A/N: Okay, I'm sorry for the late update, but I had serious writer's block on this chapter. I'm trying to have the side effects of Zim's exposure to the genetic accelerant happen gradually, but still fast enough that there's still a plot going on while we wait for the GESS to develop – I'm not a big fan of time skips larger than a few days in the middle of a story, so don't expect me to use that as an excuse.
Also, sorry for all the exposition in the beginning, but it helped with the block and the word count.
Anyway, read on!
Disclaimer: I own Jana and the GESS. All other characters belong to Jhonen Vasquez.
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Zim's Base, Zim's Bedroom, The Next Morning
The first thing Zim noticed when he awoke from his PAK recharge cycle was that his head was killing him. Zim instinctively began rubbing his forehead while mentally sending a command to his PAK to release a dose of headache medication into his bloodstream. Grumbling nonsensically to himself, the Irken disconnected his PAK from the recharge cables, which slowly retracted into the wall next to his bed.
Getting up, Zim stretched, working out the kinks that had formed in his back while he had been mentally shut off – he refused to use the word "sleeping". The term and all variations thereof were too human for his tastes; besides, "sleep" implied that it was something he did often, but as everyone in the galaxy with a half a brain knew, Irkens only went into the equivalent of sleep when they were recharging their PAKs. And that was hardly a regular occurrence; it varied from once every week to once every month, depending on how much energy the Irken in particular used up.
Zim himself was usually a weekly recharger. There was some sort of flaw (not that he'd ever admit it to anyone) in his PAK's energy cells, necessitating that he refill them so much more often than most other Irkens; however, he was still so dedicated to his mission that he had installed a secondary recharger in the base's main control room so that he would always be near to his work – hence the rarely-used and virtually empty bedroom. Aside from the bed, the only other thing in the room was a large trunk where Zim kept the few mementos from his past that had pleasant memories attached.
Shaking himself free from his internal narrative, Zim turned and made his way towards the elevator set into the side of the room. Said elevator led up to directly below a lamp in the corner of the living room, which slid aside to permit the Invader to rise up in his usual menacing fashion. However, that ominous image was distracted from by the slightly confused look that appeared on his face due to the sight that greeted him.
Jana was seated on the couch, her damaged cloak settled on her lap as she pulled a long string of black thread through one of the holes that had been burned into the article of clothing. A spool of the thread was set upon Minimoose's head/body, while the purple super weapon floated nearby, apparently happy to help. Zim merely stared for a few seconds, a little shocked to see his ruthless minion doing something so… domestic.
"You sew?" he asked, as he regained his voice.
Jana jumped in surprise – she hadn't heard him come up. Her face flushed in embarrassment as she turned to look at him.
"W-well," she stammered, "I find it to be a helpful hobby – talent! I meant to say talent, not hobby. I don't do this for fun."
She was fully blushing at this point, as she tried to salvage what was left of her dignity. Zim only smirked at that; he always enjoyed making people uncomfortable, and besides, Jana was rather cute when she was flustered…
'Wait, what?!' he thought to himself, panicked. 'Where did that come from?'
"So, uh, where's GIR?" he asked quickly, trying to get his mind off of that particular train of thought, "Knowing him, he should be watching that monkey on TV right now. Either that or getting in your way."
"I also figured that might happen," Jana replied as she got back to work, "So I locked him in the tool shed out back."
"What tool shed?" Zim asked, blinking stupidly for a moment, "I have a tool shed?"
"You do now," the computer chimed in, "Jana had me construct it a few hours ago and GIR hasn't bothered breaking out since she threw him in – I think he's eating the shovels in there or something."
Zim rolled his eyes as Jana closed the last hole in her cloak and stood up, throwing it over her shoulders and re-clasping it around her neck. Looking it over, she frowned as she saw how the burn marks and new patch jobs stood out from the rest of the material. Noticing the look on her face, Zim commented, "If you don't like how it looks now, why not just make a new one with that 'talent' of yours?"
