Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron in any way, shape, or form in this or alternate dimensions past, present, or future. Ever. Got it? Good. I can't afford a lawyer. If I could, I doubt I'd be writing fanfictions with my spare time.
Chapter 2
Aloha! Jimmy Neutron
Despite the local time, the four tired teenagers made a beeline straight to their hotel, the Halekulani, situated in the midst of pretty much every single hotel on Honolulu. Thanks to the Folfax family's connections with the arisocrats of the world, Libby was able to pull some strings and got the four of them situated in two Diamond Head Suites (named so for their impressive view of the Diamond Head volcanic crater). Each of these suites had two bedrooms, and the arrangement was simple: Jimmy and Cindy in one suite, Sheen and Libby in the other.
Although Jimmy and Cindy were initially flustered at having to stay in the same suite with each other, they realized simultaneously that it made sneaking off to their special island some day during the break much, much easier. So, with only a small bit of fuss and name-calling to keep up their cover, they had checked into their rooms, too tired to bask in the complete elegance of the Diamond Head Suite just yet, and decided to turn in for the night. They left for their connected bedrooms and as soon as their things hit the floor and their heads hit the pillows, they had passed out dead asleep.
This leads us to the following morning.
There was another alterior motive Jimmy had for not wanting to go to Hawaii. It was because Hawaii was four hours behind that of Texas because of the timezone. So, while they had landed in Hawaii at a quarter past midnight in Texas time, it was just a quarter past 8 in Hawaii Standard Time. And when Jimmy woke up that morning at what was 9 o'clock Texas time, it was 5 o'clock Hawaii time.
And because the sun had yet to rise and shine through the window of his hotel room, Jimmy could not see very well. Nor, given that he was still groggy from sleep and was thrown off by the lack of sunlight at what he still considered to be 9 AM, could he think very well. Also, it was pitch black, so that probably helped in his momentary blindness.
Bumbling out of bed, he staggered to his feet and headed towards where he thought was the restroom. Instead, the door he opened led him into Cindy's room, who was still sound asleep and wearing a sleep mask. Walking past her and unable to notice her through his half-lidded eyes, he strolled straight into her bathroom and turned on the light. He was blinded by the sudden blast of bright fluorescent light and shielded his eyes with his hands.
This is how he came to notice his watch which, since he had designed its GPS function to cooperate with the simpler watch function to automatically change the time based on timezone location, read the correct time as being 5:19 AM.
"Leaping Leptons," he muttered as he flicked the light off and made his way back into the bedroom. Cindy's bedroom to be specific. Disoriented, still sleepy, and blinded by the darkness, he crawled into one side of Cindy's bed. Grabbing the covers, he pulled them over him, yanking some of it off Cindy.
Several seconds passed before Cindy began to shiver. Groping blindly behind her, she grabbed a handful of covers, inadverdantly yanking them off of Jimmy and back onto herself. Several more seconds passed before Jimmy shivered and pulled the blankets back to him. Cindy tugged back. The two pulled lazily at the blankets in a humorous, haphazard tug-of-war before Cindy's eyes jolted open suddenly in the realization that someone was pulling at her blankets.
Jimmy reached a similar realization.
Cindy ripped off her sleep mask and the two red-faced teens turned abruptly to face each other and stared bug-eyed for a moment. Cindy was the first to react. Slapping Jimmy hard across the face, she gathered the covers around her scantily dressed body, being in only a sleeveless night gown and nothing else. "NEUTRON!" she screeched angrily as an equally furious red hued crossed her face. "What do you think you're doing?!"
Rubbing his sore cheek, Jimmy blushed when he realized just where he was. "Wait, me?! What are you doing in my bed, Vortex?"
"Your bed? This is my bed!" Cindy pointed at her stuff before pointing at Jimmy accusingly. "Just what kind of girl do you think I am?"
Seeing Cindy's things, Jimmy gulped nervously. "Okay, wait, I can explain!"
"Explain, huh? You got five seconds before I pop you in the nose, Neutron," she cracked her knuckles threateningly.
"... I was sleepy and couldn't see well and thought your bathroom was mine and your bed was mine?" he said feebly, tensing himself in preparation for a punch in the face.
"..." Cindy pulled her hand back to punch Jimmy, but settled instead for shoving him roughly off her bed. She sighed. "That explanation was so lame and stupid, it couldn't have possibly been made up, even by you. I'll let you live this time, Neutron. But if I catch you pulling another stunt like that again..."
