*Snap* Gaz's fork broke in her grip.
"Gaz you need to more careful!" Membrain scolded his daughter, "What if the broken edge flew out of your grip and injured our guest here? That would have been a horrible tragedy."
Gaz looked at the broken fork in her grasp and then back at Iiek, "Yeah, it sure would have."
Iiek gulped as the amber eyed girl stared daggers at her, "Oh dear."
Iiek's eyes squinted behind her wielding mask as she held her PAK's torch to metal, blinding white light emanating from the point of contact. The base was completely silent except for the sounds of sparks hitting the floor as she put the finishing touches on the device.
The business dinner had been an unmitigated disaster. Iiek had barely been able to focus on the important discussions with Gaz's gaze burning into the side of her head as the other girl stared at her intently. The feeling of those amber eyes staring into her had resulted in Iiek becoming flustered and barely able to concentrate on Professor Membrane during their discussion.
Not to mention what had happened in the hallway.
Iiek sighed, pulling off her mask and running a hand across her antenna as she recalled the encounter.
Flashback Start
"And that's how my company became the most important, and wealthy, in the entire world." Professor Membrane spoke to Iiek, the disguised girl doing her best to follow along with the story with some success. They had mostly finished the important discussions, with some difficulty on Iiek's part, and had moved on to normal conversation.
"But wait," Dib spoke up from his side of the table, looking more than a little confused, "I don't remember that part with the giant robot manatee, when did that happen?"
Gaz snorted and gave her brother an annoyed look, "Is that big head of yours really just for show Dib? It clearly happened while you were off on one of your little excursions to save the world from Mothman or the Chupacabra something."
Dib pointed a bean covered spoon at her, "Hey! You should be thanking me! Who knows how many times the earth would have been destroyed if it wasn't for me! And Mothman isn't evil, just curious, there's no reason he would endanger the planet!" He scratched his chin in thought, "The Chupacabra on the other hand, hmm. Dad, how important are goats to the ecosystem?"
Professor Membrane sighed, "Now son, I told you I didn't want any of that insane talk tonight. Tonight is a night of SCIENCE! Not whatever it is you're obsessed with."
Iiek looked over at Gaz as Dib and his father began to argue about the importance of cryptids versus science, she grimaced at the girl's intense stare.
Gaz held her gaze for a moment before looking at her arguing family, "Dad, Iiek want's to know where the restroom is, I'm gonna go show her."
Professor Membrane nodded, "Alright Gaz. Just be careful, a good portion of the upstairs lab is full of toxic fumes, don't breathe any of it in or your lungs might explode!"
Gaz nodded, hopping out of her chair and grabbing Iiek roughly by the arm, "Will do dad. We won't be gone long." She began walking out of the room, dragging Iiek behind her, the disguised girl nearly tripping over her feet to keep up.
They made their way into the hallway and then up the stairs, Iiek struggling to keep up all the while. As they entered the upstairs hallway, Gaz stopped, forcing Iiek to do so as well. She looked around, gazing at the doors on either side of the hallway, one was clearly Gaz's room if the dark purple paint and numerous skull stickers indicated anything. the other must have been Dib's.
Notably, there was no bathroom.
Iiek gazed around for another moment before looking back to Gaz and sighing, "I suppose you want an explanation-ACK!"
Gaz grabbed Iiek by the collar and lifted her up, pushing her against the wall and bringing her face close, snarling at the Irken, "Oh you think?! I told you to leave me out of whatever you were planning! Did you think that meant it was ok for you to go after my dad instead?!"
Iiek struggled against the other girl's grip for a moment before giving up. Her face felt hot and her heart was beating wildly at the other girl's closeness but she put it in the back of her mind. She needed to explain herself.
"I swear to you Gaz, I had no idea Membrane was your father. I only did surface level research into the man's life, I didn't even know he had kids!" She swore, imploring the other girl to believe her.
Gaz's amber eyes stared into her own, as if searching for something, before she scoffed, "So what, you were just gonna replace him without even knowing anything about his life? How bad at planning are you?"
What?
Iiek was confused, "Replace him? What are you talking about?"
The other girl looked just as confused as Iiek, "Your plan. You were going to replace dad and take over his company weren't you? That's what this whole meeting was about wasn't it?"
Iiek laughed at the statement. That's what she thought the Iiek was here to do?
"Are you kidding? Gaz I already have my hands full enough with my own company, I don't have the time to run another." She shook her head incredulously, "I was completely truthful in my intentions, a partnership with Membrane Technologies would be an incredible resource to fall back on should something happen to IRK Tech. Your father and I have been in talks for a while, I only came here to cement the deal. Nothing more, nothing less."