Jana's face once again flushed as she was reminded of their earlier conversation, but she quickly steered the current conversation away from that subject.
"I could never bring myself to part with this cloak, milord," she explained, "It was given to me upon my completion of the Shadow initiation trials. To me, however, it symbolizes more than that. To me, this cloak – this entire uniform – is a mark of my devotion to the Empire."
She smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck before adding, "I guess that must sound like sentimental foolishness, eh?"
"Not really," Zim said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "I still have my ceremonial battle armor from when I graduated Invader training on Devastis. I feel the same way about it as you do about – GAH!"
He was cut off as his previous headache – ten times as strong as before – suddenly returned in a sharp jab of pain. Zim grabbed his head and hissed between his teeth as his vision blurred and his antennae filled with a strange buzzing sound. He was vaguely aware of Jana grabbing him as he nearly fell over and guiding him to the couch, where he collapsed into the soft cushions. After a few minutes, the world came back into focus and the buzzing died down… though neither it nor the headache went away completely.
As his vision cleared, he found Jana sitting next to him, a concerned look on her face. The honest concern shining through Jana's eyes made Zim's face heat up, but he quickly fought the blush down before it could fully form.
"Master, are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine," he grumbled, ignoring the pain in his head and pushing himself to his feet.
"Sir, you almost passed out," the computer said, "I think that it would be wise for you to stay home today."
Zim glared at the ceiling as he began pulling on his disguise. "Computer," he said with a hint of disdain, "Your job is not to think. It's to run the base and do what I tell you to do. Now shut it!"
"Yes sir," the computer replied meekly.
Jana bit her lip as she watched Zim put on his disguise and march towards the door. She knew it would be futile to try and stop him from leaving the base when he was obviously ill; he had a determined look in his eyes that she had seen his future self display more than once, and all those occasions had taught her that she wouldn't be able to steer him away from a path he'd chosen for himself.
Still, she cared about him too much to not even try to look out for his health.
"Milord, are you really sure you should be attending a human place as public as the Skool when you do not seem to be in the best condition?"
Zim paused at the door and turned to glare at her. He wasn't actually mad at her, in fact he could completely understand her concern. However, the constant pain in his head and the irritating buzz in his antennae were overriding the logical, understanding portion of his brain with anger.
"I already said that I'm fine you idiot!" he snapped, "And even if there was anything wrong with me, my PAK would fix it. Besides, I am not going to give the Dib-Stink the satisfaction of thinking that his attack yesterday wounded me enough to keep me confined to the base. So here's an idea – leave me alone and guard the GESS lab like I told you to. Is that understood? Or are you deaf in addition to being completely worthless in a fight?"
Jana flinched at the harsh tone and insults. She bowed and muttered an affirmative response, keeping her gaze on the floor as Zim grunted and walked out the door. For a few moments, there was silence in the room, though this was soon broken by the sound of dripping liquid as something fell from Jana's lowered face to the floor. Minimoose noticed this and uttered an inquisitive squeak.
"Don't be ridiculous. Of course I'm not crying," Jana said, straightening herself and quickly wiping her face with the hem of her cloak, removing any incriminating evidence. "Irkens don't have weak emotions like sadness – especially not Shadows. We are trained to think only of our duty to our Tallest."
As she said that, she began shuffling towards the refrigerator-elevator.
"Speaking of which, I should probably get down to the GESS lab. I have orders after all…"
She trailed off as she got onto the elevator and began descending into the depths of the base. Minimoose watched her go, and when she had disappeared he uttered a sad-sounding squeak, sinking a little in mid-air.
"You said it," the computer replied, "Even for Zim that was kind of harsh."
"Squeak?"
"Nah, I don't think he really meant it. In fact, I think he actually does like her… a lot."
Minimoose stared in confusion for about thirty seconds before his eyes widened in realization.
"Squeak!"
