Night Author here, as you probably knew…I decided to write a story, so here's the result! Enjoy
Disclaimer: I am sure I do not stand alone in saying these are a pointless legal technicality! But nonetheless, I don't own Jimmy Neutron or any other related characters. Go on gloat! WELL YOU DON'T EITHER! I also have to say that this is an action story, action isn't usually my thing, but here goes.
The Fight For Freedom
Chapter One:
Camping
January 2007:
"Damn it Jimmy, you don't have to be a hero…you don't need to be some martyr. Why can't you ever just run, or give up. There's nothing cowardly about saving your own skin, don't do it! For me…please, the world needs you Jimmy…" Cindy pleaded tears running down her dirty face and mixing with the blood there, stinging her cuts. Her normally immaculate blond hair was askew, uncombed and dirty, she had one black eye, her shirt was torn and scorched and instead of her normal capris, she wore padded pants that were roughed up and scarred combat boots.
"I have to Cind, you were right, the world needs me, and I can't let them down." He said hoarsely, his face was even more cut and bruised than hers and part of his messy hair was scorched and he was wearing what appeared to be a light blue flight suit, his black boots pitted and scarred and his eyes bore the look of one who has seen too much, it was a look that no kid should ever have.
"The world needs you ALIVE Jimmy, don't do it, for me, I won't be able to live without you." She begged, crying harder now.
"I have to Cind, just know that I love you, and tell the others goodbye, don't cry to hard for me Cindy…I love you, with all my heart, I always have." He said solemnly strapping his submachine gun to his belt and putting a handgun in a low-slung holster
"No! I'm coming with you."
"No you're not!" He said, "You can't die, I can't bare to be the one to cause you to die, don't you understand, you need to live, they need you…you have too much to live for."
"So do you, if not more! You can save the world without dying Jimmy, just give up, we can pull out again, we always have, don't do it." She said pleadingly.
He looked at the slightly pitted circular steel hatch and picked up a polarized helmet from by his feet.
"I have to do this, I understand if you want to come, but I can't let you." He said
"Well you can't stop me either." She replied.
"No Cindy, even if I wanted you to come, it would be too much weight, we would both die for sure, you can't come Cindy.
"Than let me go instead." She insisted.
"NO! I can't let you, this is something I have to do!" He said insistently, and she knew whatever she could say wouldn't change his mind, he would, as always put others before himself, insist on being a hero, and saving the world.
Then they both, boyfriend and girlfriend, who would have been husband and wife, had fate not cruelly intervened, kissed with a passion that eclipsed anything before it and when they broke apart, Jimmy's face bore a sad but determined expression, the kind that soldiers who go to a war they know they aren't coming back from wear. As he put on the helmet, he smiled at her one last time, and threw the men standing behind her a salute, before pressing the button that would unseal the hatch and slowly descending, closing it behind him, locking it permanently.
The Present; June 2nd 2006:
"Jimmy, will this be like that time we went camping with your dad?" Carl asked for what seemed to be thee fourteenth time.
"No Carl, this time we'll have all of my inventions…and a luxurious tent." Jimmy said for what he was sure was more than fourteen times.
"Will there be vampires?" Sheen asked.
"No Sheen."
"Aw man!"
"Well will there be aliens?" Sheen asked.
"Maybe." Jimmy said, trying to fit one more bag into the hovercar's trunk.
"Yes!" Sheen said, pumping his fist.
"Jimmy, I'm allergic to aliens, and why aren't you using your hyper thingamajigy?" Carl asked tentatively.
"It was confiscated by the CIA when we were in China." Jimmy said, the injustice of it stung him.
"How was I supposed to know that creating a four dimensional molecule was a class one felony there?" He protested.
"Yeah but we got out okay eh Jim." Carl said, he was trying to help, they had been chased by ten Chinese soldiers all the way to the American Embassy, dodging bullets, it seemed a lot for just a Hyper-cube, but apparently Sheen had also attacked the owner of a Robo-fiend store as well.
"Are you guys ready yet?" They heard Libby say, Jimmy looked up to see Libby and Cindy, he was dazzled by how beautiful she looked and his shirt caught on fire.
"What the hell!" He shouted slapping at the flames and succeeding in putting them out.
"Oh, sorry Jimmy." Sheen said, holding up a miniature tank of super-condensed propane.
Jimmy grabbed it before he could light anything else on fire and stowed it away under a seat.
The new hovercar was larger and resembled the Astro-Car they had won on that Alien game show with Meldar.
