The only thing Gaz resented about the Irkens was that their presence on Earth made her dad busier than ever. Other than that, she liked them more than she ever liked humanity. Unlike her classmates, the Irkens seemed to accept her. In fact she was marveled for her ability to bring about a hell unlike any mortal has ever seen.
Still, Gaz was lonely on the inside. She would never admit it to anyone, but she wanted something more than a life of anger and video games. Gaz thought of all this as she watched the stars from the roof of her house.
The stars, unlike everyone else, never left her, never changed. Her mother left her, her father left her, her brother left her. At times it seemed that even Zim was leaving her. Why did she have to care so much about what others thought of her? It was annoying.
A fiery bolt lit up the night sky and Gaz was knocked over when whatever it was crashed into her yard. Through the burning wreckage, an Irken crawled out of the destroyed space pod. Even from a distance, Gaz could see that his eyes blinked with a strange golden light. It saw her and called out in a weak voice.
"No…get away! They will get you, too! They got everyone," he gasped as the light came back then left just as suddenly. "You…must warn…the others! AAAAAGGG!"
The Irken gave one last shudder and went still. Before Gaz could do anything, a golden light exited his body and entered hers. A shock went through her and Gaz heard a voice.
My, this one will be useful to us.
Gaz tried to speak but found that she no longer had control of her body. Whatever was inside her now would pay dearly.
Violent, aren't we? Yes, you will serve our purposes well.
***Zim's base***
Even with all of the bases built and all of the humans volunteering living quarters, Zim still had to put up with roommates. It was a good thing that Irkens needed less sleep then the humans or Zim would have gone insane with sharing his base. It was long forgotten when he missed the company of his own species.
It was one of the rare periods when he had to endure company when the Dib called over the communicator. "Zim! There's some dead Irken in my yard and I can't find Gaz anywhere!"
The alien eagerly leapt from the base and used his spider legs to get to the Dib-worm's house. Gaz missing was important but most likely nothing to worry about. Zim knew how she liked her privacy. A dead Irken was more pressing, though. Irkens were notoriously hard to kill, even before the invention of the PAK, so to find one dead was rare. Whatever killed this one was a deadly force indeed.
Upon arrival, Zim inspected the PAK of the deceased Irken, earning curious looks from the human.
"What are you doing, Zim?" Dib asked when Zim inserted a wire from his PAK to the other Irken's.
"Transferring his memory banks to my information storage," Zim explained. "It may give us a clue of how he died."
The Pak on Zim's back made a beep to signal the transfer was done and a small disk popped out. Expertly, the Irken grabbed it.
"Now, to the lab!" Zim announced and marched out of the Membrane household.
***Underground at Zim's Base***
Zim slid the disk into his computer which revealed a screen. "Computer, show last twenty-four hour entry to memory."
A static filled the screen and a buzzing sound emitted from the speakers. Zim's antennae perked in surprise and confusion.
"Are you sure it's showing the memory?" Dib asked.
"Positive," answered the computer.
"Did that guy have something wrong with his PAK, then?"
"I'm afraid not, Earth-smell," Zim glared at the screen. "By his uniform, he was a crew member aboard the Massive. The Tallests don't keep defective crew aboard their ship."
Suddenly on the screen, a flash of visible footage appeared. It was right at the end of the poor Irken's life. The screen showed a picture of Gaz with gold-rimmed eyes.
"Meekrob," Zim hissed.
***woods around Mystical Hill***
"Gaaaaaaaz! Where are you?" Dib called into the night. Zim had told him that his little sister may be in very great danger, but not what the picture from the memory meant.
The alien was currently next to him, antennae perked and searching. Dib wasn't sure how Irkens could smell without noses, but apparently their sense of smell was stronger than that of bloodhounds. Zim winced at something that probably had to do with Gaz's scent.
"She's this way, Earth-smell," the alien motioned.
Gaz lay unconscious and bleeding on a pile of wet and rotting leaves. Every so often she gasped and twitched, causing more blood to flow. Dib tried to rush forward to embrace her but Zim held him back.
"What are you doing?" he yelled desperately. "Can't you see her? She's hurt!"
"Just this once, obey me," Zim growled. "Don't touch Gaz."
His PAK created a blue spherical shield like the one he used on Dib around Gaz. When it began to hover, Gaz awoke.
"Put me down, Zim," Gaz threatened. "Put me down now or I will throw you into a nightmare world from which there is no waking."
Zim glared at the scowling Gaz. "Over my PAK."
Dib was shocked. Zim must have a death wish or something. Nobody disobeyed Gaz unless they did.
"Are you insane, Zim? Put her down. Gaz means business."
The alien turned his glare to Dib. "That's not Gaz, human."
"What? Of course it's Gaz! No one else could have so much anger," Dib gestured toward his little sister.
Zim ignored the Dib and pulled out a communicator. "GIR! Pick us up in the Voot Cruiser!"
"Yes, my master!" GIR saluted.
Seconds later, the familiar purple ship appeared with the waving, blue-eyed robot inside. Zim leapt into the cockpit with Gaz in her bubble then reached down with a spider leg and hoisted up Dib. The Voot then zipped back to the base.
***Underground at Zim's Base***
Dib was not allowed into the room where Zim was doing something to Gaz but he did watch through the clear shield. Memories of what he read that the alien did to his little sister flashed through his mind. The shock, anger, and curiosity he had felt then was coming back to him now as Dib watched the events unfold.
Inside the room, Zim was questioning and torturing the Meekrob that he was sure had invaded his Gaz. "You don't seem to like that, Meekrob. Why did you take Total Control over that Irken soldier?"
Gaz's eyes opened revealing their gold-rimmed pupils. "The end of the Irken Empire is close. The universe yearns for the demise of the planet enslavers."
Zim calmly strode up to the table Gaz was strapped to. "I know you're in there, little Gaz. Meekrob! Release her!"
"Why should we? This creature is quiet useful and you will destroy us when we come out."
Zim grinned with devilish delight, clawed finger poised over a red button on the keyboard in front of him. "I've always wanted to test this out on a Meekrob."
Gaz could feel that the thing controlling her was in pain, though she herself felt next to nothing. It was as though she were watching everything from a television screen. Nothing belonged to Gaz anymore and it made her angry.
The Meekrob, at least that's what Zim called it, had shown Gaz her worse fears in an attempt to suppress her but it backfired horribly. Gaz had learned long ago how to forget her emotions and she used this to overpower the Meekrob and get as far away as possible from the Irkens. The trip into the forest had caused cuts and wounds both deep and shallow, but Gaz knew it was worth it. The Irkens had shown Gaz a respect that she never received from the humans. This would repay the debt that she felt she owed to them.
However, the thing inside her had finally found something Gaz was vulnerable to and managed to take control. It was a lucky thing that Zim and Dib had come when they did. Who knows what the thing was planning to do.
Zim's invention was working perfectly. The Meekrob never felt pain since they didn't have nerves but with this device he could send signals of anything to anything. It would be very useful in a torture chamber.
"You think you have defeated us?" the Meekrob using Gaz spat. "Witness the human's death as we die."
The monitors displaying various vital processes showed everything going haywire. Gaz's eyes opened wide as she arched in pain. Slumping back down, she gasped one last thing before all went silent.
"Zim."