Chapter Eleven: Jimmy Neutron and the Alien Gangster
The door opened slowly, allowing light into the room for the first time in quite a while. The room was completely bare, and padded with thick grey rubber. One of the aliens in black pulled a big brown sack into the room- complaining the entire time that he had a bad back, and thus somebody more suited to physical labour should do it.
The others ignored him. The one complaining about his back complained about everything. That was why they had given him the heaviest sack. So that on the off chance his back happened to break- or better yet, explode- they might finally be rid of him. Unfortunately, the complaining alien did not suffer any kind of serious injury as he threw the sack on the hard rubber floor- and left.
Two more sacks were thrown into the room, and the door was quickly sealed shut.
"Aw- man. I haven't been in a sack for quite a while..." grumbled one of the sacks. "Yeah... Actually... I don't know if I've ever been put into a sack before..." said the other.
"C'mon- really? You haven't been sacked before!? Man! I've been sacked like... twice!" the first sack announced. "Really? Huh... I had know idea that sacks were so comfortable. This fabric is really nice on the skin." said the second. "Yeah, I know... these sacks've gotta be the highest quality sacks like... ever." said the first sack.
The second sack nodded, and started to wriggle around. "This'd be great if it weren't for the... ugh... walls... darkness... CLAUSTROPHIA!" it screamed. Suddenly, the bag ripped open at the seams, and the sweaty, frightened face of Carl Wheezer poked out.
"Ah! It... It's dark out here... I liked the sack better..." he mumbled. The first sack jumped up and down. "Hey- Carl! You managed to get out!? Help me get out!" it yelled. Carl sighed. "Aw... okay, Sheen. Just- come on... Stop moving around! I gotta... undo the knot..." he said, as he struggled with the knot of the top of the sack. The sack wouldn't stop fidgeting around- or more accurately- the hyperactive boy inside of the sack wouldn't stop fidgeting around.
Soon enough, however- Carl finally managed to undo the knot, and Sheen finally poked his head out of sack. "FREEEE-DOM!" he bellowed. He quickly fidgeted out of the sack, and was about to help Carl out of his, despite Carls protests- when he noticed the third sack.
Of course, it was pitch black- so he didn't notice it with his eyes. Rather- with his foot. Then, he found himself being thrown across the room. "WHO'S THERE!" the third sack bellowed. Sheen bounced off of the wall, and back into the third sack with a loud 'smack!'. "Oh- a fighter, huh?" the third sack growled. Within seconds, the sack was reduced to shreds- revealing the angry form of April. She grabbed Sheen by the throat, and held him against the wall.
"Who are you? Why had you kidnapped me?" she hissed.
Sheen tried to say something, but instead let out a series of loud gurgling sounds. He could feel her hand start to squeeze tighter. "Oh- name calling, huh?" she growled. "You are a brave one..." she trailed off, as her eyes began to adjust to the darkness. And she could see that the throat that she was on the verge of crushing, did not belong to a kidnapper.
But the incredibly unstable human. Jimmys friend.
She let go with a start, letting Sheen drop to the floor- gasping desperately for breath. "Ah... My mistake... I apologise, incredibly unstable one." she said. Sheen coughed and sputtered in response.
"Is that you, Cindy?" asked Carl.
"No... It is April." said April.
"Oh... I thought you were Cindy because-... Nevermind. Do you know where we are?" he asked. April frowned. "I was going to ask you the same question... Do remember anything about our kidnappers?" she asked. Carl shook his head. "No..." he mumbled. April huffed. "Curse it- I fear that I may very well know who is responsible, but if my estimation is correct... Jimmy Neutron and the others may very well be in grave danger." she said.
Sheen stood himself up. "Even more grave-er than us?" he asked, his voice sounding appropriately... strangled.
April sighed.
"Well... no."
Jimmy was trying to think. Trying- but not succeeding. And the harder he tried to more it hurt.
It was as if he were slamming his mind into a brick wall- and trying to push it through was just making things... messy. He could feel his nose start to bleed again. His sight had began to blur, and his entire body seemed to go numb. 'I can do it... Just... a little... bit...' he thought to himself.
"Enough, Jimmy Neutron!"
