I do not claim ownership to the characters, or related logos. They belong to Jhonen Vasquez

Chapter One: Experiment

"HEY! DIB, LOOK! I THINK THAT'S BIGFOOT OUTSIDE THE WINDOW!" Gaz yelled, jumping up. Normally, this would cause her brother to give up the remote long enough for her to take it, and she could change it to anything other than Mysterious Mysteries of Strange Mysteries. This time, however, he didn't even flinch, and just looked ahead, his eyes glazed.

"Dib, what's wrong with you? You just went to Zim's house one day, and came back all-" She stopped. Of course! Stupid Zim did something to my stupid brother. She put down her Game Slave, and walked out the door. Ever since Dib had come back from Zim's house a few days ago, he had been quiet. He didn't react to anything you said, and didn't really seem to care. He had also been eating a lot less. She saw him occasionally nibble on something, but never really eat.

She almost stepped onto the sidewalk up to Zim's house, when she remembered the lawn gnomes. She picked up a fair sized rock and threw it at one. The rest of them, detecting the rock and mistaking it as a threat, fired lasers at the lawn gnome who it had hit. To her satisfaction, the gnome blew up, leaving a smoking burnt spot. She did this for all but one of the gnomes, and simply ran past this one. She didn't really care what happened to Dib, but if he died, her dad would hire a babysitter. That needed to be avoided at all costs. Of course, there was always the chance Membrane simply wouldn't notice Dib's death, but this was only a chance.

She walked in the unlocked door. She didn't know why Dib always complained; That had been easy enough. Walking inside, she saw Gir on the couch. He didn't seem to notice her until the TV went to commercial. Once it did, he got off the couch and looked at her.

"Intruder!" He yelled, his eyes turning red. She stood her ground, and his eyes went back to cyan.

"Where's Zim?" She growled.

"In his lab." The TV show came back on, and Gir sat down on the couch. She walked past him and up to the toilet in the kitchen. Once she was in the lab, she followed the sound of voices. They were coming from a room behind a closed door. She listened to the conversation.

Deeper Male voice:"I still don't get what you mean by that. Like, how tall?"

Zim:"As tall as you even, sometimes taller."

Higher Male voice:"Ack! No! That's not possible. I can't imagine..." He sounded irritated.

Deeper Male voice, skeptical:"So they're tall...And stupid?"

Zim:"Yes, my Tallest. They're stupid, but-" Zim was interrupted by his computer.

"Um...Zim, there's an intruder."

"What? Blow them up, or something!"

"I-I can't really blow them up...They're in the lab..." The computer explained. Zim made an angry noise.

"I must go, my Tallest." He cut the transmission. Gaz stepped away from the door, prepared for Zim to step through it at any moment. He did, and seemed a little surprised to see Gaz there. He narrowed his eyes at her. Before he could say anything, she said,

"Okay, Zim, I don't know what you did to my brother, but you have to fix it. NOW." She was angry, but still had that air of indifference she usually carried. Zim smiled at the mention of her brother.

"Ah...The Dib-stink. He thought he was in control, trying to break into my lab. Ha ha ha...He won't be a threat to me anymore." He laughed softly.

"What did you do to him, anyway?"

"I'll show you," Zim mused, motioning for her to follow him. She opened one eye into a slit. She didn't trust him, but followed him anyway. He led her to a large, circular room. Almost the moment she stepped in, something hit her, and she was bound in thick, black rope. She growled.

"Let me out of this. Let me out and fix Dib, and I might let you keep one of your limbs." She opened both her eyes a little. Her doing this was normally a sign of anger. She wasn't afraid, not of stupid Zim. Zim picked up something that looked like a gothic choker necklace. He put it on her and clasped it.

"There, little Gaz. I used a similar device of your brother. His is less visible, on his ankle, but your's doesn't stand out, does it? Let me explain. He had broken into my lab. Actually, I had been working on an invention just when he did. I managed to get a DNA sample of his, and programmed it in. I knocked him off his feet long enough to wrestle the device on him. Let's see how yours works." He pushed a few buttons by a computer screen, then looked at her. She tried to yell an insult at him, but was stopped by the choker. She felt a surge of warmth from it, then a horrible pain shot up her spine. It went from her spine to all her other limbs. She yelled out. Even she didn't know how loud she could yell. Zim seemed a little surprised.

"I wasn't expecting it to work that well... It was on a high setting, but your brother's biological signature is in it right now, so it shouldn't have done that...Here!" He pulled a hair from her head and put in a drawer below a giant screen. She was still recovering from the shock, so didn't yell at him.

"Computer! Get all you can from the sample!" The computer scanned the hair, and results showed up in Irken on the screen.

