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Don't fret precious I'm here,
step away from the window
and go back to sleep

"Quiet, Gaz! We don't want to wake Dad up…"

"Like Dad is ever home…" Gaz kicked the final plugs of dirt from her boot soles and scrabbled at the wall inside the front door for the light switch. It had been a very long walk back to skool to get her car and the fog had rolled in again sometime around six. Both the Membrane siblings were cold, damp and hungry, not to mention caked with mountain dirt and leaves. Gaz wanted nothing more than to grab a leftover slice of pizza and take a hot shower before sleeping as much as she could before her alarm went off. Dib had complained the whole way home, too…so her hackles were raised an extra notch. When asked why he didn't have Zim's contact number after all these years, Dib had simply shrugged and said it was the principal of the matter. Gaz had decked him in the face. Now, finally home, Gaz let out a sigh of relief—until the light in the living room came on by itself.

"Welcome home, children. I trust there's a scientific reason for you being out so late?"

Gaz blinked into the light and noticed that there, sitting in the grubby old leather chair to the left of the couch, was none other than the absentee father himself: Professor Membrane. She groaned disappointedly. For the last several years, Gaz and Dib's father had secluded himself at his lab more and more… usually only returning home to discipline the children for breaking curfew or blowing something up. It was usually fairly minor (except the one time he had to deal with allegations against Gaz for breaking a boy named Iggins' legs), but this time, the tone of the professor's voice had an unprecedented edge to it. He sat back in the chair—which was rather too small for his lanky frame—with his arms crossed, his expression as unreadable as always behind his unmoving safety goggles. Gaz caught sight of an official-looking paper glinting in one of his gloved hands.

"Aw!" She hissed, hanging her head in defeat. Dib slinked by, hoping to bypass the situation. The professor turned his head sharply towards the boy.

"Don't think you're escaping this, son. You have just as much fault as my dear daughter."

Dib sighed and the two children approached their father, feeling very small all of a sudden. Membrane slowly unfolded the letter in his hand and read aloud.

"To the parent or guardian of Gazelene Membrane:

We are sorry to inform you that your daughter has failed to keep her grades at a standard level. Since the beginning of the current skool year, her homeroom classes (U.S. History and Grammar) have declined at a steady rate until this week, where they finally reached a failing percentage. We are writing to inform you so that you may take action as swiftly as possible.

Sincerely,

Town Skool Board." The scientist snapped the letter shut with finality and eyed (or so it seemed) Gaz with concern. "Is there a reason for this, Gazelene?"

"Yeah, Dad… I hate both of those classes." Gaz rolled her eyes behind her heavy lashes. Professor Membrane stood abruptly, taking a wide stance.

"Daughter, I have had an incredible amount of leniency with you through the years, ever since your mother—"

"Don't bring Mom into this!"

"Gaz…" Dib had turned to look at his little sister's face, surprised to see tears welling in her brown eyes. She clenched her teeth and wiped her face with the back of a sleeve before continuing.

"Don't…bring Mom into this. She has nothing to do with this family."

"Daughter…"

"No! She may have contributed to it in the past, but what I do in this day and age is solely because I feel like it... There is nothing you can do to change that. And, saying you had leniency on me? That's just an excuse for bad parenting! You were never here; that was your leniency! You only came home when you wanted to take us for some stupid TV promo for a new invention, or some gala event to show us off like we were just prize research," Gaz had stomped towards the staircase, ascending a couple steps, "It's too late to try and parent now… We both graduate soon and then we'll just be out of your life!" With a final jeering hiss, she ran up her stairs and down the hall to her room, slamming the door behind her. Membrane put a hand to his forehead, exhaling somberly. Dib moved closer and placed a hand on his father's arm.

"She's just tired, Dad. It was a really long day for us," he chuckled awkwardly. The professor murmured and patted his son (who was still much shorter than him) on the head.

"No, son, I'm afraid she's right…" the weary father ambled towards the kitchen, "it is far too late to try and exert my will—whatever its intentions—on my children, who have grown so much." He disappeared through the doorway, leaving Dib in the cold room alone.

