Author's Note: I got bored one day. This is what happened. Don't flame. One-shot.
===LINE BREAK OF DOOM===
Zim stared at the Irken smeet behind the glass. This one, a female, was the only clone to survive out of the twelve he had originally created. She was small, at least half his height, with long curly-cue antennae and pale green skin. She was curled in the fetal position, like all the others had, but there was something different about this clone. This one was apparently stronger, and physically perfect in Zim's eyes. He could hardly wait until she was old enough to leave the tube- he had her PAK all ready for her, and had given Gir and the computer orders to obey her every command when she was old enough. She was all his DNA- she was practically his daughter.
One day, when Zim returned from Skool, he went down to check on the smeet. Her moniters were everywhere- she was ready.
He gave the order to open the cloning tube. Slowly, the glass tube lifted, spilling liquid everywhere. The small smeet fell to the floor, and once her PAK was connected, opened her eyes. It stunned Zim- they were magenta instead of red like his.
"Welcome to life, young Irken," Zim greeted, slightly coldly. The smeet smiled at him.
"Papa!" she giggled, reaching up for Zim to hold her. Instead, Gir glomped her, scaring her and making her cry. "No, no! Papa!" she cried, crawling to Zim and pulling herself up by his shirt. Zim was taken aback by this.
"Irken, what is your name?" he commanded. The smeet simply looked at him in confusion, one antenna perked. Was something wrong with her hearing? Zim couldn't see any anomalies on the antennae, or feel any. "All right. I will name you." He thought for a long moment. It took a moment before he remembered his old friend in Invader Academy- Zoey. Of course, she had been accidently killed when she was sent to a very difficult planet. This smeet looked almost exactly like her, though.
"I will call you Zoey," Zim said, looking down at the girl. She grinned at him, her zipper-lined teeth a bit straighter than Zim would consider normal- but then, she wasn't normal. She was a clone.
Zoey snuggled up to Zim, burying her face in his uniform. "Papa," she sighed. Zim smiled down at her and picked her up. She hugged him around the neck and repeated her name for him over and over. "Papa" was now Zim's pet name. And he liked it.
===LINE BREAK OF DOOM===
It took a while, but Zim grew to love Zoey like no other. He was very protective over her, making sure she was never out of his sight- the last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt, or even killed, by Earth's incompetent natives, especially Dib.
Zoey didn't like Dib at all, only because the first time she saw him, he was trying to expose Zim and was causing him pain. She didn't mind the other humans- in fact, there were some that she liked enough to play with. Under Zim's supervision, of course.
Zim had created a perfect disguise for his daughter- a long black wig with a pink bow and violet contacts. She was often dressed in a deep pink dress with long sleeves and black pants and shoes.
Like previously said, Zim loved his daughter.
He loved her antennae, which were the second most expressive part of her. They raised high when happy; one raised when she was confused; they pressed flat on her head when she was angry or scared; when she was depressed or worried they would droop; and they twitched constantly. Twirling the curly-cues around his finger was very relaxing for the both of them.
He loved her eyes. Those big, magenta eyes that would tell him exactly what she was feeling, or when she was lying, or whatever was on her mind. When she smiled, her eyes danced, and it made Zim's heart melt to see her happy.
He loved her tiny hands. The claws were so small, they barely did anything. In fact, they were rounded slightly. The hands fit perfectly in Zim's palms, and when he held her hand, her fingers could hardly get a grasp around his claws.
He loved her voice. It was small, so he had to listen carefully, and she whispered a lot. it squeaked when she was excited or scared, but the pitch never really changed. Her voice only added to her adorable features.
He loved her personality. She was very enthusiastic about everything, even if it was helping her father take over the Earth- as long as he promised to protect her friends, which he usually lied about and said he would spare them, even though he hated lying to her. Zoey wasn't afraid to say how she felt, unless it would hurt Zim's feelings. Very open-minded and optimistic, she was Zim's little ball of pink sunshine.
Zim loved Zoey. She was his family, other than Gir. She was his kin, his baby girl, and a subconcious connection to an old friend.
When he took Zoey outside, Zim made absolute sure she was in his sight all the time for three reasons;
1) She was bound to get into trouble.
2) He was afraid Dib would get her(he had seen her out of her disguise).
3) She was incredibly fun and a joy to watch.
Often times, Zoey would go wandering, and would rush back to Zim with whatever she had found and showed it to him proudly, then went back to get something else to play with. Sometimes, Zoey would come back with a small animal, like a frog or a squirrel, and ask to keep it. Always, her request was turned down- Zim already had piggies and fast-food servants coming and going all the time. Once, she brought back an injured bird and insisted that they nurse it back to health. So, she had a pet birdie for about a week and a half.
