You know what? The end-notes are long enough, let's skip right to the story. ;-)

Chapter Nineteen
Lockered on Target

"Okay, so we'll all meet tomorrow after skool, and then we'll come up with some sort of plan to get into that factory. Got it?"

Rodger had a dark look. Jack looked terrified. Peggy looked barely braver than Jack, but she nodded. "We'll be there."

"Okay. Guess I'll see you guys tomorrow, then."

The group broke up; Jack, looking as usual like an overgrown, nervous little rodent, went scurrying off in whatever direction his home was. Peggy and Rodger got on their bikes and rode off together for their home.

It suddenly occurred to me, as I saw them ride off, that I didn't know where they lived, other than that Rodger had vaguely mentioned it being downtown. And it occurred to me that, if their parents were kidnapped by Zim as part of whatever plan he had constructed, they were probably living alone somewhere. I wondered where. Did they even have a place to stay? I suddenly had a disturbing image of the two living under a bridge or something, homeless and alone...I shook my head to clear the image away. No, that couldn't be right, I thought. They didn't look like they needed clothes or food or anything; they must have somewhere to stay. Still, I wondered where.

I raised my hand and opened my mouth, thinking of calling them back to ask them, maybe even invite them to come stay at my house--even if they had a house or an apartment or hotel room or whatever, somehow the thought of them there alone, left with nothing to do but wonder where their kidnapped parents were, was unsettling. But I hesitated, and before I could speak they turned a corner and vanished down the street.

I got on my bike and slowly made my way back home.

When I arrived on my street I found the place silent. Only a few lights were on in the windows, and I couldn't see any movement behind them. One front door stood slightly ajar, swinging in the wind.

My heart froze in my chest.

"Gaz."

I peddled home as fast as I could and burst into the house. As soon as I ran into the living room I threw back my head and began screaming.

"Gaz? GAZ?! GAAAZ?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Right here, Dib."

My head snapped around. "Huh?"

Gaz was sitting calmly on the couch, Game Slave still in her hand. If not for the plate of leftover pizza crust in front of her I would have thought she hadn't moved an inch in the hours I had been gone.

"Oh. Heh-heh. Sorry." I very slowly and quietly shut the door behind me, feeling my face burn. "But--how are you here? Outside it looks like the whole street's been deserted!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Didn't you notice?!"

She looked up for a moment, shrugged, and went back to her game. "Nothing happened here."

"So...what? Zim's weird freaky alien robots came to every house in the neighborhood--except ours?"

"Looks like."

"But that--doesn't make any sense! He already knows we're onto him, why doesn't he..."

I gave up in mid-rant; instead I slumped forward, feeling my eyes beginning to close. I wondered vaguely how many hours of sleep I had managed to catch in the last week. Maybe about ten? "I'm going to bed," I muttered, dragging myself up the stairs. "Call for me if something sensible happens."

"Whatever," Gaz muttered, not even looking up from her game. Needless to say, she had no reason to call me for the rest of the night.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day it was confirmed--the neighborhood was definitely empty. I could just walk into any of the neighbors' houses, walk around, turn back and not meet a living soul. Gaz and I walked to skool on completely deserted streets all the way there. There weren't even any cars, no noise, nothing. It was really creepy.

At least for me.

"I wish Zim would have abducted those stupid birds, too," Gaz grumbled, as we passed a mother robin singing mellifluously to her babies. It almost seemed to look affronted as we passed, glaring Gaz down before resuming its song with a slightly haughty air.

The skoolyard was almost empty--instead of the usual scores of kids, there were maybe ten of us waiting for skool to start. The hallways were empty. The boys' bathroom was empty. Ms. Bitters' class...

...was full?

I blinked as I entered the room, startled--everyone was back?! How on Earth? Had Zim released them, why would he do that, how--

And then I blinked and realized I didn't know half the kids in there. And then I realized that Gaz was sitting in the chair next to mine, where Aki normally sat.