"Yeah, that was my reaction when I figured it out. I just hope that he figures it out soon – the tension between the two of them is driving me crazy."
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The High Skool, An Hour Later
Dib walked down the hallway, a slightly smug grin on his face. After he had escaped the GESS lab, he had quickly made his way out through the entrance he had made in the storage module. Before fleeing down the sewer tunnels, however, he had made sure to put back the panel he had cut out of the module wall. He didn't know how effective that sort of "camouflage" that was, but if it actually worked and neither of the Irkens found the opening…
'If Zim and Jana don't find it, then I'll still be able to use it to break back into the base and figure out just what the heck a GESS is,' he mused, 'Of course, they're going to be expecting me to try again so soon, so I should wait a few days before I try again. On the other hand, the longer I wait the more time Zim has to complete whatever this new plan is. I can't let that happen.'
Dib was so lost in thought that he wasn't watching where he was going, and he was jarred back into reality when he bumped into somebody. Hard. As the two of them fell to the floor, Dib began sputtering apologies, but stopped when he realized just whom he had bumped into.
"Oh, it's you."
Zim glared at his nemesis, but instead of snapping out an insult he merely gritted his teeth and placed a hand on his the side of his head. He then grunted in annoyance and walked away without giving the human another glance. Dib raised an eyebrow at this out-of-character behavior and called after the Invader.
"What's with you?" he asked, "Isn't this usually the point where you gloat or insult me or something?"
Zim stopped and turned to once again glare at Dib. It was at that point that the young human noticed that Zim wasn't just holding his head; he seemed to be massaging it. Dib merely stared at that, but before he could fully register it Zim spoke up.
"I'm in no mood to waste my breath on you today, Dib-Monkey," Zim snarled.
"You just did." Dib smirked at the expression on Zim's face before continuing, "What's wrong? Upset that I kicked your ass yesterday?"
The Irken growled like some sort of wild animal at that comment; his eyes narrowed to slits and he dropped his hand from his head to by his side, where he clenched it and its counterpart into fists.
"Listen carefully, human," he hissed, "Yesterday's confrontation was but one battle. In the end, individual battles don't matter in the big picture – and that big picture is the fact that soon I will be ruler of this world."
Dib rolled his eyes. "Gee, where have I heard that before?" he asked sarcastically, "Oh wait, that's right. You say that every time and I always beat you. Face it Zim, you can't win by yourself, or even with Jana. You'd need an army to take over this planet, and you don't exactly have one lying around, now do you?"
Zim's lips, which had been pulled back in a sneer, suddenly twitched and lifted up into a sadistic grin. He began chuckling, much to Dib's confusion. Said confusion only increased when, just as Zim stopped chuckling and opened his mouth to speak, he instead cried out in pain and doubled over, grabbing at his head.
"Uh… are you okay?" Dib asked, not entirely sure what to say in response to what he was seeing.
After a few moments, Zim quickly composed himself, though he kept one hand on his head. Glaring once more at Dib, he simply muttered out, "It's none of your concern, pig-smellie."
He then turned around and walked off towards his next class. Dib watched him go, confusion filling his mind.
'Just when I think that stupid bug can't get any weirder…' he thought to himself.
"What was that?" Zim snapped, looking over his shoulder. Dib blinked in surprise.
"I didn't say anything," he said, holding up his hands defensively.
Zim gave him a look that was half a stare and half a glare, before shrugging it off and walking away, leaving Dib even more confused than before.
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Half An Hour Later
Zim groaned to himself as Mr. Sourz droned on about how the government should round up the nation's homeless and exterminate them in order to remove their strain on the government. Dark as this rant was, it didn't use the word "Doom" fifty million times, so it was still better than one of Ms. Bitters' lessons.