Zim saw no hesitation in teaching Zoey about human fairytales. He had several storybooks full of human bedtime stories that Zoey would read over and over to herself, or out loud to Gir or her stuffed toys. Her favorite was "Rapunzel".
"Papa," Zoey asked one day. "When can I go to Skool?"
"Soon, Zoey," Zim promised. "Very soon. We have to come up with a lot of stories so you can go to Skool." Secretly, he didn't want Zoey to go to Skool with him, only because Dib was there, and a constant threat to his baby girl. But he knew he couldn't keep her couped up in the base for all her life- she would never be happy, and that would break not only her heart, but his own as well.
At last, Zim finally gave in and signed Zoey up for kindergarten.
"Now, all the humans think you're my sister," Zim told Zoey as they walked to Skool.
"How come?" Zoey asked.
"Because humans are stupid and believe anything they hear," Zim said.
"Oh," was the reply. He liked the fact that Zoey didn't ask too many questions; only the ones that bothered her.
They approached her classroom, and Zim knelt down. "Now, be good and try not to get in too much trouble," he smiled.
"Okay, Papa!" Zoey giggled at saying Zim's name. He hugged her, and patted her back.
"I'll see you at lunch, Zoey," he called after her as she ran into the room.
"Bye-bye, Papa!" she called back, waving her arm high above her head. Zim chuckled and walked to his own class.
Lunch came, and Zim went straight to the playground. "Papa!" Zoey shouted, running to him. She hugged him and laughed.
"Ah, Zoey!" Zim smiled. Oh, how he was worried the entire morning. But he still trusted the incompetent human teaching drone to take care of his daughter, and she didn't look hurt or anything, so his worries were back to minimal.
"Papa, skool is so fun!" Zoey squealed. "They have drawling, and a ton of stories! Ms. Honey says I can take some home so you can read them to me! And there's this funny thing called music. Some of it is really pretty, and it makes my 'tennies feel good!" Zim was hardly listening to his daughter's rambling; he was focusing on Dib, who had showed up from nowhere.
"Zim!" he snarled, making Zoey look behind her at him. "I'll expose you both today!"
"Papa, where did Dib-person come from?" Zoey whispered innocently.
"Not important," Zim answered. "We need to get you away from him." He wouldn't mind being exposed- as long as Zoey wasn't hurt. But, chances were, if he was shown as an alien, so would Zoey.
Zim's spider legs popped out of his PAK, and pointed at Dib menacingly. One held Zoey protectively behind him, and the other three began to spark. Zoey was too busy examining the robotic legs to care about the danger she was currently in.
"Not today, Dib-filth!" Zim growled back. "Just leave us alone!"
"Why should I?" Dib dared. Zim slammed Dib into a wall behind him with his spider legs. At the loud noise, Zoey's attention was turned to her father and Dib.
"Papa, no! Please don't hurt him!" Zoey begged. Zim sighed and turned around to explain why he had to destroy Dib, but froze mid-word when he saw the pleading in her eyes. The innocent begging of a young child- his child- made Zim soften immediately, and his spider legs retreated. Dib fell on all fours, shaking slightly from shock and slight fear.
"Consider this a warning, Dib-monster," Zim snarled. "Don't. Touch. My. Daughter." He said this lowly so only Dib and Zoey could hear him. With this, he turned and walked away, Zoey following behind him and clutching the hem of his shirt.
"Thank you, Papa," she murmured as she trotted along, trying to keep up with him. Zim stopped, turned around, and scooped her up.
"We'll have to be careful around him," he whispered in her antennae. Zoey giggled and wrapped her short arms around Zim's neck in a loving hug.
For a week, Dib didn't even look at Zoey. But his glares at Zim only made him suspicious and extra protective over Zoey. Unfortunately for Zim, Dib didn't keep his distance for long.
===LINE BREAK OF DOOM===
"Papa!" Zoey literally cried. Dib was holding her up by her antennae, and laughing at her pain. She held onto the bases of her antennae, huge tears rolling down her cheeks and crying in pain and helplessness. Her wig was knocked down to the ground at Dib's feet, and he was trying to remove her violet contacts.
"Put her down, Dib-beast!" Zim ordered. The sight of his daughter squirming, trying to avoid Dib's hand, infuriated him.
"Or you'll do what?" Dib grinned. He took one antennae in his free hand and yanked hard. Zoey all but screamed in pain. She sobbed, and wriggled some more.