Brushing himself off, Jimmy stood up. "Yeah, yeah, you'll ring my neck, you'll smash my face in, you'll use my spine as a xylophone."
"You forgot using that thick skull of yours as a bongo drum," she added wryly as she looked over at him, pulling the bedsheets over her slightly.
"Oh, how could I forget that one?" he muttered sarcastically as he walked over to her bedroom's balcony view. He then turned around and smiled softly at her. "Before I went to sleep last night, I... decided to find out when the Sun's going to rise for the entire week and a half we'll be here... Hurry up or you're gonna miss it."
As quickly as the situation had gone from awkward to hostile and now to romantic, Cindy tossed the covers off and strolled up to Jimmy, smiling softly back at him. Jimmy slid open first the curtain covering the slide door leading onto the balcony and then the slide door itself. The crisp sting of the morning ocean breeze on their skin and its aromatic scent filled their senses as they stepped onto the balcony. They now felt an immense gratitude to Libby and her family's connections to the Halekulani's management that gave them the Diamond Suite.
From behind the Diamond Head volcanic crater, the first rays of sunlight for the day pierced the receding night sky like a knight's lance banishing his enemies into nothingness. As the light grew brighter, the murky ocean waves glowed a beautiful, unearthly hue of blue that contrasted against the pale gold of the beach sand. A flock of seagulls, eager for their morning feast, swooped over the volcanic crater and swept down into the water like dive bombers, plunging into the water in one second and emerging the next with their prey in beak.
The Sun followed the birds as they soared back into the sky. A halo was cast around volcanic crater as the Sun rose above it. Cindy sighed blissfully and leaned against Jimmy's chest. In turn, Jimmy's right arm wrapped around her waist, holding her closer. To any outsider, this would seem to be a soft and tender moment. To anyone who actually knew the two, they would wonder what insane parallel dimension they had awoken in, then blame it on a case of bad shellfish.
It was a promising start to their vacation. Time passed quickly in content silence as they watched the Sun rise high over the sky and the darkness of the night disappearing. Three hours has passed while they stared contently at the island slowly awakening before them. Jimmy had propped her in his lap as he sat down in a patio chair, holding her closely to him. Cindy smiled up at Jimmy tenderly, ignoring the slight tinge of pink that crested her cheeks. "Jimmy?"
"Yeah Cindy?" he asked, looking down at her, catching her dual orbs of hazel, staring intely into them.
She paused for a moment, staring back up into his crystalline blue eyes. There were words that needed to be spoken. She swallowed back her nervousness loudly in preparation to utter them. Slowly the courage arose. "Jimmy... There's something I have to tell you..."
"What is it, Cindy?"
"Jimmy... I..."
A door slammed back in the main living area of their suite. "Jimmy? Cindy? Ya in here?" called Sheen as he roamed aimlessly about. "Time for breakfast!" he said cheerfully. Sticking his head into Cindy's bedroom, he chimed. "Libby sent me over to wake you guys. Hurry up! They got a buffet! A breakfast buffet! For the love of Ultralord, need I say more?!"
The moment was lost, now, Cindy realized. She could feel the rumble from Jimmy's stomach as well as her own, telling her that there was no use trying to bring it back up and salvage the moment. Jimmy smiled down at Cindy. "Come on, let's eat!" He stood up and set Cindy down before running into his room to change.
Cindy gritted her teeth angrily as she glared over at the front door to the suite which Sheen had left unclosed as he undoubtedly ran down to help himself to the breakfast buffet. Walking over to the door, she slammed it shut, the hinges cracking from the force. As she changed, images of many violent deaths for Sheen danced in her head.
"Girl, what's wrong with you? You've been trifilin' all mornin'. What'd Jimmy say to you this time?" Libby's interrogation was followed by her stuffing a healthy fork-full of hash browns into her mouth.
Cindy grumbled angrily as she bit at her breakfast sausage. Ever since the incident this morning that had prevented another (preferred) incident from happening, she had been in a sour mood, although she tried to hide it from Jimmy as best as she could. It wasn't hard, though; Sheen had challenged Jimmy to a who-can-scarf-the-most-pancakes contest and, despite being a genius, Jimmy's male pride wouldn't let him turn down the offer.
"Jimmy didn't say anything. In fact, I was going to say something before Sheen decided to barge in," she muttered, shooting Sheen another glare as poured a flask of maple syrup directly onto his mouth before stuffing a whole pancake into it.
