A/n Okay, I'm finally updating (again), so sorry. I've been exhausted lately, but here it is!

Disclaimer: How many times do I have to say it? I do not own Invader Zim!

Chapter 10: "Activate Project Evangeline."

Gaz stared up at the skylight, watching the night pass by like it has for an eternity. Her now-short hair played around her shoulders, tickling the sensitive skin. Her golden orbs were blank, pensive and deep in her thoughts.

One simple first kiss shouldn't be so confusing. She was obviously just caught up in her troubled emotions. Her Game Slave kept her from the cruel reality that was the world, so she shut herself out.

Gaz Membrane was never one to complain. She had her family, her Game Slave, and what was left of her sanity in her younger years. She never asked for much, except when she demanded Dib to give her the last pizza slice if he wanted to keep his big head on his shoulders.

She rolled her head to view Jenn and Dokami snoring slightly in the dim light. She smiled to herself, but it vanished as soon as it came.

Zim never caused her problems. Zim was more of an annoyance to her than anything when they were younger. Year after year, the constant rivalry between Dib and Zim was almost unbearable, but Gaz found herself hanging around them more and more. Guess it was like a show: see who could destroy who.

Gaz growled in confusion and held her head under her black silk pillow. The more she thought about her doom, the more she thought about the strange alien boy she was smitten with.

Of all people on the planet, hell in the universe, why did it have to be him? Gaz kept telling herself she could so much better, even Dokami and Jenn told her that, but she couldn't rid herself of his smell, his face, and the stupid antics that made him so damn attractive...

Gaz jumped out of her bed in impatience. She was currently dressed in black knee-length yoga pants (I wear those to bed: P) and a purple tank, but she could care less. She put on her boots, and grabbed a dark violet cardigan from her bag.

She needed a walk, even if it was at 2:00 am in the morning.

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Zim walked down some random alleyway in the dark and silent city. His mind buzzed with frustration and rage for the Dib-worm.

Zim held his bleeding head as he was attacked with another migraine.

Not only did Dib not give him the info he wanted, but he started to chuck random items at Zim's head and actually got a direct hit a few times. Then Zim pounced on him and started to choke Dib in blind rage, and would have succeeded if the doctors hadn't shown up and threw him out.

Zim observed his blood soaked glove and cursed under his breath. He rubbed his hand against his grubby, torn jeans in an effort to remove it, and ended up turning his pants purple.

He swore once more, and continued walking into the darkness. His no longer hidden eyes widened a bit, allowing him to see more clearly. Near the very end, he saw a figure move in the shadows, and then make a quick move closer to his standing point.

Zim stood in a fighting stance and on guard.

"Oh please. There will be no need for that here." A silky smooth voice floated out of the shadows, sending shivers up Zim's spine. A dark figure loomed out of the black void, and Zim's eyes widened.

"Dib?" Zim was dumbfounded. It looked like the infernal earth-stink, but...

"Feh, I guess my other half was right when he said you were stupid, and no. I'm Dib, and I'm not Dib. Can you tell me who I am, ex-Invader Zim?" The Dib look-alike said.

Zim lowered his fists, but kept his feet grounded.

"I didn't think so. But yet, I have taken an interest in you, my dear ex-Invader." The figure took graceful steps toward Zim.

"How did you know that? How do you know my name?" Zim demanded as he raised his fists once more as the dark young man stopped a couple of feet from him. He chuckled.

"Did the part about me being Dib miss your ears? Oh, that's right, you don't have any." The cat-like eyes of the mysterious entity bore in Zim's crimson ones, unnerving him to his very core.

The stranger's trench blew with an imaginary wind, as so did the huge blood-red spike perched on top of his head.

"Well, Zim, as my other half's mind does seem to wander, I'm afraid mine does as well. Now, I didn't come all this way to torment you with your inner battles, but I have a proposition for you that you really can't refuse."

The shadow's voice was so...annoying that Zim was constantly clenching his fists to the point where they would bleed.

"What exactly do you want, evil-shadow...creepy, earth-stink..." The person smirked.

"It's quite simple really. I want you to join my ranks to help me take over this pitiful realm. As you might have figured out already, I come from Dib, and so like at Halloween, all those years ago (Zim visibly flinched) I want to take over. Obviously, I want to rule the Earth from Dib's head."

Zim rose (if he even had one) an eyebrow.

"Sorry creepy human, but I don't follow; I lead. And plus, there's nothing valuable on this earth; nothing worth to take over it." Zim turned around and started to walk away.

"Not one thing worth it? No special person you'd save, even give up your pitiful life for?" The figure probed.

"No one."

The Dib-clone smirked.

"Not even your dear Gaz?"

Footsteps fell into silence.

"You leave her alone!" Zim yelled as he turned to the stranger, face contorted in anger.

"Well, maybe I'll just use her to get to you." The shadow laughed maniacally as he melted away into the dark, with Zim running to find the young woman who painstakingly filled his mind at the moment.

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Gaz rubbed her chilled hands together and turned a deserted parking lot outside McMeaty's. Her mind was finally at a steady pace, and she was at calm.

"About time too. It's almost 3:05." The violet-haired girl checked her watch, and sighed.

"This means I'll have to walk all the way back!" She yelled at the heavens.

"Now, is that really necessary to express your anger?"

Gaz spun around, hands held out in front of her, to face the one person she was beginning to fear. His blood red orbs stared into her bright golden amber ones, and he showed a wide toothy grin that would have made the devil proud.