"Let her go! Zoey never did anything to you!" Zim said.
"I don't think I will," Dib said after a moment. Zim started to advance towards Dib, but Dib had a pair of scizzors next to one antennae. "One step closer, and her antenna comes off," he threatened. To prove he wasn't bluffing, he opened the scizzors and fit the antenna right in between the blades. Zim's eyes grew wide in fear.
"Dib, please, don't!" Zim begged. "She's just a child! She doesn't need to be in any of this! Please, just let her go!" This was the first time Dib had ever heard Zim use the word 'please' and mean it. But still, he didn't remove the scizzors. He knew fully that Zoey was a failed clone of Zim. How much could he care about this experiment?
"Papa," sobbed Zoey. If Zim was scared, Zoey was absolutely terrified. For the first time in her short life, she thought she was going to lose her hearing, or worse, be killed. She was too young to know how to activate her spider legs, let alone any other weapons in her PAK.
Zim felt his own tears well up in his eyes. He very well may lose his daughter, his baby, he realized. He may never again twirl her antennae around his claws, or hold her, or hear her soft young voice. No. He couldn't let that happen. He promised he would protect her, and that was exactly what he was going to do.
Wires shot out of his PAK, knocking Dib to the ground and giving Zoey the chance to run to Zim.
"Papa!" she squeaked.
"Zoey!" Zim sighed out of relief. He hugged her tightly. She was safe now, where she was meant to be- in Zim's arms. "Come, we need to get away from here!" He picked her up, and ran. Dib chased them.
They ran through the town, until they found themselves trapped in a very old building that was scheduled for demolishion. Zoey was hyperventilating, beyond scared by now.
"Whada we do, Papa?" she asked, looking around for an exit. Zim stuttered, trying to find his voice.
"You can't hide, Zim!" Dib's voice called. Zim glared in the general direction.
"Watch me!" he whispered. He set Zoey down in a pile of rubble and covered her. "Don't move," he told her. She obeyed, pertrified with fear as it was. Zim dove under some planks and held his breath.
"Zim, I know you're here somewhere! I'll get you, and you'r little clone, too!" Dib shouted as he ran past the building. Zim waited until Dib was out of earshot, and went to retrieve Zoey. He moved the rubble and looked down at her.
Zoey was shaking, tears pouring down her cheeks, whimpering. "Papa, is he gone? Is the Dib-person gone?" she whispered in a tiny voice, so small Zim could hardly hear.
"Yes, Zoey," he said, scooping her up and hugging her. "The Dib-beast won't hurt you anymore." The floor creaked, and Zim froze. He glanced down before the weak wood gave into their combined weight and crashed down. Dust and debrie flew everywhere, and they landed in the sewer.
Zim lifted himself up and shook his head. "Zoey, you okay? Zoey?" He looked around frantically. "Zoey! Zoey, where are you?" A small coughing answered him, and he ran in the direction of the noise. "ZOEY!" His scream echoed off the concrete walls.
"Papa?" a tiny female voice responded weakly. Zim started digging through a pile of debrie where her voice was coming from. He at last dug his way to Zoey, but he wished he hadn't.
Zoey was an absolute mess. Her dress was torn in several places, her antennae were bent and drooping weakly, and her face, her adorable face, was covered in dust and a few cuts, from which deep blue blood was oozing.
"Oh, Zoey!" Zim gasped. He picked her up and cradled her softly.
"Papa, my arm," Zoey murmured. Zim checked it. He pressed on a certain point, and she squeaked in pain.
"Broken. Curses!" Zim growled. Zoey gasped in slight fear and recoiled. She began to cry from a combination of the fear, the pain, and the stress she was under. Zim saw this, and rocked her gently, whispering to her and trying to keep her calm. Slowly, he stood up and carried her home.
Once at the base, Zim put Zoey's arm in a cast, cleaned her face, and tended to her cuts. He had Gir fix up her outfit, while he put her in a nightgown for the meantime.
"I don't wanna go dah skool 'morrow!" Zoey whimpered as she and Zim were relaxing on the couch, after she was tended to.
"You don't have to. You can stay here with Gir and Minimoose," Zim said, pulling Zoey onto his lap. She snuggled into his chest and sighed, safe at last. Zim hugged her and rocked her till she fell asleep. He smiled down at her.
Oh, how Zim loved his daughter.
===LINE BREAK OF DOOM===
Really cheesy, huh? Well, this is just part of my insane imagination. I'm thinking of writing a thing about Invader Zim iPods(you know the videos floating around YouTube!). Tell me if it's a stupid idea or not.