"Wham mer woo gowwa say?" Libby asked before swallowing her hash browns. "Sorry. What were you gonna say?"
Cindy looked away. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."
"Uh-huh," Libby said skeptically, crossing her arms. "Spill." At Cindy's hesitant look, Libby sighed. "Look, I already know what you were gonna say, so I'll just save us the time. You were gonna say those three little words, huh?" She nearly laughed at Cindy's astonished look.
"How did you-"
"Girl, we been knowin' each other since kindergarten. I think I outta know what goes on in that head of yours by now, especially when it's concerning a certain boy genius you been pinin' after since we met him in 2nd Grade." Libby chuckled and slouched back in her chair, relaxing leisurely as she delighted in her friend's inner turmoil. "Now," she said, a smirk worthy of the Cheshire Cat on her face, "spill."
Cindy sighed. "Me and Jimmy actually had a... moment..."
Libby squealed excitedly and grabbed her friend's hands. "Ooh! Do tell! Do tell!" Her squeal momentarily drew the attention of Jimmy and Sheen before Sheen began to choke on a piece of pancake. Jimmy promptly rushed around to give Sheen the Heimlich maneuver.
The two girls turned their attention back to each other. Cindy blushed slightly. "Do I have to?" she groaned. "You know how I am with sharing... personal stuff..."
Libby rolled her eyes. "Either you tell me, or I start assumin' and you know how I like my imagination run wild, girl."
Cindy sighed once more, resting her head on her hand, toying with her eggs with her fork. "Well... It was... perfect, really..." She smiled, remembering the events of that morning. Omitting the... embarassing events that led up to it, she started directly with the events at the balcony. "Well... we woke up kinda early, you know, because of the time zone thing... And, well, we talked a bit, and Jimmy..." She blushed and ducked her head. "Well, he had this great idea to watch the sunrise with me..." She looked up at Libby sheepishly. "It was... amazing, Libby. That Diamond Head volcanic crater? Beautiful. It was just so awesome... I never thought Jimmy could be so sweet..."
Libby frowned. "Sounds like you had a great time. What happened that made you go all..." She then did a spot-on imitation of Cindy's prior mood, sulking, and stabbing angrily at her egg before chewing on it angrily. This received a reprimanding yet playful kick in the shin from Cindy. Libby then looked at Cindy sternly, glancing a threatening look back at Jimmy before turning back to Cindy. "So what happened?"
"Sheen happened."
After blinking several times, she turned to look at Sheen threateningly before turning back at Cindy. After she turned back, Sheen shivered. "Hey Jim? You ever had that feeling like someone wants to kill you and melt all your Ultralord action figures?" he asked Jimmy.
Jimmy shook his head slowly. "... No... Why?"
"Just wonderin'..."
Sighing, Libby shook her head. "I am so sorry Cind... I didn't know that you two were having a, uh... moment." She smirked slyly.
Cindy smiled slightly. "It's alright. Hey, we have an entire week and a half to enjoy ourselves. I'm sure it'll come up again..."
"That-a girl," Libby added, smiling. "Now, come on. Let's get the boys and head over to the beach while we can still fit in our swim suits."
Cindy rolled her eyes as she leaned against the door frame. Wearing only a yellow sundress over her new bikini, she shivered as the hotel suite's A/C picked up and chilled the room. "What's taking Neutron so long?" she mused in annoyance as she glanced over at the boy genius' room. Gritting her teeth, she stormed over and knocked on the door. "Neutron! Hurry up! I want to go the beach sometime this millenium!"
"Yeah, just give me a second, alright Cindy?"
She sighed. "What could possibly be taking you so long? I'm a girl and I don't even take this long to get ready!" She crossed her arms and glared holes into the door. "You've got 'till the count of ten before I'm coming in there and dragging you to the beach."
"Cindy, just give me one second, alright?"
"One..."
"Cindy, hold on, will-"
"Two..."
"Look, just give me a second, I gotta finish this-"
"Ten!"
Cindy grabbed the door knob and flung the door open. "What the-"
"Cindy, it's not what it looks like!"
"Is... this a bad time?"
"Neutron... What is going on?!"
Jimmy cleared his throat and straightened out his lab coat and tie. He was presently dressed in his usual laboratory attire, a portfolio in his hand and a holographic chart of what appeared to be schematics for his prototype jet car. Beside the hologram projector was another one, this one displaying a screen where an Army colonel was clearing his throat slightly, attempting to avoid being involved in any way in the awkward situation.
