Gaz gets home. Is anyone else noticing how much is written but how little the story is actually moving forward besides the author?
I'm far too detailing for my own good.
Enjoy. Happy Easter!
Chapter 3
"Annoyingly Observant"
The walk home went fairly quick. Cars were now on the street and Gaz guessed it was probably around 5 or 6. Realizing she now had a new watch, she glanced down to see that it was 5:18 pm. Sighing at the many questions Dib would probably ask her as to why she was now over 2 hours late from when she usually got home. The thought of her brother made the bracelet on her wrist seem to weight a thousand pounds. It was far too fast when she found herself in front of her house, just standing there, staring at it.
Gaz swore under her breath before pulling her key out from her backpack pocket and slipping into the knob, unlocking the door and entering the house as quickly as possible. Maybe if she escaped up the stairs Dib wouldn't-.
"Gaz? Is that you?" He called from the kitchen.
Slapping her hand to her face, she dragged it down slowly before replying, "Yeah, Dib. Who else would it be?"
Unlike usual, he wasn't laughing at her sarcasm this time. Instead he poked his head out from the kitchen, as if making sure it really was her, before entering the room fully and looking at her with surprise and concern. "Where have you been, Gaz? You've been gone all day!"
Her brow rose, an excuse coming to mind. "Why didn't you just call me?"
"I was making repairs on my watch," He replied, with a frown. "Bullet-proof, water-proof, fire-proof and even survives in a radioactive explosion. But the second a little static electricity touches it, the thing freaks out. But that's not the point, where've you been?"
She had a small mental debate with herself. The best excuse Gaz had was that she was with a friend, but Zim was not her friend. The two of them had only spoken at all so she wouldn't have family involved on his part and so she wouldn't get kidnapped and tortured on her part. But, friends helped each other out of sticky situations. But they definitely didn't hate each other. Did she hate Zim, though? No, she just really detested him in general because he was male and a being other then herself and/or family.
"I was working on a project with . . . an acquaintance," she said, eventually. An acquaintance was the best she could come up with and the best part about her lie was that it wasn't entirely a lie. 'Project' and 'task' weren't really all too different. And the task was just trying to save her life, nothing Dib really needed to worry about.
. . . Right.
"Oh, what class?" Dib asked, seeming content. "And who were you with?"
Damn him! "None of your business Dib, why does it matter?"
He flinched at her defensive nature. "Sheesh, Gaz, I was just asking."
She rolled her eyes, dropping her backpack and slipping her hand-held out at the same time (a trick she'd learned from years of practice) and heading towards the stairs. "Whatever. I'm going upstairs. I'll be down for dinner later."
"Okay." Dib called after her, ignorantly. Gaz almost laughed at how easy it was to trick her brother if she didn't feel so bad about it. She had gotten halfway up the stairs when she felt a draft in the house and shivered. She thought nothing of it at first. A moment afterwords Gaz realized, freezing on spot, her jaw dropping in horror-.
"Gaz?" Her brother asked, having picked up her backpack to place it out of the way of the staircase and seeing her abrupt halt. "Something wrong?"
Gaz realized then she had left her jacket to crisp back at the field.
She snapped out of her stupor quickly thought, "Yeah, fine. I just remembered something about the project that I have to do tonight."
Before he could respond she was running up the stairs, her game forgotten as she tossed it carefully on the bed as she reached her room, pacing with irritation as she tried to figure out how to contact Zim through a phone-call instead of a distress signal. Then she paused. Did she need to call Zim? If her sweatshirt had been left there, then it would've burnt up with the ship, right? Plus, the fire-department wouldn't be able to find any clothing traces and even if they did they definitely wouldn't be able to trace it back to her. With a sigh of relief as her heart began to slow back to a normal pace, Gaz flopped onto her bed, kicking her shoes off and picking up her game again. She got into a relaxed position and cleared her mind of the thoughts that now bothered her, allowing herself to get into the game-zone.
An invasion could wait until tomorrow. Right now, she was about to go into a boss-battle and anyone who tried to stop her would be finding themselves on a one-way ticket into the depths of Hell.
Zim, as previously mentioned, was not going to school.