Jimmy couldn't hear Augusts voice anymore. All of his senses had practically dulled into nothing. The pain was intensifying- as if his brain were screaming for him to stop. But he could help but feel like he was getting close. Close to pushing through. He grit his teeth, as sweat began to pour down his trembling frame.
"JIMMY!"
It was Cindy. He stopped. All of the pain began to melt away, and his senses slowly returned. He could smell something... familiar. He couldn't quite place it, but it was soothing. It made him think of an island... Listening to the waves crash against the shore, and watching somebody walk onto the beach as the sun set behind her. She smiled at him, the orange glow behind her lighting up all of her features.
Jimmy opened his eyes, and could only see a tuft of blonde hair. He frowned. It took him a few seconds for him to register what was happening. Jimmy had told August about the resistance he felt while thinking, and August had asked him to try thinking with the scanner watching his brain as he did. But he pushed just a little bit too far...
He felt something squeezing him. Something soft, and warm. His eyes widened, and he felt his heart skip a beat. It was Cindy. She had both of her arms wrapped tightly around him. She was muttering to herself, but he couldn't quite hear her. She looked up at him. Her sunglasses were still blocking her eyes, but he could tell that she was distressed.
"Wha... what happened, Cindy?" he asked.
Cindy stared at him for a while, and then her face twisted into anger. She bared her teeth, let out a low growl. She let go of him in an instant, and then raised her hand up into the air.
'Smack!'
The sound echoed throughout the room. Jimmy felt a hot rush of pain coming from his cheek. Before he could say anything- she slapped him again. And again. Suddenly, her hand balled into a fist- and came down like a cannon ball landing with a loud 'crack' right on Jimmys nose.
August grabbed her by the arms, and picked her up. "OUTSIDE!" he bellowed. He briskly walked over to the door, ignoring Cindys repeated kicks to his chest, and dropped her outside. She landed on her bottom, and scowled. "You need to stay here and gather yourself." he hissed. As he walked back to Jimmy, he felt Libby brush past him and meet her friend outside of the observation room.
There was even more blood streaming out of his nose now. Jimmy gripped it with his hand as hard as he could to stop the bleeding. August quietly offered him a handkerchief- which Jimmy quickly took, and stuffed up his nostrils. The bleeding stopped after a few minutes, and Jimmy groaned as he laid himself back down on the observation table.
"She cares for you, deeply." said August.
"Funny way of showing it..." Jimmy grumbled to himself. "Did you notice anything?" he asked.
August frowned for a moment, and then nodded. "Yes. As I feared, the dark matter has infused itself with your very consciousness. And it appears to be trying to take over your mind. And although your brain appears to have some natural resistance to it- something in the past has ripped that resistance away- and now your brain has been completely covered in dark matter residue." explained August.
"Do you know much about dark matter?" he asked.
Jimmy shook his head. "Just that... its dangerous. And it has an existence that is hard for the brain to properly perceive. I have done a little bit of study into it... I know that it seems to be able to exist in several if not all alternate universes whilst taking up the same space... I know that it is interdimensional- and I know that seems to be able to absorb absolutely anything into it- and transform it into more dark matter." said Jimmy.
"Well... That is very good, Jimmy Neutron. Have you had experience with dark matter before?" asked August. Jimmy frowned, and nodded. "I know somebody who was able to access actual dark matter technology..." he said.
August gasped. "Wha-... How? Dark matter technology is... well- it's the single most illegal things in the entire universe! How could anybody even close to your sector of the universe manage to get their hands on it?" he growled. Jimmy groaned, as he pulled the blood soaked handkerchief out of his nose. It had stopped bleeding now.
He took a deep breath.
"About two years ago... maybe longer... I cloned myself using a machine of my own design." explained Jimmy. August raised his eyebrows, and motioned for Jimmy to continue. "It should have been very simple. A few extra Jimmy Neutrons running around to take care of some of my more annoying responsibilities. Unfortunately, there was a problem. Each individual clone took on different parts of my personality, and supercharged them to an annoying effect. There was happiness and sadness, one that was a, uh... 'romantic', another that seemed to think that it was comedian, a... 'cool' one, and finally- one of wrath. A product of every part of my personality that could be considered... bad." he explained.
