Family night always seemed to fall on the most inconvenient nights in Dib's house. It was almost always the night he needed to spy on Zim or the night he needed to piece his footage together for his third video to Mysterious Mysteries that week. On this particular night though, Dib was simply exhausted from the day's events.

He was awakened by the threatening pounding against his door. It was such a hard beating that his jar of haunted gummi bears crashed to the floor, though luckily not releasing the tortured souls within.

" Come on Dib!" Gaz yelled, not appreciating his locked door. " Stop spying on Zim and get out here so we can go eat!"

Once he had woken up a little, Dib felt a pang of annoyance at her words. Gaz and his father probably assumed that he was off being crazy, instead of that something was actually wrong. Dib doubted they would care if they knew. He sighed loudly, hoping someone might.

" Give me a couple of minutes!" he shouted back to her.

" You've got one," she hissed.

Dib reached out for his glasses on the bedside table, but when he realized they weren't there he sat up, remembering the events from only a few hours earlier. He could see, and he could see clearly. It felt strange not having the weight from his glasses on his face. Remembering his sister's angry words, he changed rather quickly out of his torn garments and into better clothes. He knew his father would be angry that he had ruined yet another outfit with blood and scratches and the later he found that out the better.

Just as Gaz was impatiently about to kick the door open and storm the room, Dib strolled out. She raised an eyebrow for reasons Dib couldn't quite explain.

" You look like crap," Gaz said, the closest to concern she would tread to, "and don't you need your glasses?"

"…Broken," he breathed softly, answering all of hr questions with one word.

Gaz nodded and followed him down the stairs to where their father was waiting in his chair, the chair Dib refused to sit on in some kind of passive rebellion. Dib couldn't say he wanted to be anywhere near his father at this point in his life. He was always trying to impress him and always trying to convince him that his interests were valid studies and his father never cared. So eventually Dib stopped associating with him all together.

It worked every day except the annual family dinner, where we go out to a restaurant and pretend that we're not a dysfunctional family. After all, what would his father's fans think if they knew their fabulous hero Professor Membrane didn't really care about his kids?

" Ah Gaz!" He said with false enthusiasm, " I see you found your brother!"

Dib waved just a little and looked away from him. Maybe he could get away with not talking to his dad at all. It hadn't worked the previous year, but it was worth a shot again.

" Now Son," Professor Membrane said, " It's your turn to pick where we go out to EAT! Commence your choosing…NOW!"

"Son" was a word Dib had grown to hate, because it always replaced his name. He wondered vaguely if his father even remembered his given name, or if he would be "Son" for the rest of his life.

Dib shrugged to the question though, but when he looked at his father he sighed. His father obviously wanted a response to that question.

" I don't really car-"

No sooner than when the words had poured from his mouth, Gaz pounced, taking the opportunity for herself.

" Bloaty's." She snapped, " We need to eat at BLOATY'S."

" Bloaty's it is then!" Professor Membrane declared loudly.

Dib sighed. There was no chance of him getting in a word edgewise. He had never particularly cared for Bloaty's, but it seemed to be one of the few places they ever went, since Gaz loved pizza so much. Dib never really saw the appeal of horrifyingly fake mechanical animals, even if they did scare Zim. The place was full of screaming children and was the epitome of everything that was wrong with the world he resided in.

Yet still, he somehow found himself at Bloaty's listening to the kids yelling as loud as they possibly could, or at least trying not to. His father was feeding instructions to a floating screen of his fellow scientist, Simon, swearing to God he'd be back on the hour. Next to him, Gaz was wolfing down her pizza as though she had been starved and neglected when only the later was true.

Dib stared down at his plate, wondering if the food was even sanitary. Mostly though, he wasn't hungry at all. He knew that he needed to eat something though, because he hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch that day. There hadn't been any cereal left in the cupboard that morning and the food at the Mid L skool was even more questionable than in elementary skool. It was a strange feeling though, being full on an empty stomach.

Professor Membrane glanced over at his son just for a moment. Something suddenly clicked in his mind, something that should have clicked several moments prior.

" Excuse me a moment Simon," He pushed aside the floating monitor and stared at his son for a long moment.

The subject in question looked up when he felt his father's eyes on him. Dib gave him a bored glance, wishing that he was anywhere but with his father.

" Son," Professor Membrane addressed him the only way he knew how it seemed, " what happened to your glasses? Did you break them again?"

Dib's eyes widened, for there were other things on his mind than his sudden visionary improvements. He had forgotten all about it and was surprised that his father even noticed at all.

" Don't need them," He said simply, looking back down at his pizza, watching the grease boil.

" Don't speak such nonsense Son!" his father chuckled, " You're nearly blind without those things!"

" You don't understand," Dib said, speaking the truth of every interaction with his father. " I don't need them. I can see fine without them."

Dib sipped his soda and could have sworn he heard a soft crackling. He didn't think much about it though, as he waited for his brilliant father to try and find a solution to his miracle.

His father was thinking very hard indeed. He was quiet for several moments, concentrating deeply on the problem and tapping his fingers rapidly against the table. There was no solution that was beyond the infamous Professor Membrane.

Dib looked down again, only to discover that his piece of pizza was mysteriously gone from his plate. He looked over at Gaz, who showed no remorse as she bit into his slice.

Feeling rather defeated somehow, he reached out to grab a second slice, the only slice left. When his hand brushed against the metal tray however, there was a spark. It was a blue spark, a light cerulean blue that illuminated their faces. There was not a soul at that table who could ignore the sharp sparks that broke the silence.

Slowly, mesmerized by the powerful light, Dib pulled his hand away and stared in awe at it, as though it would spark again without a moment's notice.

" What was that?" He whispered softly, examining his fingers.