"What the--"

"Dib!"

"AGH!"

I jumped and spun around; Ms. Bitters was looming behind me, bent forward like a snake, teeth bared and growling. "Take your seat!" she snapped.

I let out a strangled cry and ran to my seat beside Gaz, giving her a questioning look. She merely looked annoyed, fingers unconsciously tapping Aki's desk as if she had an invisible Game Slave there. I knew she usually played it in Mr. Elliott's room; clearly, though, she was smart enough to know not to try it here, at least not until Ms. Bitters got bored of the class herself and stopped caring what we did.

"As you can see, we have a few guest students with us today," Ms. Bitters growled, slithering over to take her seat behind her desk and clasp her hands together, glaring. "It seems many of my fellow teachers have been taking off this week for that stupid chili festival, so I'm having to take up some of the slack. PUT THAT PAPER AIRPLANE DOWN!" she suddenly screamed, and a boy in the back of the class screamed and fell out of his chair, the airplane he was throwing flopping feebly to the ground. The kid in the next seat who had been planning to receive it gulped.

Ah, of course, I thought. Zim was kidnapping teachers too. Too bad he hadn't thought to get Ms. Bitters--then I could get out of class and try to find out what he was up to. But, just like Gaz, I had a feeling he was smart enough to know not to mess with her.

Ms. Bitters began to call roll--which seemed pointless, with so few of her own students and so many others. As she did I sat up and looked around, trying to see how many of my normal classmates were there. Aside from me, there was just the Letter M and Zita...nobody else...

And then it hit me: Zim was gone too.

"Gaz! Zim is gone!" I hissed, leaning over and interrupting her imaginary game on the desk.

She opened her mouth to respond--probably scathingly--when the door burst open, and he appeared, slamming it behind him and pressing himself against the door.

"Zim! You're late," Ms. Bitters growled, leaning forward, her voice descending to a dangerous hiss. "Where were you?"

"I was...I was..."

I raised my eyebrow, wondering the same thing. Zim didn't look too good--actually kind of banged up, his wig was slightly askew, his clothes were torn and burned, and he even had a small cut across the side of his head, which seemed to be wet with half-dried green blood. I considered jumping up to point out this rather obvious fact, but Zim's cry interrupted me before I could.

"I was in the Earth bathroom!" He raised his finger dramatically to emphasize this point.

"Just sit down!" Ms. Bitters snapped.

Zim saluted. "Yes, Ms. Bitters, sir!" And he quickly scuttled over to his own chair, sat down and folded his hands innocently. He looked confused as he seemed to notice that he was surrounded by students other than his normal neighbors.

I looked him over, thinking. What's happened to him? I wondered, biting my lip. Not that this was the first time he had come to skool in a disheveled state. He had several times before...sometimes thanks to his stupid robot dog, or some failed experiment, or, most satisfyingly, thanks to me. (The same thing had happened in reverse too, though, just as often.) But could this have something to do with the robots? Maybe this prisoners had staged a coup?

Ms. Bitters lesson interrupted my thoughts.

"Today, class, we're going to be learning about the Great Depression, and why you can all look forward to reliving it in the very near future. The story begins with a doomed individual by the name of Kaiser Wilhelm, whose horrible defeat in the First World War led--what is it, Zim?"

Zim lowered his hand and stood up. "May I please be excused, Ms. Bitters-beast?"

"What for?"

"I need to use the bathroom, please."

"I thought you said you just went to the bathroom."

Zim's green skin paled. I grinned. Yeah, Zim, get caught in your own stupid lie...

"Um...yes. But that was for dookying. This time it is to, um..." He searched desperately for an excuse. "Powder my nose!"

"Alright," Ms. Bitters said apathetically, waving her hand.

I jumped up, outraged. "Ms. Bitters! You can let him get away with that!"

"Why not?" she demanded, cocking her head to one side.