August rubbed his eyes and let out a low groan. "An evil clone, Jimmy Neutron? Honestly- while it is certainly impressive that were able to build a cloning machine all by yourself- But you must have known the risks of cloning yourself!" said August.
Jimmy shook his head. "No- I really thought that it would work out fine. But... well, as you can probably geuss- it did not. The clones caused absolute chaos wherever they went. And as a result of that- I was very nearly run out of twon. Luckily, I managed to group my clones together and freeze them. Unluckily however... one of them escaped. I'm sure you could geuss which one." he explained.
August nodded. "The evil clone."
"That's right. A few months later, I tried to capture my evil clone and 'de-evil' him using a complex chemical compound I had synthesized called... uh- 'de-eviliser'. I managed to track down and capture my evil clone- and I had taken him to my lad to begin the de-evilising wash cycle- I mean... anyway- he managed to detach the de-eviliser serum while I wasn't looking- and he tricked me into believing that he had fully reformed." said Jimmy.
"Does this kind of thing happen to you on a regular basis?" asked August. "What? An experiment going horribly wrong and threatening everyone I know and love? Well... yeah." said Jimmy.
"Anyway- my evil clone escaped, and managed to clone an evil version of my entire planet using my Neutronic Flux-feild Duplicator, and a dark matter chip." explained Jimmy. "Luckily I managed to reverse it before my entire planet faded into oblivion. Unfortunately... As I made my escape from the evil Earth, Evil Jimmy destroyed the dark matter chip- engulfing himself and the entire cloned planet in cloud of dark matter... I escaped before I could be sucked into the dark matter universe along with them- and that's the last time I ever saw my evil clone."
August thought for a moment. "Do you know where your clone found this dark matter chip?" he asked.
"I'm fairly certain that he built it himself. It had a... uh- Neutron seal on it... I don't when or how he built it though... Maybe... Maybe he already had it when I captured him..." Jimmy frowned to himself. He had never bothered to keep track of his evil clone before finally capturing him for de-evilization. Mostly because he had just kind of... disappeared. Maybe he had developed the chip on some faraway alien planet.
"Do you know of any group of aliens with any particular interest in dark matter technology?" he asked, after thinking in silence for a few good minutes. August frowned. "Well... yes. Do you think that your evil clone may have come in contact with them in order to develop the chip?" he asked.
"Yes. I can't think of any other way... I don't keep dark matter in my lab..." Jimmy trailed off.
Suddenly, the entire room shook with the sound of a computerised voice. "ALERT! ALERT! INTRUDERS DETECTED! BATHROOM SECTOR HAS BEEN BREACHED!"
August jumped. "What! COMPUTER! Bring security footage to the observation room!" he yelled. A small screen slowly slid out of the ceiling, and stopped just in front of August and Jimmy. The screen flickered, and they could see the image of a hallway. Jimmy noted the alien numbers on the corner of the screen.
"Computer, there is nothing there! Switch to bathroom camera!" said August. Jimmy gave August a look. "What? They're for security..." he muttered. The screen flickered again, this time showing the bathroom. Everything was clean- not one person in sight. August frowned. "Computer... it looks like there's been another security error... Can you-" August started, only to be cut off by the big headed human sitting next to him.
"Wait- pull it back about thirty minutes." said Jimmy.
"Why?" asked August.
"Just... trust me."
"Very well- Computer! Reverse to twenty-seven micro cycles!" August bellowed. The numbers on the corner of the screen began to count backwards, and finally- they stopped. Carl and Sheen had entered the bathroom, and appeared to be just finishing a conversation about hay- when the window opened up.
August growled.
Almost a dozen aliens climbed in through the window, unbeknownst to both Carl and Sheen- who seemed content to stand there talking for a while. Finally, after the large group of aliens in black had completely surrounded them- Sheen seemed to take notice.
"Hey, Carl- is that guy in the black pajamas a ninja?" asked Sheen. Carl rolled his eyes and gave an obnoxious snort. "Shee-een, you know that they don't have ancient japanese assassins on far away planets- oh, it is a ninja." said Carl.