"Uh... I can explain," Jimmy started meekly but was cut off by Cindy's hand.
She shook her head. "I can't believe you... Honestly, Nerdtron, you're working while on vacation?! What's wrong with you?!"
"I should probably go..." the Colonel muttered as he slowly and discreetly disconnected the video feed, much to Jimmy's dismay. At least with company present, Cindy was less liable to physically harm him.
"He better run," the indignant blonde fumed before turning her fury back towards Jimmy. "As for you! I didn't think I'd have to say this because I thought you'd be smart enough to know, but a vacation means taking a break from work! Not taking it with you! Especially not when it means taking up precious time that could be spent having fun. You know what fun is, right?"
Jimmy sighed. "Yes," he replied in annoyance, "I know what fun is. But this is kinda important, Cindy. I mean, the United States military doesn't exactly have all the time in the world."
"They can wait a week!" she snapped. In an instant, her hand was at Jimmy's coat collar, pulling him down to her eye level. "Now listen here, Professor Big Brain. I don't care how important this project is to you. You promised to me on the plane that we are going to have a good time. Now, I want you to promise that not only are we going to have a good time, you're not going to be wasting our time here doing more of your stupid projects and experiments! We got a week. It can wait until then. Got it?" she glared threateningly.
Jimmy nodded compliantly and silently. "Alright, promise, promise." He pulled himself out of Cindy's vicious Kung Fu grip, miraculously, and took off his lab coat, throwing it over to his bed before beginning to undo his tie. "Just wait outside, alright?"
Crossing her arms, Cindy shook his head defiantly. "Oh no. You're liable to start that stupid thing up again and finish your little meeting. I'm staying right here, now get out of that stupid lab get up and get dressed. I'm not leaving until you do. Now hurry up and get undressed."
An awkward silence fell between the two as the innuendo behind what Cindy had just said dawned upon them. Cindy blushed furiously and looked away while Jimmy fell into a spontaneous coughing fit.
"Uh... what I meant was..."
"Yeah, I... uh..."
"I'm gonna... go... wait outside, now..."
"Great, er, good..."
"Ahem..."
After meagerly excusing herself from Jimmy's room, she closed the door slowly behind her before slowly sliding against the wall down to the floor, and holding her knees to her chest, burying her crimson face in them. Meanwhile, she kicked herself mentally as she waited for Jimmy to finish getting dressed. A couple of minutes passed and the door knob began to turn. She looked over at the door as it opened.
"How do I look?" Jimmy asked as he looked down at his clothes, a pair of red swim trunks with a yellow stripe down the size and the red and yellow Hawaiian shirt Cindy had bought for him before the trip. He smirked at Cindy's reaction, a blush and a subtle, shy nod. There was a knock on the door. Much to Cindy's relief, Jimmy walked over to open it and she had time to compose herself.
As she had thought, it was Sheen and Libby. "Y'all about done yet?" she asked as Jimmy opened the door.
Jimmy nodded. "Yep, we all ready to go?" he asked everyone as Cindy picked up her beach bag from the couch and walked over to join Jimmy at the door. At everyone's nods and various grunts of approval, he smiled. "Then let's get to the beach!"
"Over there, over there!"
"That's too small! We're not gonna fit in there!"
"Oh, come on! Did that guy really have to take up two whole parking spaces? That's illegal!"
"Well, he did, and I don't think we can really move it. We'll just have to find another one."
"Jimmy! Over there!"
"That's a crosswalk, Sheen!"
"They can walk around." THWACK! "Ow! But Sugarlumps..."
"I'm a sugahlump you one mo time in a second if you don't shut up. This is all your fault anyways."
"How is it my fault?"
"If you hadn't INSISTED we stop at that stupid nutjob newstand to pick up that stupid, fake newspaper, we might've found a parking spot by now!"
"Hey! Conspiracy Weekly is an informative and intellectual newspaper the likes of you would never understand. Plus, this week's issue has a continued article about Bigfoot's spaceship!"
"... Like I said. A stupid, fake newspaper."
"Oh will you two give it a rest? Jimmy, there's one!"
"I'm trying to signal in, but this jerk in the Beamer won't let me in- Oh, great! He just cut me off and went in!"