Gir had come down to remind him to go, as he had an incredibly odd habit of doing, which reminded Zim that the little SIR unit needed to be fixed. For interrupting his cheerful and overenthusiastic reminder he fell to the floor in- what had Gaz called them? -miniature seizures.
After a few minutes of watching his minion Zim eventually picked him up and sent him back to the ground-level of the base, hoping there would be no further interruptions.
The computer had to be watched for any further progress and often he had to input his own codes to bypass the original ones. As an Irken himself Zim had the advantage of knowing the override codes that never changed. Ever. But that was his only advantage and the rest of it would take time. All of his time. When (If) Gaz came back after school then the re-scan might help but it wasn't likely. Really the scans were just for her benefit. But also for his.
After all, if Dib's sister suddenly dropped dead after obtaining an irremovable bracelet the little rat would eventually come back to haunt Zim, just like the old days. Zim shivered at the memories and pushed them aside as he re-entered a code into the system.
"Stupid human," he growled, muttering to himself. "Why couldn't she have just kept her nose out of Zim's business?"
Zim yawned, reminding himself he hadn't slept in about a week or so. Irkens only needed sleep once a week and he wished he'd done it earlier, because now he'd be far too preoccupied with this business and hoping Gir didn't explode. As irritating as Gir was, Zim had grown rather fond of the stupid little robot in his recent ventures.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Zim continued to type and press buttons at an extremely fast speed. If he so much as hit one wrong, he'd have to start all over again but he didn't think about that. Irkens never made mistakes when it came to their own technology.
Well, with Gir as the exception, of course.
Gaz was at lunch when it happened.
Nothing catastrophic, of course, like the possible invasion but almost as bad.
Dib was ranting again, Gaz ignoring him again, when he cut off mid-sentence to ask, "Where'd you get that bracelet? I don't remember taking you to the mall to get anything like that."
Gaz froze, slipping her finger on the pause button of her game. Her mind raced with answers before she blurted out, "A friend."
Oh god, kill me now, she thought, repressing a groan. Glancing at her brother she saw he was now staring at her in complete and utter shock. It was almost insulting but the surprise was well deserved. Who had ever talked to Gaz without running away crying or in a worse mood then when they had started talking to her? But after almost a full minute of staring Gaz intensified her watching gaze into a full-scale glare.
This snapped him out of it, but he showed no sense of apology on his face as his formerly paralyzed look turned into a focused look. "What friend?'
She scowled, "None of your business, Dib. Go back to your lunch." This was added with a flick of a crumb directly into his face. The thing Gaz also had about herself that defense-class hadn't taught her was a deadly aim with anything you put into her hands.
Dib wiped the crumb off his face but would not be deterred. Instead he leaned at her from across the table. "No, seriously Gaz." And as if someone really had it out for her, Dib's face suddenly became enlightened. "Wait, is this the same person that you were hanging out with yesterday?"
Rolling her eyes and slapping her hand to her face she growled. "Leave it alone, Dib. It doesn't matter!"
"Yes it does!" Dib insisted.
Gaz looked him dead in the eye, hoping her next question would throw him. "Why?"
To her dismay, unfortunately, it did not. "Because I want to know who my little sister is hanging out with!"
Unknown to either of them, the slight elevation of their voices was slowly attracting the attention of some of the people in the lunchroom. By now a couple people were looking but with each word another eye was trained on them.
"I'm not so little that you need to babysit me all the time!" She insisted, putting her game aside completely. A part of her knew that he the questions were all out of concern but as much as she'd love to watch Zim (or anyone) squirm at something she did, getting her brother involved really would just make things worse. He would be anything but helpful and refuse to let Zim help, probably. And then nothing would get done. So Gaz was determined to make her brother mind his own business.
"No, you're not, and I know you can take care of yourself, but if something happens I need to know where I can find you!" Dib shouted back, standing up now.
Gaz, mimicking his actions, tried to put all her irritation into a single look. "Let me make this clear for you, Dib: Who I hang out with will be your business when I want it to be. If I think you need to be involved in my personal life, fine, but right now, I don't! So drop it!"
