They Corrupt Them

Chapter 37

Kael frowned when Gaz came running into the room. "Gaz, what's the matter?" He asked, concerned as she merely shoved him out of her room, not bothering to talk to him as she slammed her door shut. She couldn't believe it, all these years and they weren't even his kids, that son of a bitch! How dare he!

She hugged her pillow and started crying, she didn't know why it bothered her so much, being a clone shouldn't really have upset her. But suddenly, so much of her life made sense…were they just experiment to him? She hated that she was crying about it, but the thought hurt, they were just starting to have a decent relationship too…

"Gaz, let me in…what's going on?" Kael asked, knocking at her door; he noticed her father coming down the hall and sighed. "Go away!" She yelled, not wanting to be near anyone. He looked over as Membrane made his way over to him with an awkward cough. "Is Gaz in there?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah, but she's not letting anyone in…" Kael said as he leaned against the wall; he had been thrown out after all, not sure why…but he wished he knew what was bothering her.

Professor Membrane sighed as he wondered how he was going to continue; he needed to make things right with his daughter. A moment passed before he knocked on the door, things had to be set right. "Gaz, it's me. I'm sorry I said that I didn't mean for you to find out that way, will you please open the door?" He asked, hoping she would say yes…but she doesn't answer.

"What happened?" Kael asked, antenna twitching to attention as he stood and went over to him, what had he said to make her react like this.

"I may have been venting to 777 about a secret that I didn't want Gaz and Dib to know yet…and I may not have phrased it the best way." Membrane said, looking over at him with a sigh. "Actually, it was the worst way possible…"

Kael looked at him curiously. "It was pretty bad wasn't it?" He asked, frowning.

Membrane sighed, opting not to answer as he knocked on the door again. "Gaz, please…lets talk about this…" A thump and shatter could be heard against the door, which was probably something she threw at the door, this caused him to move away. "Go away! I don't want to hear it!" She yelled, her voice obviously betraying her hurt and he frowned. "Gaz…" He said, slumping his shoulders as he didn't know how to deal with this, maybe Dib could help…but this could just compound the problem if he reacts the same way too.

Kael sighed. "What exactly was it to make her react this way?" He asked, concerned.

Membrane leaned his forehead against the door. "It started roughly twenty-five years ago, my best friend and I decided to dabble in cloning; she couldn't have children you see, and she didn't really like people. It was obvious I was going nowhere relationship wise either, so we decided to make children. Or at least clone something, maybe we could help people. But every DNA sample we got a hold of failed, each artificially inseminated egg died, it broke her heart. Then one day I decided to try something else, I took some of mine and her DNA, and they were strong enough, they survived! Hers became Gaz and mine…well, Dib. But when the government and the press caught wind of what we had done…they ordered us to stop the experiments and destroy the abominations. We couldn't do that, so I took some fake corpses and gave them in their place…out of grief, and my best friend decided to marry. She then became 'pregnant' with Dib, and then two years later, Gaz." He said but continued.

"Dib nor Gaz could recognize the difference due to their mental abilities at the time, so that wasn't how they understood it…memories are so easy to tamper with, we were going to raise them our own, but then my friend died…and I was left with two children who could have been killed at any moment should anyone doubt their authenticity…" Membrane explained, and Kael's eyes widened at the information as he listened, sighing as he rubbed the space between his eyes.

"I thought humans didn't have the technology to do that…I guess I can understand her anger at not knowing." Kael replied it made sense.

"If they don't, they fear it, fear what it can do…they need not though, human DNA is almost always too difficult to replicate. Gaz and Dib were miracles, the only two out of thousands I had tried to make." Membrane said a little bitterly, remembering all the attempts, how many times he and his friend had cried themselves to sleep with the nightmarish images of failures. "It doesn't change how I feel though, sure it wasn't conventional, but my friend and I loved Gaz and Dib with all our hearts, they were ours. Of course, I screwed that up after she died, but what could I do? Dib was looking more and more like me every day, even down to our progressive blindness, Gaz, she looked just like her mother, that was easier to hide though, everything was just hiding them, and now that they are older, and we are speaking again, I had to blow it." He said.

Kael sighed as he listened to the man, humming softly as he closed his eyes before looking back at him. "The point I see here is that even though they were clones, you still loved them dearly, I'm sure Gaz would understand that. I'm not exactly one to talk as my whole race is a bunch of clones." He said, thinking a bit before speaking again. "It's better for her to have found out now, then later in life."

Membrane nodded, noting that the noises inside the room had stopped. "Gaz?" He asked quietly.