August and Jimmy watched as the aliens in black quickly shoved Sheen and Carl into a pair of big brown sacks. April burst into the room and fought some of them off. They watched her stand up, and growl at one of them. Then, she flinched, grabbed at her neck- and collapsed.
As the aliens pulled the sacks up back through the window- and one of the aliens started to complain, making the others roll there eyes and mutter to themselves, the shortest of the aliens in black approached the camera. The alien waved, and slowly removed its mask.
Jimmy frowned. The alien looked... reptilian. Its face was big, and a light purple color. Jutting out of the sides of its head were a set of two or three frills. Its eyes were black, and completely devoid of any kind of emotion. It huffed, the two slits underneath its eyes opened and closed.
"Well look here, see? We've got the goi-rl, and you're little alien pals too, see?" it said. Jimmy blinked. Was that... that voice sounded oddly familiar...
"You've gotta get better security here too, see? You had your priorities set on the Atom- but nowhere else, see? I'd say that's sloppy, see?" it said. Its voice was slightly high pitched, and sounded as if it had come directly from a bad gangster movie from the forties.
"Yer smart enough to get the point now, aren't ya- see? We snuff the goi-rl if we don't get what we want, see?" the alien smiled, and blew a kiss at the camera. "Bring the Atom to these coordinates, see? We're watching you, see? If you try to contact johnny-law we'll start by eating the aliens, see? I've heard they taste like fried Yolkian..." the alien trailed off for a while, and stared blankly at the camera. Seconds ticked by, as the alien continued to stare blankly into the camera. Finally, it snarled.
"See?"
And with that, the alien slowly crawled up the bathroom wall and through the window.
August let out a low angry hiss. "Zee-Lo..." he growled. "Who is Zee-Lo?" asked Jimmy. August shook his head angrily. "A monster. A psychopath... I thought that she was still in prison..." he spat.
Jimmy frowned. Prison... Could that mean- "Wait, she?" he asked, incredulously. "That was a girl alien?"
August nodded.
Jimmy shook his head. "Leaping leptons..." he mumbled.
"Puking plutonium!"
"Gas planet!"
"Um... uh... oh! Holy, Heisenberg!"
Carl frowned as he tried to think of another. He, Sheen and April had been stuck in the same room for what seemed like days to April- but what was in reality almost an hour. Carl and Sheen had decided to play the 'Jimmys exclamations' game, and so far; Sheen was winning.
Carl bit his bottom lip as he tried his hardest to think of another one. Just one more... one more and then Sheen would be stumped. He frowned. "Come on... there's gotta be... no... aww... no..." Carl mumbled to himself, before letting out a low sigh of defeat. "I've got nothing..."
Sheen jumped up into the air. "Yes! Let it be known for now and forever that I, Sheen am the supreme ruler of the exclamation game!" he bellowed.
April closed her eyes. Maybe this was just another trial of some sort. Get trapped in the same room as the two most annoying creatures in the universe and see how long it took her to crack. She sighed. A part of her really wanted that to be the truth.
Suddenly, the door swung open- sending a stream of light into the room. "AAAAH! MY RETINA!" screamed Carl. "Yeah, dang! For a bunch of kidnapping space banditos, you guys sure are really inconsiderate! Where's my glass of water? I've been asking for forever now!" said Sheen.
Three aliens dressed in black walked into the room. One of them carefully handed Sheen a glass of water. "Aw- thanks man! You know, you kidnappers are alright!" he exclaimed.
April stood up, and glared at the aliens in black. She could tell that none of them were Gorlocks- but she could tell that at least one of them was armed. If she took him out and grabbed the guns- she could grab the two insufferable humans and make an escape. The only problem was that she had no idea where she was. Or how many others were around. It would be no trouble if she were alone- but with them around... she growled to herself. She had to think of something...
As April continued to think, the three aliens in black slowly took off their masks- revealing a tri of very familiar faces. The reptilian faces of Zix, Travoltron and Tee.
"Oh! Aren't you the guys that tried to steal our astrorubies, and then tried to sell us as toys, and then teamed up with all of Jimmys greatest villains and tried to kill him- but then Tee became our friend and you went to our side?" asked Carl.