"Why I outta-"
Parking at one of Hawaii's most presigious and beautiful beaches was not the most pleasant of experiences, especially not when it was at its peak tourist traffic in the busiest time of the year. As Libby and Sheen restrained Cindy in her seat so that she wouldn't leap out and pummel the driver of the BMW sportscar, Jimmy continued to look for a parking spot.
"Hey, I think they're leaving," Jimmy said as he gestured to a family of Asian people. He drove up to them. "Excuse me, are you leaving?"
They gave him odd looks before looking back at Jimmy. "Nani?" asked the father of the family of what were apparently Japanese tourists.
"I got this Jim," Sheen said proudly as he looked over to the Japanese family. "Languages were always a cinch to me." Libby pinched the bridge of her nose, having a bad feeling about where Sheen was going with this. Sheen cleared his throat. "Konichi wa! Subaru honda civic!" He thought for a moment while the other occupants of the car sent him death glares. "Yamaha kawasaki motorcycles! Toyota! Arigato, Mr. Roboto!"
"Sheen, I don't think they understood you," Jimmy muttered sarcastically as the Japanese family walked off, chatting amongst themselves and giving the people in the car repeatedly odd looks. Jimmy put the car back into the drive and the search for a parking spot began once more and, initially, with very much change in luck.
Eventually, after a couple of more laps around the parking lot, Libby stood up excitedly from her rear seat in the rented red convertible. "There's one! There's one!" Everyone looked to where she was pointing, and like a partition in the clouds from where sunlight shone down from the Heavens, a lone parking spot stood in the midst of a sea of cars with no other cars in sight. Jimmy practically ran over a family of fellow tourists in his mad rush to park.
After they had gotten all of their things from the car, the group eagerly made their way for the beach. There, tourists and vacationers of all sizes, ages, races, and nationalities mingled on the Hawaiian sand and swam in the tides of the Hawaiian surf. At the sight of it all, they all smiled excitedly as they ran to an empty spot of sand by the waterline and set up camp.
"Want me to help you with your lotion, Libby-cakes?" Sheen asked as he tried to figure out how to set up his and Libby's beach umbrella while Libby searched in her bag for her sun tan lotion.
Libby gave him a skeptical look. "Are you going to keep your hands to yourself this time?" she asked him, referring to last year's Spring Break where Sheen spent more than half of it nursing a broken jaw.
Sheen gave an innocent look. "Libby-snookums, that hurt..." he pleaded pathetically.
"Not as much as it will when I bash your face in if you keep calling me those stupid nicknames," she muttered.
Across from the bickering couple, the surprisingly peaceful pair of Jimmy and Cindy were lying on their beach towels, Jimmy relaxing in the sun while Cindy sat underneath the shade of the umbrella as she applied sun tan lotion to her arms "Can't those two ever play nice?" Cindy chided jokingly to Jimmy.
"Glad to be on the other side of this conversation, huh?" Jimmy replied, chuckling slightly.
"You can say that again..." Cindy looked over at Jimmy, a devilish smile on her face. "Speaking of things you can say... Admit it."
Jimmy looked up at her, confusion evident on his face. "Admit what?"
"That I was right and you were wrong. That Hawaii is a hundred times better than Cancun. Oh, and did I mention the part about you being wrong?" She nearly laughed at the pained expression on Jimmy's face.
"... Do I have to?"
"Oh man up, Neutron!"
Jimmy sighed. Then, he took a deep breath. "... YouwererightIwaswrong." He spat out the words quickly, as if they were poisonous, which they were to his ego.
"Ah-ah-ah!" Cindy wagged her finger at him. "That doesn't count. Slower."
"You were..." His face contorted in anguish before he exhaled sharply. "Right. And I was wrong. Happy?"
"Very." She glanced over at Libby and Sheen. The former was holding the latter in a headlock, undoubtedly for the latter's use of yet another annoying nickname. Satisfied that they were distracted enough and that she wouldn't have to put up with Libby's teasing later, she leaned over and gave Jimmy a soft peck on the lips. "Now was that so hard?" she murmured softly.
Jimmy simply stared at her in shock, caught off guard for a moment. When he regained his composure, he smiled softly at her. "Guess not... You know... I think I'm starting to get used to this whole 'together' thing..."
The day came and went. After a boys versus girls volleyball game had gotten Libby in better spirits, they had all gone out into the surf, splashing water at each other, playing a game of chicken or two, and at some point, they rented some boogieboards. However, as the Sun began to set, Libby, seeing how well Jimmy and Cindy were actually bonding on this vacation, concocted a plan; leave the two alone, and maybe the peace can last all the way back to Retroville and then some.