Meanwhile, a very green alien with a very cocky attitude was reclining on his only Earthling furniture: a pale green-blue couch. He stuffed a sugared stick into his mouth lazily before pulling off his black wig and scratching at his antennae. He purred, twitching a foot and grinning behind his snack. The night-turned-day had been a long one for sure… hiking all the way back to the industrial district to refuel his ship, flying to the top of Helena to set up a base camp, flying home to catch a few Zs, then flying all the way back, only to be startled by that freakish…incident. Zim was tired now and certainly in no mood to research what that…thing from earlier could have been. However, the Dib-sibling was very distressed about the whole thing….

He took the stick from his mouth and rolled it in his sugar cup before sucking on it once more.

The Dib-sibling… She was an interesting one for sure. It seemed like only yesterday on this space-forsaken rock that she was growling into her juice box and threatening to doom anyone who came too close. She had been quite formidable, back in the day. After Zim had gotten the call, however, she started to become…different, at least where he was concerned. She had been a little gentler; a little more forgiving of the small things. Goodness, she had even downright encouraged him when he started his small business of selling trinkets. She had always been a fan of his contraptions, though….

Zim chewed the stick, sorry that there was no more sugar coating. He sighed and set the cup aside, stretching his limbs before getting up to stalk towards the lab. Memories of the growth treatment flashed through his mind.

It had seemed so simple. A few tweaks of some PAK wiring, download some new coding for biological make up. However, when all was said and done, it was a process, after all. It took several years, although that certainly helped cover Zim's extraterrestrial tracks. First, there was the entire month of July after fifth grade spent in the lab, hobbling about on the rolling back brace. Then it was Christmas break in seventh grade to graft in new bone for his legs. The worst memories were of having to find the right parts on the black market.

Zim's antennae twitched at that particular memory before slotting it away for another time.

Just after eighth grade graduation, he lengthened his arms and finally, just at the end of August before ninth, he enlarged his skull, hands, and feet.

A process it was, indeed.

Zim opened his natural, ruby-colored eyes to stare at his reflection in the elevator shaft walls. A light flickered somewhere, lending the scene a relatively spooky feel. Zim brushed it away, straightening his rubberized gloves in preparation for all the typing he was going to need to accomplish before seeing the Membrane siblings again. Heaven knew that they would be pressing for answers—answers that Zim wanted to be prepared to give. The elevator shuddered to a stop at the final floor, the doors sliding open with a faint whish.

"Gir!"

"Hiya Masta!" The robot launched himself from somewhere in the ceiling's mass of wires, landing nimbly in front of the ex-Invader. He raised a tiny hand in salute.

"I want you to fetch me all the literature we have dedicated to planet's technology that rivals that of Irk, as well as fetching me a cup of maple syrup." Zim marched through the lab towards the enormous computer at the opposite wall, where he sat in the swivel chair and began striking away at the keys. He opened several windows to begin his research of all races to develop high-level technology in the last ten years. He was certain that the boosters on the ship they had sighted were the same as the ones used on the Irken mothership, which would mean they were of…

Beep-beep, beep-beep!

Zim swiped away all the windows to answer the urgent-sounding video call. The number was blocked, or he might have ignored it. He sighed loudly.

"Please tell me this is important."

"Z…. Zim! Where are you…?" The connection was absolute rubbish, mostly static intermitted with a blurry image from inside a spacecraft. Zim huffed, "Is that all?" The image suddenly became clear, revealing a pair of familiar faces.

"Zim! Thank Irk!" Tak pressed a hand to her temple, "I have been trying to contact you for days!"

"Why, exactly? Didn't you want to kill me last time we met?"

"Unimportant, you galactic nuisance," the female Irken snapped before a crease of worry returned between her brows, "Listen to me; I don't have much time."

"Then shut up and get on with it!"

"I am! Listen, Earth is in terrible danger!"

Zim's antennae twitched. Was the Armada finally making its way to these far reaches of the galaxy? Would there be a possible chance of reinstating his title…? No, he couldn't think that way. To hope was to be weak, which was something Zim would not stoop to.

"Why is Earth in such 'danger'?"

"Because the Irken Armada has been destroyed!"

"What?"

It was just so terrible!

Gaz kicked her tires irritably once more, wondering why today of all days her car had to break down. It was too dark to see what the problem was and she was going to be late for skool if she didn't leave. Dib wandered back up the driveway from the sidewalk.

