A/N: Once again I've done some revising to this chapter to make it more interesting and…uh…less bad.
The Obscurity in Us All
Part Five: Way to Blow Your Cover!
Monday crept up on the candy stuffed students a lot sooner than any of them would've liked. Everyone had their own reason for not wanting to return to skool. Several kids were suffering from a massive sugar overdose, as well as one chocolate covered robot. Dib was still sulking over the loss of physical evidence about the two actual freaks of nature he'd encountered that Halloween. Gaz couldn't have cared less, skool just meant less Game Slave time and having to deal with her idiotic classmates for another week. Karcy was nervous about enrolling in a new skool and the ever present fear of losing control of her transformation. The only one actually looking forward to skool that day was…well…Zim!
Down in the lab sector of Zim's base…
"MWUHAHAHA!!!" Zim cackled evilly as he watched the tape of Gaz's transformation over again. "This is the ULTIMATE revenge against the DIB creature! Having his little sister turned into an Irken like me! MWUHAHAHA-ACK-!"
GIR bounded happily into the room as Zim choked mid-laugh. "I'm a piñata!" he announced before knocking himself in the head with a bat.
"Yes, so you are." Zim nodded. His antennas perked. "Wait…where did you get that thing?"
GIR paused a moment, blinked, then shrugged.
Sighing Zim turned back to his monitors and allowed GIR to smack himself senseless with the wooden apparatus. Gaz is indeed a formidable opponent, he thought while tapping his chin, The only question is: how to get her to side with me? She already owes me—ZIM—her very life. But will that be enough? Females on this planet are indeed some of the most stubborn creatures in the universe.
As Zim puzzled over how to 'convince' Gaz to help him the computer's monitors began blinking red and a printout spewed forth from one of the device's many slots straight into his lap.
"What's this?!" Zim exclaimed, quickly scanning over the information.
"Test results from the analysis you ordered on the Earth girl's blood sample."
"Huh?"
The computer sighed."It was retrieved from the Voot Cruiser's retractor beam. You order me to separate the particles and determine the nature of the mutation the Orcobion's weapon induced on the human subject."
To the computer's relief Zim went back to skimming the results. A few moments passed where only the faint clanging noise of the bat conking GIR in the head could be heard. Then an evil grin spread over Zim's previously perplexed features. Interesting…
Later that day at skool…
It just doesn't add up. Dib contemplated the weekend's events while Ms. Bitters droned on about the universe imploding on itself (she was up to giving that lecture twice a week now). Why would Gaz be so protective of a werewolf? She may be kinda spooky (okay so that's an understatement) but she's never cared about the supernatural before. And she said they're friends? Gaz doesn't have any friends—except that Game Slave. Hm…
"In conclusion children," Ms. Bitters continued, "we're all just doomed. Doomed…doomed…doomed…"
Meanwhile Zim was sitting across the room concentrating on making his pencil hover in the air in front of him (on the brim of his nonexistent nose). If he shifted it just right he could block out the head of his hideous teacher. This 'skool' was the worst part of his deceptive normal human larva routine. Really, the things he had to do to gather information on this pathetic mud ball were just—grr—horrible!
His thoughts idly wandered until the Halloween fiasco came to mind. Then the events of that morning replayed, the printout had proven most informative. Muffled cackles escaped the little green alien as he mused over how deliciously perfect everything had worked to his advantage.
Now the Gaz human owes me a favor for saving her life. And I no doubt saved the lives of her pathetic human…dog…thing and even (urrgh!) her annoying Dib brother! That's what? THREE FAVORS that she now owes to me—ZIM—the greatest Irken ever to soar the skies!
"MWUHAHAHAHAHAHA-" gasp for breath, "-HAHAHAHA!!!"
"…doomed…doomed…doomed…"
"Hey Zim," the purple-headed girl behind him poked his head, "you're doing that weird thing where you laugh out loud again."
Readjusting his black wig, and sending a dark glare her way, he turned back around and pretended to pay attention to the monotonous lecture of impending doom.