"Thanks for the exposition, gut-chunk breath. Yes, that's us." said Zix. "And what- may I ask, has brought all the way over to this dangerous little planet? Is Neutron stirring up trouble here too?"
Carl and Sheen tried to answer- but instead found themselves wrapped up in Tees massive scaly arms. "Aww- I missed you fools! Its been too long! Far too long, fool! I pity you fools, for not writing or emailing!" he said. Carl and Sheen tried to make a noise- but couldn't under the sheer brute strength of Tees monster squeeze.
"Let go of 'em, Tee- you're gonna squeeze the life outta them." said Zix.
Tee let them go, and watched as they both bounced off the floor, wheezing heavily. "Ah- I'm sorry about that!" he said. "I just get so emotional, fool!"
Carl stood himself up slowly, and then helped Sheen get up to his feet. "Well, we were just here with Jimmy because he's sick... and we were going to get this green guy to look at his brain... And then we got kidnapped..." Carl trailed off. "Oh, really? Because we were just here to help with a kidnapping of our own, I swear..." said Travoltron.
Sheen frowned. "So wait- you guys kidnapped us?" he asked.
Travoltron shrugged. "Well, we had some local help but... like, yeah. We got our orders from-" started Travoltron, before having his mouth quickly covered by Zixs hand. "Alright- thats enough outta you. Well, boys. It appears you've managed to run into some really bad luck." said Zix.
"Really? Aw- man! If only I brought my lucky gumball with me!" yelled Sheen. "Aw, Sheen- did you accidentally swallow it?" asked Carl. Sheen nodded sadly. "Well don't worry about it, Sheen. Because it'll always be with you. Right... here." said Carl, as he pointed at Sheens stomach.
"Thanks Carl... So are you guys gonna bust us outta here or what?" demanded Sheen.
"Well, you know... Our hands a like- tied up, real bad. You know? For real. I'm like, totally serious." said Travoltron. Zix rolled his eyes. "Look, kids. I know we agreed to be your... ugh... 'pals'." said Zix. "But unfortunately, we're going to need to make an exception here. Your dealing with powers far beyond your comprehension."
Tee huffed. "Aw- please, fool! You're just too scared to face you're momma! You gotta tell her! You're your own man! If you can't kill nobody no more you gotta tell her straight, fool!" said Tee. Zix scowled. "I asked you guys not to mention her when I'm around..." he complained.
"You have a mom? Wow- do you do like, alien mothers day stuff?" asked Sheen.
Tee and Travoltron burst into laughter. "SHUT UP, YOU TWO!" yelled Zix. "No- my mother isn't really the mothers day type." he explained.
"No- more like, the fire and brimstone type- I swear." said Travoltron. "Mmm! My whole life I've never been scared o' no lady! Then I met his momma. Made me scared. Made me tremble, fool!" said Tee.
"You three! Stop talking to the jailbirds and get over mnyere! We gotta meeting with the Gorlock soon, see?" yelled a voice from down the hall. All three of them shuddered.
"Coming, mother!" Zix called out, before turning back to face Carl and Sheen. "Listen, kids. I'll do my best to make sure you're not tangled up in this any more than you need to be. Okay?" he asked. Carl and Sheen nodded. "Thank you, Zix, Travoltron and Tee." said Carl.
"Hey- why does everybody always say my name last?" Tee demanded, as they walked out of the room- closing the door behind them.
Carl and Sheen sat down. "Well, that was nice. We should really hang out sometime... Oh, I know! Maybe a picnic! We could have sandwiches and pie..." said Carl. Sheen nodded excitedly. "Ooh! I know! Maybe we can find a way to get Good Cindy to make us some more of those wicked sandwiches! That's be awesome!" he exclaimed.
April cleared her throat. "You know those three?" she asked.
Carl and Sheen nodded. "Uh-huh. They were our enemies and now they're our friends. *snort*" explained Carl. Sheen nodded. "Uh-huh. Tee gets a little too physical sometimes, but he's cool. Oh! And Travoltron is really good at dancing! Do you remember the intergalactic disco?" asked Sheen. Carl shuddered. "Ugh... I'm trying to forget... I practised so hard on my break dancing and-"
"You do realize that they are wanted criminals across the universe do you not?" she demanded, interrupting Carl.