"Hmm...That can't be right..." Zim murmured, looking at the results. They were almost exactly like Dib's, except the results showed a female sample. Zim said something in Irken, so Gaz wouldn't understand him. The computer responded,

"Um...Their father might have-"

"In Irken!" Zim snapped. The computer groaned, then explained possible reasons in Irken.

"Their father might have something to do with it, which would explain the fact that neither of them have met their mother, or seen her."

"What do you mean by that?"

"They could be child clones of their father. Like, made in a lab."

"But...Gaz is a girl." Zim said, clearly confused.

"He probably did that on purpose. He of all people would know how to edit a DNA sample to make it something else." The computer explained.

"What are you talking about?" Gaz interrupted. Zim just waved his hand, not bothering to turn toward her. She was still too exhausted to retaliate. She was shaking from the shock. He sat for a moment, thinking about this new information. So, the Did-stink's sister and him have the exact same DNA test results, except her's is female and his male...I'll have to remember that, Zim decided. He turned toward her, wearing a cold smile.

"By now, the necklace should be adjusted to your body. You can leave now," He said, untying her. The moment she was free, she tried to punch him, or hurt him somehow, but the second she lifted her arm to do this, she was shocked by the necklace. Instead of going all over her body, it was mainly aimed at the arm she had almost lifted. The shock left her arm a bit useless. She could barely move it, and it didn't have much strength.

"That will wear off," Zim assured her. She glared at him, her eyes full of icy hatred. If the necklace wouldn't have shocked her at the slightest attempt to hurt him, he would have been intimidated. But he wasn't.

"Before you leave, little Gaz, I should warn you; Trying to or thinking about telling someone shocks you on a very high level. Use your head.," He warned. She turned around and walked away, without a word. She got out of the lab and into the kitchen. She passed Gir on her way out. He didn't seem too concerned about anything, simply staring blankly at the television. She walked through the gnome field, none of them bothering to even turn toward her. She was no longer a threat. She walked home, a bit numb over the hour's events.

Zim turned on the monitor, and told the computer to establish a video connection to the Tallest. As usual, they were a little irritated, but Zim didn't notice.

"My Tallest! I have good news!"

"Yes, Zim?" Red asked. He had a bit more patience for Zim than Purple did.

"I have perfected the shock control rings," Zim said.

"Whatta those do?" Purple asked, though he didn't really seem interested.

"They're almost like PAK's, but they can tell when the creature connected is about to take a certain type of action. As the name says, they're circular, and just get put on any living creature like a piece of jewelry. They can monitor whoever, and can be set to shock whoever's connected when they're about to take certain types of actions. I've already tested it on a few humans. They work very well." Zim declared.

"And you came up with this yourself?" Red asked.

"I did some research on a similar device in some old Vortian military files." Zim explained.

"You have access to those?" Red asked, looking a bit surprised.

"Uh-huh. I have to go, my Tallest!" Zim cut the transmission, something he very rarely did. As soon as he did, he brought up the results of both Gaz and Dib's DNA and bio-signature analysis. They were nearly identical. He frowned. As far as he was aware, siblings would have a similarity in results of this test, but not that close. The idea that they were made in a lad seemed far-fetched, but all the evidence supported it. But what does this mean? Is it important in my Earth conquest?

Gaz walked into her house, and sat next to her brother. She had thought about what would happen if she tried to tell him what would happen. At first, it seemed unproductive. All that would happen would be her getting shocked. But once she realized this, it hit her- She would get shocked, and her brother would see. If he had the same thing happen to him, he would reconize the signs and know what happened.

"...I got a new necklace. Do you...like it?" She asked, trying to get his attention. He gave her a suspicious look, and looked at the shock control ring. When he did, his eyes got a little wider.

"Um...Yeah, I do. Where did you get that?" He asked, playing along. She decided she had to make it more obvious, to confirm his suspicions. If he had any, that is.

"Z-" She tried to say 'Zim', but was shocked. A violent wave went through her spine and branched out to the rest of her body. Dib saw her go rigid, then shake slightly, like she had had some form of a mild seizure for a few moments. He, however, recognized the signs, and knew it wasn't a seizure..

"Can I...Um...See that necklace? Up close?" He asked. For the first time in days, there was a little light behind his eyes.

"Yeah..." She held up the necklace. He took it in his hands, observing it. He almost gasped, but Gaz saw him become rigid. She knew he had just gotten shocked. Now that she thought about it, he had done this several times over the last few days. She felt a pang of irritation and regret that she hadn't noticed. They both sat in silence, not sure what to do with this new information. Mysterious Mysteries was on, but Dib wasn't paying attention. They both knew that if either one even considered something the rings thought rebellious, they would be shocked. Their father, Professor Membrane, walked in. They both looked up, a bit surprised to see him.

