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waywardstraysau · 1 year

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Stalker

By Mod Nightmare

Part 1

DT acquires two devoted “followers” that fight each other for his approval through the age old pastime of stalking.

He refuses to call them his kids, but they are, in fact, his kids.

…….

The evening air was crisp and fresh, a very nice change from home, no matter which one I referred to. The sun was just beginning to set, and the shadows were already stretching out to swallow up whatever they could reach.

This made traversing the long corridors of the school a much simpler affair. No need to look out to pick and choose what shadow to flit to, I could stay submersed in the comforting darkness and travel wherever I wished, as quickly as I wished, with no need to stop.

Yet, I stopped frequently.

After all, when people thought they were alone, you could learn some pretty juicy information just from observing them, or listening in on hushed conversations over their shoulders, with nobody the wiser about your presence. I knew a lot more about the goings on of the student body than people gave me credit for, but out of respect, most of the things I learned, I kept to myself.

Unless it was something hilarious, like Cunningham getting his scarf caught on a ceiling light playing Spider-Man, then getting stuck in an awkward position for thirty minutes trying to free himself. But hey, when you play stupid games and win the dumbass medal instead of a Darwin Award, somebody’s gonna talk about it.

The genuine laughter I got out of Jack from the story made telling it all the sweeter.

That evening, however, I happened upon a rather interesting find in the form of a bespectacled kid with large glasses and a trench coat, talking about… me, or at least the concepts of alternate timelines I brought with me. The boy was younger than I was, maybe in his early preteens, walking with an even younger girl who didn’t seem to be listening to his infodump, too wrapped up in her gaming system.

Siblings, if I had to guess, otherwise I didn’t think the creepy girl would be seen anywhere near the older boy.

“Seriously, this could change everything we know about the universe as a whole, Gaz! Just, consider it! How many timelines are out there? What produces them?” he blabbed, scribbling in a notebook that was clearly a work in progress, but had some interesting tidbits from what I could read over his shoulder. “I wish I knew about this discovery sooner! If only my request to be put in older kids group hadn’t been denied, I would’ve been one of the first to know!”

“What would that have accomplished? Last time I checked, you didn’t even know that a witch even attended this school until, like, today,” the creepy girl, Gaz?, hissed, rather coldly, and I found myself wrinkling my nose in sheer distain. The utter hostility in her tone did not improve my impression of her. “Then you scared him off with your questions, so I DOUBT any other version of him would give you the time of day”

“… at least you listened to me this time,” the boy responded, looking visibly beaten down as he put his pencil into his book, tucking it in his little trench coat, “And, as always, you’re probably right, the rush job on my interrogation probably squandered any chances I had of performing my own investigation”

“Thank the stars for that, you become insufferable when you fixate on the paranormal,” the girl scoffed, turning off into another corridor, still wrapped up in her game.

The boy did not follow. If “Gaz” noticed, she didn’t seem to care, walking out of sight without any further commentary.

The hallway fell silent after a few moments, the sounds of the girl’s game having faded into nothing. The boy simply sighed and scuffed his boot against the ground, looking downtrodden, if not crushed by the other’s words.

“Geez, that girl has issues,” I hummed casually, startling the shit out of the kid as I stepped into the corridor proper, ruffling his rather oddly styled hair, “Should’ve sought me out first, kid, I would’ve gladly answered some questions if I had time.”

The boy stared up at me wide eyed when I withdrew my hand, taking in my appearance.

“You- you’re-“

“The alternate timeline Hunter you were just talking about, yes,” I hummed, drawing a circle in the air. The boy flinched as his notebook flew out of his pocket and hovered in front of me, snapping open so I could leaf through it a bit. “You’ve got some nice notes here, better than any so-called “professional” I’ve run across. Well, except Ford, but that guy has like thirty years of experience on you.”

“Ford let you see his notes?!” the boy asked excitedly, ignoring my compliment and making no move to get his journal back.

“Well, no, I tend to read over his shoulder a lot when I can,” I hummed, raising my eyebrow at a sketch of what looked to be a rather gory vivisection of a small green figure, who was screaming in pain. I chose to ignore it as I turned over to the next page, where there was a diagram of a little blue robot in some kind of green animal costume, which I turned around to show the younger boy. “What’s this supposed to be? I haven’t seen anything like it here”

“…. Do you want a short explanation or do you have time for a long story?” the kid asked, tilting his head. I chuckled, letting him take the book back before I sat down against the wall next to him.