I counted the reasons off on my fingers. "One, that's an excuse only a girl would use. Two, even if he was a girl, it wouldn't be a valid excuse to get out of class. Three, this is all just part of his evil plan to enslave mankind, and four, he doesn't even have a nose!"

I pointed one finger dramatically at Zim, who quickly tried to cover up his face as if to hide his noselessness. Ms. Bitters leaned back in her chair and considered this.

Finally she spoke. "Your objections have been duly noted, Dib. Nevertheless, Zim, you may leave."

"Yes!" he said, pulling a fist to his chest triumphantly, then turning to give me an evil glare and a horrible grin. I ground my teeth. He jumped up and ran out the door--before it even closed I could see his spider legs begin to fold out from his PAK.

I sat down, defeated, laying my head on my desk. Ms. Bitters resumed her lecture. "Anyway, due to the Kaiser's doomed alliance with Austria-Hungary, Germany soon descended into economic ruin which--"

"Ms. Bitters!" I was on my feet before I had even realized what I was planning to do. "I, uh, need to use the bathroom too!"

"Why?" she asked, looking at me quizzically.

What, she wanted me to paint her a picture? I cleared my throat awkwardly. "To, uh...powder my...ears?"

A few kids, Gaz included, gave me looks. Most were too busy not listening to anything happening around them to notice.

Ms. Bitters considered. "Fine," she said airily, waving her hand again. "If they're going to stick out like that, they might as well look good."

I began to walk away from my desk. "Thank you, Ms. Bitters, I--stick out?" Instantly my hand went to my ears; they didn't really stick out, did they? "What do you mean, stick--"

"Just go!"

I went. I could look into any apparent ear problems later.

Zim was pretty easy to track--the hallways were so empty and quiet that I could hear his footsteps and the whirring of his PAK-legs from a whole hallway away. Apparently he wasn't bothering to keep hidden, and neither did I--I ran down the halls after him, looking at each classroom door as I passed, nearly all of which were silent with signs taped in place: Mr. Elliott's class report to Ms. Bitters, room 13...Mrs. Jacobs' class report to Mr. Roberts, room 20...Miss Jones' class report to Mr. Gershwin, room 33...

I heard a voice echoing from around the corner. "Hey, you need a hall pass--"

Crash.

When I arrived, the hall monitor was looking dazed and confused, pulling himself out of the trash can. I ran past him, torn between anger at Zim for doing that and gratitude that at least I wouldn't have to deal with him either. That kid was annoying.

Where was he going, though?

I soon found out: Mr. Gershwin's class.

I turned another corner and suddenly saw Zim halfway down the hall, retracting his PAK-legs and falling expertly to the floor--I jumped and quickly hid beside a row of lockers, pressing my back against them to keep from being seen. Zim didn't seem to realize I was there; I carefully peeked around my hiding place and watched as he paused, hesitated, and then knocked on Mr. Gershwin's door.

The door opened a moment later, and I heard Mr. Gershwin's voice. "Yes?"

"Yes, hello. I am a completely normal hyuman pig-boy. The office sent me down here to collect the equally-completely-normal hyuman pig-girl called Peggy. Could you please surrender her into my custody? Pretty please?"

"Er...I suppose."

"Thank you," Zim said, giving the closest thing to a sweet smile that I imagined his face capable of producing.

Mr. Gershwin vanished. I held my breath and watched as a moment later, he returned with Peggy, who took one look at Zim and turn wide-eyed with fear. She turned around and looked like she was going to object, but Mr. Gershwin had already turned around and closed the door behind him, leaving the two of them--plus me, hidden ten feet away--alone in the hallway.

"Hello...Peggy," Zim said, leaning forward, fake eyes glittering with real malicious...ness. Wait, I think the word is just "malice." The point is, glittering, and not in a good way.

