Disclaimer:
Have you the brain worms that I need to tell you where to go again?! Web
page! Idiots!
Notes:
Just wanted to add, if I haven't already, that I believe that Dib is 12 and Gaz
is 11. If you think Dib is 10 and Gaz is older than him… well, that's your opinion.
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Shai
sighed and looked down from the top of the ruined building. All these years and
he still had the nerve to try. What does it take to break some one's spirit?
It
was four years after the incident in the desert. ZIM was now in control, most
humans under his power, except for, of course, Dib and a few others. A little
part of the success of the Invader's mission was Shai's doing. She helped him
be more human by teaching him how to talk and act, thus helping to hide his
identity. Then, when the time was just right, a full offensive went underway.
The months prior to it had been spent creating deadly weapons, so the bombs and
bullets of human technology proved feeble in nature and effect. The takeover
had been quite easy.
But
Dib had formed a group of others who miraculously escaped enslavement, and they
had been trying to pull others free from the Irken's grip and put humans back
in control of their planet. So far the group had been failing, and Shai's
alliance with ZIM did nothing the help their cause. She was now skilled in the
deadly arts, and could drop many without weapons.
A
midnight breeze ruffled her sky blue hair, still in the same position since her
youth. She was, technically, still a young person at age sixteen, but what she
had done against her own race and her current state of mind – serious, cold,
cruel – made her feel older. Her trench coat was torn, and it reached down only
to her knees. Her royal purple alien shirt now bore the grinning Irken symbol,
and was considerably shorter, revealing her navel and the steely muscles in her
stomach. Shai still wore her jeans, but they were a new pair, since she was now
five-foot-seven in height. Below her knees, the jeans disappeared into a new
pair of boots, heavily worn and scuffed.
Cracking
the knuckles of both her hands in turn, Shai's eyes strayed to the tattoo on
the back of her right hand. It was a red Irken symbol, the sign of an ally of
ZIM. Although it was conspicuous, it was required otherwise the guards threw
you in a slave camp when you tried to get back inside ZIM's massive fortress.
Which was located at the end of same block where his house had been, only it
was now a much, much larger compound. You didn't need to spy on Dib's rebel
group; finding them was always just too easy.
Pierced
through the lobe of her right ear was a small, thick black hoop earring. Shai
touched it gently, and a pair of black sunglasses unfolded from the earring and
rested on her nose. The earring was gone now, completely morphed into the
shades. The lenses flickered purple, the color completely on the side that was
facing Shai. Schematics of the building Dib and his little gang had just run
out of appeared on the lenses. The picture moved slowly, and information about
the building scrolling up from the left side.
"Weapons
storage…now with explosives inside…" Shai grinned. As if blowing up a weapon
storage facility could help their cause. ZIM had so many weapons in his
fortress alone, he could blast away half of Earth. A strange tingle of guilt
and mixed emotions coursed through Shai. Fighting family? Wasn't that really
wrong? But it was really right at the same time because of the love she held in
her heart.
Shaking
herself out of it, Shai leapt from her perch onto her black vehicle, a flying
surfboard, to be precise, and spend silently after Dib and his crew. They were
on foot, of course, so within moments she was gliding above them, slowing the
speed of her board to match their running pace.
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Dib
ran on, his lungs burning. They had to be far from the warehouse before it
blew. Far away. His ripped and torn trench coat billowed behind him,
waving in the dead night air. The scythe shape of his hair now hung down in
front of his face and it kept hitting him in the face. He still wore much of
the same style of clothes: the not very happy face blue shirt, long-sleeved,
black pants, and his black boots. He had grown up to six feet now, and he
towered above the still-under-three-feet tall ZIM. Of course, the pride of
being taller than the alien scum was always short-lived because when ever he
got close enough to ZIM to kill him, Shai always showed up to defend him. She
seemed now to be a shadow, hiding in the night, ready to catch and kill.
Shai.
His cousin. The only one within miles of him who had shared his paranormal
ideas and fantasies. And yet the one who had helped the evil alien to his
throne above all of mankind. She was always seemingly around him, looming,
waiting for the perfect moment to strike and ruin the group's plans to begin
the saving of their race. He wondered what went on in her head, and why she had
chosen to join forces with ZIM instead of staying with him, family, to fight.
Had Shai not been allied with ZIM, he might not have been running from a
warehouse ready to explode. Then again, it probably wouldn't explode.
It
was a shock to everyone, Dib especially, when the explosives did go off.
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"Shai!
What the hell was that?! You didn't stop the filthy rebels?!" ZIM shrieked. The
girl remained silent and let him rant for a bit, his image filling the lenses
of her hi-tech shades. Then she cleared her throat for attention. ZIM quieted,
waiting for her to speak.
"That
warehouse wasn't crucial. There was no point in having a clock-racing, bomb
defusing test when one wasn't necessary." Shai waited, a little nervous at what
he would think. The Irken's eyes narrowed, then he was considering.
ZIM
grinned wickedly. "Good thinking, Shai. Perhaps the fools will become cocky
then we can destroy them all! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" The Irken cackled for
a while, and Shai was proud that he had stop referring to her as a 'stinkbeast'
and 'Earthen slug.' It took three years to fully gain his trust, and she
cherished it dearly.
Vigorously
shaking his head to clear the glee, ZIM locked eyes with Shai through the
lenses. "Return to the fortress, Shai. In light of this new tactic, we will lie
dormant while that idiot Dib and his pathetic slugs destroy more weapons
and aircraft hangars. Then, when we get them where we want them, well…I will
have the honor, Shai." Grinning, ZIM ended his transmission.
