Author's Note: This story is dedicated to the writer who urged me to pull this idea out after it fell by the wayside and write it. Let's hear a big hand for Dibsthe1!

Disclaimer: Jhonen Vasquez and Nickelodeon Studios own "Invader Zim" and all related stuff, except for the Destinies, who are mine.

Chapter 1: Someone Watching

Cruelty is a strange thing. It lurks in the crevices of the human mind, waiting for the right opportunity to present itself. When it senses that one feels vulnerable, it attempts to seduce them in the false and twisted logic that they can feel better by making another feel as they did. Those among us who are moral and righteous strive find the strength we all have to overcome the urge to be cruel, if we are unfortunate enough to come face to face with it.

Not everyone will turn from cruelty though. Some may be lost; some may embrace it; though we all have a conscience. To illustrate the latter, the case of one overpowering girl and her victimized brother could be considered.

This story starts in a suburban neighborhood, in the less hectic outskirts of the bustling city. In the more urban areas of the city, nightfall brought an intense dazzling of light and noise pollution. But the suburbs being focused on had more peaceful nights—less perfect for slipping off and hiding from one's enemy while spying on them, but Dib made do, since his was the task Earth's fate rested on.

Click. Beep. Whir. Hum. Click click. Whirring. A long hum. Beep. Beep.

"I think it works," Dib gave a pleased smile. "Gaz, it works!"

The individual he had addressed gave no response as she sat quietly on the nearby couch, her own electronic device beeping as her spidery fingers hit colored buttons with the same speed and accuracy that her brother had displayed on the machine he held in his arms.

"This is going to be awesome!" Dib squeezed his eyes shut in a moment of rapture, not caring that his sister wasn't paying attention. "I'm going to stop Zim this time! Dad helped me with the blueprints on my new robotic camera! It can sneak around Zim's house unseen and I can control it with a remote! Isn't that cool, Gaz? Huh? Huh?"

He grinned from ear to ear at her, but when she didn't bat an eyelash, he decided to go on to his mental checklist of supplies.

"Okay, so there's the camera-check, cloaking device-let's see-check…" He ran through a number of items relevant to his escapade, searching his person for each one and vocally checking them off. Gaz finally reached the end of her game's eighteenth level, promptly saved her progress, and switched the Gameslave 2 off before turning her focus to studying her brother as he spoke.

"…two-way walkie-talkie watch-check…is that all?" He met with his sister's eyes as if she would know the answer. Gaz didn't respond, so transfixed was she on the boy. He raised an eyebrow in question, and finally, she answered.

"I don't like the size of your head," she stated bluntly.

"Er, my head?" Dib frowned. Having his head's mass mentioned out of the blue was not a surprise, but it had always confounded him how many seemed interested only in an insignificant aspect of his physical appearance. Countless ideas or clever bits of knowledge had flown right by quite a few people simply because Dib could not seem to draw their attention to what he had to say rather than the few inches in circumference that his head had on theirs.

"It's so big," Gaz continued, "Didn't you ever once consider that it might annoy people?"

The older sibling blinked. It certainly wasn't as if it was his own fault he was born with the head he had.

"It's not like Dad's head is big," his sister went on, "and mine isn't. So why is yours?" She stared at him accusingly.

"I don't know," Dib answered, "I didn't make it that way. Look, Gaz, I've really got to go before the night gets too late and I get too tired to focus—"

The girl silenced him with an elaborate gesture of the hand and leapt off of the sofa to approach him. Dib stood apprehensively, aware of his sister's unpredictability. She calmly took hold of his face, despite him jerking back.

"I wish it was smaller," Gaz fantasized aloud. Before Dib knew it, though, she tackled him to the ground and bashed the side of his head on the floor.

"Gaz!" the boy screamed breathlessly. His eyes, wide with terror, asked the rest of the question.

"Maybe I can chip a piece off this way," she answered, and slammed his head again and again onto the floor. Satisfied with her work, she released him from her hold. Dib got to his feet dizzily.

"Gaz, you could give me brain damage that way!" he turned to her furiously.

Showing no remorse, the girl smirked. "Would that make you shut up?"

Dib's head throbbed too much for him to answer. He looked over at the equipment that had fallen.

"Well, go ahead," Gaz urged in a tone that was more taunting than encouraging. "Go save the world from Zim."

"Not tonight," Dib held his head and rubbed it. "I don't feel up to it."

Gaz, pleased with her "victory", watched him trudge out of the room. Not content with this, though, she took the robotic camera that still lay on the ground and tossed it at the wall.

What Gaz didn't know, however, was that she wasn't alone on that cool, quiet night. In a distant place, worlds away, another dark room was dimly lit by a television-like screen, where two dark shadows, barely visible against their surroundings, looked on intently. A clear picture showed the young girl's actions, and the shadows silently watched until she went to bed.

"How horrible," one said in disbelief, her smooth voice echoing in the room.

"You see?" the other said in disgust, "She's gone on like this for such a long time, and we've just watched. Why haven't you let anyone fetch her yet? Why haven't we begun with her?"

The first shadow didn't react to the passion in his words. "Look at her aura. She's too strong to be taken yet."

"We always wait until the accused one's aura has weakened enough." Anger rose in the second's voice. "That's how we lose so many of the beings we want to protect."

The first considered it for a moment. "I guess you're right," she agreed, "I'll go fetch her."

"No," the second stated. "I'll go fetch her. I've been waiting for this for quite a while."

"Very well," The first nodded, and the second returned the nod, swept out of the room, and was on his way.