A/N: This is just a little something that came to me that I want to get out of the way before I get to work on my next big project. To be honest, I think I've read so many stories by Dibsthe1 that her attitude towards Gaz has rubbed off on me. So, here's my version of one of her "Karma Circle" stories, as a homage and tribute. Read on!

Disclaimer: This goes for the whole story - if it showed up on Invader Zim it belongs to Jhonen Vasquez. If not, it belongs to me.

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Karma Circle: Abduction

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Earth, Membrane Household, Living Room

14 year-old Gaz Membrane sat on her couch playing her GameSlave3, just as she did practically every other waking moment. Her moment of peace was interrupted when the front door opened and Dib walked in, looking a little disheveled.

"Hey Gaz!" he said excitedly, "Guess what happened!"

"Zim beat you up after you broke into his stupid base again?" Gaz asked, not really caring.

"No... Well, yes," Dib admitted with a shrug, "But that's not the big news. On the way back home I think I saw a bunch of leprechauns run into that abandoned house down the street. I was thinking maybe I could grab some of Dad's experimental hunting equipment, then head back out and-"

"Dib!" Gaz snapped, cracking open an eye to glare at her brother, "I'm almost to the final boss level. If you make me lose because of that big mouth of yours, I will make you PAY!"

Dib flinched a little, but continued, "But all I'm saying is that if I can catch those leprechauns, I can finally get some recognition in the scientific community. And if I have to get beat up by you to get there, that's worth it!"

Gaz actually paused the game, looked up at Dib, and smirked.

"Who said anything about beating you up?" she asked, "I meant I'd call the Crazy House and have them cart you off."

Dib paled. "You wouldn't."

"Yes I would," Gaz said, still smirking as she turned her attention back to her game, "I'm sure the psychiatrists will love to hear how you went chasing leprechauns after you got beat up by an alien."

Dib didn't say anything, but quickly left the room and headed downstairs towards their father's lab. Gaz didn't bother watching him go, but continued to smirk as she played her game. After all these years, she'd managed to reduce Dib to putty in her hands. They both knew how things worked - he'd do what she said, or she would make him suffer in some way or another.

But of course, there was one thing that Gaz had forgotten when she had established this little system of hers - karma. Karma: what goes around comes around; do good things and good things happen to you, but do bad things and bad things happen to you; etcetera, etcetera.

And, unfortunately for a certain violet-haired teen, a lifetime's worth of bad karma was about to bite her on the ass.

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Bridge, Research Vessel Wyyrlok, Low Earth Orbit, Same Time

Captain Mell-Dur of the Third Imperial Argeeonian Fleet stood by the viewport of his ship's bridge, looking down at the green-and-blue planet his vessel was currently orbiting. Turning one of his eyestalks towards his Scanners officer, he said, "Any sign we've been detected, Ensign?"

Ensign Suunkem shook his head.

"No sir," he replied, "I'm not picking up anything that can breach our cloak… but I am detecting some unusual energy readings just outside one of the cities we are currently above."

"Oh?" Mell-Dur asked, walking over to the Ensign, his tail dragging behind him.

Suunkem nodded as he pointed to his console screen, "These readings don't match up with the ones we're getting from the rest of the planet. Other than that, I can't tell you much, sir- these scanners are outdated pieces of flooka!"

The Ensign immediately clapped a clawed hand over his mouth as he remembered whom he was talking to.

But Mell-Dur merely patted the Ensign on the shoulder and laughed. "It's okay, Suunkem, you're right. This whole ship is an outdated piece of flooka. The only reason I even agreed to this assignment is because I'm scheduled to retire in another year or so, and I want a peaceful transition. And commanding scouting/research missions is the most peaceful way I can think of, even if that means getting the older equipment."

Before the conversation could continue, the doors to the bridge slid open, and another Argeeon entered.

"Ah, hello, Stre-Foo," Mell-Dur said offhandedly - he didn't really care for the ship's Chief Scientist. Come to think of it, he didn't really care for civilians at all, but he really didn't like this guy.

