A/Note: Nope, I'm not dead! Yet.. Heh heh.. I ended up reworking this into
more of an explanation of how Gaz is doing what she's doing, so it's not
*quite* the climax just yet. Plus I had to clarify about the facility she
was using. I'm sure there's a better term for those distribution stations,
but I'm used to referring to them as transformers. Beware the babble!
Chapter Ten: Unleashed
Gaz's intense stare didn't waver from the closed-off transformer facility, taking in the metal columns and black cables that rose like an eerie piece of playground equipment behind the protective security fence. "Not quite what I had in mind. But it will work." She muttered, squeezing the wire mesh more tightly in her pale fingers.
Behind her, Zim frowned. What was the human up to? What was staring at the primitive electric power conductor going to accomplish? He had his answer as the unit began to spark. Then it spewed forth a great column of smoke as breakers were burned through too quickly for them to sever the circuits they monitored. All along the wires and cables that ran to and from the station, electricity began to dance openly. Thin sprays of power discharge began to pour down the lines as power was pulled back through them, first slowly, then much more quickly. The city's lights fluttered from the stress of the drainage.
The irken ran forward, convinced something had gone horribly wrong. "What's happening!?" he shrieked, reaching towards the girl. He shrank back with a cry of alarm as a few angry tendrils of electrical power encircled his target. As he shielded his eyes, Zim deployed his mechanical legs to carry him away from the danger and towards the safety of his ship. A rather stupid idea, he realized a few seconds before the conductive metal drew a hungry bolt of energy towards his body and into the cruiser itself. The ship exploded, flinging him forwards again and leaving him dizzy and disoriented (not to mention stinging and toasty) as the unit momentarily malfunctioned from the temporary overload. "N-No.." he growled, ignoring the pain as best he could. "NO ONE BETRAYS ZIM!" The enraged irken staggered back to his feet unsteadily, pointing a shaky finger at Dib's sister.
Gaz turned slowly to face him, bright bolts of energy spraying around her like great wings of light. "What am I doing? I'm preparing. I told you, I intend to destroy this world. It holds nothing but pain and bad memories." Zim stumbled as his eyes noticed another strange anomaly. Beneath her, Gaz's shadow seemed to grow, and even as the electricity poured into the ground, the darkness cast by her form didn't fade. Instead, it seemed to grow darker. And perhaps, more malevolent.
Gaz broke her gaze away from the startled alien, and looked up into the sky. Heavy clouds loomed overhead, blocking out the stars. "It's time. I didn't think it would be like this," she whispered softly, not feeling the tears that had begun to slip down her cheeks. "I never wanted it to be like this. But I guess a weapon has no choice about its' function." The darkness beneath the small girl began to rise, like a strange mist that sucked in the light around it.
She looked slowly back towards Zim, who gaped at her incomprehensibly. "What.. how are you doing this!?" the alien demanded, staring at her in disbelief. "I guess you could say that I'm a.. biological weapon," the girl replied with a soft, humorless laugh. "A weapon of will. I was created, I guess.. to destroy mankind." Gaz's expression hardened slightly. "I've always disliked humanity, and now I know why. I was made specifically to destroy it. And it seems appropriate enough to use man's own egocentric workings to do it." Gaz whispered, and as the lights of the city flickered one last time, the mist began to thicken as inky blackness poured out from her small form like a flood.
Dib had begun to run. When the street lights had begun to flicker, he'd known that time was short. He'd followed thunderstorms in an effort to find his sister, now he ran almost blindly down the sidewalk, following the retreating path of electrical power. The thinner lines were burning through, leaving only a few high capacity lines crackling with incredible force. As the number of functioning signs and lights lessened, he had a clearer trail to follow. "Dammit, she must be pulling all the power from the entire city.." he gasped, watching the electric lines above him shake. He'd only known cables to tremble and quake in such a manner when it was either extraordinarily windy or freezingly cold outside. And right now it was neither. The storms had passed, leaving only a heavy, burdened silence in the air.