"If you think that-!" But he cut off, glancing over her shoulder to see that the cafeteria now had their eyes trained on the sibling fight.
It was well known that Gaz ignored Dib on a daily basis while he spoke to her anyways, as if she was listening. But to see them in an actual fight where both parties participated? This would be the talk of the school for the rest of the week! Upon being discovered at staring though, people began turning back to their friends, still watching them through their peripheral vision.
"Let's talk outside." He finally said, slinging his backpack over his shoulders and leaving his lunch. He'd eaten most of it and anyways, he really wasn't hungry anymore.
Gaz scowled but grabbed hers as well as she stormed out of the cafeteria, Dib following. A few people groaned and a few less even tried to follow before Gaz swung the door after her, slamming the stragglers in the face with the door. Dib snickered which was surprising, as he normally disapproved of Gaz's violent outbursts but that was actually pretty funny. He stopped laughing when he recalled the seriousness the situation required and waited until they were in front of the cafeteria, outside, to talk.
"I'm leaving this as a 'none of your business, I'm not going to tell you' kind of situation," She hissed, turning to him. "So what point do you want to leave this on?"
"How about 'I'm going to find out eventually, so you might as well tell me now'?" Dib retorted, his brow rising and his arms crossing.
She scoffed as the bell rang for class. Gaz leaned in towards her brothers face (though he was a good few inches taller then her) and smirked, "Yeah right, Dib. Just try following me and you'll find yourself at the bottom of a well in New Jersey."
With these words she walked inside, back to the classes she despised.
Dib scowled after her, but eventually smirked as well. "We'll see about that, Gaz."
So here Gaz was after school, passing a television store on her way to Zim's house. She had ditched class about five minutes early, to avoid walking home with Dib and getting a head-start on him. That was probably all she'd need to keep him off her trail as he'd wait for her to leave and it would probably be a while before he realized she'd already left, by which time she'd already be at Zim's house or walking home from it.
"Stupid brother," she muttered.
"A tremendous fire on the outskirts of the park with only a few leads."
She froze and whirled around, back towards where the news station was playing to tempt onlookers into coming into the television store. Gaz went back to where the feed was playing, watching the rather bored newscaster was staring blankly at the screen as he spoke about the flames. It broke into an apparently LIVE broadcast of the firefighters who were just extinguishing the last of the flames that had raged all night. It was funny almost, how no one had really talked about it at school or anything. Normally things like that were the talk of the class periods.
An image of Dr. Membrane appeared, explaining the fires as 'a dry-heat problem' and speaking about ways to make the underbrush have a natural rebellion towards sun-rays that would continue photosynthesis but expel fires. Gaz smiled a little, only understanding bits and pieces of the science before it switched back to the news reporter. This was the actual part she'd been waiting for, but it was met with relief. The suspects were long-time arsonists with a habit of trying to burn down public areas but she definitely wasn't mentioned. And jacket fibers weren't either.
With a new calm, surprised at how on edge she'd felt without noticing, Gaz continued her walk to Zim's house.
A trashcan fell over behind her, followed by a swear, as she saw two adults (one rather scrawny, she noted, with an inner smirk), both in black, one of which was on the floor and the other attempting to help him up quickly. When they were both on their feet, they realized they now had her attention.
"Give us all your money, kid!" The first, who hadn't fallen, warned in a voice that didn't seem to have ever hit puberty.
Gaz looked at him with a raised brow, "You're kidding right?"
"No!" The small, round one piped up in a voice that was almost as bad as the first. He pointed a sausage finger at her in warning. "We're serious! Hand over the bills, little girl, or else!"
"Or else what?" She demanded in a tone that enunciated articulation that seemed to demean them without really doing anything. It was a strategy Gaz had learned long ago when walking down this street, as many people tried first robberies on this street. Nobody really knew why, but Gaz had been met with these situations on a couple occasions. Of course Dib had been with her then but if these were the only two she had to worry about she could more then handle them herself.
"We'll, um," The tall one paused, looking at his partner for reassurance.
"We'll beat you up!" He threatened, apparently pleased with himself.