The feeling was apparently mutual, as Stre-Foo barely remembered to bow in respect to his commanding officer.

"Captain," he said, looking more at the planet outside the viewport than at Mell-Dur, "I thought I should inform you that my lab is prepared. When might I be obtaining a specimen of the planet's dominant species?"

"We just got here, Stre-Foo," Mell-Dur reminded, "Don't worry, you'll get your hairless primate soon."

Stre-Foo's cheek scales flattened in annoyance. "They're called 'humans,' Mell-Dur. Or didn't you pay attention to the transmissions we intercepted on the way here?"

The Captain raised his eyestalks towards the ceiling, the Argeeonion version of an eye roll. "Yes, I was paying attention," he sighed, "But that's what they are, no matter what they call themselves."

"I'm surprised you're not taking this more seriously, Captain," Stre-Foo admonished, "By studying the humans we learn their strengths and weaknesses. And once we know that, we can open the way for a full-scale invasion. I'm certain someone with your military record can appreciate that."

"I've been in three wars, Stre-Foo. I've gotten my fill of invasions," Mell-Dur said, but held up a claw to cut off the scientist's further arguments, and turned his attention back to Suunkem, "Ensign, locate a human who is isolated, so on one will notice their disappearance, and give the coordinates to the engineers down in the teleportation chamber. Tell them to teleport immediately."

Suunkem nodded and turned his attention back to his scanners. They were currently focused on the area from where the strange energy patterns were emanating- but he'd have to focus on that later. Broadening the scanners' range, Suunkem quickly found a human who was alone.

'Strange,' he thought, 'The transmissions indicated they were social creatures.'

But he simply shrugged it off and sent the coordinates to the teleportation chamber.

'This should prove interesting,' he said to himself.

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Earth, Membrane Household, Living Room, Several Minutes Later

Dib had quickly grabbed what he thought he'd need from Professor Membrane's basement lab and had then ran back out the front door, slamming it shut behind him.

'Good riddance,' Gaz thought, 'Now I can get some peace and quiet.'

How very wrong she was.

Just as she was about to slay the last Vampire Piggy standing between her and the final boss, the screen of her GameSlave3 flickered. Gaz blinked in surprise, and then the screen went dark completely.

"What the HELL?" she shouted - she'd just put fresh batteries in that morning. It couldn't just die on her.

It was then that Gaz looked up, and saw to her further surprise that all the lights in the house were also going out. And it wasn't just the lights - everything electronic was shutting down. The television she'd had on for background noise flickered off, one of her father's hover-screens deactivated and fell to the floor, and all the kitchen appliances switched off.

Suddenly, Gaz noticed something else unusual - two other things unusual, actually. One was that there was a bright light coming in through the windows, which didn't make any sense seeing as it was nine o'clock at night. The other was that the light was accompanied by a loud humming noise that seemed to come from every direction at once.

Even as she noticed these things, they started growing in intensity. Soon they grew to a point that Gaz's head began to throb. Dropping her GameSlave to the floor, Gaz shut her eyes and clapped her hands over her ears. However, it didn't do any good. The light grew so bright that it pierced through her eyelids, and the humming grew so loud it penetrated her hands and nearly shook her eardrums apart. Finally being unable to stand it anymore, Gaz let out a scream - or maybe not, it was hard to tell with the noise - and blacked out.

Almost immediately afterwards, the light and the sound died down. A few moments later, the lights and other electronics in the house came back to life. The GameSlave3 lying on the floor switched back on, its screen broadly declaring 'GAME OVER!' However, there was no one to read the message.

The room was completely empty.

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A/N: And there's part one. It'll get more exciting later on, I promise. It'll also live up to its rating… which may have to go up. We'll wait and see.

Oh, and Dibsthe1, I hope you don't mind me using your title for this story. But since this is a homage to your work, it seemed fitting.

Anyway, read and review!