A/Note: Sorry to anyone who's annoyed that this chapter took so long. I've
been waging war with the dandelions in my yard and doing stuff. As you can
probably imagine, it's been a losing battle. Anyway, on to the next
chapter!
Chapter Five
Gaz sat on a crate in the alley behind Bloaty's. She'd run here with every intention of going in, of drowning her sorrows and confusion in scaldingly hot marinara sauce and gooey cheese. But then she'd stopped, just short of the doors that stood beckoning her with the promise of cheap mock-Italian food. She'd stepped to the side and stared in through the rain- streaked window, watching the other children inside.
The other, normal children. She hated them.
She'd stalked back here to sulk, where she still remained. What was she going to do? Where would she go? She raised her eyes as a faint scuffling sound caught her attention. She tensed, ready to throw something at any foolish would-be attacker. The sound came again, and she traced it to its source; the trash can directly across from her. The damp papers in the top of the can shivered and began to part. Certain that some deranged hobo was about to jump her, Gaz grabbed an empty pizza box, the only convenient excuse for a weapon.
"Meew?" A pair of ears, a set of whiskers, and finally a bright blue set of eyes emerged. Gaz set the box down and gave a self-conscious laugh as she walked to the can and reached for the tiny wet ball of gray fur. "You're alone too, huh?" she whispered. The kitten shivered and did its best to purr despite the cold and wet. "Poor thing. At least you know what you are. I'm not so sure anymore." The kitten squirmed around, situating itself more comfortably so that it could begin to lick the excess water from its fur.
Gaz petted the damp animal gently and sat it down on the crate before joining it on the damp box. "I mean… okay… so I can do kinda strange stuff. I always kinda… thought I was imagining stuff like that when I noticed it. I mean, people don't do stuff like this. I… Well… I don't know what to do." She finished, her voice trailing off to a soft whisper. She began to feel a little angry. "It's not fair. Why should I have to deal with this? Why did Dad… and M-mom…?" A few hot furious tears squeezed from her eyes and her small pale hands clenched into tight fists.
The kitten stopped cleaning its fur and looked up sharply at the bedraggled girl. Gaz didn't notice the change in the cat's demeanor until it hissed sharply at her and scurried away. But she was beyond caring about the animal at the moment. She was startled out of her moment of introspection with the clatter of toppling garbage cans. As she watched numbly, the containers and boxes littering the alley shuddered and were thrust aside as if some enormous angry creature was stalking around her, striking out at each convenient target.
"Is… this me? Am I doing this!?" Gaz stared around her, wide-eyed, as the invisible creature systematically destroyed the alley. She backed away nervously as the path of destruction began to circle back towards her. She turned and ran blindly. Down the street, past the stores, through the driving rain and the howling wind. She imagined that the monster, the cyclone… whatever it was that she could feel behind her was gaining. Or was she imagining it? She dared not look back to see. On and on she fled, with no intention of stopping.
But stop she did, when she collided with something tall and dark that gave a loud, almost feminine yelp of surprise. In her shock at the encounter, Gaz forgot about the thing behind her, and it faded out of existence for the time being.
Gaz stared up at what, for a ridiculous three seconds of eternity, she could have sworn was an older, taller version of her brother. Dib… what did he think of her now?
"AGH! Back, evil leprechaun!"
On second thought… even Dib wasn't that stupid. The strange man grabbed her arm. "Wait! On second thought, you have to grant me three wishes and the keys of universal power!" Gaz slapped his hand away. "Who, or maybe I should say WHAT the heck are you supposed to be?" The tall man grinned. "I'm an… investigator. A special agent, you might say. You can call me… Bill." He glanced warily to the left and right as if afraid someone might have overheard him. Gaz glared at him. "You're stupid. I'm out of here."
"You're not going anywhere! Give me the keys!" Bill cried, grabbing the girl and nearly shaking her in his excitement. "You won't cooperate? Then I'll have no choice but to sell you to some laboratory! They'll be delighted to have REAL proof of your existence!"
Frightened beyond reason by the strange, possibly crazy "investigator", Gaz gained her freedom with a quick kick to his shin. The anger came more quickly this time. It surged up, out, and around like a welcome warm shroud of protection. "Leave. Me. Alone." Gaz whispered, her voice a coarse, menacing growl. The man who had called himself Bill straightened, and glared at her. "So you're not a leprechaun after all…" he mused, his glare turning thoughtful. "Perhaps a demon…?"