Dib watched from his desk with his usual suspicious stare. "Whatever you're up to Zim," he whispered, "it won't work."
RING!
A collective "YAY!" resounded throughout the classroom as students scrambled over desks and leapt out windows relieved to be momentarily freed from the endless boredom of skool. Lunchtime meant a full forty-five minutes of textbook free, food-slinging fun.
Just down the hall another classroom door was flung open as squealing kids came pouring out. Casually following behind the herd were Gaz and Karcy.
"Um…our teacher has a serious screw loose if he's that happy working in such an underpaid profession." Karcy muttered uneasily.
"Yeah, he's a real optimistic fruit cake." Gaz agreed. "You'll get used to it."
"If you say so," Karcy replied doubtfully then paused and pointed ahead, "Hey, isn't that Zim and your brother?"
Glancing down the hall Gaz groaned in frustration, "Unfortunately yes, I usually eat lunch with my dumb brother."
The wolf girl tilted her head sideways in confusion. "What about Zim?"
"He eats toward the back of the cafeteria with all the other rejects and freaks."
A troubled look crossed Karcy's features. She wasn't fond of Zim, especially not after the unnecessary blackmail, but she did feel a little guilty accepting special treatment while a fellow freak was outcast. "Then…maybe that's where I should sit?"
Raising an eyebrow and slightly opening an eye the Goth girl ventured, "Um…well, I kinda figured you'd be sitting with us."
"But by your skool's social class standards I'm a freak. Like Zim. We're both of the paranormal variety, therefore we fall into the same reject bracket. So we should sit in the same designated area of the lunchroom."
There are times when I really hate logic. Karcy realized.
"Huh?" Gaz was beginning to consider using a crazy card on her new friend.
Groaning she put it into laymen's terms. "Freaks of a feather eat lunch together."
They had reached the cafeteria doors by then. Gaz shook in horror of having to do something nice while Karcy went off toward the back corner of the room.
"Urgh…KARCY WAIT!"
A few heads turned at Gaz's outburst but after getting a threatening shake of her fist the students quickly resumed their prior activities.
"What?" the disguised werewolf spun around. "Do I have to draw you a diagram or something? I belong back there."
Gaz shuddered as an overly cheerful child sitting at the back table stood up and frantically waved his hands about, "Hi! Wanna come sit with us? There's plenty of room! We could be bestest best friends forever!!"
This is one of those decisions I'm gonna hate myself for later. Karcy winced.
"Just hold it okay?!" Gaz snapped. "By your logic I belong back there too."
"How do you figure?" the wolf girl inquired.
"Well I'm not entirely normal either. In fact, I wasn't exactly an average kid before last Halloween." Gaz argued.
"But-"
Gaz shook her head, "Freaks of a feather eat lunch together."
Stupid words, coming back to bite me in the a-
"Gaz!"
The magenta haired Goth grumbled as her brother called to her from their usual table…one that wasn't very far from the freaks and rejects section. Grabbing Karcy's hand she pulled her friend along. "C'mon, you're sitting with us. We'll make a new clique, the cooler freaks and rejects…or something."
Shrugging Karcy sat across from Gaz (next to Dib). "Sounds like a plan to me."
"What's SHE doing here?!" Dib regarded Karcy with a mixture of surprise and distrust.
"She's my friend Dib," Gaz said in a low, warning tone. "Either she sits with us at lunch from now on—or I rearrange your ugly face in front of the whole skool!"
Dib gulped, "Okay then, fine."
What a pushover. Karcy grinned, Pretty cute pouter though…
"It'll give me a chance to observe her integration into society anyway." he muttered in an attempt to save some of his pride at being powerless to stand up to his little sister.
In the back of the lunchroom Zim sat alone at the table next to the geeks, rejects, and um…uncool kids poking warily at his gross looking food.
"I hate Baloney Surprise Day." he grumbled.
Gaz was able to see the disgusted Irken over Karcy's shoulder. Remembering what she'd said earlier about being socially outcast and forced to sit amongst freaks—or in Zim's case, completely alone—she grunted and made her way over to him.