He probably would have been enjoying his teacher's speech more on another day, but not today; he had a headache the size of the Massive, and the buzzing sound he'd been hearing all morning had increased exponentially since he'd arrived at Skool. But that wasn't even the worst part – whenever Zim wasn't too distracted by the pain that felt like it would tear his skull apart, he kept remembering what he'd said to Jana before he had left the base that morning. He realized now that he shouldn't have been so harsh with her. She was the loyalist of his minions, after all, and she was just trying to look out for him…
'For the love of Irk, what's wrong with me?' Zim thought, 'Since when do I feel guilty about yelling at people?'
The bell rang just then, and everyone began filing out of the room to Mr. Sourz's order of "Get out of my sight, you disgusting maggots." As Zim trudged down the hallway, there was another surge of pain in his head, causing him to cry out and to nearly collapse. Instead, he backed into a small space between two banks of lockers, bracing himself against the wall and once again clutching his head.
As soon as it had come, the new pain disappeared, and the buzzing died down to an almost imperceptible level. Zim sighed in relief and pressed back against the wall, resting his head against the sickly yellow-painted wall and shutting his eyes. He had to figure out what was wrong with him soon, before his brain fried from the constant pain.
'…freak, yelling like that, then just standing in the corner.'
Zim's eyes snapped open and he looked around to see who had just insulted him. Spotting Torque and a few of the other jocks hanging out in a group down the hall, and seeing that Torque was giving him a dirty look, he glared and prepared a comeback.
'Great, now he's looking at me. Shouldn't he and that nut job Dib be trying to kill each other or something?'
Zim froze with his mouth half-open as whatever he had been about to say died on his tongue. He'd been looking directly at Torque the whole time… and his mouth hadn't moved when Zim heard him speak.
"You got a problem, freak?" Torque asked, glaring at him.
Realizing that this time Torque had actually voiced his comment, Zim struggled to find his voice.
"Uh, no?" he finally squeaked out, too startled to say anything else.
Torque grunted, then turned and walked away with the rest of his group.
'Freak.'
Zim shuddered, the pain in his head momentarily forgotten as he processed what had just happened. Somehow, someway, he had actually heard someone's thoughts. That shouldn't have been possible; the Empire's best scientists had spent decades looking into the ability of telepathy, but had eventually been unable to prove that it actually existed. So how could it be that he suddenly seemed to possess it?
'I need to get to the lab,' he thought desperately, 'I need to find out what's happening to me.'
He started walking towards the building's main entrance, deciding to skip the rest of the day's pointless classes and get back to his base as soon as possible. However, as he worked his way through the sea of humans to get near the doors, he found himself nearly overwhelmed as the buzzing in his head changed into a chorus of peoples' private thoughts.
'…another F, my old man's going to kill me…'
'…bet she doesn't even know I exist…'
'…God, I hope no one notices this zit on my forehead…'
Zim's vision became blurry as his brain struggled to cope with the new sensory input. Barely making out a door near him, Zim stumbled forward, and after a few moments of struggling managed to open it. Slamming the door shut behind him, he sighed in relief as the small barrier that the door provided cut back on some of the voices in his head. However, they persisted, and Zim's vision continued to swim. As it settled enough for him to make out his surroundings, he cursed.
Instead of the front doors or even a classroom, he had found the door to a janitor's closet. Now he actually had to go back out into the hallway, surrounded by all those people. By all their thoughts…
The Invader's knees wobbled at the mere thought of that, and he grabbed the doorknob to try and steady himself. It proved to be futile, however, and he collapsed in a heap on the floor.
"I hate my life…" he muttered, before his eyes rolled into his head and he blacked out.
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A/N: Wow, this story has the longest chapters I've ever written for any of my work. Anyway, I hope it was worth the wait, and that you all like the cliffhanger I ended up using.
Next chapter: After regaining consciousness, Zim begins exploring his new abilities… and I do mean "abilities" plural.
P.S. I think it's fair to tell you all that I'll be on vacation for about a week-to-ten days starting Saturday, so it'll be awhile before the next chapter is posted. Sorry.
Until then, read and review!