Gaz shrank back slightly under the accusation. "I'm just a little girl!" she insisted, backing away from him fearfully. The waves of comforting anger splashed and surged around her, reassuringly. "I'm not a monster! I'm not! I'm just a little girl!" Abruptly Bill was seized by something that felt like a stronger, more malevolent extension of her own arm. She looked down just to be sure. Her own arms were at her sides, her hands clutching nervously at her black dress. She looked back up in time to see that Bill had been raised above her head. He hung there, kicking out futilely at the blank nothingness that held him. Finally he was thrown a few yards away with a satisfying surge of power.
Gaz felt the smile flit fitfully across her face at the sight, then fade as she realized that it had been there. What was happening to her? The warm anger that had been so reassuring seconds before was suddenly too hot. Uncomfortable. Frightening, even. She stayed only long enough to see that the strange man was still moving, still alive, then she turned and began to run again. A series a thunderous, low-frequency shudders in the air behind her announced all too readily that the… whatever it was… was definitely still following her.
"Out of my way, Zim!" Dib shouted, attempting to shove the alien aside. But Zim pushed back with strength that startled his human opponent. "What's the hurry, *Dib*? Did you lose something?" This time it was Dib who was the surprising one, grabbing the irken's collar. "What do you mean by that? Where's my sister!?" Zim recovered sufficiently to slap the boy's hands away. "I have no interest in where your smelly little sibling is, Dib. What would I want with her, anyway?"
There was something about the way that Dib started to respond, and then paled and spun away, looking as if he had just shut himself up in a hurry, that caught his rival's attention. "You believe that I *would* be interested? How… interesting." Dib's face shot back up into view, his eyes appearing even larger than usual. "Leave her alone, Zim! Leave her alone!" The boy quieted then, and looked thoughtful. "You don't know what you'd be dealing with. I'm not even sure that I do."
Zim's phony violet-blue irised eyes narrowed. "You speak in foolish riddles." Dib shrugged. "I've got to find her. She… needs help." He looked so lost suddenly. It was a sobering reminder of how young and alone the sole defender of the Earth really was. Dib's facial expression suddenly hardened. "I'm warning you now. You try anything Zim… I'll… I'll kill you."
Zim blinked as Dib turned and ran back outside, almost as if he was pursuing the storm that had begun to move away from the pizza restaurant. A ridiculous notion. But then, so much that had happened today was unexpected. The storm itself, ending up in this filthy excuse for a food producing center, and then there was the whole conversation with the Dib- monkey. Dib? Threaten to kill him? That was new. Threaten to expose him? Sure. Promise to autopsy him? Certainly. But declare an intention to be the cause of his demise? That wasn't typical. He usually preserved that "honor" for some high-ranking scientist or laboratory.
Zim scratched his chin as he considered it all. Unnoticed, GIR trotted up to his master to offer him a slice of cherry tart dessert pizza. The irken stood there, perfectly still. For a moment, GIR fancied that his master had thought so hard that his brain had turned to pencil shavings. He gave a happy cheer when Zim muttered to himself and began to walk towards the door. "Master's brain still works!" he gleefully informed a very confused two year old human child as he skipped past.
"GIR." GIR jumped in front of his master, and saluted, eyes flashing red under the hood of his puppy suit. "The Dib human is behaving oddly. Abnormally aggressively, even." "oOOOooooOoo…" GIR cooed appreciatively. "Yes," Zim agreed with the diminutive robot's assessment. "I believe that it could be vitally important to our mission to find out why. We must observe him, GIR. He is attempting to locate his… sister. For some reason, he thinks that we would attempt to possess her or something she has." GIR squealed and leapt upward to land on his master's shoulder.
"We gonna find th' Gazzy-girl?" Zim nodded curtly. "We'll find Gaz, figure out what it is that is causing her brother's odd behavior. And then see if we can use it to our advantage. He was afraid, GIR. Truly afraid for the first time in our acquaintance. I MUST KNOW WHYYYYYYY!" A few of the restaurant's patrons turned around just in time to see the poorly-disguised alien and his pet robot steal five umbrellas from the doorway stand and rush out into the fading storm.
