A/N: T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring… except me, as I work hard to meet my self-imposed deadline for posting this epilogue. So, butchery of classic Yuletide poems aside, I present you with the end of "Evolution of Evil".

Oh, and on a side note that I forgot to mention last chapter, congrats to JoeMerl for correctly figuring out where I was going with the end of this story/the next part of the trilogy.

Disclaimer: I own Jana and Agent Yeti. Everyone else belongs to Jhonen Vasquez.

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Membrane Household, Two Weeks Later

Dib slowly flexed his arm; he had finally gotten it out of the sling, but his shoulder was still sore, and was sporting the latest addition to his scar collection.

"At least Jana didn't give me this one," he muttered with a sarcastic chuckle as he settled on the couch and flicked on the television.

As had been common for the past several weeks since the GESS invasion, all the news stations were talking about was either the new space defense programs being worked on jointly by the military and NASAPLACE to prevent any other aliens from attacking, or the few bits and pieces of alien technology that the SEN had managed to retrieve from the remains of Zim's base.

Dib's eye always twitched whenever any variation of that story ran. There hadn't been any "remains" of the base; the self-destruct had completely obliterated everything, right down to the tunnel the GESS had used to enter the city. The only Irken technology that had been salvaged was the escape pod from Zim's space station and the ruins of Tak's ship, and the only reason the SEN had those was because Dib had handed them over.

But according to Agent Yeti, Darkbooty and the other senior agents had decided that it would be better for public morale if an organization with connections to the government were seen handling all of the alien technology, rather than a lone minor who was known as the local wacko.

Speaking of which, the one bright side of this whole thing was that no one thought he was crazy anymore. Once it had been declared safe for Skool to be back in attendance, Dib had noticed that all the students who had once called him crazy were now looking at him with a newfound respect (except Torque, who had mysteriously disappeared and was now presumed dead).

Even his father was now stubbornly admitting that the GESS hadn't been a mass hallucination, and that his "poor, insane son" was actually right the whole time. And Gaz… well, Gaz was Gaz. What more could be said there?

However, despite all of this, Dib wasn't satisfied. Sure, people didn't think he was insane anymore and were more open to the paranormal – if only slightly – but that didn't comfort him any. Zim and Jana were still out there somewhere, plotting to take over the Irken Empire… and if they succeeded, how long would it be before they came back to Earth to finish what they started? Whatever happened, Dib wouldn't rest until he was sure the threat those two presented to his planet was neutralized.

'Well there's always that space program,' he thought, 'If they're serious about going into space using reverse-engineered tech, that's my best shot to get out there and find Zim. Shouldn't be too hard to talk Darkbooty into letting me in on that; the Network owes me that much…'

As Dib let his train of thought run its course, he knew one thing for sure. He was going to see this through to the end, no matter what that end was, or where it would ultimately take him.

XXXXXXX

Planet Vort, Prison Facility 724-DJ5, Same Day

Prisoner 777 stifled a bored yawn with one hand while his other one was waving a paddleball in the air. He'd had nothing to do lately; the Irkens hadn't required his "assistance" on any projects, and as for his less-than-legal side projects, he hadn't had any requests from Zim since he'd supplied him with that Electronic Security Field a couple of months earlier.

And from what he heard, he wouldn't be getting any more orders from Zim anytime soon. According to what he'd overheard the guards gossiping about, Zim had apparently been caught planning a coup against the Tallest, and had even killed Third Tallest Gor in the process… although, that bit was just speculation and rumor at this point. Gor's death hadn't been confirmed yet, but no one had heard from him since Zim's plans were exposed, so everyone just assumed he was dead.

In any case, 777 doubted he'd be hearing from Zim again, and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to help him. Before, whenever he handed over his inventions to the defective Invader, he could pass off his attempts at stirring up a little anarchy as aiding a loyal servant of the Empire. Now, however, he could be accused of treason – not that he was loyal to the Irkens to begin with, but still – and the punishment for treason was… rather unpleasant. And since 777 was fond of living, he wasn't going to take that kind of risk.

The Vortian's train of thought was cut off when there was a sudden commotion outside his cell. Jumping in surprise, he completely forgot about the paddleball he was holding, thus allowing the ball to overshoot the paddle and hit 777 in his eye.

"Ouch! Scmet la tidda!" he cursed, dropping the paddle and rubbing at his eye to relieve the pain.

While he was doing that, he heard the cell doors open and someone walk through. When his eyesight cleared, he found that a figure wearing a black cloak was now standing just a few feet away from him, its face hidden from sight by a hood. Behind the figure, in the doorway, 777 could make out the prone forms of the Irkens who had been guarding him… unconscious or dead, he couldn't tell.

The figure began walking towards him, and he quickly backed away, only to bump into the computer console that the Irkens had so "generously" equipped his cell with.

"Prisoner 777, I presume?" the figure asked, in a surprisingly feminine voice.

"Uh… yeah," he responded nervously, "Can I help you with some-UGH!"

He was cut off as the figure grabbed him by the throat and pulled him close; and, as he tried not to choke, he found himself looking into a pair of green Irken eyes.

Jana grinned evilly as the captive Vortian squirmed in her grip, making sure to bare as many of her teeth in the grin as she could. Upon making sure that the prisoner was focusing surely on her, she spoke.

"Lord Zim would like a word with you…"

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A/N: And that is that. Sorry it took until the latter half of the holiday to get up, but for some reason I had trouble working on Dib's scene.

Well, what do you all think? Have I properly set things up for the final part of this trilogy? In any case, I'm sure you'll all be on the lookout for Part 3, which has the working title of "Galactic Armageddon"… I really need to come up with a better title.

I'll probably have the first chapter out sometime next month. But first, I think I'll work on a few side projects I've been planning for a while.

Read and review! And Merry Christmas!