A/N: Here we go folks, the prologue of "Evolution of Evil". I can promise you two things about this story: there will be plenty of action later on, and there will be development of the Zim/Jana romance from the previous story. Though I feel I should warn you now, I'm really not that good at writing romance, so I'm not sure how well it'll turn out.

That said, read on!

Summery: After the destruction of his EMP Cannon, Zim decides to stop waiting for the Armada and to create his own army – an army of genetically engineered monsters. But after a lab accident, he unlocks an even greater weapon within his own DNA. As Zim evolves into the ultimate warrior, does Dib stand a chance?

Disclaimer: Jana belongs to me. Everything else is the property of Jhonen Vasquez.

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Evolution of Evil

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The High Skool, The Day After The Destruction Of The EMP Cannon

Dib was fairly sure that everyone was staring at him as he trudged down the hall. It would be hard for them not to, what with the large scar running from his jaw line up to just past his brow. He could hear the other students discussing him in whispers they thought he couldn't hear; the terms "nut" and "emo" seemed to be the most popular.

'Thanks a lot, Jana,' Dib thought, 'As if they didn't think I was crazy already. Oh well, at least no one can see the burn mark on my chest – I'd hate to hear the rumors about that one.'

His thought process was cut off when he tripped over a boot stuck out in his path and went sprawling onto the ground. An all-too-familiar laugh penetrated his ears as he grabbed his dislodged glasses and put them back on.

"Have a nice trip, Dib?"

Dib glared up at Zim as he pulled himself to his feet. "I'm surprised you're in such a good mood," he said, "Considering I just blew up your cannon and stopped you from becoming Tallest." He smirked slightly as his nemesis's grin turned into a frown.

"Hear me well, human," Zim hissed, "You've only delayed the inevitable. It is my destiny to conquer this world and ascend to the throne. I've begun down this path, and nothing shall stand in my way."

"Except for me," Dib said with a grin, jerking a thumb at his chest, "The only way for you to win is over my dead body."

Zim's smirk returned. "That can be arranged, considering I have an assassin on my payroll these days. I find it hard to believe you've forgotten about her already, what with that little souvenir she gave you."

He gestured to Dib's scar, and his smirk widened when the human grimaced and instinctively reached up to touch it. "You were lucky to defeat Jana last time and walk away with only minor injuries, human. Next time, I'm certain she'll make you suffer much worse before she kills you. Especially since you wounded her pride."

There was a flicker of fear in Dib's eyes, but he covered for it by glaring at Zim. "I've beat her before, I can do it again," he said, his voice wavering slightly, "Next time I see her, I'll-"

Zim laughed, cutting Dib off. "And what makes you so sure that you'll see her? In case you've forgotten, she can make herself invisible. She could be standing right next to you right now and you wouldn't even know it… in fact, how do you know she isn't?"

Dib was starting to sweat nervously, and despite himself his eyes started darting around the hallway, looking for any sign of the cloak-wearing female Irken. Zim chuckled as he noticed this.

"Getting paranoid, are we?" he asked, "Don't worry, I wouldn't dare have you killed in public. I'm not an idiot."

"Could've fooled me," Dib muttered darkly.

The two enemies glared at each other for several minutes, before the bell rang for the next class – which, thankfully, they didn't share.

"This isn't over, Zim," Dib sneered, before walking off.

The Invader watched the human disappear down the hallway, before a savage grin split his face. "You're right, Dib. It isn't over yet… but it soon will be."

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Several Hours Later

Zim strode into the cul-de-sac containing his base, pride emanating from his every step. His latest plan was circling through his mind over and over as he went over every detail of it. He wanted to make sure that there was no flaw for Dib to exploit like he had with the EMP Cannon; his destiny had been delayed enough already. This plan would succeed.

His train of thought was derailed all of a sudden when the ground shook from an explosion. Blinking in surprise, Zim looked around and was only mildly shocked to find smoke rising out through his house's windows. Seeing one of his neighbors staring at him, he put on a weak smile.