"Mm, right." Gaz, really not in the mood for a fight, reached into her pocket and held out a couple of dollars. She had twenties in her backpack, but they really didn't need to know that did they? "Here, this is all I've got. Can I go now?"
"I don't know," The fat one eyed her up, having gained confidence in her pittance hand-out. "You're awfully pretty. Maybe we aren't quite done with-"
"Why are you wearing black in the daytime?" She interrupted, hoping to distract them as she curled her hand back into a fist over the money. This obviously displeased the fat one but the tall one considered the question. "Clothes like that normally work for night but in the afternoon? You're kind of just asking to get pulled over."
"Cause the masks make us look cool," The tall one replied, also pleased with himself.
That was until the other one elbowed him, glaring at him before turning to Gaz with a harsher scowl. "You're awfully mouthy. And we don't like that. So you're coming with us!"
This was met with an abrupt grab at her wrist, where her watch was. Gaz hissed in fury as she heard the button on the watch make a beeping noise, but the men didn't seem to notice the sound so much as they noticed her sudden irritation.
Zim looked up as the alarm went off, his eyes widening in horror.
"It's the invasion!" He shouted, pausing the encryptor. It would only work for a few hours but that was hardly important if the Irken Retrieval Team had already come for Gaz. "How did they get into Earth's orbit without my notice? Computer! Take me to my vessel at once!"
Obeying, Zim was taken to the roof and his Cruiser. He hopped in at once, hitting the button that would cloak him to prying eyes. Matters would only be made worse when the Irkens took over but for now they had to think there was no assistance for the little mud-female he was going to have to rescue.
"Stupid, vile little maggot girl!" He shouted as he shot off into the sky, his roof closing behind him.
And once again, nobody noticed a thing*.
"Boys!" The tall one squeaked. "H-Help!"
Suddenly there were about a dozen or so more people coming out of the most random hiding spaces, but in far more casual clothes then these. That probably explained why the onlookers hadn't called the police but Gaz wasn't thinking about that. Instead, she looked dead in the eyes of the first and kicked him in the crotch, hard. She realized two things: one, Zim was coming and he hadn't told her how to cancel a transmission; two, she was outnumbered and these guys didn't look quite as oblivious as the first two; and third, if Zim came to get her in the middle of a city, there was bound to be more trouble then was necessary.
So, overall, she was going to need to get somewhere more . . . private. And she was pretty sure these guys wouldn't object to it.
Having freed herself already, Gaz was taking off into the first ally she was that would, of course (and Gaz almost gagged at the irony of it) lead back into the forest. She wondered if it had reached all the way out here until she heard her pursuers footsteps and ran harder, desperately trying to get as far away from civilization as possible. Gaz heard some of them laughing, as if they thought that she was running from fear. They probably knew where this was going, picking that mug spot in case they tried to run. But Gaz was actually thankful for the planning ahead they'd done.
You know it's bad when the victim is glad you've planned the way you did, Gaz thought, almost laughing as she took the corner that would lead into the woods instead of more city. She could've sworn she almost heard cheering from behind her. What she was sure she heard though was, "I call firsts!"
She regretted not having kicked the fat one harder.
Being a rather quick runner Gaz found herself well ahead of the men but she slowed a little, so as not to lose them. The last thing she wanted was for her explanation at the alarm going off disappearing before Zim got here. Also, she was looking forward to the fight now that she had her adrenaline going, having dropped her money back on the sidewalk. Gaz wondered if any of them had thought to pick it up as that was the only thing they would be getting out of her.
When Gaz started to smell charred remains in the distance, Gaz skidded to a halt and threw her backpack off. She'd stopped strategically in a clearing, surrounding by trees to keep the fight and the oncoming spaceship hidden. She began rolling her shoulders a little to prepare for the fight. Even when she'd slowed, Gaz still found herself with some time to spare before they reached her. She was almost positive that had she wanted to, she could've outrun them but now she was in a bad mood. They were going to pay for it.
The oncoming 14 or so slowed, catching their breaths as she finally caught hers. Gaz was glad she'd decided to wear pants today instead of a skirt again. Her jeans were skinny but they allowed a surprising amount of movement. Her shirt was sleeveless and dark purple. Her skull necklace pressed against her neck and she cracked her knuckles through her fingerless black gloves that reached a few inches away from her elbows.