Even as he ran, he knew that he was under-estimating the power surging through the lines above. Fine black flakes and a smell like scorching insulation filled the air. So much electricity was being drawn through those lines that it was burning the insulation completely off of the cables. There wasn't enough power to do that in the city, was there? A horrifying thought suddenly occurred to Dib. The stretching wires and filaments that crossed the town branched from the huge generators that his father had, of course, enhanced; and spread outward from their city connected to others. Other cities, other sources of power. Was it conceivable? How far could Gaz's unreal ability reach? How much energy could she gather? And what was she going to use it for?
So intent was he on the chase, and so used to the abandoned streets that he stepped off the curb directly into the path of a speeding vehicle. The screech of tires made him look up in surprise just in time to dodge aside as his father's car swerved desperately to miss him. Dib coughed and gasped, finally managing to regain control of his shaking body enough to propel it in the direction of the stopped vehicle. "DAD!"
The driver's side door flung itself open, and his father emerged, looking at least as shaken as the boy who ran towards him. "Oh Dib. Dib don't ever scare me like that again.." Professor Membrane choked, grabbing the boy aloft and hugging him fiercely. Dib nodded as his father finally released him, and pointed to the failing conductors above them as another cable broke apart from the stress. "Dad, I think Gaz is doing this.. somehow." He fearfully looked up at his father's face, unsure of what was going to happen. "Dad? We're going to save her, aren't we? We- can save her, right?"
Professor Membrane stared up at the lines. It was usually a scientist's proudest moment to see one of his creations performing above and beyond his initial expectations for it. Instead, this spectacle was terrible. What had he done to his daughter? "I don't know, son. But we're going to try." He responded finally, pulling Dib along towards the car and handing him a small console. "This is an aerial view of the city, courtesy of a weather satellite that happens to be convenient right now. Notice where the remaining power is active, there are some thin lines visible?" Dib nodded, glancing out the car window at one of the shattered street lights. "How is that possible? The lights are almost all burned out from the excessive power?" He gripped his seat as the car suddenly surged into gear. "Dib, I don't want to scare you, but the lines of light you're seeing on that screen are the remaining functional power lines themselves."
Dib paled, and looked back out the window to his right, staring up at a sparking cable as his father sped the car through the abandoned city streets before returning his attention to the screen before him. "That.. that's incredible." Professor Membrane nodded. "It's far beyond anything I ever even suspected Gaz could be capable of." He shook off the thought. "If you look carefully, you'll notice that the lines converge at a single point." Dib blinked at the display, then shook his head in understanding. "The park."
Chapter Ten: Unleashed
Gaz's intense stare didn't waver from the closed-off transformer facility, taking in the metal columns and black cables that rose like an eerie piece of playground equipment behind the protective security fence. "Not quite what I had in mind. But it will work." She muttered, squeezing the wire mesh more tightly in her pale fingers.
Behind her, Zim frowned. What was the human up to? What was staring at the primitive electric power conductor going to accomplish? He had his answer as the unit began to spark. Then it spewed forth a great column of smoke as breakers were burned through too quickly for them to sever the circuits they monitored. All along the wires and cables that ran to and from the station, electricity began to dance openly. Thin sprays of power discharge began to pour down the lines as power was pulled back through them, first slowly, then much more quickly. The city's lights fluttered from the stress of the drainage.
The irken ran forward, convinced something had gone horribly wrong. "What's happening!?" he shrieked, reaching towards the girl. He shrank back with a cry of alarm as a few angry tendrils of electrical power encircled his target. As he shielded his eyes, Zim deployed his mechanical legs to carry him away from the danger and towards the safety of his ship. A rather stupid idea, he realized a few seconds before the conductive metal drew a hungry bolt of energy towards his body and into the cruiser itself. The ship exploded, flinging him forwards again and leaving him dizzy and disoriented (not to mention stinging and toasty) as the unit momentarily malfunctioned from the temporary overload. "N-No.." he growled, ignoring the pain as best he could. "NO ONE BETRAYS ZIM!" The enraged irken staggered back to his feet unsteadily, pointing a shaky finger at Dib's sister.
Gaz turned slowly to face him, bright bolts of energy spraying around her like great wings of light. "What am I doing? I'm preparing. I told you, I intend to destroy this world. It holds nothing but pain and bad memories." Zim stumbled as his eyes noticed another strange anomaly. Beneath her, Gaz's shadow seemed to grow, and even as the electricity poured into the ground, the darkness cast by her form didn't fade. Instead, it seemed to grow darker. And perhaps, more malevolent.