"We really need to go; are you sure it won't start?" Gaz whirled on her older brother, opening her tired red eyes a sliver to glare at him. Dib cowered, "Okay, don't doom me before first period! Let's just go." She nodded sleepily and the pair descended into the freezing October fog. Overnight, what had been a dense, obscuring fog was now a soupy thick mist that was so heavy it felt like one could take a bite out of it. Dib inched over the edge of the curb to check for the crosswalk.

Screeching tires sounded in the distance and a pair of light beams penetrated the fog. Gaz yanked Dib back onto the sidewalk just in time to avoid Zim's Voot Volkswagen skidding to a stop in front of them. The smell of burned rubber lingered in the air. Zim kicked the door open and flew out to grab Dib by the shoulders.

"Dib-stink!"

Dib whimpered groggily, "It's too early for this, Zim… I have to go to skool…"

Zim slapped the boy across the face, "Listen you pitiful human! The ship we saw last night—there is going to be more… Bigger ones! Hundreds of them!" Gaz shoved Dib aside and stood in Zim's face.

"What do you mean, 'more'? Why?"

"Because," Zim took her small hands in his own, staring into her face with fear in his eyes, "the entire race of Irk is in shambles… something more powerful destroyed them last month."

"What is more powerful than Irk?" Gaz's eyelids grew stiff. Zim looked away.

"A race that we conquered long ago, in the soft years of their abundance. It's a long story; you both need to come with me." Dib stepped forward, jabbing a finger into Zim's arm.

"We can't afford to miss more skool. Our dad came home yesterday, totally pissed."

Zim pulled at his wig in distress, "This is so much bigger than your pitiful education system, Dib! I mean what I say when I ask—no, beg you to please come with me!"

"All right, let's go." Gaz climbed into the passenger's seat of the Voot and buckled herself in. Dib moaned and tried to coax her out.

"We really need to go, Gaz."

"Shut up, Dib. You're either coming with us or going to skool alone. If you try to stop me I'll doom you to that most recent nightmare world I've carved out for you." Dib gulped before clambering over the driver's seat into the cramped back. Zim slid in beside Gaz and shot off towards the house at the other end of town.

Beams of light shimmered across the street before disappearing into the mist behind them.

"Long before I was banished for my embarrassing failure in Operation Impending Doom One, before the present Tallest ascended to the throne of Irk, Almighty Tallest Mayuki conquered a race that was similar to our own, but much more advanced. Their abilities were renowned across nearly all of space and there was not an electronics store that did not sell their inventions. Because of their similarity to our own planet, Irkens regarded them with hatred more deep-seeded than our PAKs… We wanted to overtake them, so we waited.

Tallest Mayuki drained the government's coffers to support our desperate need to build the highest quality weaponry we could manage. Through time and underhanded trading with the corsairs of space, Irk developed all it needed to sweep across Vort and decimate the planet. They had become weak in their wealth and were killed off easily… and when Mayuki herself made the climb to their king's throne, she wrested the knowledge of their technology from him before rending his head from his shoulders. It was a bloody time for Irk and that entire quadrant of our galaxy, but Mayuki made fast work of her information and the wound we created was seared shut with our new power. Mayuki blazed a trail of control through time and space until she eventually died of exhaustion, leaving the throne to My Tallest Red and Purple."

Dib sat at the edge of his seat with a notebook, scribbling fervently. Gaz sat back in her chair, eyes closed but listening carefully. When it seemed as if Zim had finished, Dib looked up, "What does that have to do with us missing skool?" Zim threw his soda across the room, standing and slamming his fists on the table.

"Almighty Zim was not finished, Dib-stink!"

"Sorry."

"Now then," Zim cracked open a new soda, "My current Tallest continued the enslavement of the Vortian people. Those who did not comply with the new dictatorship were thrown in their own prisons, where many did not return from. Unfortunately for your filthy planet," Zim looked intently at the Earthling siblings, "many Vortians escaped inside trash barges and managed to escape to a cold little unnamed planet, where their queen was in hiding. That was still far before I made it through Invader's training, so they've had plenty of time to regroup and make a plan to take back the universe."

"How does that affect us?"

"Because," the alien leaned forward in his seat, "they are planning to take Earth first."

As always, if you see any mistakes let me know so I can fix them! Thank you for your time!