Sheen shrugged. "Yeah- but they're okay now. I figure everybody can change. Even hideous alien monsters." he said.
"I HEARD THAT!" yelled Tee from outside.
April frowned. "Do you truly believe you can trust those three in this situation. You are aware, are you not, that you may very well not live to see tomorrow?" she asked. "Oh no, Jimmy'll save us before tomorrow." said Carl. "Yeah, in fact he's probably arguing with Cindy and then asking Goddard for options on how to save us, riiiight about... now." said Sheen.
"Oh, don't be such a baby Nerdtron!" yelled Cindy. "I don't think that it could be considered baby-like at all to complain about you punching me in the face!" yelled Jimmy.
Jimmy, Libby, Goddard, Cindy and August were all standing in another big silver room. This one, however- had been sealed away underneath the lab, in a door that looked like a giant vault. As they continued to make their way down the long flight of stairs, Jimmy and Cindy had not stopped arguing since they had seen each other.
At first, it had looked like Cindy might apologise. And finally admit to Jimmy, and herself- that she truly cared for his well being. And the only reason she had gotten violent, was because she was angry at him. Angry at him for pushing himself too far- and very nearly into death.
Libby didn't need to ask for an explanation when they spoke outside of the observation room after Cindy had been quickly 'ushered' out. She just stood there and let her cry for a while, and calmed her down. When the observation room doors had opened again, Libby was just about to demand that Jimmy and Cindy try to make up, when August told them that Carl, Sheen and April had been kidnapped by alien ninjas.
And of course they had, Libby growled to herself. If they hadn't, then it wouldn't be a Neutron adventure.
August pressed a few buttons, and deactivated almost fifty separate security codes, before a big golden cube began to rise slowly out of the floor. It opened, revealing inside- a small glass case. About the size of a fish tank. And inside of that, was what looked like the typical cartoon drawing of what an atom was supposed to look like.
Except this one was big- and not a cartoon.
It was about the size of a baseball, with tiny spheres floating around it. "Wow..." Jimmy muttered. The core of the atom seemed to be made up of hundreds of small purple and light blue spheres. The smaller spheres that seemed to be circling the core, were all the same mixture of colors. "What is it?" asked Cindy. A momentary ceasefire appeared to have been called between the feuding pair, as they stared at the atom in pure amazement.
"Well... it's an atom." said August. Cindy rolled her eyes. "Well, yeah- I can see that. I mean, why is it so... big?" she asked.
"This is the single rarest form of energy in the entire universe. It is known, as the 'Lithium Atom'." said August. "My ancestors discovered it in the deepest recesses of space. Millions of years ago... it has been a great secret of my family for generations..." he muttered. "How did Zee-Lo find out about this?" he asked.
Jimmy frowned. "Is she the type to work under somebody?" he asked. August snorted. "I doubt it- but I suppose if the person were powerful enough, then... perhaps." said August, as he made his way over to the glass case and carefully picked it up.
"Come now. Let us go on to the rendezvous point." he said. "Are you sure you want to simply hand this over to her?" asked Jimmy. "Well I hardly have a choice, Jimmy Neutron. And neither do you if you wish to see your friends remain un-eaten." said August.
"They're gonna eat Carl and Sheen?" exclaimed Libby. "That's just... gotta be unhealthy. We've got to save them!"
"And that's just we'll do. August! Goddard, Cindy, Libby and I are going too." said Jimmy.
"Bark! Bark!" Goddard barked in agreement.
"Do you really think there is anything you can do against one of the most dangerous mercenaries in the galaxy, Jimmy Neutron?" asked August. Jimmy smiled. "No. But with my friends help... definitely." August raised his eyebrows. "Oh? Do you have a plan, Jimmy Neutron?" he asked.
Jimmy shook his head.
"Um, no. I can't really think of anything right now or I might... uh... die. So I was kind hoping you would have a plan." said Jimmy. August sighed, and Cindy crossed her arms over her chest. "Gee- what a lot help you are Nerdtron!" she huffed.
"Thanks, Cindy..."
To Be Continued...
(AN: Please, as always; leave a review. If you have any questions, please feel free to message me.)