After they reached the hotel, she told the plan to Sheen, who readily agreed and, wanting to 'stake his claim on his precious Libby and keep the stupid surfers away from her,' proposed to take her on a romantic evening. After borrowing about fifty dollars from Jimmy, the two left the hotel, taking a taxi out into the town.
Sheen was not the only one without romantic thoughts that evening. The kiss on the beach had given Jimmy a spark of enthusiasm and innitiative and with the proverbial ball rolling, he knocked on Cindy's door while she was drying off from her shower to get the sea smell off of her. "Hey Cindy?"
"Yeah?" she called from the bathroom.
"I was thinking..." He cleared his throat. "Uh... How's a movie sound? Maybe dinner?" He mentally reprimanded himself. 'No, stupid! No! Too strong. Too direct. Come on, Neutron, you know better than that!'
The door opened suddenly and Jimmy nearly flinched, anticipating a punch in the face. "James Isaac Neutron." He looked up slightly. "Are you asking me out on a date?" Cindy was leaning against the door frame, her green tanktop and white slacks clinging to her wet body as she brushed her wet hair. She smiled coyly, a look that wasn't usually directed towards him.
However, that look brought out his inner Casanova. He smirked slightly and leaned in closely to her. "And if I am?"
Cindy smirked back. "Then you better make it worth my while..."
"James Neutron never fails..." Cindy scoffed. "Except with certain experiments." A sarcastic laugh. "You're enjoying this way too much."
"Can you blame me?" Cindy asked, rolling her eyes. "What's the plan?"
The plan was simple. It was a classic in dating history. Then again, classics never become classics unless they actually work. After getting ready, the two went out to watch a movie in Downtown Honolulu. In an unorthodox twist, Cindy decided to avoid the usual, sappy romantic comedies. Jimmy was more than happy to take her to watch the Director's Cut of Axe-Murderer VII.
With Cindy clinging to his arm and cringing at random intervals, Jimmy decided to close the night with the ritualistic candle-lit dinner. For once, Cindy was grateful for Jimmy's connetions to the scientific communities in-roads to the higher echelons of the military and, subsequently, the government. After a couple of phone calls, the two high school students were ushered into a private seating at the top of a light house-shaped seafood restaurant, The Seaside Spire.
For once, the two acted like a young couple in love should. Occasional glances as they ate, sheepish smiles when their eyes caught each other, the embrace of one's arms around the others waist as the former performed the Heimlich to dislodge a piece of scallop she had choked on because of a joke he had told about how he, Sheen, and Carl were the ones to have their hated History teacher's car towed last month. Ah, to be young, in love, and not choking on scallops...
After dinner, they headed back to their hotel suite. They found themselves back on Cindy's balcony, as they had been that same morning. Once again, Cindy was sitting in Jimmy's lap, relaxing as the two of them stared at the night sky. The light from the full Moon and the stars shone down from the sky and cast a divine, white glow that reflected off of the rippling waves of the now-receding tides.
"Jimmy..." Cindy started, looking up at him from Jimmy's lap. "Tonight..." She chuckled slightly and rested her head on his chest. "I gotta admit, I didn't think you could pull it off, Neutron." They both laughed slightly at the use of the old nickname for Jimmy; once a term of ridicule, it was now used as mainly a term of endearment if anything else.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Vortex." Again, they both laughed. "Can you believe we used to be such fierce enemies back then?"
"By back then, do you mean a couple of days ago when we were deciding on where to go for Spring Break this year?"
"What a difference a few hours can make, huh?"
Cindy simply nodded and they sat there for a moment longer before Cindy abruptly stood up, patting Jimmy's leg dismissively. "Well, it's getting late. We should head off to bed." Then, she blushed, attempting to hide it with a devilish smirk. "How about you... join me?"
Jimmy broke into a slight coughing fit before looking at Cindy with slight incredulity. "Is this a trick so you can finally have a reason to break my neck?"
She rolled her eyes. "It's nothing suggestive, Neutron, so get those thoughts out of your head. Ugh, you know what never-"
Her diatribe was stopped by his lips on hers, leaving her bug eyed and staring at him. "Alright, I'll join you..."
