keep you from progress.", Zim said, patting her hand lightly and calling GIR to his side.
"Aw, but I wanted to watch more infomercials with pookie-koo.", he whined.
"Yes, yes…Eventually you will, GIR. There is work to be done though. Come, GIR !", Zim commanded in his usual militant manner.
"Wait, Zim.", Alu said, before he left.
"Yes, beauty ?", he asked, a certain hint of amorousness in his tone. She leant in on her combat boots and kissed him passionately. Gasping for breath and with a devious grin, he said,
"Looks like I have a lot to look forward to in the future."
Epilogue
When Lou came into the classroom the next day, she looked particularly pleased in a mischievous sort of way. Alegra hadn't even remembered what had happened during the blackout. Pity her short-term memory wasn't better than what it was or she would've recalled that her friend wasn't exactly human. That didn't mean that she wouldn't stop asking her questions. Also, Alegra's best friends and co-reporters would also be by her side to continue annoying "Lou", but that was just to be expected when it came to everyday school life. Blithe was back on her kick of belief of the paranormal and unexplained, and she had sucked the others, particularly the leader, Alegra, into believing there was intelligent life among the stars. Granted none of them knew it was sitting right next to them in class. The day would come when Lou would be exposed but for the time being, she was craftily formulating another plan that would certainly lead to the humans' doom in no time. Yet, for now she was keeping an eye on her adversaries. She was lucky the last time she had a run-in with those girls. Next time, she might not be so fortunate. But so long as she had her memory eraser in her possession, she would always be able to elude her foes and those who found her suspicious.
The End
…
For Now !
In the next chapter of "The Insanity Continues: March Into Madness", Alu discovers that most every human being has one weakness that will cripple them. Sadly the Phobia Ray is only temporary (since a sidetracked Rigel turned the dial to that option)…When Alu is seen for what she is, she nearly loses her memory wiper and is practically exposed by her nemeses.