"Alright, I think we're all set…" Jimmy said, scanning the bags and other equipment and making sure everything was there.
"So where are we camping again Jimmy?" Cindy asked, causing everyone to turn instantly.
"Did she just-"
"Chill out." Jimmy said; it was taking everyone a while to get used to the fact that they were over their denial and were now going out.
"Anyway, we're going camping in the Adirondacks in upstate New York." (Cool mountains, I went camping there once…it was awesome, tough but awesome).
The gang was fifteen, almost sixteen, except Sheen who was already sixteen and the school year had just finished.
Jimmy was the only one who had a job, as you need to be sixteen to be hired, he was an exception and worked for the National Security Administration's International branch, this branch worked with the CIA they were the real "secret agents" the ones that went to other countries, tracked down killers bent on world domination, broke into corrupt government headquarters and saved the world, and they paid well. Jimmy was what you might call a part-time secret agent, working on a commission basis; other countries' governments also occasionally hired him out as well. He also had a carry permit and was licensed to make arrests in most democratic countries and all involved in the UN. (A carry permit is a license to carry a firearm; Jimmy's is a license to carry a concealed firearm)
Sheen was just too lazy to work, and who would hire him?
"Alright, let's hit the road, figuratively of course as we'll be-" Jimmy started.
"We get it." The others said in unison.
"Shotgun!" Sheen yelled, diving through the door to this chair.
"Actually Sheen there are two shotgun seats, which means that," Carl began to say.
"I'll be taking the other one." Cindy finished, going in to sit in the co-pilot's chair, Jimmy walked in and took the pilot's chair of course and Carl and Libby got the others. Sheen shut the door and they took off.
A half an hour later they were landing to get some lunch and let Sheen use the bathroom.
"Oh come on!" Sheen practically yelled hopping from one foot to the other outside of the men's room.
"HURRY UP!" He shouted, banging on the door.
"Um Sheen, you were pulling instead of pushing." Jimmy said, turning the handle and pushing the door open to demonstrate.
"Oh." Sheen said, slightly embarrassed, he quietly walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.
"Well I…" Jimmy started to say but stopped, he had seen something out the window of the convenience store they had stopped at. He turned away from Cindy and dashed through the front doors, pulling out his gun.
"Freeze! NSA!" Jimmy shouted, flashing a badge. He had seen a man attempting to kidnap a ten-year-old kid.
"I am licensed to use deadly force. If you so much as try to move I'll put a bullet through your spine." Jimmy said threateningly. "Let the kid go and I don't kill you. Drop the gun and slowly put your hands behind your head." He said, leveling his Sig Sauer handgun at the man's forehead.
The would-be kidnapper seemed to contemplate this for a second, he started to raise his hands, but dropped to the floor and fired his revolver at Jimmy.
Jimmy dove to the side, rolled and came up again, shooting the man's hand, purposely not shooting to kill.
The shot sent the man's gun spinning away and he keeled over clutching a freely bleeding hand, blood immediately covering his arm.
Jimmy ran over and pulled out one of his inventions, he aimed the device at the man's hand and pulled a red trigger, surgical lasers healing the wound, he then injected the man with a blood replacement and handcuffed his hands behind his head, attaching them to a band he put around the man's neck.
Jimmy replaced the device, which looked like a hand-held camcorder in his pocket but didn't holster his gun.
"Call the cops kid, tell em an NSA agent got someone trying to kidnap you and to send someone to the corner Eight Eleven ASAP." He told the petrified ten-year-old, tossing him his cell phone.
By now, a crowd had gathered, including Libby, Carl and Cindy, Sheen was still in the bathroom he surmised.
The police had arrived surprisingly quickly, it took only two minutes before two police cars with sirens blaring pulled up, Jimmy waved his hand to get everyone to stop clapping for him as the officers got out of the two cars.
"NSA." Jimmy told the lead one, showing him his ID badge. "I got this one trying to kidnap this kid, it doesn't matter if he pleads not guilty, we've got three eyewitnesses, and I filmed the whole thing." Jimmy told them, tapping his sunglasses to indicate a hidden camera there.
"I'll send you the film." He said, pointing out the three people who had been in the parking lot, "There are your witnesses." He said. The three nodded vigorously, anxious to help put away someone who would have kidnapped such an innocent child.
It took ten minutes for the officers to get his statement, but then they were off again, and this time they flew nonstop to their campsite in the Adirondacks mountain range.