A dark shadow fell over the preoccupied alien causing him to look up from his questionably prepared meal. Huh? The Gaz Creature?! What does she want?
"What do you want stink beast?" Zim demanded.
Gaz gnashed her teeth together in abhorrence for what she was about to do. "Get up Zim. I want you to come eat at our table from now on."
It wasn't a question, it was an order. "I don't take orders from filthy human worm babies!" Zim declared. Stopping short in his rant his expression switched to one of confusion, "Why are you asking me to eat with you and the Dib beast anyway?"
"Hmph," looking away and crossing her arms Gaz reluctantly answered, "it's not a big deal! You did save my life and all last weekend. I'm just returning the favor."
"An offer to dine on skool manufacture garbage with you hardly compares to my saving you from certain doom little Gaz." Zim stated slyly.
"Well it's a start isn't it?!" she fumed.
The smug smirk never left Zim's face.
"Look, either you wanna come eat with us or you don't! Either way I really don't care!" Gaz's amber eyes were open and beaming with rage. How dare Zim interpret her extremely out-of-character gesture as a pathetic attempt to repay her stupid debt to him.
"What is she doing?" Dib questioned, turning in his seat to stare at the odd scene behind their table.
"Maybe she's trying to integrate the alien kid into a social class?" Karcy gave a knowing grin before chugging down her second mini carton of milk.
"She's what?" Dib was getting more confused by the minute. "What the heck are you talking about?! Gaz doesn't help out anyone unless there's something in it for her. Yeah, you'll see," he turned back around with an air of confidence, "she's probably just threatening Zim for his lunch money or something."
"He already bought his lunch Dib," Karcy chuckled.
"Hn, I'm back." Gaz announced, taking her seat across from the wolf girl.
Before Dib could ask her what on Earth she was doing talking to Zim said alien appeared and plopped his lunch tray down across from his.
Dib's eyes enlarged tenfold. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"What does it look like I'm doing, pathetic little Earth monkey?" Zim replied cockily, "I'm sitting down to enjoy a nice normal meal with my disgustingly human friends."
Dib's left eye started to twitch.
"I wouldn't say friends." Gaz objected.
"Gaz…" Karcy spoke up.
Grunting Gaz stabbed her gravy coated slab of meat with a fork, "Fine Zim, we'll be your…FRIENDS."
"Excellent," Zim's tone was laced with malice as he slumped forward in an 'evil pose'.
Dib held a finger out toward his otherworldly adversary, his mouth agape, with BOTH eyes now twitching.
"I don't think that includes Dib." Karcy said, half amused and half weirded out.
"Who cares?" Gaz muttered, continuously stabbing the meat she had no intention of eating.
Once the vicious slaughtering of the already dead meat had died down a bit Zim attempted to lure Gaz into conversation. "So Gaz, how are you enjoying being part Irken now?"
Before she could answer Dib slammed his fist down on the table, "How do you think she feels Zim?! She hates it! Who in their right mind would wanna be part of your crummy alien race anyway?!"
The outburst earned him a scowl from his alien foe. "Better watch your tongue Dib. One day soon you'll be working under the rule of the mighty Irken race! You pathetic Earth stinks make me sick! Just what's so great about humanity anyway?!"
Smirking Dib replied, "Well for one thing, we don't all have panic attacks every time it rains."
Gaz snickered at this whereas Karcy looked baffled.
"Wait…Irkens are susceptible to water?"
"That's right," Dib grinned, "one little water balloon can make Zim here squirm like an ant covered in insecticide."
Zim clenched the edge of the table in an attempt to repress his fury toward Dib for openly discussing his embarrassing weakness. Oh how he'd like to fry the human's insides right that very instant…but he couldn't risk causing a scene and quite likely blowing his cover. "You're just jealous because my technology is years beyond anything your race will ever create!"
"Oh yeah," Dib chuckled, "a bunch of attack lawn gnomes with lasers for eyes, that's real scary stuff your people have invented Zim."
Gaz snickered again, her face still glued to the screen of her Game Slave.
