Author's Note: I have some free time to write! Yay! Please read and review and, if you want to get in contact with me, pm me and I'll give you my e-mail address/whatever instant messenger screenname you want.
This chapter's title is courtesy of Yeats- "An intellectual hatred is the worst."
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Intellectual Hatred is the Worst
Cindy stormed through the Chrono Arch, now part reverse time machine, and returned to her own when. Her thoughts were muddled and vicious, yearning to strike out at the first unfortunate person to invoke her wrath. Fury quivered her limbs and chattered her teeth. Beneath the inchoate rage was bitterness sickening her and leaving her with a hollow feeling. She shouldn't have been surprised and yet, she was. It was another betrayal in a long list, but this one had cut so deeply she didn't think she'd ever be able to forgive her mother. True, she hadn't much chance of forgiving her before, but now, she'd detest her until the old witch finally keeled over.
Neutron was saying something, but between the pounding in her ears and her temper mounting, she hadn't heard him. Now he whirled her around and she slapped him across the face. Testy Cindy was extremely testy.
In her world, which was painted in hues of red and crimson, Jimmy should have immediately took umbrage and attacked her. He didn't. Mouth agape, eyes wide, he gawked at her. In his large sapphire eyes, hurt swelled. She'd stung his pride and yet, she hadn't received retribution yet. His lack of response increased her vexation. (It might not be his pride she had harmed, but she wasn't in the mood to probe the inner mysteries of Neutron).
"Don't touch me," she spat. "This is all your fault."
"Cindy, if this is about what your mother said-" he cleared his throat and looked awkward. Little pink spots formed on his cheeks.
"It's not about what my mother said," she snarled, although it really was and she had no intention of revealing her vulnerability to him. "It's about your stupid fucking inventions ruining the day again. Someone ought to give you an award for being the biggest screw-up in history."
His mouth shut and he tightened his jaw in a hard, firm line. "That was only one possible future."
A trickle of doubt moved beneath the fury storm. Jimmy wasn't buying her excuses. He knew her too well to believe she was really angry about this, and he would try to pry and maneuver until he discovered her true reactions. The idea of someone, especially him, invading her inner sanctum, drove coherent thoughts from her mind. Jimmy didn't know because he wasn't supposed to know because he was supposed to be protected from the truly hateful cruel stuff she had to face. And it was none of his goddamn business.
He grimaced. "You had to suspect your mother's affections would-"
She punched him in the face. Shocked, he staggered, his lip cut and beginning to bleed. Encouraged and amused by his pain, she pulled her wrist back to punch him again and he grabbed it and then the other one. Hissing, she moved her legs to sweep him off his feet and he retaliated by dragging her, so she missed. Her teachers had warned her against attacking in anger, because it clouded judgment and removed her ability to calculate what her enemy would do. Cindy was too angry to consider it and launched herself at Jimmy. With her wrists held, she didn't know what she was going to do- perhaps she'd bite him.
"Cindy," he said. "Cindy, you have to calm down."
She shoved him forward, into the lab chair, and he yanked her arms over her head. The jerk strained her arms and she whimpered, kicking him in the right leg for hurting her. Behind the mental din, Goddard barked and she growled, frustrated with Jimmy for having defenses. She swung her leg around to kick him in the privates and a mental clamp seized her mid-section and hauled her off. Similar clamps grabbed her arms and legs and Goddard increased pressure, until she was in a vice grip. Jimmy, who hadn't ordered the assault, stared.
"Is that…is that really necessary?" he said, voice higher than usual. Cindy sneered.
It was impossible to read Goddard's response from here and pointless to struggle, but she did the latter anyway. Tears of rage and pain prickled her eyes and she screamed, wanting to hurt Jimmy both because he was here and because he was the closest to her.
"You knew your mother would be drawn to Amelia," he said softly. "You knew she was the daughter she wanted. But surely your mother has told you-"
"Fuck you," she hissed and clamped her eyes shut to prevent tears from leaking out. "Let me go, Spew-tron."
"So you can hurt me?" he shot back. She was glad she couldn't see the pity in his eyes. A hot tear slid down her cheek and Jimmy's trembling fingers wiped it off. She spat in his face.
"No, I don't think that would help," he said in response to Goddard. To her, he said, "Regardless of how your mother feels about you, there are people who love and care about you. Libby and me, for starters, and my parents like you."
She could discount his parents, but it was harder to refute Libby. Chest heaving, she chanced a glance at him. Tears blurred her vision and she shut her eyes again.
"I'll go get Libby," he said. His footsteps receded and she inhaled shakily. With Jimmy gone, tears spilled down her cheeks and she drew in a single, hoarse sob. Neutron would never know. He'd never understand. He'd been born into a family where both parents loved and valued him. She should have known, he was right, she should have known her mother would love Amelia and not her. Amelia was the child she'd always wanted. Cindy was an afterthought, an almost abortion. Once, when Cindy was younger, her mother had let it slip her grandmother had wanted her to abort her. Usually, such a statement would be followed by "but I'm glad I didn't." Instead, Cindy's mother had let the weighty statement rest there and eight year old Cindy had stared, hurt, at her mother's retreating back.