"Hello, family. I finished some projects at the lab, and decided to come home for a while." He walked over and sat on the couch with them, and looked at the TV. He seemed disgruntled when he saw Mysterious Mysteries. Dib cleared his throat.

"Um, you can change that, if you want," Dib mumbled, handing Membrane the remote control. Gaz got an idea. She had remembered the time her father had locked her into an isolation tank, trying to find a cure for the 'disease' caused by Dib's cursing her. She held up the necklace.

"Heeeey, dad. I...Got a new necklace today. Do you like it?" She had tried to control her thoughts and heartbeat, not wanting to be shocked just yet. Her father held the necklace between his fingers, looking at it.

"Yes, I-" He stopped. Gaz had gone rigid. She had been trying to somehow show her dad that something was wrong. She had held her breath, and thought, I will kill Zim and tell everyone he's an alien and tell my dad about the necklace and kill Zim and- The necklace has frozen up for a moment, as if it were overloaded by the sudden outburst. This lasted for a few seconds, then the shock hit her. It was more consistant than before, and lasted almost a minute. Her vision got blurry. She could hear her father yelling, panicked. She felt something warm drip out of her mouth. She at first thought it was saliva, but the bitter, iron taste hit her. It was blood. Her father picked her up and ran to his lab. He took out what looked like an iron rod, and forced it through her arm, breaking a bone. The rod absorbed the shock. At first, Gaz hadn't been able to feel to rod shoved through her arm, but the pain hit her when the shock stopped. She yelped, but soon blacked out.

Her father grabbed a first aid kit, picked her up, and ran to the hospital. Dib, who had realized what had happened, had climbed into the car a few moments earlier. Their dad hadn't driven them very many places before, so his driving was a bit of a surprise. He drove at least sixty miles over the speed limit, and didn't wait for other cars, he swerved around them.

"D-Dad! You're gonna kill us!"

"Don't be foolish, son! I know I've got fifty-six years, nine months, two weeks, five days, three hours, ten minutes, and thirty-six seconds left! You should have a bit more!"

"W-What?" They pulled into the hospital, and the car stopped with a lurch. Membrane jumped out, carrying Gaz. Dib ran after them. Three minutes later, Gaz was being rushed to any random room. Once in there, she was stabilized. Her brother and father sat in the room. A nurse in about her twenties was talking to Membrane (And giggling a lot, Dib noticed).

"Ha ha! Good job! You saved her life with that stabilizing rod. Heeey, did you hear about that idiot on the road earlier? The news said he was driving almost seventy miles over the speed limit! A miracle he did kill anyone! Did you see him, by any chance?" The nurse rambled on. Membrane, looking completely innocent, said,

"Why, no, I didn't. Did the police get their license plate number?"

"No, he was goin' too fast." The nurse shrugged, then walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Gaz, who had been awake the whole time, motioned for Dib to come closer, and whispered,

"Am I the only one who noticed that nurse undid two of the buttons on her blouse by the time she left?" No, she wasn't. Membrane was the only one in the room who didn't know what she was doing. Gaz looked at the spot where the rod had gotten shoved into her arm. She almost laughed. There was something of a huge hole in her arm. She was told she wouldn't be able to move that arm at all for about a month, and it would stay in a cast for about two months. Her only regret was that the kids at school wouldn't get to see the rod wound (She wanted to tell them something like someone thought she was a vampire, and had attempted to shove a stake into her heart, but missed and hit her arm). A doctor walked in.

"Hey, you two are going to have to leave. Visitation hours are over." Membrane motioned the doctor to follow him into the hallway. A few minutes later, Membrane walked back into the room.

"He decided we could stay here a while longer. How nice of him." A few minutes later, the doctor walked by again, and from the look he was giving the family, the talk hadn't gone quiet how Membrane described it. They stayed half the night without anyone bothering them, but at about three A.M, the device on Membrane's sleeve started beeping.

"Yes, hello?...Yes, I heard about him. Seventy miles over the speed limit, I heard...Now?...Alright." He hit a button on the device.

"Son, we have to go now. Say good-bye to your sister." Dib mumbled a 'bye' to Gaz, and walked out with his dad. He was dropped of at home, but his dad went right back to the lab. Dib knew he should get to bed; He had school the next day.

He showed up late for school. He had woken up on time, but simply didn't feel like going yet. He walked in at ten. Mrs. Bitters growled at him.

"Your late! Why? Bigfoot, or a ghost pirate ninja? What's your excuse this time?"