Zim growled looking over at her, things weren't going according to plan at all. "So then Gaz, you agree with your filthy brother? Being Irken disgusts you does it?! Hm? HM?!"
Hitting the pause button on her handheld video game the black clad girl mused over the question for a while before shrugging, muttering a quick "Eh", and then hitting start again.
"How very articulate of you Gaz," Karcy sighed.
"Oh my gosh, would you look back there!" an annoyingly high pitched voice shrieked from the head of the cafeteria. "Ew, they're all sitting together now! It's like some sort of giant freak fest!"
The four students glared at the preppy blonde grimacing at them from the 'popular table'.
"Hey! They BEGGED me to sit here!" Zim shouted, shaking an 'iron fist' at the girl. "Now shove some vile meat into your filthy wormhole before I lose my patience with you!"
"Huh?" the blonde blinked.
The dark haired girl sitting beside her translated, "I think he just told you to 'shut up'."
"What?! He can't do that!" she turned back to the green kid. "Do you even know who I am?!"
"No!" Zim exclaimed. "And I don't care!"
"Zim! Sit down!" Dib hissed. "She's the most popular girl in skool and she can make our already miserable lives ten times worse!"
His right eye twitching Zim turned on his nemesis, "Do you honestly expect me—ZIM—to sit here and be insulted by a measly human?! Have you the BRAIN WORMS?!"
"Yeah Dib," Gaz grinned after saving her stats, "besides, seeing Zim tell that prissy airhead off is pretty funny."
The 'airhead' stormed over to the table causing the whole cafeteria's attention to turn their way. She poked Gaz on the shoulder then placed on her hands on her hips demanding, "What did you call me freak?!"
Zim, Karcy, and Dib froze. Their gaze shifted steadily from Gaz to the popular girl and back again. Gasps echoed throughout the lunchroom as the Membrane girl turned off her Game Slave and stood up to face the slightly taller blonde.
"I called you aprissy airhead." Gaz repeated, venom dripping from her voice.
The blonde clenched her fists, "Oh really? Well you're just an ugly little freak with no friends and no life!"
Zim looked confused, "Are you blind human? She's clearly alive."
"And she DOES have friends." Karcy added.
Dib raised an eyebrow at her. Wow, the werewolf's really standing up for Gaz. Maybe they are friends?
"There now, you see, be gone horrible Earth child! Back to your stupid 'airhead' table!" Zim commanded.
"Hmph," the blonde turned as if to leave, Gaz was about to sit back down when suddenly the 'airhead' spun around holding an opened bottle of flavored water which she promptly squirted all over the stunned Goth.
The cafeteria fell so quiet that one could hear a pin drop without having to strain their ears in the least. The silence was soon broken by bursts of laughter from the amused blonde. Back at the front of the room the preps at her table started laughing too. Before long the entire lunchroom was in hysterics, all laughter aimed at a very soaked, very peeved Gaz Membrane.
Karcy looked horrified, Dib seemed extremely uneasy, and Zim backed away a few steps to distance himself from the dripping wet maniac. Gaz locked eyes with the popular girl across from her, giving her a look that loudly proclaimed "I will rain unfathomable doom upon your wretched heart!"
The look caused the prep to snap her mouth shut and flinch as Gaz snatched her pink dress by the collar and clenched her free hand into a tight fist. "I will DESTROY you!"
Zim smirked, This should be fun to watch. His wicked smile faded fast when he caught a glimpse of the steam rising off of Gaz's neck and hands. A few spiraling streams emerged from her hair too, and then others appeared seeping through her clothes. Uh-oh…
Before Gaz's fist could connect with the prissy elementary skooler's jaw a wave of sudden unbearably painful burning sensations swept over her entire body. Her amber eyes widened then flashed purple (irises, whites,and pupils!). This went unnoticed by everyone except those at her table—plus the freaked out blonde girl. Grinding her teeth Gaz shoved the loudmouthed prep away and made a staggered run for the emergency exit. This burning! It was too much! She wanted to scream, to writhe in uncontrollable agony! But why?
