Alien Invasion

"Hey!" Madison said. "Did you guys see the new kid? Can you believe that they let a Case 53 come to Winslow?"

Sophia shrugged. "Guess they figured that the freak would fit in better with a freakshow like this than Arcadia."

Emma held back a laugh. "Oh my gosh, you can't just call Case 53's freaks. What if he hears you? You might hurt his poor little feelings."

Sophia rolled her eyes. "I'm not calling him a freak because he has green skin and no ears. I'm calling him a freak because—"

"FOOLS!" someone shouted from down the hall. "INSOLENT EARTH SLUGS! I told you, I am a PERFECTLY NORMAL EARTH CREATURE like yourselves! Are you questioning the GREAT ZIM? YOU WILL RUE THE DAY YOU QUESTIONED ZIM! NOW START RUING! YOU! AND YOU! Not you, Wally, you're fine. BUT YOU MOST OF ALL!"

"Because he's a freak," Sophia finished.

"Yeah, that's fair," Emma agreed.

Down the hall, the new kid was swarmed with other students. Zim was on the short side with so much gel in his hair he looked like he was wearing a plastic wig, and honestly shouldn't have attracted so much attention even with his green skin. But she knew better than anyone the allure of meeting someone with honest-to-God super powers, and even being a gross little goblin man couldn't counteract that.

"What do you think his powers are?"

Sophia gave her a glance. "Hmm?"

"His powers," Emma repeated. "I mean, it's gotta be more than just being gross looking."

"Oh. Tinker."

"Tinker?"

Sophia nodded. "Tinker. Seen his backpack? I saw it sprout mechanical legs a while ago when he was trying to push through a crowd. Pretty sure there was a laser gun on it."

"A tinkertech backpack, huh?" Emma grinned. "Let's steal it."

Normally Sophia never needed any encouragement, but this time she balked. "What? No. That's insane. No."

"Come on, Sophia. He's new. He'll never be more insecure or more vulnerable than he is right now."

"She has a point," Madison agreed. "Strike while the iron's making a terrible first impression on everyone he meets. At least, that's what my mom always says."

"First of all," Sophia said, "I never understood your mother's sayings. Second, there are a dozen reasons why you should never steal tinkertech, and they all end with you dying horribly. It could have a tracking device, a self-destruct mechanism, no safeties or automatic cooling systems ..."

"You know a strangely large amount about tinkertech," Madison said.

Sophia floundered for a moment, and Emma knew that her friend's immediate response would be to yell or threaten (when never squelched suspicion), so she stepped in. "Her brother's a huge nerd."

Sophia shot her a glance that, while maybe not grateful, was at least appreciative. "Like you wouldn't believe."

"Really?" Madison said. "The hot one?"

Sophia scowled. "I only have one brother."

Madison nodded. "So it is the hot one. Good to know.''

"Look, you little—"

"So are we doing this or not?" Emma interrupted.

"No! God, Emma, you know I'm always up for hazing new kids, but the last thing you want to do with a tinker is mess with his tech. That's how you die."

Emma felt a smile creep across her face. Sophia might know more than her about capes, but this was Emma's domain. This was high school. And yes, Winslow might have been a complete dump of a high school, but it was hers, and in her territory, Emma always won.

"Wanna bet?"

WWW

"Hey, Zim, right?"

Zim turned around sharply. "Who DARES demand the time of the mighty ZIM?"

"Uh, Taylor, and you don't need to shout. Um, did you take out Emma's brain, leave it on Mr. Quinlan's desk, and replace it with a stapler?"

Zim stared at the disgusting human creature who approached him. "Who?"

"Redhead? Plays into the soulless ginger stereotype? Dragged you away into an empty classroom for some 'private business' then came out a minute later walking like a zombie?"

"Oh, that one. No, of course not! I've never even seen that FILTHY HUMAN!" He hesitated. "Why? What have these disgusting earth slugs been saying about me?"

Taylor shrugged. "Nothing really. But Emma has been making clicking noises a lot recently, and now her head rattles when you shake it. Also I saw Mr. Quinlan slamming a brain into his desk last period trying to staple papers together, so, yeah. And I get that, I do, I've wanted to rip out her brain more than once, but in the future, you know, if you ever feel like removing other people's vital organs, like, you know, Sophia or Madison as a random example, no pressure, you might want to drop them off in the cafeteria instead of just leaving them wherever. I don't think even the cooks know what's in the mystery meat, so, you know ..." She shrugged again.

Zim held back the impulse to berate the human for her impertinence. She was tall, so there was a chance that she had a point. "I, the mighty ZIM, will take your words under consideration. Now be off with you! Your stink disgusts me."

"That's kind of mean, but okay. I guess I'll see you around."

WWW

A/n And here's a Worm/Invader Zim crossover. Man, I loved that show growing up. It was great.