"Go talk to Dib." Her voice said through the door

He nodded and sighed in understanding. "Please come to find me when you are ready…" Membrane said as he backed away from the door. "I'm going to find Dib now…" He wasn't looking forward to the conversation soon to come…

The Irken hummed as he watched the other leave before going into the room and looking at her. "Are you alright?" He asked as he got on the bed with her and took her into his arms. "No…" was her reply as she clutched a pillow to her chest tightly before turning to face him and crying into his chest, trying to stop. "It makes perfect sense…" She muffled into his uniform.

Membrane roamed the halls looking for Dib who was most likely in the kitchen making something to eat; he was nervous about talking to his son. Once in the kitchen, he stood at the doorway and Dib looked over as he put the plates out. "Hey." He greeted and then frowned, noticing he seemed nervous. "You alright?" He asked.

"Um, not really, may I talk to you? In private…" He asked, not wanting Dib to have a possible break down in front of Zim and stress the pregnant Irken out when he didn't need that.

"Sure…" Dib replied, putting the last plate down before following his father out of the kitchen and into the hall, once they were some good ways away from the kitchen, Membrane sat on a bench. Dib sat down beside him beside him, and Membrane looked at him a moment before talking. "What I have to say maybe rather odd, but I want you to know…no matter how you react, I want you to know that I love both you and Gaz. You will always be my children, okay?"

Dib looked at him, confused at his words, though wondered if this was about what he was starting to already suspect after so many slip-ups. His dad had said a few things that were beginning to meld into strange territory, and he saw now there was something odd about a few things. "Of course, dad, what is it?" He asked.

"Do you remember me telling you about the cloning experiments that were banned years ago and about the two subjects I was ordered to dispose of?" Membrane asked.

"Yeah…" Dib replied. "You said that you hadn't done that and that they were still alive." He recalled.

"Well…I may not have sent them as far as I led you to believe, you see my assistant, and I had grown rather attached, and she came up with a plan to keep them both safe…by having them raised as siblings..." The older man said, trying to bridge the next part into the conversation.

Dib thought about this for a moment and then looked at his father, suddenly getting a weird feeling. "Wait…who were these clones of?" He asked, connecting a few dots from the information his father was spilling out to him.

"Well, we tried mixing DNA like natural reproduction without the uh…intercourse, but those all failed, so I tried it with only replicating a single strand of DNA. Two survived, a boy and a girl. One was from my friend…and the other was…from me." Membrane said, looking away from Dib, Ready for the rage or cried of denial from him.

Dib's eyes widened, suddenly so many snippets of conversation had started to make sense, especially his earlier comment about never feeling their mother's stomach. "So, you're saying Gaz, and I are…" He honestly didn't know how to make of this information, but all the dots from all their conversations had started connecting and making sense.

Everything made so much more sense!

Membrane nodded and sighed. "I have been trying not to tell you, but I have been making so many slip-ups lately, and then I was venting to 777 about things. Gaz heard me and…I knew it couldn't be put off any longer. I know you probably hate me right now…" He said, not looking at Dib for fear of seeing his anger, but god, he needed to get everything out after so long having kept it all inside.

The younger male sighed and ran his fingers through his hair a little as he thought about it for a moment; he couldn't hate his father for telling him the truth about all of this, it freaked him out a bit if he was sincere. But he wasn't going to be angry, though he did need to think for a bit. "I uh…no, I don't hate you." He looked at his dad. "I do appreciate you being truthful though…" He said as relief filled Membrane's features, glad his son hadn't exploded in anger. "Thank you…" He said.

"you are taking this far better than Gaz…of course, she got the more coarse version of the story. Um…but while we are talking truths…how old are you?" It had honestly been bothering Membrane for a while now, and he couldn't remember their age, unfortunately, especially after having spent so much time away from them for so long.

Dib snorted and sighed as he crossed his arms. "Life isn't exactly normal for me, defending the world from an alien invader since I was ten and all that, you have to expect some weird shit." He said before continuing a moment later. "I started putting the pieces together, though I didn't know exactly what I was putting together. Also, I turn eighteen in a couple months, though I'm guessing Gaz is the same age." She had to be, seeing as they were made at the same time and everything.

"Yeah…it would have been suspicious if my friend, who I had just married had twins that were like you two, so we kind of kept Gaz from the public and when you were two we introduced her to you 'officially.' Even though you two had always been together, it was easy to make your younger minds believe you were of different ages." Membrane explained.

Dib nodded. "Makes sense…" He sighed. "Thanks for telling me, I should probably go check on Gaz.." He said, knowing she was probably a mess right now. The older man nodded gratefully that Dib had offered as he doubted she wanted to see him at the moment.

"That would be best, I will…I guess, be in the lab.." Membrane said as Dib hugged him which had surprised him at first, but he hugged him back before going back to his lab to let Dib speak with Gaz.