All in all, looking up at her with her uncaring expression and tough exterior, a few of the men began to feel uneasy about attacking her. But the chubby one, who had originally threatened her pointed a finger and wheezed out, "Get her!"
This sudden outburst seemed to fill them with bravado and they charged at her. Gaz kept herself on her heels until one was in range before using her adrenaline to spin around. The momentum of the kick caused two of them to fall to their backsides, surprised and winded, having been caught off guard.
Someone threw a punch at her, which she ducked away from. She got clipped by it on her shoulder though and stumbled but Gaz turned back around with a new reason to be angry and realized she was now in the middle of the clearing that had become an arena. The two men were now being assisted by two other men, which left ten, for the moment. Seeing her stumble she was charged at again with another punch but she successfully dodged this one fully, dropping to the ground and kicking her legs out from underneath them. The man hit the ground hard, falling funny on his knee. She smirked as a crunch was heard and jumped back to her feet to her next opponent.
This seemed to be her downfall.
At her arrogance she did not notice the two coming up behind her, who gripped her forearms tightly and held her restrained. She kicked her legs up in the air but to no avail. Tugging at her arms only made her shoulders sore and she wasn't gaining any slipping room so she stopped. Her head bowed at the angle they were holding her in. When she saw two rather dirty shoes she looked up to see the fat man once again. She glared at him, furiously.
"There ya are, little brat." He laughed, wiping the sweat from the run off his forehead. "Now we'll put you in your place!"
This set Gaz off once again and with a growl, she kicked her leg up, hard and high, nailing him in the jaw. He stumbled onto his backside and she grinned with a satisfied smirk before moving to stomp her foot on one of them holding her. But before she could do this she was suddenly thrown backwards, into a tree. This knocked the wind out of her and she grunted, trying to regain control of her breathing.
"Not so fun, is it!" Someone shouted but she couldn't and therefor didn't answer. Not that she really had anything to say anyways.
"That's enough out of you!" The man grunted, getting off the ground with a bloody mouth. She wondered what she'd cut but didn't put too much effort into it as she almost had control over her body now. But she wouldn't have time, she realized, as he approached her with a fist reared back.
And then, as if trying to be as over-dramatic as possible, she heard him over what sounded like a speakerphone.
"Filthy, ugly little pig-smellies!" It said, apparently only a little irritated. "Refrain from further abuse of the Gaz-human or face the wrath of ZIM!"
"Who the hell-?" One of them demanded, looking around.
And then suddenly the ship was there, appearing out of nowhere, above them, in a green light. Gaz rolled her eyes, struggling to get to her feet as the men cried out in surprise. And though he was probably saving her, Gaz looked up at the landing spacecraft and shouted, sarcastically, "Yeah, cause I've always found you so terrifying, Zim!"
"Silence, rebellious, troublesome little earth-child!" Zim snapped back, through whatever speaker he was using as he glared at her through the window. "Zim is saving your worthless hide, apparently."
"Who the hell are you!" One of the men demanded, aiming a knife he retrieved from his pocket at Zim, who looked back at the man in disbelief.
Zim, surprisingly (to Gaz), was wearing his disguise. And even though he had just come down from the sky in a no-longer invisible hovercraft, apparently the disguise still worked. The hood of the craft popped up, as did Zim, placing his fists dramatically on his hips and shouted down at them, "I am the Almighty Zim! Cower before my power you primitive creatures!"
"It's a science-nerd!" Someone shouted. "Get him!"
"Science nerd?" Zim demanded, furious. Suddenly from his PAK sprouted various robotic legs, pushing him even higher above the men. "I will show you who is the 'nerd', whatever that may be!"
Gaz slapped her hand to her face before approaching the man with the knife from behind, now regaining her composure completely and tapping him on the shoulder. When he turned she landed a solid punch to his face, sending him sprawling on the floor, half-unconscious. The fight broke out once again but as a few raced towards Gaz, Zim picked them up by the foot with his robotic leg and swung them around a few times before sending them flying farther into the forest. A few sensible men tried to run but Gaz apprehended one by tripping him, hard, and he fell flat with a loud and painful sounding thump. He lay unmoving and the other was dispatched by Zim, who seemed to enjoy flailing them in the air before somehow pounding them back into the ground. Within a seconds the only one left was the fat man, the skinny one having been one of those tossed into the field.