Gaz stared at her for another moment, amber gaze hard, before it softened along with her grip on Iiek's collar. "So you really aren't here to replace dad with a robot or something?"
Iiek shook her head, "Gaz if I had know Membrane was your father, I would have told you about this meeting long before it happened. I don't want you as an enemy." She turned her head to the side, "Quite the opposite really." She muttered, unheard by the girl in front of her.
There was a moment of silence where the two just stared at each other before Iiek cleared her throat, cheeks hot, "Not that I don't enjoy this, but maybe you could let me down before your father or brother come to check on us?"
Gaz's eyes widened before her grip loosened entirely, dropping Iiek to land in a crouch with a small thud.
Iiek rose up, adjusting her collar before looking at Gaz, the other girl staring at her with an unreadable expression. She looked away, clearing her throat once more, "Let's get back to the dinner shall we? You can use the phone I gave you to call me later tonight, I'll answer any questions you have then. Deal?" She held out her hand to shake.
Gaz stared at her hand for a moment before nodding slowly and reaching out with her own, "I'll hold you to that."
Iiek's heart began beating wildly once more as she held the other girl's pale hand in her own and she cursed in her head.
'What's going on with me?!' She yelled silently.
Iiek groaned as she recalled her body's reaction to the other girl. She had been extremely flustered by that confrontation and it had left noticeable effects. After their little encounter, even the smallest glance sent Iiek's head spinning, leaving her unable to muster a thought. It was both infuriating and confusing. Iiek knew other Irken, the few who had been able to find a mate, hadn't been nearly this enamored with their partner.
When she had arrived back at her base that night, she had immediately headed to her computer and accessed the galactic information network, hoping for any information on Irken courtship. She was nearly unsuccessful as the Tallest and the Control Brain had been extremely thorough in censoring all digital text on the matter.
They could not destroy all the physical copies however, and Iiek had been lucky enough to find a copy of a report on Irken mating rituals on the Vortian black market. She had no idea how the Vort had gotten ahold of something like that but she wasn't complaining.
It had cost her a pretty penny to get the report smuggled to her base on earth but in the end it had been worth it as Iiek found the cause of her problems in the datapad.
Apparently when Irkens find a suitable mate, their body undergoes a powerful chemical reaction, raising their emotions to an extremely high level to increase the chances of a successful courtship. Upon the courtship being completed, the Irken's brain undergoes a transformation making them loyal to their mate above nearly all else. This was what usually led to an Irken abandoning their mission in favor of their chosen mate, until the Tallest that is.
When the Tallest had taken power, they had updated the designs of the standard Irken PAK to include an emotional dampener. This not only made invaders less likely to abandon their mission, but it also made them more willing to follow orders, more willing to do what their beloved leaders said regardless of their own wellbeing.
Reading this had only increased the rage Iiek felt at her former leaders. It was also where she realized she had inadvertently shot herself in the foot metaphorically speaking.
When Iiek had left Conventia on her way to Kreesh, she had Modified her PAK to make it appear as if she had perished on the flight to her designated invasion planet. This had involved adjusting the PAK's hormonal reading so anyone observing her would believe she was nothing but space dust. Only to do this, she had to remove her emotional dampener.
Leaving her emotions unregulated and free to do what they wished.
Apparently her biology believed Gaz was a suitable mate for her, and had begun increasing her emotions accordingly, leading to an increasing infatuation with the purple haired girl despite only having known her for about two weeks.
Now normally, Iiek wouldn't really care, if she was to find a mate, she could do a lot worse than Gaz. The other girl was extremely intelligent in comparison to most people and her viciousness toward her fellow humans often left Iiek impressed. Yes, she could do a lot worse than Gaz.
The issue was, her increasing infatuation with the other girl had left Iiek unable to even think properly, something that she could not allow to continue if she wished to conquer the planet. Luckily, she already had a remedy for the issue.
Iiek turned back to the device she had been working on. It looked a large silver bracelet, though small slits in the bracelet danced with purple lights, indicating it's true nature. See, while Iiek couldn't and wouldn't repair the emotional regulator in her PAK, she could do the next best thing.
Make a new, better one.
Iiek picked up the bracelet and placed it around her wrist, it beeped for a moment before shrinking to fit snugly against her skin. She took a small breath and pressed a button on the surface of the device, wincing slightly at the sting of needles piercing her skin as began to monitor her hormone levels.
Her new EM bracelet would function as both an emotional monitor and a hormonal regulator. When her body began increasing her emotions in response to Gaz, the bracelet would bring them back down to normal levels, leaving her able to at least look at the girl without her heart feeling it was going to beat itself out of her chest.
Iiek startled as an alarm rang out behind her, the voice of her computer rang out, "Mistress, incoming call. Caller ID Gaz Membrane."
