Fandom: Invader Zim
Rating: Teen/Mature
Warnings: Violence, body horror, and disturbing images
Pairings: None
Summary: Keef is back, just as chipper, optimistic, and clingy as ever. And miraculously, mysteriously, with both his eyes back. But this time, there's something ominously different about him, something lurking under that Keef-ish exterior, that puts Zim's nerves on edge.
But his nerves turn to terror when one of his attempts of fighting Keef off results in the latter's pursuits taking an alarmingly abrupt and deadly turn! After Zim inadvertently drags Dib into the chaos, the two of them make a shocking discovery about the previously innocent and unassuming Keef.
Jeepers Creepers, where'd ya get those peepers?
Jeepers Creepers, where'd ya get those eyes?
~ Johnny Mercer, "Jeepers Creepers"
What a twist!
~ M. Night Shyamalan's stand-in, from Robot Chicken
Buried deep below the bowels of the Earth, a laboratory sat in dormant silence.
Nothing whirred. Nothing beeped. Nothing flashed or buzzed. All was silent and still, almost dead. But there was also a sense of anticipation resting within the still air, like the lab was some great beast waiting for something or someone to come and resurrect it; to breathe life into it.
For this lab, that someone came with the sound of thunder.
A low rumbling, starting soft before gradually rising in volume, rattled the stillness of the lab. The rumble, originating from the elevator in the corner that connected the lab to the surface world, reached its peak as the elevator ended its descent into the lab. The elevator door opened, revealing a Figure, who stepped out. His face was hidden by the dark blue hood he wore. Only red irises peeked out from under it.
As if sensing his presence, the lights of the laboratory twitched on, and the computer's monitor brightened to life.
"GOOD AFTERNOON, SIR," the computer greeted the Figure in a dulcet female voice.
"Good afternoon," the Figure answered back, his voice low, deep, and commanding. "Computer, bring me genetics pod #332 out of containment."
"THE SPECIAL POD, SIR?" the computer asked.
The Figure let out an annoyed sigh. "Yes, the special pod."
"RIGHT AWAY, SIR."
Two seconds later, a medium size clear glass container sprang up through a chute on the computer's console. Translucent green liquid, filling the container almost to the top, sloshed around inside, but it was the contents within the liquid that the Figure was interested in. He leaned forward, looking at the objects resting within the liquid, the sight of them not even drawing a flinch out of him, despite the fact that the very sight of them would cause anyone else's skin to squirm.
A pair of disembodied eyeballs floating around on their stalks stared back at him through the green liquid before lazily drifting around and scanning the room, unseeing, lidless, even a little inhuman (perhaps they were). The Figure looked at them with an almost eager greed, like they were some gruesome trophy he was about to win.
"Computer, progress report on #332," the Figure said, never looking away from the eyeballs.
"GENETICS POD #332, A.K.A. THE PEEPERS, ARE AT 100% GROWTH, AND 100% BIOLOGICAL COMPATIBILITY. THEY ARE READY FOR OPTIC RETINAL FUSION, AND AWAIT YOUR ORDERS TO PROCEED WITH THE PROCEDURE."
The Figure smiled. "Excellent!" he said, before collapsing into a fit of cackling laughter, causing his deep voice to go up a few octaves.
"WHEN WOULD YOU LIKE TO INITIATE THE PROCEDURE, SIR?"
The Figure stopped laughing, his face slipping from one of devious mirth to seriousness. "Immediately!" he declared. "I do not intend to wait any longer! Prepare the chamber for Optic Retinal Fusion now!"
"AS YOU COMMAND, SIR."
The Figure watched as the container holding the eyeballs disappeared down the chute with a loud PHUNK. He then pressed a button on the console and turned toward the door on the wall behind him, watching as it opened to reveal a long, clear cylindrical chamber stretching up to the ceiling. He stepped forward, staring at the chamber pensively.
"Sixteen times the charm," he commented.
"DO YOU REALLY THINK IT WILL WORK THIS TIME, SIR?"
"We shall see," the Figure answered. "And even if it doesn't, it has to eventually. So we'll just keep trying until it does."
"YOUR DETERMINATION IS TRULY INSPIRING, SIR."
The Figure wave his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, enough of that," he said in an unimpressed tone. "You can kiss my posterior later. Just warm the chamber up."
"WARMING UP, SIR. WOULD YOU LIKE SOME ANESTHETIC? AS YOU NOW KNOW FROM THE LAST FIFTEEN TIMES, THIS WILL NOT BE A PAINLESS PROCESS."
"That won't be necessary," he answered. "After enduring the other fifteen trials, I'm pretty sure my pain tolerance has increased."
"IF YOU SAY SO, SIR. THE CHAMBER IS READY FOR YOU."
"Brilliant," the Figure said in a low, satisfied tone.
