Captivity Of Doom.
Writer: Invader Johnny.
Disclaimer: Invader Zim belongs to Jhonen Vasquez, I own squat!
Plot: There are times Dib wishes life with Gaz wasn't so difficult, but what can he do? He's stuck with her... Or is he?
Author Notes: What can I tell you about this story? This actually came as an inspiration from an old "Twilight Zone" episode I watched two days ago, as well as a few stories I been reading from Zim's most loyal servant; those Karma cycles really hit Gaz hard.
Anyway just to let you all know, I actually LIKE Gaz, next to Zim she's my favourite character of the show but she sometimes goes too far on her abuse towards her brother, in fact I was very appalled (but not surprised) by her actions in the fifth issue of the IZ comic.
So this story just my own way of saying that her cruelty eventually will catch up to her... Ya know, Karma.
One last thing, this is a slight AU, so some of the characters will have a few... Let's say different colorful backgrounds.
Gaz kicked her brother's door open with a really big ass boot.
A look of contempt on her already angry face.
"Dib, get the hell up. Those dishes aren't going to wash themselves."
Her cold uncaring hands shook her brother awake. It was 7 AM; the boy was having trouble sleeping because of his sister playing some very loud video games throughout the night. Dib whined in protest and swatted the hand away.
A mistake he was unaware of, and of course he would pay dearly for it because as far as Gaz was concern he didn't deserve the rest since he wasted his time following some imaginary creature while she was making something out of herself.
Let's not forget, video games develop hand-eye coordination and make kids into better human beings, which of course we're some very wise words from her father, and who was she to say otherwise?
She looked at her sleeping brother, the hate in her eyes burned drastically, since since squinting eyes he was nothing more than an unpleasant an obstacle to her goal.
"Even in his sleep he's annoying"
The female gamer stormed out of the room and into the kitchen.
As soon as she arrived, Gaz opened the cabinet where the sink was and rummaged for a while, pulling out a red mop bucket, it was old and the inside looked moldy.
"Perfect"
She puts it in the sink and began to fill it out with water, making her way towards the freezer, dumping ice cubes into the bucket as the water filled it up.
Once it was filled she made her way back towards Dib's room. The young boy was still in bed, wiggling in ignorance bliss.
"Last chance Dib" Gaz warned, carrying the bucket with two hands, "Wake up or I'll send you to a nightmare world from which there is no waking up!" She said maliciously, the irony of her words not lost to her.
Needless to say her brother's only reply was a snort he made in his sleep which of course Gaz took as an act of defiance, so she inched closer to him and dumped the dirty water all over the poor boy.
Dib flailed in bed; he had no idea what was going on or why he was all wet. He turned on his side, but because he was on the edge of the bed he fell ungraciously onto the hardwood floor, landing on his elbow causing him to yell out in pain.
Gaz simply rolled her eyes as she heard the loud thud, "Good, now that you're up, get to those dishes or else"
"But isn't this your turn to do the dishes?" He asked warily.
"So?" She sneered "I got better things to do with my hands than to get them wet, now stop talking, it's too early to hear your voice"
She stomped out of the room, slamming the door loudly as well.
The young paranormal investigator sighed in defeat, sometimes he wishes Gaz wasn't to mean to him.
But he knew that was a fool's wish, they were brother and sister.
Which meant they were stuck with each other.
Taking a quick shower Dib quickly changed into some dry clothes, once he was fully dressed he looked up the morning sky, what was beyond it, he couldn't wait until it was dark again.
"At least the stars would be better company."
As soon as Dib went doen the stairs he scanned the living room before passing it, he knew from experience that disturbing Gaz even a little when she was "in the zone" would result in a beating.
Predictably Gaz was sitting on the couch, a case of poop cola next to her as she played her Game Slave II, grunting and swearing unintelligible words every time a vampire pig ate her character.
"Stupid, blood pig!"
So, slowly and as silently as he could he made his way to the kitchen.
But it wasn't as quiet was Gaz would have liked because soon the room was filled with a musical jingle and a mechanical voice saying.
"You got your head chopped off... You STINK!"
"Oh no"
"DIB!"
"No! Wait... Gaz!... I was quiet! Really... I... AACK!"
After yet, another besting from his younger sister, Dib was cleaning the dishes, a big purple eye made the task all the more difficult to say the least.
After a few hours of killing virtual piggies, Gaz staggered into the kitchen carrying what seemed like cans of empty poop cola, smirking sadistically at the poor boy who was sitting on a kitchen chair washing the dishes, she was gearing to toss a few empty can at her brother's big head for laughs since she craved a different type of entertainment.
luckily for the raven haired boy a knocking at his front door stopped Gaz from her plan. Instead she grudgingly threw the empty cans along the table and went to the fridge to get more soda. "Answer the door stupid."