“I got nowhere to be”

…………

Zim had a follower.

The invader was unsure when it had started, but recently, an oddly colored earth beast had started tailing him. It didn’t matter where he decided to go, if he felt he was being watched, he simply had to turn around, and there it was.

Staring.

It had become so unnerving, he’d started threatening the beast with whatever weaponry he had on hand.

Yet it seemed unfazed. Disinterested. As if the might of Irken military grade weaponry was no threat to it.

Not even when it was actively being shot at. The creature would just seem to vanish, only to show up later and resume its staring.

Zim could swear it looked amused in those instances.

As if he was being toyed with.

Played for a fool.

At this point, the invader was becoming truly unnerved. Especially since the creature had started infiltrating buildings, showing up in different rooms around Skool, just out of reach for any curious or fascinated children who might wish to touch it, calling it “cute” and “fluffy”.

Disgusting.

The situation came to a head when Zim walked into his underground base to find the creature had broken in and was now sitting on his computers dashboard.

“HOW?!” the Irken screeched, spreading his palms out towards the creature that continued to stare him down, unfazed by his yelling. Disturbed, and a bit freaked out by the set of magenta eyes gleaming in the dim light, the Irken whirled around and screamed to the ceiling. “COMPUTER! How did that beast get in here!? Who gave it access!?”

“Access was not granted, the creature showed up approximately two earth hours ago with no discernible point of entry,” Zim’s occasionally snarky AI replied, which did not alleviate the his discomfort in the slightest, “It proceeded to wander around the base in your absence, and any measures taken to remove or incinerate the intruder proved futile”

Zim swore in his most natural language, whirling back around and stomping over to the dashboard, slamming his hands down on the flat surface and meeting the creatures gaze head on.

“I bet you play me as a fool in your simple little mind, don’t you?” he hissed, baring his teeth at the stoic creature, “Computer, run a deep scan on this thing, I want to know about everything you find”

The invader held eye contact while the scan processed, not even daring to blink, knowing that if he did, the little menace would take the opportunity to disappear on him again before he could get answers. The beast did not speak, but he knew it had to be hiding something, as no earth creature aside from the Dib came close to breaking into his base, yet the little monster had managed to do what no other could.

“Scan Complete. Species Designation: Unknown. Appears to not be of biological origin,” the AI finally spoke up, and with the announcement, the creature diverted its gaze away from the Irken, appearing almost… startled.

The invader took the opportunity to attempt to grab at the creature, to be rid of it for good, but just as his claws made contact with its fur, it jumped back with an angry hiss, clawing at his hands and managing to nick the skin. The Irken hissed and withdrew from his attempt to grab the beast, cradling his bleeding hand.

“Filthy animal” he growled, ordering a limb on his PAK to hand him a weapon, but before he could draw it out, the now infuriated beast snarled and vanished, its final cry echoing around the cavernous lair.

Zim was finally alone, a relief he didn’t know he needed. With a deep sigh, he let himself relax for the first time in days, sinking into the chair that came up behind him.

“Sir, there is one other thing,” his AI spoke up, shattering the silence, much to Zim’s annoyance.

“I swear by the Tallest-“

“There were traces of DNA from multiple humans in the creature’s fur, four have brought back hits from Earths various medical and criminal databases,” the computer continued, unperturbed by his masters annoyance, and Zim sat up with interest as the files were pulled up on screen, “Qi Xiaotion, an underage Chinese citizen who went missing fourteen years ago, pronounced dead twelve years ago. Jackson Spicer, underage dual citizen of both China and America, went missing six months ago, has a criminal record involving multiple counts of vandalism. Luz Noceda, underage American Citizen, no further information, and finally-“

…………..

Dib was having a rather good time as of late.

The young paranormal investigator never really had anyone in his life who actually wanted him to talk about his interests, not counting the school therapist, Sasha. Usually, everyone just wanted him to be quiet, finding his mere presence a nuisance, even if they never actually voiced that.