Gaz raised an eyebrow at her brother's strangeness and returned her attention to her precious pizza. His father however, was grinning broadly. His goggles glinted in the light of the welfare lamp that hung over the table. The glance made Dib uneasy, and something in his stomach seemed to boil.

" It works," his words were hushed and quiet. " I don't believe it. It works."

Dib's eyes widened, a sudden fear filling him. There was something instinctively wrong with this conversation but he couldn't tell just what it was.

" W-what works?" He asked tentatively.

" You!" Professor Membrane rubbed his hands together excitedly, " I don't believe it, the only project I ever failed on actually works! I knew I could never fail!"

Dib was as white as a snowy ghost. There were so many thoughts dashing through his mind that it began to spin in twisted circles. They were thoughts that hurt his head and made him want to cry and scream and break things. By some miracle though, he suppressed these emotions enough to calmly through out a few words.

" You…you what?" Dib asked softly with wide eyes. " What did you do?"

" I created you of course!" Professor Membrane carelessly brushed it off as nothing, " The world's first energy generating creature! You create your own energy without needing to eat or sleep or anything like that. It's brilliant really."

Shaking slightly out of nervous confusion at the strange explanation, Dib openly doubted the truth.

" You didn't create me!" He shouted, " I…I mean you-you and mom you…"

To this, his father merely chuckled. His laughter was unnerving and sent frightened shivers up Dib's spine.

" No, no," His father laughed. " I created you in my likeness. When there were no immediate signs that you were anything other than a normal human boy I assumed that I had failed in my attempts."

" Why wouldn't you tell me something like that?" Dib protested loudly.

" It was never something you needed to know!" Professor Membrane's tone grew ever darker. " It was better to just give you a normal life! If nothing new was going to develop, then why even say anything?"

Dib rose up off his seat, gripping the table in anger. He laughed darkly, unaware of the light of them sparking blue.

" As though we even HAVE a normal life!" Dib shot back at his father; " You were too busy to ever give it to us!"

" Don't talk to me that way young man!" His father shook a finger in Dib's direction, downplaying his serious tone.

" Why should I? You're not my father!" Dib shouted as the blue electricity spread to other tables, making small children cry out in terror, " Apparently you're my CREATOR!"

Dib had never been so raging in his life. He couldn't even think properly because his head hurt so much. So many thoughts flowed through his mind that it was difficult to focus on just one. As his anger built higher and higher the sparks flew out from the hanging lamps and struck the horrifying mechanical animals, causing them to spark as well and eventually breakdown completely.

" Yes and you're a fabulous creation," Professor Membrane said, noting the damage Dib was subconsciously causing. " After all, you were a prototype for P.E.G. and you seem to have even surpassed her! It even seems to have corrected your vision!"

This was not something that Dib cared about. He didn't care if he was strong or if he surpassed anything. He wanted to be completely human, not some freakish chimera of man and science.

" Of course now that you work we'll need to run all sorts of test," Professor Membrane noted happily, " just to make sure you work of course. Oh this will be so great! Together you and I will become even more famous than I already am! Parents will be able to have children they never need to feed, which would make them slightly richer! Electrical plants could have free laborers that never get tired! Oh this will be so great, won't it Son?"

That last word sent Dib into a terrifying rage. He stood up on his seat, blue lightening whipping around him. Lights around them were shattering into a million pieces, phone lines died, and children cried.

" DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Dib shouted. " My name is NOT SON!"

Even Gaz couldn't help but stare in horror at the storm her brother had become. He looked nearly ten times as fierce than he ever had before. Dib was no longer harmless.

Without a second thought, he flung his arm out towards his father and blue sparks danced through his veins to his fingertips and struck Professor Membrane. His father was caught completely off guard, but managed to get an arm in front of his face to protect himself. Professor Membrane hissed as his arm burned from the cerulean heat.

Dib stopped only after a moment or so, horrified at the power he wielded at his fingertips. The blue lights that surrounded him died down as the shock of what he had done set in. He had just been filled with so much energy that it became had to control in his anger, which meant that his first raging thoughts became reality.

Professor Membrane glanced down at him arm and saw that Dib had burned right through his lab coat and singed his bare arm. It stung of course, but Professor Membrane was too giddy over what power his creation had to mind it.

It took a few minutes of silence for Dib to gain back his resolve and speak once again, even if his voice was as shaky as his hands.

" And…and I'm not just some EXPERIMENT!" He cried out. " I'm not just some toy for you!"

With those brave words, Dib shoved his sister out of the way and raced out of Bloaty's into the rainy night, weeping for the loss of his humanity and the loneliness of having no where to return to when the cold of the night sets in. No one followed him. No one dared.

Brushing himself off, Professor Membrane regained his composure very quickly and called his floating screen back over to him.

" Simon," He said in a dead serious tone as he stared out the door, " send a search team out to find my son. Have them search the entire city and once they have found him, bring him to the labs."

" You mean…?" Simon asked tentatively through a fuzzy screen.

" Yes," Professor Membrane concurred, " it works. Project E.G.O. is loose in the city."

" Right sir," Simon bowed his head, " we'll get right on it."

" See that you do," Professor Membrane said as he shut off the screen.

Professor Membrane was certain that he would have his creation back before the night was over. After all, his son had no friends and no other family. There was nowhere he could go where his scientists wouldn't find him.

Unfortunately for Professor Membrane, he was wrong once again.

(A/N: That sure was exciting, eh? Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews everyone! : ) Also, to Dibsthe1, I actually have not read that book. I'll have to make sure to read it now though. : ) On another note, I don't think any of the scientists were actually given names...so I made one up, and will probably make up many more. XD So everyone please R&R and I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible. )