Dib had no choice but to comply, so he limped towards the front door.
Opening the door the boy was greeted by two very familiar aliens, Blue and Green, wearing human disguises. Blue's disguise is a woman with the nametag 'Fred' while Green's disguise is a man with the nametag 'Mary.' Their disguises are without a doubt... horrible, consisting of papier-mache masks and a sheet with an image of a human body on it, once they made contact with the pre-teen they look at each other.
"Howdy, squishy!" Blue greeted cheerfully "We are here to vomit language with the large headed weasel who lives in this rabbit hole"
Dib rolled his eyes, he knew these two idiots were aliens, but honestly? They were too moronic to expose; in truth the last thing he needed was to be laughed at for revealing two extraterrestrials who couldn't see the difference between a hamster and a human.
"For the last time" He said exasperatedly "I am not a weasel! And my head's not big!"
"Oh... Someone's cranky" Green said teasingly "Are you?... I really can't tell with weasels"
Before Dib could've retorted, the male alien reached into his "disguise" and pulled out a magenta envelope, in it was what the boy could assume was his name written in some sort of alien language. "I hope to see you here," Blue added as he handed him the envelope, "You're going to have lots of fun! YAY!"
Both aliens wobble their arms in a matter of celebration, as if that would make some sort of impact on the young boy, or perhaps as if they did a job well done.
Dib was about to speak but was interrupted by his sister's loud voice, "Dib! who is at the door?" He looked back only to make sure that his scary sibling wasn't coming, when he turned back around Blue and Green were gone, almost as if they disappeared into thin air.
Which wasn't surprising for him. So despite the duo's massive stupidity, they did possessed advance technology.
Closing the door behind him Dib inspected the envelope as he slowly walked back to the kitchen.
"Well who the hell was it?"
"Aliens" He replied back "They gave me this"
Showing Gaz the envelop, he wondered whether or not to actually open it, that choice was made for him since the girl grabbed it from his hands and punched him in the face just for kicks.
While Gaz didn't care for her brother's claims on extraterrestrial life, she couldn't help but be curious by this mere invitation since Dib was far from popular, in fact he was practically the poster boy for annoyance, so she couldn't help but wonder who would invite him to anything.
So she uncaringly ripped it open, ignoring as the words in the envelope changed from some strange language to English.
Grunting, she read the invitation:
You are invited to the Lard Nar's House of Amusement on its grand opening day in Whatever City This Is.
Only One child is allowed on the maze, if you have a sibling(s) then he or she may spend the day watching you, to cheer you up or play some video games!
If you are given a purple envelope then you already know what prizes are in stored if you successfully win the maze.
If you are given a magenta envelope that means that you have been personally selected out of many children to reap the cash rewards of winning the maze!
Please Note: In order to enter the competition, at least one of your siblings must accompany you to make it a family outing, the more people the better, big cash for the winning child.
Location: The Old Warehouse by Membrane's Compound.
Gaz smirked at the card; she knew exactly where to go, and apparently winning this maze yielded cash rewards. She could always use more cash for pizza and video games, but from the looks of it whoever was doing this, picked Dib for the maze.
No matter, if he won then it would be some pizza money for her, if he lost then he would get to make friends with her fist.
"A win-win... For me that is"
Both Membrane kids were unaware that the words in the envelope changed once again, this time from English to Vortian.
She looked at her brother still on the floor rubbing his nose, she loathed him with every fibre of her being and she made that clear by giving him a devious look.
Gaz let out a low, manacing chuckle, "Get ready, we are going to this stupid opening and you better win that maze, I don't take kindly to losers, specially one whose related to me!"
Dib gulps.
"I am so dead."
"Where in the blue fuck is the freaking maze?" Gaz growled impatiently as they both looked around, noticing just how big the empty compound really was, the two kids also noticed a banner written in big red letters.
"Doloris Post Relinquere."
They make their way deeper into the compound that is now decently decorated and freshly painted. When they reach the front they wait near a booth to redeem the ticket.
Then, a short gray alien wearing a fake moustache and a big over the top blue hat in his pathetic attempt to fit in with the inhabitants materialised out of nowhere.
"Seriously?" Both of then thought irritated "What is it with aliens and their terrible disguises?"
"Hello there!" Lard Nar greeted cheerfully as he jumped closer to the kids, a fake ass grin plastered all over his face, which of course freaked Dib out.
"Glad you could make it" The Vortian said "I'm Lard Nar and I'll be your host for the day!"