"Uh… that's normal, you know," he said.

The neighbor lady merely shrugged and went back to watering her garden. Zim, meanwhile, quickly ran into the house and shut the door behind him. Following the smoke trail into the kitchen, he found it emanating from under the refrigerator elevator to his labs. Minimoose was floating nearby, with a fan extending from his body, which was being used to blow the smoke out the window.

"What happened?!" Zim shrieked at his floating purple minion.

"Squeak!"

"I know it was an explosion! I meant what caused it?!"

"GIR was in one of the weapons vaults," the computer added, "You do the math."

"Fragging etchuta!" Zim cursed viciously, "This is not what I need right before I start a new plan."

He mumbled incoherently for several minutes as he rode the elevator down to the level containing the weapons vaults, and followed the diminishing smoke trail to an open door. Normally, he would be greeted by the sight of hundreds of weapons stacked along the walls – everything from energy rifles to plasma bombs to chemical flamethrowers. However, now things were a little different…

Zim stared agape at the remains of his weapons, the racks holding them reduced to slag. The weapons themselves were lucky to be in one piece; most were blown apart, while the ones that weren't were deformed by the intense heat of the explosion. Meanwhile, a good chunk of the room was still on fire, though Jana - who was using the Irken equivalent of a fire extinguisher - was quickly putting that out.

Composing himself, Zim waited for his time-displaced servant to finish extinguishing the fire, before clearing his throat to catch her attention. Jana spun around, letting go of the extinguisher with one hand to instinctively grab her energy sword. When she saw Zim, she instantly dropped to her knees and bowed her head.

"Master!" she exclaimed, "I can explain this!"

Zim crossed his arms over his chest gave Jana a stern look. "Just explain one thing to me," he said, "How did GIR get in here to do this?"

"I honestly don't know," Jana said, shaking her head with a sigh, "I was going past here on my way to the hanger bay to check on the Voot when I heard that imbecile laughing his head off in here. I came in to drag him out, and the next thing I knew he had set off a photon torpedo launcher, which fired at the power cells for the ion cannons, and… well, I think you can figure out the rest, sir."

Zim didn't reply at first. He swept his gaze around the room, taking a mental inventory of everything he would need to replace, when he noticed something was missing.

"Hey, where is GIR, anyway?"

Jana blinked, and then looked around the room to find that GIR was, in fact, nowhere to be seen. At least, until a pile of debris in the corner started shaking, and moments later GIR burst out of it. His metal body was singed and covered in soot, but that didn't seem to dampen his mood any.

"Let's do that again!" the deranged SIR unit shouted.

"Let's not and say we did," Zim said, glaring at his robot, "I can't afford any distractions. Not now that I've come up with a new brilliant plan."

A spark of mirth appeared in Jana's emerald eyes as she asked, "You're going to throw GIR in a trash compactor?"

"Tempting, but no. I should have the groundwork for it covered in a few hours, after which I should have a job for you. In the meantime, you can make yourself useful by cleaning up this mess."

Jana flinched slightly, and Zim realized how harsh that last statement must have sounded. For a moment, he actually considered apologizing for it.

'Gah! What am I thinking?' he said to himself, 'I am Zim! And Zim does not apologize!'

"Well, uh, get on with it," was all he stuttered out, before turning and leaving the room. Jana watched him go, and after he was gone she sighed softly.

"Yes, milord. By your wish," she mumbled to herself, before turning to glare at GIR. "Great," she snapped at him, "Now Lord Zim seems to think I'm as useless as you are because of this. Thanks a lot!"

"You're welcome!" GIR chirped happily.

Jana's response to this was to hit the little robot in the head with the extinguisher.

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A/N: There we go. Just a beginning, but I'm trying to stretch the story out a bit.

Next chapter: Zim's plan is revealed.

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