Iiek chuckled at the timing, 'Not a moment too soon.' she thought wryly before shouting out to the AI, "Put her on the lab screen." Mechanical arms extended from her PAK, raising her body up and moving her across the lab to the massive screen on the wall as the image of Gaz appeared on it.
As the Irken caught sight of her, her bracelet immediately beeped, indicating the rise in her emotions. Iiek dropped to the floor in front of the screen, wincing in discomfort as she felt her EM inject her with chemicals to bring her emotions back to normal levels.
"Gaz," She greeted the girl on screen, rubbing her wrist lightly, "I assume you've called to have your questions answered?"
The purple haired girl just stared at her in surprise. Iiek waited for a moment before looking around, wondering what had the other girl so shocked, "What? Do I have something on my shirt?" She asked, looking down in an attempt to locate the stain or piece of lint she believed was there.
Gaz stared a moment longer before shaking her head, "You aren't wearing a disguise."
Iiek nodded, a bit relieved that that what had shocked Gaz and not her disheveled appearance, "Yes well, you already know my true identity so I figure there is no reason to hide myself if it's just me and you. You don't mind do you? I can change if it makes you more comfortable." She said, a hand held to her wrist to reactivate her disguise.
Gaz shook her head, "No it's fine. I was just surprised. You look… different than how I thought you would."
Iiek grinned mischievously, "Better or worse? Nevermind, just knowing you're thinking about me is enough for me." She winked, immediately cursing in her head at her own actions.
'Why do I keep doing that?! I though the bracelet would stop all this flirting!' She thought desperately. She looked down at her wrist, thinking her EM was malfunctioning only to find it blinking normally, indicating it was working fine.
Back on the screen, Gaz opened her mouth to say something only to close it and look away, cheeks flushing slightly.
There was a moment of silence during which both girl's avoided the other's gazes before a beep on Iiek's bracelet brought her out of her trance. She cleared her throat, "So, what did you need? Are you calling to ask questions?"
Gaz startled slightly before shaking her head, "No. At least not those questions. Something else came up and I was wondering if you know anything about it."
Iiek's curiosity was peeked, "What is it?"
"Do you have a sister?"
Huh?
"What?" Iiek asked in confusion, "No, I don't."
"Well then we have a problem. There's this new girl in Dib's class who looks almost exactly like you, or at least your disguise. And apparently, she hates Zim as much as I hate everyone."
Iiek shook her head, "I created my disguise using the catalogue of faces and clothing my computer amassed by accessing government databases and meshed them together as it suited me. It's possible that this girl just happens to be one of the people I based my disguise on."
If that were true it would mean Iiek would have to either change her disguise to avoid suspicion or get rid of this new girl. Neither option she was really fond of as they would both cause issues for her. She turned to Gaz to get more information on the girl but was stopped by what she said next.
"Yeah well she also showed up in a spaceship. Apparently her dad's the CEO of the Weenie Corporation and just has one to take his daughter to skool or something." Gaz shrugged.
Iiek froze, mind racing. The Delicious Weenie Corporation had been an object of interest to the Irken since it created that massive hot dog stand downtown. Iiek would have dismissed the building as another human corporate venture but recently she had been detecting odd signals from the inside of the tower. At first she had thought it was coming from a machine inside the tower until she had actually examined the signals and was shocked at what she found.
All the signals coming from inside the tower were Irken in origin. And given Zim's complete lack of subtlety when it came to his attempts to conquer the earth so far, it was unlikely to be him.
She turned back to Gaz, "I need you to come to my base, I'll transmit the location to your phone. The earth might actually be in danger this time. You can bring your brother if you really need to."
Gaz scoffed, "As if. Dib's overjoyed that someone hates Zim as much as he does, he hasn't stopped talking about her since they met. He's gone off to meet her in the park or something."
The purple haired girl looked off to the side as the phone Iiek gave her beeped, she looked back at Iiek, "I'll be there in about an hour. See you then."
Iiek just nodded as the screen went black. She sat down in the chair at her side and took a deep breath, rubbing her wrist as her bracelet stopped injecting her with chemicals.
If this new girl was indeed Irken, then Iiek was basically screwed. The other girl would see through her disguise immediately and report her to the Tallest, leading to them sending a retrieval team to either bring her back to Irk or kill her on the spot. Iiek couldn't let that happen, she had spent too much time and too many resources to be stopped now.
No, she would have to get rid of this new girl. One way or another.
Iiek groaned as she realized something. She had just invited Gaz to her base, and if what she said was true, her brother wasn't coming. It would just be Iiek and Gaz. Alone. Together. In her base for an indeterminable amount of time.
'I'm doomed aren't I?' She thought in dismay.