17. Chapter 17
The next day after school, Brad insisted on meeting with Sheldon after school to discuss something very important. He finally managed to convince Sheldon to meet with him in an empty classroom.
"This had better be good Brad, I was planning on meeting with some of the other guys from the science club," Sheldon said.
"Actually, it is important. It's about Jenny. I'm even more worried about her than before," Brad said worriedly.
"Okay, you didn't look this worried just a few minutes ago. This must be serious. What happened this time," Sheldon asked as he started becoming worried himself.
"Just yesterday, Jenny was looking really worried about something. I asked why, and she didn't want to say anything at first, but I eventually got her to tell me what was bothering her. She said she had a nightmare," Brad explained.
"What kind of nightmare?" Brad asked.
"Well, she said that in her nightmare, she woke up earlier than usual and couldn't figure out why. She was getting ready to go back to sleep when she noticed an object falling from the sky. When she finally got a good look at it, she noticed that it was actually an atomic bomb. By that time it was too late for her to do anything about it. It destroyed the city with her in it. After that, she really didn't want to talk about it anymore. She was still looking kind of worried about afterwards. Can you guess why I'm so worried about her now?" Brad asked.
"Yeah, I can guess why. It's as I said before, it's an impossible situation to get out of…if you are that close to the blast. The ideas are already starting to form themselves in her mind. She keeps getting more and more depressed by the day. I didn't really think it would be this quick. It took me half my life to even consider it, and now something in the back of her mind is already giving her ideas on how to do it," Sheldon said.
"What are we going to do? I'm not good with stuff like this," Brad said.
"Neither am I, but we gotta figure out something. The problem is, I just don't know how to go about it. Should we be direct or find a different approach? Maybe we should start by getting advice from someone who's dealt with this kind of thing before," Sheldon suggested.
"Good thinking, but it might be harder than before to find somebody willing to help us if they know they're also helping Jenny. She's not exactly on everybody's good side right now," Brad said.
"Yes, you're definitely right about that, but we can't just sit around and do nothing. We have to try," Sheldon said.
Earlier that day, Jenny had received a phone call from the hospital saying that the young woman that was held hostage by The Mudslinger had finally woken from her coma. Jenny had told them that she had completely forgotten about her because of the events of the past few weeks and that she apologized for not calling.
The woman told the police and the hospital personnel that she had something very important to tell them, and that she would only tell them if Jenny was also present. When she finally had time, Jenny made her way over to the hospital to listen to what the woman had to say.
Jenny walked in through the door of a conference room inside the hospital. A few hospital personnel, eleven officers and the Police Chief was in the room with the woman before Jenny arrived.
"Oh, there you are XJ9. First of all, I want to say thank you to you and everyone else that helped me that day. Second, I want to ask if you've been doing all right. I've heard that things haven't been going so well with you these past few weeks," The woman said.
"No, I'm not doing so well unfortunately. I'll probably talk to you about it later. I don't feel much like discussing the details right now," Jenny explained with the same bitter expression on her face.
"Oh I see. I guess I have kept you all waiting long enough, haven't I? This is about The Mudslinger. I'm sure you've all noticed for a while now that he's much different from the way he used to be. Am I correct?"
"You know, you seem to know a lot about him, and you're really calm, as if you already know what's been taking place over the past few weeks. But yes, you are correct." the Chief said.
"Well yes actually, and no. I really only know what they've been telling me," the woman explained.
"What they've been telling you? But you were asleep the past few weeks. Who are they? I thought it was only The Mudslinger. Are you saying he was working for someone else?" Jenny asked.
"The doctors never did do a thorough check of my body. They only assumed that I had been hit in the head pretty hard and that's what kept me in my coma. The Mudslinger gassed me, knocking me out. He then put a small microchip under my skin behind my ear. It was actually the chip that was keeping me asleep. I'm not sure who the voices I heard coming from the chip were, but they told me a few things. One, this chip will have completely deactivated by the time this meeting will have taken place. Two, they said that I don't need to worry because I'm not their enemy, so the chip can be removed without causing harm to my health. Three, The Mudslinger was only being used as a pawn to get the money to buy a few items that they needed for their plan, and that The Mudslinger is the least of our worries. And four, they said that soon we'll all see the true nature of humanity. And that's it. They told me those four things once every day until they decided to deactivate the chip," the woman explained.