Gaz broke her gaze away from the startled alien, and looked up into the sky. Heavy clouds loomed overhead, blocking out the stars. "It's time. I didn't think it would be like this," she whispered softly, not feeling the tears that had begun to slip down her cheeks. "I never wanted it to be like this. But I guess a weapon has no choice about its' function." The darkness beneath the small girl began to rise, like a strange mist that sucked in the light around it.
She looked slowly back towards Zim, who gaped at her incomprehensibly. "What.. how are you doing this!?" the alien demanded, staring at her in disbelief. "I guess you could say that I'm a.. biological weapon," the girl replied with a soft, humorless laugh. "A weapon of will. I was created, I guess.. to destroy mankind." Gaz's expression hardened slightly. "I've always disliked humanity, and now I know why. I was made specifically to destroy it. And it seems appropriate enough to use man's own egocentric workings to do it." Gaz whispered, and as the lights of the city flickered one last time, the mist began to thicken as inky blackness poured out from her small form like a flood.
Dib had begun to run. When the street lights had begun to flicker, he'd known that time was short. He'd followed thunderstorms in an effort to find his sister, now he ran almost blindly down the sidewalk, following the retreating path of electrical power. The thinner lines were burning through, leaving only a few high capacity lines crackling with incredible force. As the number of functioning signs and lights lessened, he had a clearer trail to follow. "Dammit, she must be pulling all the power from the entire city.." he gasped, watching the electric lines above him shake. He'd only known cables to tremble and quake in such a manner when it was either extraordinarily windy or freezingly cold outside. And right now it was neither. The storms had passed, leaving only a heavy, burdened silence in the air.
Even as he ran, he knew that he was under-estimating the power surging through the lines above. Fine black flakes and a smell like scorching insulation filled the air. So much electricity was being drawn through those lines that it was burning the insulation completely off of the cables. There wasn't enough power to do that in the city, was there? A horrifying thought suddenly occurred to Dib. The stretching wires and filaments that crossed the town branched from the huge generators that his father had, of course, enhanced; and spread outward from their city connected to others. Other cities, other sources of power. Was it conceivable? How far could Gaz's unreal ability reach? How much energy could she gather? And what was she going to use it for?
So intent was he on the chase, and so used to the abandoned streets that he stepped off the curb directly into the path of a speeding vehicle. The screech of tires made him look up in surprise just in time to dodge aside as his father's car swerved desperately to miss him. Dib coughed and gasped, finally managing to regain control of his shaking body enough to propel it in the direction of the stopped vehicle. "DAD!"
The driver's side door flung itself open, and his father emerged, looking at least as shaken as the boy who ran towards him. "Oh Dib. Dib don't ever scare me like that again.." Professor Membrane choked, grabbing the boy aloft and hugging him fiercely. Dib nodded as his father finally released him, and pointed to the failing conductors above them as another cable broke apart from the stress. "Dad, I think Gaz is doing this.. somehow." He fearfully looked up at his father's face, unsure of what was going to happen. "Dad? We're going to save her, aren't we? We- can save her, right?"
Professor Membrane stared up at the lines. It was usually a scientist's proudest moment to see one of his creations performing above and beyond his initial expectations for it. Instead, this spectacle was terrible. What had he done to his daughter? "I don't know, son. But we're going to try." He responded finally, pulling Dib along towards the car and handing him a small console. "This is an aerial view of the city, courtesy of a weather satellite that happens to be convenient right now. Notice where the remaining power is active, there are some thin lines visible?" Dib nodded, glancing out the car window at one of the shattered street lights. "How is that possible? The lights are almost all burned out from the excessive power?" He gripped his seat as the car suddenly surged into gear. "Dib, I don't want to scare you, but the lines of light you're seeing on that screen are the remaining functional power lines themselves."
Dib paled, and looked back out the window to his right, staring up at a sparking cable as his father sped the car through the abandoned city streets before returning his attention to the screen before him. "That.. that's incredible." Professor Membrane nodded. "It's far beyond anything I ever even suspected Gaz could be capable of." He shook off the thought. "If you look carefully, you'll notice that the lines converge at a single point." Dib blinked at the display, then shook his head in understanding. "The park."