"Yeah, don't really care" Gaz interrupts rudely as she threw the crumpled up invitation on his face, "Where the fuck is this maze so that my idiot brother," she violently smacks Dib on the back of his big head letting out a cruel chuckle before she finishes her sentence, "So that, this moron here can earn me my money."
Lard Nar frowned, but he still kept to his script so he cleared his throat, made his way towards Dib to notice any harm on the boy, pleased that there wasn't anything serious, the show went on.
"Well?" Gaz snarled "Are you going to tell us what the deal here is you goat?!"
The Vortian stared ahead "If you would please follow me, everything will be explained shortly"
Both of them complied, not caring they were following a being from another world in a terrible disguise. As the trio made it to the entrance, he told Dib to go to the right while telling Gaz to go to the left.
"Where the hell is he going?" Gaz shouts.
"I do apologize, but for this maze to work, your brother has to do this alone or else there won't be any reward, if you go to the waiting room you can watch the show live!" Lard Nar boasted enthusiastically.
"Your envelop said something about video games?"
"Ah, yes we have plenty" He confirmed "Just enter through that door and take a right, there should be a purple door, specially for you"
"Whatever"
"Such a lovely child" The Vortian muttered sarcastically.
Meanwhile Dib finds himself in a room, somewhat anxious.
Then an inter one turns on, two voices spoke with monotone.
"Uhhh... To hear them talk press the blue button on the side of the window." Green said slowly "If you want to select anyone just press the green button."
"And if you want to shock them" Blue added "All you gotta do is press the yellow button... I wish there was a fuse button... That would be fun"
"I want a juice button"
The intercom in the corner of the room began to crackle down, the door opened on its own, A big bright light blinded Dib for a few seconds before he went in.
Dib was greeted by a hallway, and a long one to say the least, at the first force field he sees has a kid in it, but not just any kid, it held none other than Keef and he certainly was worse for wear, nonetheless he was as happy as he could possibly be.
"HIYA DIB!" Keef yelled out eagerly "Wanna take me home with you?"
"AAAHHHHHHH!" Dib screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran away from his former classmate, to add to the level of scariness, he didn't even press the button to hear him speak.
"Ok, see ya later!" The red headed boy waves good bye enthusiastically "I'll be here in case you change your mind!"
The next window he saw was kinda perplexing for him since he didn't exactly saw a child but a very elderly woman, clawing at the shut down trying with all her might to free herself from this prison.
Curiously he pressed the blue button "Uh... Hello?"
"Who goes there?!" The old woman hissed.
"Uh hi?" The boy said unsurely "I'm Dib... Who are you?"
"Hell if I know" She shot back "I been here since I was nine years old, everybody here calls me Ms Bitters"
"Wow... Since you were a child?" Dib asked, somewhat disturbed "How old are you now?"
"WHO CARES!" Ms Bitters snarled loudly "All I want is out! NOW PICK ME AND FREE ME FROM THIS NIGHTMARISH REALM!"
Having heard enough Dib pressed the blue button again, silencing the old hag who just made him pee himself. He walked by another display only to see the some alien kid sleeping in what he assumes was a bed, not wanting to disturb him he goes to the fourth display.
To his his surprise the next one on display was a very familiar and unwelcoming green being.
"Zim?"
So curiosity got the best of him so he pressed the yellow button.
Sure enough the Irken convulsed in pain as the room started to electrocute him.
Dib couldn't help but chuckle at his hated enemy's misfortune, their eyes made contact, that of course lead to the alien yell out at the top of his squeedly-Spooch, despite not hearing anything the young protector of Earth could very much guess that he was saying things not suitable for people his age.
After having his fun, Dib pressed the blue button, ready to hear his hated foe.
"Zim?" He said evenly "What are you doing here?"
"What does it look like Dib-Monkey!" The Invader bellowed madly "I'm being held captive! And it's all Gir's stinking fault!"
"Why? What could your insane robot thingy do to get you in this mess?"
"HE TRADED ME IN FOR A TACO!" Zim explained angrily "He betrayed me!"
Dib couldn't help but laugh at such an turn of events, it was just too idiot, but considering the malfunctioning S.I.R unit's love for fast food he wasn't entirely surprised.
"STOP LAUGHING AT ZIM!" the alien ordered ominously "Now press the green button and free Zim from this prison so that I can continue to destroy your pathetic world!"
That only served to shock him yet again.
"AHHH MY SKIN! MY AMAZING SKIN!"
After pressing the yellow button several times, it resulted in a very crispy Irken Invader.
"I will destroy you for this Dib" Zim grumbles warily before fairing from the excruciating pain.
"Well... That made this whole trip worth it"
Several hours later (as well as several possible candidates both humans and aliens) Dib was beginning to feel discouraged as he reaches the next display.