She smiled softly and nervously. "Um, I'll uh... Go get ready for bed..." She swallowed nervously and walked into her bedroom, grabbing her night gown and vanishing into her bathroom to change.
Jimmy simply shook his head and laughed in an attempt to hide his nervousness and slight discomfort as he followed her back into the suite, heading to his room to change. When he came back into Cindy's room, her bathroom door was still closed and she could be heard brushing her teeth. Shrugging, he headed back to the balcony.
"You almost done in there, Cindy?" he called back.
A spit and then a gurgle. "Just a minute!"
Sighing, he looked over at the Diamond Head volcanic crater in an attempt to occupy his time while he waited for Cindy. He smiled at the natural beauty of the rock formation. He was about to turn away to wait for Cindy on her bed when something caught his eye.
"Huh?" He squinted his eyes and looked past the Diamond Head crater. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. He held up his watch and activated its zoom function. A pair of holographic binoculars shot out from the watch's projective face. Holding the binoculars level with his eyes he looked past the Diamond Head crater. His other hand made some minor adjustments to the binoculars holographic dials and the image of fiery smoke rising into the air became clearer.
He frowned. "That's strange... Smoke?" He tried to zoom in closer but couldn't see much else because of the volcanic crater. "Better send up the satellite probe." He looked at his watch and moved to change the function once more to send up his latest invention, a holographic, floating surveillance camera that could give him a 360 degree view of anything within its view for over 50 kilometers. Then, he heard a voice calling him for him from back inside the suite.
"Jimmy? You coming to bed or what?"
He looked back quickly to see Cindy lying on her bed, her head supported by her hand as she lay on her side. To Jimmy's eyes, she looked like an image of the Roman goddess Venus as she looked over at him innocently, expectantly. Her silk night gown was draped scantily across her body, coming to an end just above her knee.
Jimmy smiled slightly, turning off his watch as he walked over to the bedside. 'Eh... Probably nothing...' he thought as he climbed into bed with Cindy.
l 11°15'N 162°12'W l 50 miles below sea level l Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean l
"Someone get me a status report!"
The control room of the General's base of operations was alive with activity. Young men in black military dress uniforms buzzed around the room, speaking with scientists in similar, gray uniforms and vice versa. The control panels of the machinery blinked and beeped and a deafening siren blared throughout the base.
"And someone turn off that damned accursed siren!"
The second request was met first, followed shortly by the second one. "Sir, enemy submarine has been sunk," reported one of the scientists as he leaned over a computer control panel. "The radar isn't picking up any survivors."
"Send out search and salvage crews to look through the wreckage. Make sure there are no survivors and get rid of any existence of that submarine." The General then turned to another scientist. "You there. Did that submarine have time to send out a distress signal?"
"Negative, General," the scientist replied, setting down his clipboard by his side.
The General nodded, pleased with the answer. "Why was it here? Do you know?"
The scientist looked at his clipboard. "From the radio chatter that helped us locate it, it appears we have just sank the USS Marlin. It was apparently on a reconnaisance mission investigating "strange, deep sea murmurs" coming from our present location," the scientist quoted.
A frown creased the General's face. "What was it's last transmission?"
"It mentioned getting strong radioactive readings, sir," the scientist replied. He straightened himself up. "Sir, your orders?"
The General paused for a moment, crossing his arms as he thought. "Did you capture an encryption code from their transmission?" The scientist nodded. "Good. Track their transmission records, find out at what time interval their transmissions were going out, and reply, say something along the lines of there being absolutely nothing going on here."
The scientist nodded. "Very good sir."
"And send out a PT boat while you're at it. Put it on an eastern bearing and in the next transmission interval... Say it ran into an undersea rock formation. It's going down. Cut it and bring the PT boat home."
The scientist nodded once more. "Very good sir. Anything else?"
"Tell Professor Meir to hurry things the Hell up. I don't know how long we can keep our operations concealed, so time is of the essence." The scientist nodded and scurried off from the control room as the atmosphere of the entire room began to calm. The military personnel began to leave the room along with a few of the support staff scientists, leaving only a handful left to monitor everything.
The General made his way towards a secret passage leading out from the control room, pressing his had on the surface of the rock walls that made up his entire base. A square section of the rock wall he had put his hand on glowed and a hydraulic hiss signaled the release of carbon dioxide gas from ventilation shafts alongside the concealed door as it slid open. He disappeared inside of it and the door slid closed behind him with no evidence of any doorway ever being there.