She was about to grind his face into the ground but Zim stopped her, placing a leg in her path before moving to tower over him with a grin so terrifying even Gaz was slightly impressed, but only a little. The man, however, cowered and screamed, begging for his life. Zim picked him up slowly, with two legs, by the collar of his shirt and brought him eye-level with Zim for a few seconds as the alien in disguise examined him carefully.
"You, insolent little fat man, shall never be seen again," He said kindly, and then with a whiplash-like movement he tossed him, like the others, but at with a force and speed that remained unmatched by even the comic-book superheroes. Gaz watched him soar, screaming, until he landed. A small mushroom cloud of dirt appeared through the trees in the distance and her adrenaline high began to diminish.
It was then Gaz fell to her knees, surprised at how much her ribs actually hurt. And her arms were probably going to be bruised. Her legs were killing her from the run, even though it had seemed so easy during the chase. Gaz stared at the floor, really recovering for a moment this time, until black shoes appeared in her line of vision. Looking up, she saw Zim looking down at her, extra legs retracted, with narrowed eyes. She couldn't match the gaze, only giving her usual look of discontentment.
"Is the Gaz-human alright?" He questioned, somewhat bitterly.
She waited a few seconds before pushing herself to her feet, avoiding the question. "I'll be fine."
He grunted but otherwise didn't object. "Come. I'll take you to my base again, if that's where you intended on going."
"It was," Gaz replied, going to grab her backpack. "Thanks, by the way."
Zim shot her another irritated look. "I thought the Irkens had come."
"Hey, I wasn't the one who pushed it." She defended. "That fat one did, the one you tossed. He grabbed my wrist and pushed the watch button and I didn't know how to turn it off, or I wouldn't have led them out here."
"What does the tracking device and seclusion have to do with anything?" Zim demanded, hopping in the craft that had never closed. His face wrinkled up in disgust. "By the way, worm-baby, you stink more then usual."
She flipped him off but she doubted he knew what it meant. However, he seemed to understand an insult in her movements and scowled further. "It's called 'perspiration', Zim. It happens after and during some strenuous activity."
"It's disgusting." Zim amended, leaning a bit away from her as she got in the seat beside him. As the lid shut he hit some button that got wind going inside, like an air-purifier. Gaz rolled her eyes but was glad he'd at least shut up about how she smelled. "Ah, much better. Now, to the base!"
Gaz sighed at his dramatization but let him have it. She had, after all, just probably been saved by the idiot. Not that she was going to let him hold that over her head by letting him know that. She wondered what Dib was doing as they headed off towards his house.
"My brothers been asking questions." She said after a few minutes inside with him, staring out the window boredly and seeing just how far the fire had actually spread. "He's going to start following me home from now on to see where I'm running off to. Also, he noticed my new 'accessory'. Oddly though, not the watch."
He glanced at her, "And what'd you say?"
"That it was none of his business who had given me what or where I was going. But he didn't buy it." She sighed.
Zim was silent a moment, driving and contemplating. Finally he said, "I suppose it would be easier to tell another lie then the truth, then."
"No duh," She snapped. "I don't have another reasonable or explanatory lie, though."
Again there was a pause from him before Zim groaned. And, as if the very words were painful to him, he hissed, "Tell . . . the Dibstink . . . that you and I are . . . friends."
Gaz whipped her head around to him in shock and alarm. "What!"
*score one fore Earth's attention span. -_-
So yes, again, I make a giant chapter from less then a days worth of time in the story. Really irritating to me.
The next chapter will be the finished car-ride, Dib's discovery that Gaz isn't there, probably Gaz announcing she and Zim are friends in some way that's far more overdone and crud then necessary and MAYBE something else. I don't know yet I haven't planned that far ahead. It'll probably involve Gir and cupcakes.
Poisonous cupcakes, of course.
Till next time little pig-smellies.