As the chamber whirred to life, the Figure suddenly reached up, grabbed the eyeballs he was currently wearing in his eye sockets, and pulled them out, letting out a sharp, momentary yelp as he did. He stood there with them resting his palms, as if contemplating their existence. They weren't even real eyes, let alone really his. They were mechanical, robotic; not made by him but by...someone else. Their glowing red irises stared toward the chamber, as if worried that their run could potentially be over; irises that were designed by the same someone else to make him see things that weren't really there, a function that wore off ages ago, leaving his sight and mind clearer than ever. Shifting the robot eyes to his left hand, the Figure raised them up and a pair of robotic hands came down and took the eyes out of his grasp. With eye sockets empty and his vision temporarily gone, the Figure reached out his hand and blindly stepped forward until his fingers met the door of the chamber, which slid open at his touch. He stepped inside, and turned around the face the computer.
"Computer, initiate fusion!" he ordered.
"INITIATING FUSION."
The chamber door slid shut and the chamber was suddenly filled with a thick, yellow smoke. A steady pulsing was heard, starting slow and soft before increasing in speed and volume, like some kind of robotic heartbeat. And with each increase of speed, the computer counted up.
"FUSION IS AT 30%...45%...55%...75%"
Still, the pulsing was all that was heard.
"FUSION IS NOW AT 80%...85%...90%"
Suddenly, the laboratory was filled with the most unimaginable, organ-twisting shrieks coming from the chamber, so loud they almost drowned out the accelerating pulse. Flashes of light filled the chamber again and again, revealing the Figure inside thrashing around.
"OH DEAR," the computer said casually. "I BET HE WISHES HE HAD THE ANESTHETIC NOW." There was a pause, filled only by the Figure's agonized shrieks of pain from within the chamber. "YES, I BELIEVE HE DOES," she said in that same casual tone as more of the Figure's high-pitched shrieks filled the room; probably the only time other than when he cackle-laughs that his voice rises several octaves. "LUCKY WE'RE ALMOST DONE. FUSION IS AT 95%."
Within the chamber, the flashes of light accentuated the Figure's silhouette.
Lasers bore into his eye sockets, causing his shrieks to intensify.
The Peepers were brought forward and attached to his sockets at the stalks.
The lasers bore into his sockets again, drawing out more shrieks as they fused the Peepers to his brain.
The Peepers hung out of his sockets by their stalks before an increase of light in the chamber caused them to retract into his sockets with a wet, squishy FWIP.
He screamed the entire time.
"FUSION AT 100%," the computer said. "POWERING DOWN IN 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1."
As she counted down, the speed of the pulsing slowed bit by bit before disappearing. Once it stopped, the chamber door slid open, briefly filling the room with the yellow smoke before the Figure collapsed out of the opening, landing on his hands and knees on the floor with labored gasps.
"Ow," he said in a dry, monotone voice when his labored intakes of air slowed to much steadier breathing.
"YOU WERE RIGHT, SIR. YOUR PAIN TOLERANCE HAS INDEED INCREASED. YOUR AGONIZED SHRIEKS MADE THAT VERY CLEAR," the computer said with a blatantly sarcastic tone.
The Figure growled at the computer's mockery. "Oh, shut up, you stupid machine!" he snapped. Really, whoever's bright idea it was to give computers the capacity for sarcasm should be vaporized immediately!
"HOW ARE THE VISUALS, SIR?" She said 'sir' with a haughty tone, no doubt left over from her previous sarcastic statement, and her response to the Figure's angry reply.
The Figure ignored her attitude and blinked several times, checking the use of his brand new pair of eyes. "Not yet good. Everything's still dark. The optic nerves haven't yet synced up with mine. Looks like we'll have to give them a few minutes."
"GOOD IDEA, SIR."
They waited a few more minutes. Slowly, the Figure's eyesight began to melt into existence, revealing blurry images that sharpened into the shapes of the lab's inner machinations. He slowly, steadily, got to his feet, taking a few tentative steps until his hands found the console of the computer.
"HOW ABOUT NOW, SIR?" the computer asked. "ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10, HOW IS YOUR EYESIGHT?"
"Right now, 8.5," he answered. "The corners are still dark, and everything briefly blackens out when I blink. Another few minutes should clear things up. And even then we'll still have to wait a full week to make sure that these Peepers don't end up...like the other fifteen did."
"AND IF THEY DO, WHAT THEN?"
"Simple; we start over again until we get it right."
"BUT IF THEY DO WELL, YOU GO BACK TO SKOOL, RIGHT?"
The Figure smiled wickedly. "Oh yes, I go back to skool." A low chuckle started to form deep within his throat. "After all, I still have some unfinished business to attend with my...bestest friend!"
With that, the chuckle in his throat erupted into another loud cackle-laugh, one that was only one octave above his usually deep tone. Yet it nonetheless echoed off the lab walls with an ominous dissonance, heralding the danger and doom he had in store for his enemy.