So when the shadow-y Hunter popped up that one day a few weeks before, interested in him and his research journal, he’d ended up spending hours telling stories of his hometown. From his fights with Zim, the alien hellbent on conquering earth despite his increasingly obvious incompetence, to the sad tale of chickenfoot, the man trapped in a mascot costume for decades. It went on so long, the sun had gone down, yet the older boy hadn’t seemed to mind.

Since then, Hunter would show up almost daily to talk with him, sometimes disguised as another student or an animal. Whether it be the paranormal or just how Dib’s day was going, he was always friendly and willing to listen. Hunter even asked his own questions about Dib’s life and research entries if he didn’t feel like he had anything interesting to say. If that didn’t produce any meaningful conversation, he’d turn into a small animal and demand Dib set up an obstacle course for him in the pillow fort room to run, as a kind of game

That day was one of those occasions, the teenager had taken the form of a particularly fluffy cat, the same shades of purple that his hair was, with a little flame-like pattern at the end of its tail. Hunter had built himself up a rather impressive tower of pillows using nothing but his paws, playing a game of trying to trick Dib into giving away what could be expected from the course from upon his perch. Dib, in turn, had to answer every question posed to him, without giving away anything about what his construction would entail.

In DT’s opinion, it was a genius way to teach others how to keep their information to themselves in an interrogative scenario. He’d played a similar game with his own King, before…

Nope.

Still a raw wound of loss there. He wasn’t dumb enough to prod at something so fresh.

“You know, I think you’re the only guy who’s actually listened to me when I talked about Zim being an alien,” Deb mentioned, bringing the teen witch back to reality. He flicked an ear as the young boy kept talking, sounding a little defeated. “People just thought I was crazy-“

“Are you shi- kidding me!?” Hunter interrupted, jumping up with a hiss and causing Dib to knock over part of the course in surprise. The witch had never shown such raw emotion, it really caught the young investigator off guard as he turned to stare at the cat, who was fluffed up with an angry tail twitch. “¿Tenían la cabeza en el culo?! I saw ONE picture and even I could tell that kid wasn’t REMOTELY human!”

“Well, I’ve always suspected-“

Dib did not get to finish whatever he was about to say.

In an instant, a flurry of green had busted through a wall, grabbing Dib by the collar of his shirt as it rose up on spindly metal legs, snarling with the fury of the scorned.

“I KNEW YOU HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THAT BEAST!” Zim shrieked, having somehow broken into the school without anyone catching him, shaking the bespectacled boy like a ragdoll, “Your little pet has been harassing me for WEEKS, you insufferable WORM!”

“What are you- I don’t have a pet!” Dib shouted back, squirming as a gun came out of the PAK, aimed directly at the center of his forehead.

“YOU LIE!” the Irken screeched, charging his weapon up to fire-

Then was promptly choke slammed into the opposing wall, forcing the invader to drop Dib before his skull slammed against the plaster, leaving a sizable dent that left him out cold.

The invader fell limply to the floor as Hunter released his head, staring at his unmoving form with distain.

“How did he even find me?” Dib finally spoke up after a few moments, unnervingly quiet.

“I broke into his base,” Hunter admitted, lightly kicking at the limp body to check for consciousness, “Little shit probably put a tracker on me or something before I left”

“Why were you-“

“I was trying to make him think he was losing his mind, or have others think he was crazy,” Hunter admitted, grabbing the invader by the PAK and lifting him up in the air, his whole body still limp, “A kind of mental torture, I was pretty pissed when you told me about the “Organ Harvest” incident at your school, figured he deserved some consequences for it”

“Why didn’t you just kill him, then?” Dib questioned, tilting his head as Hunter slung the invader over his shoulder, stepping over some pillows that had been strewn about, heading for the door. “Hunter?”

The young witch had stopped at the door, quiet for a few moments, before turning his head to speak to Dib again.

“… You have a lot to learn about the world, Dib. Be glad you’ve been able to see everything in black and white for this long,” he finally replied, magenta eyes downcast and… almost sad. “Tell Stanford that Zim broke in, I’ll be in Jack’s lab.”

With that, Hunter vanished, leaving the young investigator in solitary quiet.

#wayward strays au #wayward strays #the owl house #toh hunter #hunter toh #wayward tides #dib membrane #zim iz #DT the teen dad lmao

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