Ok, I'm finally posting the next chapter, after how much time? Over a month, maybe two? I put some of the shorter chapters together, and renamed them accordingly. So here it is, Chapter 14
Chapter 14: The Usual Damage
There was an awed silence in the bathroom as the children stared open-mouthed at the hole in the wall left by Jimmy's escape. They had time to exchange terrified glances before, with a gigantic hiss; sprinklers on the ceiling burst forth a torrent of rain. They turned to the door as Sheen scrambled inside.
"I did it! I got the…" he started to say as he noticed the crumbling wall. "Whoa, what'd I miss?" he asked, looking expectedly at them. The silence broke.
"Well…um, Sheen," Cindy said. "Jimmy kind of…turned into a rampaging monster again."
"Really? Cool! This dance just keeps getting better and better!" Sheen said, a goofy look of enchantment on his face. Libby turned to Cindy, her hands over her head to protect it from the sprinklers.
"What do we do now, Cindy?" she said. Cindy looked down at Jimmy's watch, now clamped to her wrist.
"We get help, that's what we do." she said. "Come on, everyone outside". She led the way out the hole in the wall. By the light of the full moon, people dressed in their best attire were running terrified down the street in the wake of the orange monster. Jimmy didn't seem interested in them, however. He scanned the screaming crowd for a certain someone, overturning cars and peering underneath. As the kids stood outside, taking in the bizarre scene, Sam crossed their path, running wildly with his hands over his head.
"Not again! I'm outta here, yeah." He said. They watched his progress out of sight. Tearing her eyes away from the distraction, she looked down at the watch, tapping it with a finger.
"Oh I hope this works!" she thought. From the watch, she heard mechanical clicking and a bark. "Goddard?" she asked into the watch. On a tiny screen, the metal canine leaped up from the floor of Jimmy's room and inclined his head.
"Goddard, no time to explain. Jimmy's in trouble and we need your help. Come downtown as fast as you can." An affirmative bark came from the bark. "Oh, and bring the jet-pack." Another bark. She tapped the watch again, returning it to normal. She looked up at the gang.
"Ok guys, I know you want to help, but I need you to stay away from Jimmy while he's like this." She held up her hands as protests erupted from the group. "Look guys, listen. Last time we did this, we all had superpowers. But now we don't have that advantage. I need you to stay here."
"But Cindy…" Libby said. Cindy interrupted.
"No Libby. You guys have a good chance getting really hurt if you come. Do this for me now, and I'll never ask anything from you again. Please. I don't want to see any of you hurt." Libby sighed.
"All right girl, but I don't want to see you hurt either." They looked up as Goddard whirled above them, a strap of Jimmy's jet-pack held in his metal teeth. He landed and Cindy took the jet-pack from him, slowly putting it on.
"First the watch, and now his jet-pack. What's next, his catchphrases?" She smiled a little. Staring determinately at her friends, she said, "Don't worry. I have a plan." She felt the red button on the jet-pack's left strap. "I'll see you guys later." She said. She pressed the button, and felt the twin rockets pop from the side, roaring with fire. As she lifted up from the ground, on some strange impulse, she shouted, "Gotta blast!" and immediately stated laughing in spite of herself, both at herself and the looks on her friends faces as they grew smaller from her view in the sky.
Ya now, being Jimmy has its quirks." She thought as she streaked across the sky, Goddard in tow.
From her position in the sky, Cindy could see whole streets destroyed, fires, smashed cars, the usual damage. Cindy scanned for some sign of jet black hair, a glimpse of a maroon blazer, or a shimmer coming off of pair of pearly white buckteeth.
"If I were Eustace, where would I hide?" Cindy said to herself. She pondered this for a second, and then caught sight of Madame Melissa's Expensive Jewelry Store. "Aha!" she said, maneuvering towards the store.