At the next window, yet another Irken was trapped within these walls, this one however was unlike any of the other inmates whose only concerned was to break free from their imprisoment.
This one was quiet, far too quiet which was unlike any of his kind Dib had come across, so he pressed the blue button.
"Hey." He greeted "I'm Dib, what's your name?"
The short green Irken got up from the floor, staring at the newcomer "I'm Skoodge" he spoke so calmly, filled with regret, and honesty, "I never seen your species before? If I ask, what are you?"
"I'm a human."
"Ah, so we reached Earth then?" Skoodge asked "Several of us have been taken from our planets, traveling the universe, never knowing where our next destination will be or who will release us, if at all."
"How long have you been here?"
The Invader shrugs "I don't really keep track of time anymore."
"You don't seem like the others."
"Because I'm not" Skoodge grunted "I'm here on my own free will"
Dib's eyes widened in surprise "Who in his right mind would want to be trapped here?"
"You may be wondering why?"
The boy slowly nodded, interesting to find out the reasoning behind such a choice.
"There's a little thing called regret" Skoodge said, almost a whisper. "I conquered a planet once, the inhabitants... Well were far from civilised, but it certainly didn't justify their extermination but it was my job ya know?.. It was either their demise or mine and in the end? It was for a mere parking structure planet! Millions of lives... Gone! You don't know what's it like having a hand in such a terrible thing."
A metallic sound came from behind, somewhat surprised, Skoodge's antennae raised, wondering if he heard right, so as he turned around he saw that the force field that kept him locked up was down.
"You're right" Dib began to speak "I don't know what's it like to be responsible for so many deaths, but I do know when someone is genuinely sorry for their actions, so if you feel regret, then there may be hope for you yet"
Dib gave the former Invader his hand, Skoodge wasn't sure what it mean, but as soon as he was out of the display he stared at the boy.
"What do I do?"
"You're supposed to shake my hand."
"Ok... Why?"
"It's a human thing" Dib explained calmly "It means many things, but in your case, it can mean redemption"
Skoodge raised an invisible eyebrow, puzzled at such an action, none the less the followed the boy's example and soon enough they were shaking hands.
Lard Nar's voice comes on through an intercom, sounding very pleased, "Excellent choice my boy! This Irken will be an indispensable ally indeed."
The two new friends walk away content with their new arrangement as they make they way towards the exit they pass by more glass chambers. The final one is holding a very displeased Gaz Membrabe
"DIB!" I know you can see me!" She yells out angrily, blood in her eyes "Get me out of here or else I'll fucking rip your arms off!"
Her brother however doesn't even notice her though; he is too busy talking with his new brother, now he had someone who could share things with and that made everything more exiting.
It also made him happy for the first time in his life.
So the only thing Gaz can do is stare as her brother leaves her behind.
Emotions such anger, confusion, and finally horror course through her as she slowly realises that the brother she had abused for years on end was leaving her.
Never to return.
"DIB! GET BACK HERE!"
For the first time in her life, Gaz needed her brother.
But he didn't need her.
Not anymore.
So yeah, I changed some things regarding the Twilight Zone episode in order to make it more IZ oriented, in case you are wondering the name of the episode is called "Children Zoo" I obviously didn't want to borrow the name and give anything away.
That being said, the name of this story has a double meaning since Dib always felt trapped by living with Gaz and now she's incarcerated with others who abused people like she did, like the saying goes; misery loves company.
One could argue that Dib would never leave his little sister behind, because he does love her but I feel even he has a limit to how people treat him and that includes Gaz.
The banner that they both saw read in Latin, "Leave your worries behind" IF Google translator is to be believed, basically foreshadowing that our favourite gamer wouldn't be going home.
Also, you may be asking "How the hell did Lard Nar know Latin?" Simple, Vortians are advance beyond human understanding so they could easily pick up on things faster than any other race in the show.
Now, why did the aliens from "Abducted" appeared? Simply put, these two were probably the funniest characters on the show (aside from Gir) so I decided to give them a cameo, and why did they work for Lard Nar? Sadly most of Lard Nar's crew died in an implosion so he had to hire new people, and unfortunately for him, Green and Blue were the only ones that answered the add.
The kid in the third chamber was the "small horrible purple kid" who kept pointing at Zim on Foodcourtia, now wasn't he obnoxious?
As for Keef, why was he trapped? Well I don't know about any of you but he creeps me out.
On a final note, why did I choose Skoodge as Gaz's replacement? Simply put I feel that he is like Dib is certain ways, lowly regarded by the people around him and they could've formed a certain bond over that.
As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.
Invader Johnny Signing Off.