"The true nature of humanity? They must be planning something really big," the police chief said.
"What did these voices sound like?" Jenny asked.
"Robots," the woman answered.
"That's a little too vague," Jenny said.
"I'm sorry; I meant those basic robot voices that computers from the late twentieth century had installed in them. There was no personality in the voices, so trying to figure out who they are would be pretty much impossible," the woman explained.
"I see. Ms. Wakeman, do you know anyone who talks like that? 'Soon you'll see the true nature of humanity.' You know, those kind of outrageous declarations," the chief said.
"About a fourth of the villains I know would say something like that. However, if you narrow it down to which one of them would specifically want to exploit human nature, I'd say about ten of them were like that. So no, at this point, I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly who it is. In fact, it could be some totally new villain altogether," Jenny explained.
"Yes, and if it's an old villain, this one seems to have very carefully thought his or her plan out. They've learned from their past mistakes. If it's a new villain, it seems as though they probably studied the past mistakes of the other villains or they're just that smart," the chief guessed.
"Yep, that pretty much sums it up. They didn't even give us any real clues as to what their plans are. They just said they were going to exploit human nature. That's not specific enough. There are plenty of ways to do that. We don't even know if this plan will have catastrophic results or not. Plus, since there is no personality in those voices, we can't listen for emphasis in particular words. The word humanity is a good example. If it was emphasized with enough anger, it could give a clue as to just how serious this is going to be," Jenny explained.
"Are you sure you don't have any more clues ma'am?" the chief asked.
"I'm sorry. I don't have any more," the woman answered.
"Then again, they did say that The Mudslinger is the least of our worries, so it is probably more serious than they make it seem. I'll try to find out what I can, but whoever these people are, they really know how to cover their tracks. I haven't found even the smallest shred of a clue as to where The Mudslinger went after that day," Jenny explained.
"And neither have we. Villains, surprisingly, aren't usually this smart. Oh, but wait, there is one thing I think you should know. You know that small town about a hundred miles from here surrounded mostly by farmland?" the chief asked.
"Yeah, but what does it have to do with our current problem?" Jenny asked.
"Probably nothing, but there have been reports of strange women with very similar attitudes and fashion sense appearing in town from time to time," the chief said.
"That explanation sounds like nothing important, but if the chief of police is going through the trouble of telling me about it, it must be a little more serious than you make it seem. I wouldn't be too surprised if that woman was Vexus," Jenny said.
"Believe it or not, we were thinking the same thing. However, I said it's probably nothing to worry about. If it is her, she's definitely gone through some changes. She's caused no disturbances of any kind, but she does seem oddly fascinated with bugs," the chief explained.
"Bugs?" everyone else asked in unison.
"A certain librarian said that this strange woman came into the library a few times claiming to be a fashion designer looking for the natural designs of bugs to give her ideas," the chief explained.
"If that really is her, maybe she's finally lost a few screws," Jenny said with a grin.
"I don't know what to make of it myself either. The people who reported seeing these women all said that they looked very familiar and that they started to get an eerie feeling about their very presence even though she's done nothing even remotely wrong," the chief explained.
"Let me guess, they probably also said that they found it strange that people with that kind of money would come to a small town like theirs, right?" Jenny asked.
"Actually yes, they did say that. I guess what got them worried is the fact that they never buy anything. They just show up for a few hours then leave. Then again, it might not even be her at all," the chief said.
"Maybe, but Vexus has always been a little strange. I wouldn't be too surprised if her mind is finally gone or something. She is over two-thousand years old after all. Her warranty probably expired a while ago," Jenny said.
"Wow, I didn't realize she was that old," a doctor said.
"Yes she is. It's not something that's usually announced, so that's why most people don't know that, but it's true," the chief explained.
"Anyway, it's most likely not very important. She's not even a challenge to me anymore. Without an army to back her up, she wouldn't stand a chance in a fight with me. From what the people said, she doesn't seem to be up to anything that we need to worry about anyway. I'll check it out if anything ever happens. Strange women and one with a fascination with bugs isn't something worth looking into for the time being," Jenny said.
"That's fine for now. I just thought I'd let you know. We'll do what we can to find information on the mysterious people and The Mudslinger. We trust that you'll do what you can as well," the chief said.
"Yeah, I'll do what I can. For now though, I have homework to do," Jenny said as she left the room.