"Wow Jim." Carl said as they landed, he had been silent the whole rest of the trip, "That was pretty cool, and brave." He said.
"Thanks Carl, but it really wasn't much, trust me, It'd make my job a hell of a lot easier if all I had to do was that, I had to break into Iran's Intelligence headquarters last week without anyone knowing anyone had been there…" He said, massaging a particularly bad bruise on his shoulder from a twenty-foot fall.
"But enough of that, come on, let's have fun." He said enthusiastically, and they started to set up camp.
It only took around fifteen minutes to get the campsite set up, with two huge tents, one for Cindy and Libby and the other for Jimmy, Sheen and Carl as well as a mammoth pavilion that housed the TV, kitchen area, armchairs, room for a fire and was home to Jimmy's holographic butler.
"Whoa." Was Sheen's reaction, whoa just about summed up the campsite Jimmy thought.
Later that night, they were all sitting around the campfire, playing truth or dare and eating s'mores.
"Alright Sheen, truth or dare?"
"Dare." Sheen said instantly.
"I dare you to…sing Aretha Franklin as loud as you can." Jimmy said, he wasn't able to think up anything better at the moment, but laughed all the same at Sheen's horrendous attempt.
"Alright, Carl, truth or dare?" Sheen asked.
"Truth." Carl said nervously attempting to hide behind his llama pillow and curling up in his armchair.
"Who do you want to date in our year?" Sheen asked.
Carl winced, but he knew this would happen eventually.
He tried to say the name as quietly as possible.
"What was that again Carl?" Sheen asked tormentingly.
"Ashley." Carl said in a soft voice, Ashley was the new girl, quiet and shy but very pretty.
Sheen fell off his chair laughing and Cindy's eyes widened, but Libby had known, she always knows. Jimmy thought ruefully.
Sheen recovered and picked his cell phone up from where it had fallen out of his pocket. He started to dial, apparently to tell someone about Carl, but he couldn't get a signal.
"Damnit." Sheen said, throwing down the cell phone and slumping back into his chair.
"Alright, I dare Jimmy to say Cindy's smarter than him." Carl said smugly.
Jimmy snorted. "Okay Carl, I get to choose truth or dare."
"Well." Carl said hopefully.
"Truth." Jimmy spat resolutely.
"Do you think Ultralord exists?" Carl asked.
"No." Jimmy said, Sheen threw his s'more stick at him, which was on fire.
Jimmy successfully dodged the flaming weapon, which went out and turned to Libby.
Eventually they all got tired and went back to their respective tents to sleep, but not before Jimmy, Sheen and Carl performed the usually sleepover ritual of lying in bed talking about girls…
Jimmy sprinted through a crowded city, flames licked the air on either side, the buildings were burning. His Nike sneakers pounded against the pavement as he dashed down the street, he reached the end only to look up and see deadly black shaped blotting out the sky, one plummeted towards the earth, it was a missile.
Jimmy watched in horror as it slammed into the Brookland Bridge. Jimmy stood, rooted to the spot as the middle of the bridge blew apart, sending cars flying like toys and ripping a gaping hole in the structure, he didn't have long to mourn the hundreds of deaths though, for someone dove on top of him, slamming him to the floor to avoid a smaller, shoulder-fired missile that ripped by over their heads. Jimmy could feel the shock wave ripple at his face and heard and explosion behind him. How had this all started, he wondered. He jumped to his feet again and started sprinting, he looked down to find himself clad in urban counter-terrorist combat armor and, to his surprise, carrying a Heckler and Koch MP5 automatic weapon. Something made him turn, to see Sheen, Carl, Libby and Cindy in a boat, beckoning to him. To his utter horror, he saw an air to ground missile corkscrewing through the air before slamming into their boat, they were dead. He looked to the skies, screaming in agony to see fully armed troopers dropping on cables from helicopters, they were dead, Libby, Carl, Sheen and Cindy, CINDY! Were dead, he fell to his knees and screamed to the heavens.
"NOOOOO!" Jimmy woke up abruptly, drenched in cold sweat and screaming.
"What happened Jimmy?" Sheen asked, his voice sounding muffled from his sleeping bag as he propped himself upright.
"Nothing, nothing, go back to sleep." He told Sheen, who promptly lay back down again and drifted off, but Jimmy couldn't fall asleep, he had a feeling that the dream was warning him of something…
A/N: REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! Oh and the arrest scene, that was for a good reason that will be revealed in future chapters! Everything happens for a reason, well, almost everything!