"Stay away from me...Legion." Gaz spoke through gritted teeth. Legion raised an eyebrow, but then continued to smirk.

"So you know who I am, big whoop. I'm just trying to make my dream come true: to annihilate Dib's head to release my freakish brethren from another dimension, just like on Halloween all that time ago, and to earn my keep by completing the ancient prophecy of my world."

"I highly doubt that will happen. Even though I hate everyone on this planet, I won't let you destroy it. That's my job." Legion merely chuckled in response, causing Gaz to get even more pissed.

"Be quiet or else I will doom your evil, creepy head to the ultimate, eternal fires of Hell!"

"I'll just have to kill you then!"

Legion held his clawed hands in the air, summoning some kind of reddish, flaming energy, aiming it directly at Gaz. She managed to dodge it, and she glared at him.

"Stupid supernatural powers..." Mumbled Gaz as she ran to the nearest dumpster and pulled out a long piece of metal pipe.

Legion jumped forward at Gaz and tried to hit her with his flaming hands. Gaz was able to block and dodge his hands, but barely. Legion smirked in her face, and then disappeared.

"Huh?" Gaz turned around to get punched back in the stomach, the greedy flames eating away at her cardigan. She quickly pulled it off, and gave him the special 'Oh, now it's on' look.

The shadow motioned at Gaz, and she charged head on, swinging the pipe hard at him, but he blocked it with his hands. She pushed as hard as she could, but he merely smirked.

"I'll give you this: you're strong, but you do not understand the untapped power inside you." Gaz's eyes widened in confusion, and Legion took this moment to trip her legs and pin her against the wall.

"So, aren't you going to kill me now?" Yelled Gaz as the entity peered into her angry eyes.

"I won't kill you yet. I just need you for something else...about now." He motioned toward a running figure, and Gaz groaned inwardly.

No, not now.

"Get away from her, or I'll make sure that you don't live long enough to see next Halloween." Zim growled dangerously, hold a rather evil-looking ray gun at Legion.

"Kill me, and you kill her." Legion swung Gaz around and held her against his chest, drawing a long, venomous claw against her tender throat. Gaz grit her teeth in true fear, feeling the tingling of the claw as he ran it up and down her neck.

Zim's head ran wild. Of course, his pride wouldn't let him follow another to take over this hell hole of a planet, but...

Gaz's eyes began to well up in tears of pain as the claw drew a small dot of blood near her collar bone. His grip around her waist tightened with inhuman strength.

She was holding in her pain, and it was killing her.

Zim bit his lip, and then dropped the gun.

"Let her go."

Legion grinned, and then tossed Gaz aside, causing her to cry out in pain. Zim walked towards Legion, trying not to look Gaz in the eyes to see her pain and confusion.

"I'm glad you see it my way." Legion held out his hand, a malevolent glimmer in his eye.

Zim grasped his hand, and screeched as he doubled over in pain, as though Legion were sucking out the life in him. Gaz could only watch in uncharacteristically horror; her ankle was sprained.

Zim lay on the ground, motionless. Legion waved his hand over the alien's body, and silvery strings extended from his palms into Zim's limbs and head.

"Rise, and serve me." Legion stated as the young Irken stood up obediently, a blank, dead look in his eyes.

"Now, shall you, my new servant, follow me in the sake of the prophecy?"

Zim's head rose.

"Yes, my lord."

Legion smirked, showing his bright, pearly fangs.

"Now, I grant you the power to serve me well, and destroy all those who stand in my way."

Legion snapped his fingers, and a red light floated over Zim.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Gaz yelled, limping over to legion, dragging her pipe.

Zim emerged from the red light, now donning a black cloak with red lining, and inside, with glassy black armor. The shoulders were adorned with red spikes, and a pulsating serpent wrapped itself around Zim's neck.

"NO! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HIM?" Gaz weakly swung the pipe at Legion, who dodged it with ease. She lost her balance and fell over at Zim's boots.

"This is the beginning of the end. My brothers shall be free to overrun this world, and the light shall fall from the heavens!" Legion yelled to the sky, and it began to turn a bright, fiery red.

"Here." Legion reached behind him and threw an unconscious Tak at Gaz. "You can have my last pawn."

Gaz's eyes stung with bitter tears as she stared at Legion and Zim as they walked away into the shadows. Zim gave a look at Gaz, no emotion portrayed from the depths of his eyes. With a swish of his cloak, he disappeared with his new master.

"No..."

Gaz could only stare in disbelief. Her...friend...was gone, and this person...Legion was trying to take over the world from her brother's freakish head.

Her side stung in pain, and she collapsed, blinded with tears and sorrow. As the darkness consumed her being, a slight, faint voice rang in her ears with a mantra.

Activate Project Evangeline...

What...Gaz fell on the ground, falling into her new nightmare.

A/n WHOA! I didn't even see that coming. It just typed itself into the story...wow. Anyway, I hope you get this chapter. It's kind of confusing to the plot, but it will all make sense soon, because now I've figured out how I want everything. Now, I want 2 things from my readers:

POLL!

Should Tak:

1...die.

2...get paired with Dib.

3...go away forever.

Your decision. Also, I would like you to REVIEW! As the future ruler of the world (seriously, I'm taking over. I already have all my secret plans that I refuse to reveal, so ha!), I demand you to review, or face the wrath of the SPIDER QUEEN! OBEY THE FIST!