Chapter Five
Gaz sat on a crate in the alley behind Bloaty's. She'd run here with every intention of going in, of drowning her sorrows and confusion in scaldingly hot marinara sauce and gooey cheese. But then she'd stopped, just short of the doors that stood beckoning her with the promise of cheap mock-Italian food. She'd stepped to the side and stared in through the rain- streaked window, watching the other children inside.
The other, normal children. She hated them.
She'd stalked back here to sulk, where she still remained. What was she going to do? Where would she go? She raised her eyes as a faint scuffling sound caught her attention. She tensed, ready to throw something at any foolish would-be attacker. The sound came again, and she traced it to its source; the trash can directly across from her. The damp papers in the top of the can shivered and began to part. Certain that some deranged hobo was about to jump her, Gaz grabbed an empty pizza box, the only convenient excuse for a weapon.
"Meew?" A pair of ears, a set of whiskers, and finally a bright blue set of eyes emerged. Gaz set the box down and gave a self-conscious laugh as she walked to the can and reached for the tiny wet ball of gray fur. "You're alone too, huh?" she whispered. The kitten shivered and did its best to purr despite the cold and wet. "Poor thing. At least you know what you are. I'm not so sure anymore." The kitten squirmed around, situating itself more comfortably so that it could begin to lick the excess water from its fur.
Gaz petted the damp animal gently and sat it down on the crate before joining it on the damp box. "I mean… okay… so I can do kinda strange stuff. I always kinda… thought I was imagining stuff like that when I noticed it. I mean, people don't do stuff like this. I… Well… I don't know what to do." She finished, her voice trailing off to a soft whisper. She began to feel a little angry. "It's not fair. Why should I have to deal with this? Why did Dad… and M-mom…?" A few hot furious tears squeezed from her eyes and her small pale hands clenched into tight fists.
The kitten stopped cleaning its fur and looked up sharply at the bedraggled girl. Gaz didn't notice the change in the cat's demeanor until it hissed sharply at her and scurried away. But she was beyond caring about the animal at the moment. She was startled out of her moment of introspection with the clatter of toppling garbage cans. As she watched numbly, the containers and boxes littering the alley shuddered and were thrust aside as if some enormous angry creature was stalking around her, striking out at each convenient target.
"Is… this me? Am I doing this!?" Gaz stared around her, wide-eyed, as the invisible creature systematically destroyed the alley. She backed away nervously as the path of destruction began to circle back towards her. She turned and ran blindly. Down the street, past the stores, through the driving rain and the howling wind. She imagined that the monster, the cyclone… whatever it was that she could feel behind her was gaining. Or was she imagining it? She dared not look back to see. On and on she fled, with no intention of stopping.
But stop she did, when she collided with something tall and dark that gave a loud, almost feminine yelp of surprise. In her shock at the encounter, Gaz forgot about the thing behind her, and it faded out of existence for the time being.
Gaz stared up at what, for a ridiculous three seconds of eternity, she could have sworn was an older, taller version of her brother. Dib… what did he think of her now?
"AGH! Back, evil leprechaun!"
On second thought… even Dib wasn't that stupid. The strange man grabbed her arm. "Wait! On second thought, you have to grant me three wishes and the keys of universal power!" Gaz slapped his hand away. "Who, or maybe I should say WHAT the heck are you supposed to be?" The tall man grinned. "I'm an… investigator. A special agent, you might say. You can call me… Bill." He glanced warily to the left and right as if afraid someone might have overheard him. Gaz glared at him. "You're stupid. I'm out of here."
"You're not going anywhere! Give me the keys!" Bill cried, grabbing the girl and nearly shaking her in his excitement. "You won't cooperate? Then I'll have no choice but to sell you to some laboratory! They'll be delighted to have REAL proof of your existence!"
Frightened beyond reason by the strange, possibly crazy "investigator", Gaz gained her freedom with a quick kick to his shin. The anger came more quickly this time. It surged up, out, and around like a welcome warm shroud of protection. "Leave. Me. Alone." Gaz whispered, her voice a coarse, menacing growl. The man who had called himself Bill straightened, and glared at her. "So you're not a leprechaun after all…" he mused, his glare turning thoughtful. "Perhaps a demon…?"