Once outside she darted behind a dumpster near the cellar doors which supposedly led to the underground classrooms. W-What the heck is going on?! Why's my skin freaking out like this?! It's just a little flavored water!Realization dawned on her as her pale peach skin faded into a light shade of green. Two lightning shaped antennas sprouted from her hair and her fingertips narrowed into pointed claws. She couldn't see it but she knew her eyes had turned purple too. Growling out in frustration she put the pieces together, Noo!!! That airhead's water stunt made me lose control of my transformation! I'm stuck as an Irken now! And my skin is BURNING from the stupid water!
Back inside the cafeteria the blonde stumbled to her feet to meet with the glares of Karcy and Dib. Not that she cared what those losers thought of her but the shadow that crawled along the floor, stopped just in front of her, sprouted upwards and wove into the form of the dreaded Ms. Bitters made her quiver in horror.
Hissing like a viper Ms. Bitters zoomed in on her prey. No one picked fights in the lunchroom while she was on duty!
Dib and Karcy exchanged satisfied smiles. Ms. Bitters would handle the prep.
"We'd better find Gaz," Karcy said worriedly.
"Hey," Dib skimmed the lunchroom for the fourth member of their table, "where's Zim?!"
Outside Gaz had pulled her knees up to her chest and sat leaning against the side of the chained cellar doors. This day had been awful. Why'd she ever invite Zim to sit at her table anyway? This whole mess would've never been started if the four 'freaks' hadn't been eating lunch together. Then again…
Why should I care what that bimbo thinks? I don't! And I don't care what the rest of those losers think either. Whereas most kids her age would've been bawling by now Gaz was seething with pent up rage. She really needed something to destroy right now. Something (or someone) she could unleash her terrifying doom upon.
"Hn, Gaz Human…are you out here?" Zim tried to sound as indifferent as possible. The recent events in the lunchroom had thrown off his plans. He'd meant to casually mention his findings to Gaz, how was he to know that bigmouthed human girl would drench her with water before he had a chance?
"Go away Zim," Gaz was glaring daggers at a beetle as it mindlessly attempted to crawl up the side of the dumpster across from her.
Frowning Zim folded his arms over his chest, he was not going to be ignored by a filthy pouting meat puppet!
"Pitiful human! You cannot order Zim around! It is I who shall be making the orders to you!"
Growling Gaz turned her death glare on the disguised alien. Zim felt an icy shiver run down his spine causing him to cringe involuntarily. Forcing himself to stand up straight again he marched over to the Goth girl and grabbed her upper arm.
"Let me go Zim." Gaz warned in her frighteningly low and ominous tone. "This is your ONLY warning."
Squinting down at the defiant Earthling he replied, "Your threats don't scare me little Gaz. Either you come with me back to my base now or you'll never be able to walk around as your stinking human self again."
That actually peaked her interest. "What do you know about my transformation?"
The alien laughed haughtily and explained, "With the aid of advanced Irken technology and my amazingly brilliant mind I have managed to gather boundless information on your new hybrid form…including your weaknesses and how to get around them."
Standing up she yanked her arm free of his grasp. "And just how are we supposed to get out of here without someone seeing me this way?"
In lieu of a reply Zim grabbed a communicator that sprouted from his PAK. "GIR! Send the Voot Cruiser to the back of the Skool immediately!"
A cheery "OKEY DOKEY!" replied and seconds later the small spaceship descended from overhead nearly squashing the two life forms below.
"Get in," Zim ordered once he was at the ship's controls.
With slight hesitation Gaz shrugged and climbed aboard. Eh, how much trouble can stupid Zim get me into anyway?
When Karcy and Dib raced outside they were already too late to stop Zim's latest plan. The Voot Cruiser ascended up over the Skool and zoomed off in the direction of his base.
"Why's he taking Gaz?" Karcy asked.
"I don't know," Dib answered dramatically, eyes narrowed behind the frames of his bottle cap glasses, "But someone's got to stop him before it's too late!"
To be continued…