"Oh. Hey, um, Zim, isn't it?" Peggy asked nervously, taking a step back, her hand reaching behind her for the doorknob. "H-how's it going? Is that a new hairpiece? Oh, look at the time, I better be going--"

She started to open the door, but Zim leaned forward, putting one hand against it to keep it shut. I could only see his face from the side, but it was twisted into a look of anger worse than I had ever seen it before. I suddenly wondered if I should jump out of my hiding place--maybe he would run off if he knew it would be the two of us against him--

"I know that you're working with the Dib-stink," Zim now sneered, eyes narrowing coldly. "I know you two are up to something."

"I-I really don't--"

"Do not lie to me!" Zim suddenly screamed, rearing up and pointing dramatically. "I am too smart to fall for your little games and tricks. I know what you are up to!"

"You do?"

"More or less! And whatever it is, you had better stop helping him, or so help me, something--bad will happen to you. Do you hear me?"

He ended his threat in a very low voice, almost a whisper, so low I had to strain my ears to hear him. Peggy gulped. "I don't--"

"Do you have any idea who I am?!" Zim suddenly screamed again; Peggy and I both jumped, it was impossible that the people in the nearby classroom couldn't hear, but nobody came out to investigate. "I am the mighty Zim! I could get the Tallests to blast your planet into stardust if I requested it, so you had better not cross me, or--or--else!"

TSEEW!

"Agh!"

I jumped; a leg had suddenly shot out of Zim's PAK, whirled around, and shot a blast of energy at the same row of lockers I was hiding behind. A locker halfway down the row exploded, its door bursting in an explosion of melted metal; Peggy backed up against the classroom door in shock, mouth opened, shaking from head to foot.

It took me a moment to realize the shot hadn't been directed at me; I stood frozen, and only peeked after a moment of silence as Zim, without another word, spun around and stormed off, his metal arm retracting into his PAK as he went. He stomped right past me without noticing. I was too shocked to make any kind of move; I gazed over at Peggy, who was standing looking horrified and close to tears.

My immediate reaction was to rush over to say or do something, but just as I started, the bell rang, and the door to every actually-occupied classroom burst open, filling the halls with an abnormally low, but still significant number of students. Before I had a chance to reach her Peggy had turned and run into the throng, vanishing from sight. I froze, my hand half-out as if to reach for her. Some kid pushed me roughly out of the way.

"Watch where you're going," he snapped (ignoring the fact that I hadn't been going anywhere). I blinked, snapped out of my trance. I lowered my hand and turned to walk back to Ms. Bitters class to collect my things, walking past the kid who had pushed me, who was now standing in a trance of stunned disbelief himself.

"Hey--what happened to my locker?!" he demanded, but I ignored him, my mind entirely on Peggy and Zim.

Well, there was a bit of awkwardness in his delivery, but Zim finally got to be all dark and creepy without being interrupted. The last few times GIR's came to mess it all up. Wonder how Zim kept him away this time.

(Cut to Zim's base, GIR standing in the corner with his arms over his eyes.)

GIR: 9,999,998, 9,999,999, 10,000,000! (Looks up.) Ready or not, Master, here I come!

Hee-hee. Anyway, not sure when this will update again; I got a million things to update, then I may cut back for a day or two, so...maybe a weekish before another update. Hoping to finish this fic by October 1, but probably won't make it. In the meantime, you can read "Endorsements of the Doomed," which just updated and will again soon; a humorous Avatar: the Last Airbender one-shot I'm planning to post soon (involving my favorite character, who sadly only appeared in one episode); and "Death of the Dib," which will update...eventually. Which leads to a question for readers of that story--I'm doing a chapter that is going to focus on Louie, but don't know if it should be in first-person or third person form--in other words, if Louie should be narrating or it should just be "Louie said, Louie did," etc. I'm leaning towards the latter, but will take opinions into account.

Okay, these author's notes are way too long. Hope you enjoyed, please leave reviews, especially you dirty moochers who have been reading this without reviewing. Come on, tell me what you think, good, bad or otherwise. Bye for now!