"Weeell...My sister had some form of a violent seizure, and blood started coming out of her mouth, so my dad shoved an iron stabilizer rod into her arm, and somehow didn't kill her with that, and now she's in the hospital," He said, all in one breath. He looked out into the class and added at a normal speed,"And once I find out what caused her seizure or whatever it was, we're not sure yet, I'm taking it, puting it in a blender, and throwing it into a lake. The doctors said it was caused by a huge electric shock." He glared at the class. Most of the students mistook this for him simply being upset over his sister's incident ("Ooooh! How sweet!" "I hope it does get blended and thrown into a lake!"), but Zim knew what he was talking about. He didn't show any sign of being scared, and would have shocked Dib right then and there if it had not been for the large amount of witnesses.

"Dib, you have issues. Now take your seat." Mrs. Bitters said. Normally, everyone laughed when Mrs. Bitters insulted Dib, but the girls were too busy squishing over what a sweet big-brother he was, and the guys were too busy rolling their eyes at the girls. Dib tried to focus on not letting the shock control ring read his emotions. A lot of the girls thought he was acting strange because he was worried about his sister ("Oh! He's so sweet...But crazy..."). Mrs. Bitters quizzed them on how to survive in artic conditions (still no funding for real textbooks). She dismissed them for lunch, and right after this was recess. Zim walked up to Dib.

"I should shock you, right here!"

"Zim, my sister is in the hospital. She's in the hospital because she was coughing up blood because of your stupid little necklace."

"How did you know what it was, anyway? It should of shocked her if she tried to tell."

"I saw her getting shocked, and realized where she had gotten that new choker necklace!" Dib growled. Zim smiled coldly.

"Don't forget who's in control here, Earth larvae," Zim warned, hitting a button on a remote in his pocket. Dib's shock control ring sent a wave of electricity through him, momentarily paralyzing him. Zim saw him go rigid, and his smile got wider,

"I''m going to go play human-dodge ball now, pathetic human." With that, he walked off. Dib felt his anger well up, but was careful to keep his heart steady and avoid thinking about Zim. In the last half-an-hour of class, he lost his focus, and the shock ring detected a sudden, steep rise in Zim-directed anger. It shocked him, going from his spine to the rest of his body. He choked on his breath, and fell out of his chair and started twitching some. He ran over to the trashcan and threw up five times.

"Dib!" Mrs. Bitters snapped,"You're gross! Go to the nurse!" Dib nodded, his body felt drained of power. On his way out, he saw Zim frowning, apparently thinking about something. Dib went to the nurse. The nurse didn't really seem to care.

"Go sit down." She said. He sat there for the rest of the school day. When school let out, the nurse hardly seemed to care about him going. She just sat at her desk, looking bored, playing with a tube that made a mooing noise. Dib walked home, not sure what he should do. He finally decided to go visit Gaz. He grabbed twenty dollars from his dresser and went to catch the bus. Once he got to the hospital, he asked the lady at the reception desk what room Gaz was in. She told him room sixty-six on the fourth floor. He took the elevator up. Gaz was awake when he walked in.

"I hate this hospital," Gaz growled upon seeing him.

"Ya' know what your room number is? Sixty-six. It seems appropriate, of course, but kind of ironic." He said, ignoring her negative comment. He almost never showed annoyance with her for her pessimism, and deep down, she was grateful for it.

"Dib, I need to tell you something," She said, becoming completely serious.

"Certain devices can overload, and mine nearly did. If I can get it to without letting it get a chance to absorb the shock, I think I can fix this-" Gaz was interrupted by Dib.

"No."

"...What?"

"You almost killed yourself with what you did last time!" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You can't control my thoughts." She sneered. He looked down for a second. He seemed more serious than before.

"If you're determined to kill yourself with this, I can try it for you. I'll already be in the hospital, so I probably won't die. You don't try it, Gaz! Not at least until you heal!" His voice got louder. He never raised his voice with her. Under almost any other circumstances, she would have killed him for it.

"You probably won't die?"

"I'd rather be dead than in Zim's control!" He turned to walk out, but added,"I'm going to try it." He walked out into the lobby of the fourth floor. A few nurses sat talking. Good, He thought, If this doesn't work immediately, they'll need to respond quickly... He steadied his breaths, readying himself. He sucked in as much air as he could, and thought, I'M GONNA TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS AND I'M GONNA KILL ZIM AND I'M GONNA TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS AND I'M GONNA KILL ZIM AND I'M GONNA TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS AND I'M GONNA KILL ZIM AND I'M GONNA TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS AND I'M GONNA KILL ZIM! He thought this for about three minutes strait. When he stopped, he tried to steady his breathing. He could feel the shock control ring on his ankle squirming, tightening and loosening. It got cold, then so hot he almost yelled out. Suddenly, it stopped. It stayed motionless for a moment, then exploded. It was an extremely small explosion, and only hurt Dib. He stared at his leg in horror; He couldn't feel part of it, the numb part being covered in rubble. One of the nurses screamed.