Shai
knew what the 'honor' was. It was quite clear. ZIM wanted to be the one to kill
Dib.
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But
that was just one future possibility.
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Shai
leaned back again a magenta machine in ZIM's lab. She watched the small Irken
pace back and form, considering her fate. It wasn't long after the incident in
the desert, a few hours perhaps.
"So
human," ZIM said, annunciating every syllable of the word. "You would
betray your own kind? Or was that a trick to get into my lair?"
The
girl raised her eyebrows, taking a few seconds to collect her thoughts. "To be
honest, ZIM, I really don't know why I did what I did." Shai gazed down at the
floor, her eyes narrowed, remembering the kick she dealt to her own cousin.
ZIM
sneered. "You don't know? Dib is family to you, right? Heh, you don't
know why you betrayed your own kin, stinkbeast?" He grinned evilly. "If you're
so eager to make your entire race into slaves, you can be a temporary
ally, I suppose."
A
crash suddenly was heard from upstairs. Seconds later GIR slid down the tube
from the garbage can, shed his disguise, and ran to a screen in the corner.
Flicking it on, he sat down and watched the Scary Monkey Show.
"GIR!"
ZIM yelled. "I thought I told you to watch that upstairs!!"
The
tiny robot looked from the confused Shai to the angry ZIM. "TV went to sleep!"
GIR chirped, then directed his attention to the screen and the monkey.
"Sleep?"
ZIM asked quizzically, but then realization dawned on him. "GIR, you broke the
TV?" Not waiting for a response, ZIM stormed over to the exit, and moments
later was jumping out the toilet upstairs, ready to fix the TV.
Shai
was left with GIR downstairs, and she ambled over to a strange machine to take
a look. The controls were in an alien language, probably Irken, she thought.
"That's
our disguise machine! I'm a mongoose dog!" GIR squealed, looking over his
shoulder at Shai. The credits for the Scary Monkey Show rolled on the screen,
and GIR walked over to Shai.
"Wanna
be a mongoose dog?" GIR asked, pushing Shai between the two halves that waited
for the disguise to be inputted.
Shai
turned around and bent over to look at GIR. "GIR, please move. I don't need a
disguise." The tiny robot cocked his head to the side.
GIR
stared for a moment, then banged on the controls. The pod closed around Shai,
and she looked startled. As the pod shimmered, Shai yelled at GIR.
"GIR!
Stop this thing! Ow…why does it hurt?!" Shai cried, the halves coming apart.
Shai fell to the floor, shaking violently. GIR stared at her. Shai slowly
raised her hands and then looked into a reflective monitor nearby.
Shai's
mouth opened slightly. "GIR…what did you press?" she asked, standing up slowly.
As she gazed into the monitor, seeing her own reflection, ZIM got off the
elevator and saw Shai looking at herself.
"What
the…" ZIM muttered. "Who… are you that stinkbeast girl?"
Standing
there, before ZIM and GIR was an Irken girl with shimmering blue eyes, curled
antennae, and long black eyelashes. She was dressed in Invader's garb, and even
had a backpack. At that moment, four spider's legs emerged from the pink and
gray backpack and supported the girl's weight as she was held, suspended, in
the air.
The
Irken girl turned to ZIM. "ZIM, GIR pushed me into the disguise machine and
punched some buttons…what the hell happened to me?" she asked. "Is it possible
to make an Irken disguise with that thing?"
ZIM
slowly walked over the to machine to see what controls were last input.
"This…this is impossible." ZIM stared at the screen, which Irken symbols filled. "GIR didn't activate the disguise maker, he set it to 'Remove Disguise.' So…that means…"
Shai's
Irken jaw dropped. "I'm…I'm Irken? No! I've always been human! I had a human mother
and father, my cousins, aunts, and uncles! We lived in the city…how can I be
Irken?!" she cried, raising her black-gloved hands up to look at them.
ZIM
thought for a moment. "The Tallests will surely know something about this." He
turned to the console next to him. "Computer! Establish connection with the
Irken Imperial Ship!"
"PROCESSING…PROCESSING!!"
the computer yelled. Moments later, Red and Purple appeared on the screen, and
they groaned at the sight of ZIM.
"What
is it now, ZIM? Didn't you just report in?" Red questioned, crossing his
arms. ZIM saluted, and then dropped his hand.
"Sirs,
I don't want to disturb you, but I have found an Irken Invader here on Earth,"
ZIM said.
Purple
scoffed. "Now he's hallucinating," he murmured to Red. But the Tallests both
opened their eyes wide when ZIM pulled Shai into view.
"Shai?!?"
they exclaimed in unison. Shai's expression became confused, and then her eyes
opened wide when she heard what the Tallests said next.
"ZIM,
Shai, stand where you are. We are going to teleport you here to the ship," Red
said, gesturing at a technician in front of an Irken keyboard in a corner. The
technician typed furiously and soon ZIM and Shai's forms were slowly
disappearing.
ZIM
glared at GIR. "GIR! Watch after the house. Don't let anyone in, I'll be back
soon." The robot's eyes became red and he saluted. ZIM nodded as he and the
girl disappeared.
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ZIM
and Shai appeared moments later in the Tallests command room. ZIM saluted and
Shai followed, her salute conveying confusion. The Tallests glanced at each
other and Purple nodded at Red.
"Okay.
The report we received from your SIR just arrived, so we'll explain, Shai," Red
said.