She wanted to hate Amelia and, in the future, she'd be able to distance herself from her. It wasn't really Amelia's fault any of this had happened, but Amelia was a convenient target. Jimmy was a good target now, but Amelia was the darling, the beloved. Cindy had never been either. Hatred filled her anew and she was sick with her, clammy sweat trickling down her arms and churning her stomach. Amelia was better off with the Neutrons. If Cindy had to deal with her on a regular basis, she might find a way to dispose of her.
No, never kill…the thought turned her stomach again.
"Hey, girl," Libby said and Cindy started.
"Don't worry. Jimmy's with his parents. He thought we might need some alone time," she said and stared at Goddard. "Is that really necessary?"
Goddard yipped and dropped Cindy on the floor. Rubbing her rear, she punched the air and, of course, missed the cybernetic canine by a mile. Libby helped her up and Cindy allowed her best friend to hug her tightly. Once safely in her arms, the defenses she managed so well around Jimmy crumpled completely.
"Once you can speak," Libby said, "you'd better start from the beginning."
Jimmy or whatever role he played that day spewed him back into his own universe. Head aching and feeling altered, Eddie rubbed the back of his neck. There he encountered strange, sore, upraised flesh, half an inch long. Perplexed, he turned to Curie, who was shading her eyes from the sun. It was a human gesture and she ceased it soon, giving up the façade. At his glance, she faced him and frowned.
"Curie, what happened to me?" he said.
"Jimmy planted a chip inside your neck," she said. "It's connected to your spinal cord."
Gasping, he dug his fingernail into the scar and encountered resistance. Beneath the skin was steel, except that couldn't be possible.
"The chip is inert," she said. "It's waiting for a catalyst event."
"Which would be?" he hissed.
"I have no idea, master," she said. "Only that it relates to your cousin and Goddard seemed particularly distressed when he released me."
Eddie was about to ask how she could tell, decided he didn't care, and rubbed the scar. "Can it be removed?"
"Uh…" she hesitated. Incensed, he glared at her. Unfortunately for him, his rage had no impact on her. She wasn't human enough to feel fear and she knew he couldn't physically harm her without her consent by subduing her first.
"It can't be removed without killing you," she said.
"What?" he hissed. "My cousin's evil counterpart-"
"He's not evil," she said. His lower lip curled in disdain.
"My cousin's alter ego, my cousin's host of personalities, whatever you prefer, implanted something that can kill me!" he growled. "I'd call that evil."
It was fortunate Curie kept a great deal of her thoughts to herself, because Eddie could trace her mindset. Eddie had spent almost his entire life so far trying to murder Jimmy and turnabout was fair play. Eddie was glad she kept the idea to herself. He was angry enough Jimmy had shoved something into him without his permission and that this something couldn't be removed without murdering him. Before, he hadn't thought his cousin capable of maliciousness like this. Although it spurred his resentment, he realized there was a distinct possibility, no matter the universe, his cousin might be dangerous too. His cousin here hadn't lost his mind, but that didn't mean the potential for destruction was absent.
"Like I said, master, it's inert," she said. "I believe it was programmed to follow whatever history the alternate Jimmy suffered. This is a conjecture, based upon Goddard's behavior and Jimmy's peculiarities."
"So if the event doesn't happen, I have a random chip in my head that does nothing," he said. She nodded.
"I should-" he stopped. What if trying to kill his cousin here triggered the device? He could kill himself along with Jimmy. Yes, he loathed his cousin, but martyrdom was not for him. He intended on being alive to reap the benefits of being the only Neutron genius.
"How probable is death through removal?" he said.
"You have a 25% chance of dying," she said.
"Then we should remove it," he snarled. Why had she made it sound impossible?
"And a 65% chance of full body paralysis," she said. "The remaining 10% would render you catatonic. Jimmy knew what he was doing."
"Then what?" he snapped. "I should abandon my plans and take up macramé? I can't attack Jimmy if it'd kill me, and we don't know what would trigger the chip."
"Should we go back?" she said. "Should we ask Jimmy exactly what drove him insane?"
Eddie snarled. "As if he'd tell us. He implanted this chip in me with the sole purpose of not telling me a thing."
"We could try to recover footage from the other world and see if there's any video surveillance indicating what the event was," she suggested. "We don't know when he lost his mind or where the event might have taken place, though. It could be very time consuming."
"Or we could find my counterpart and ask him," he snapped.
"Are you sure you want to venture back into that universe?" she asked.
"What choice do I have?" he retorted. "I can't spend my life afraid of some stupid chip. Once I know what the incident is, I'll avoid it and continue to plot my revenge."
"I would avoid that universe's Jimmy," she said. "James, Jamie, or whoever he is at the moment. He released you once, but he might not be so charitable the next time."
"Yes, yes," he hissed. "I'm well aware."
He groaned and looked back at his lab. "An evil genius's work is never done."