Gaz shrank back slightly under the accusation. "I'm just a little girl!" she insisted, backing away from him fearfully. The waves of comforting anger splashed and surged around her, reassuringly. "I'm not a monster! I'm not! I'm just a little girl!" Abruptly Bill was seized by something that felt like a stronger, more malevolent extension of her own arm. She looked down just to be sure. Her own arms were at her sides, her hands clutching nervously at her black dress. She looked back up in time to see that Bill had been raised above her head. He hung there, kicking out futilely at the blank nothingness that held him. Finally he was thrown a few yards away with a satisfying surge of power.
Gaz felt the smile flit fitfully across her face at the sight, then fade as she realized that it had been there. What was happening to her? The warm anger that had been so reassuring seconds before was suddenly too hot. Uncomfortable. Frightening, even. She stayed only long enough to see that the strange man was still moving, still alive, then she turned and began to run again. A series a thunderous, low-frequency shudders in the air behind her announced all too readily that the… whatever it was… was definitely still following her.
"Out of my way, Zim!" Dib shouted, attempting to shove the alien aside. But Zim pushed back with strength that startled his human opponent. "What's the hurry, *Dib*? Did you lose something?" This time it was Dib who was the surprising one, grabbing the irken's collar. "What do you mean by that? Where's my sister!?" Zim recovered sufficiently to slap the boy's hands away. "I have no interest in where your smelly little sibling is, Dib. What would I want with her, anyway?"
There was something about the way that Dib started to respond, and then paled and spun away, looking as if he had just shut himself up in a hurry, that caught his rival's attention. "You believe that I *would* be interested? How… interesting." Dib's face shot back up into view, his eyes appearing even larger than usual. "Leave her alone, Zim! Leave her alone!" The boy quieted then, and looked thoughtful. "You don't know what you'd be dealing with. I'm not even sure that I do."
Zim's phony violet-blue irised eyes narrowed. "You speak in foolish riddles." Dib shrugged. "I've got to find her. She… needs help." He looked so lost suddenly. It was a sobering reminder of how young and alone the sole defender of the Earth really was. Dib's facial expression suddenly hardened. "I'm warning you now. You try anything Zim… I'll… I'll kill you."
Zim blinked as Dib turned and ran back outside, almost as if he was pursuing the storm that had begun to move away from the pizza restaurant. A ridiculous notion. But then, so much that had happened today was unexpected. The storm itself, ending up in this filthy excuse for a food producing center, and then there was the whole conversation with the Dib- monkey. Dib? Threaten to kill him? That was new. Threaten to expose him? Sure. Promise to autopsy him? Certainly. But declare an intention to be the cause of his demise? That wasn't typical. He usually preserved that "honor" for some high-ranking scientist or laboratory.
Zim scratched his chin as he considered it all. Unnoticed, GIR trotted up to his master to offer him a slice of cherry tart dessert pizza. The irken stood there, perfectly still. For a moment, GIR fancied that his master had thought so hard that his brain had turned to pencil shavings. He gave a happy cheer when Zim muttered to himself and began to walk towards the door. "Master's brain still works!" he gleefully informed a very confused two year old human child as he skipped past.
"GIR." GIR jumped in front of his master, and saluted, eyes flashing red under the hood of his puppy suit. "The Dib human is behaving oddly. Abnormally aggressively, even." "oOOOooooOoo…" GIR cooed appreciatively. "Yes," Zim agreed with the diminutive robot's assessment. "I believe that it could be vitally important to our mission to find out why. We must observe him, GIR. He is attempting to locate his… sister. For some reason, he thinks that we would attempt to possess her or something she has." GIR squealed and leapt upward to land on his master's shoulder.
"We gonna find th' Gazzy-girl?" Zim nodded curtly. "We'll find Gaz, figure out what it is that is causing her brother's odd behavior. And then see if we can use it to our advantage. He was afraid, GIR. Truly afraid for the first time in our acquaintance. I MUST KNOW WHYYYYYYY!" A few of the restaurant's patrons turned around just in time to see the poorly-disguised alien and his pet robot steal five umbrellas from the doorway stand and rush out into the fading storm.