Chapter 2: Jimmy's Letter

Disclaimer: All disclaimers are the same as in Chapter One.  Warning: character death ahead.

The pounding had started a little while ago, and Jimmy knew he didn't have much time.  Grabbing a piece of paper from the lab's records, and taking a pen from the entertainment center, he began to write:

"Natalie:

            According to the Professor's calendar, it would be three years to the day today that Spike defeated Specter.  By now, I'd be fighting him again, judging by the Time-Tracker.  It's weird, how fate works…

            The Professor's gotten out of here.  He took Pipochi and warped to the 'safe house' – I can't specify where, in case the monkeys get their hands on this.  He told me to stand guard; we can't let the monkeys get their hands on the Type 2 Gotcha Gear.  I've hidden them in case I don't make it out alive.

            I still remember the day Spike disappeared.  The Professor showed us all the Time-Tracker, explaining how it traced the various timelines.  We all saw how it should have gone, how Spike should have beaten Specter…   All of it.  That's when the monkeys made their first attack.

            We beat them that day, but it never stopped.  They had footholds in most of history, not to mention the present.  You told me that yourself – how they could change the past at any moment, and only we would know, because we were outside the new timeline.  You told me a lot of things, back then.

            Even as I write this, I can hear them battering the emergency doors with something called the 'Logic Probe'.  That's right, some of them speak Human now.  I can hear at least one human out there.  What sort of human would work with these beasts?

            Natalie, you probably won't get this letter – I don't think the monkeys will spare me; they've gotten more vicious the longer Specter's been in control.  I'll take as many as I can with me, though.  And they won't get the Past-Modifier, either – I already hit the 'conceal' switch; it's somewhere in time, now.  Before I go, I have one thing I want to tell you.

            Right before Spike left for the Ice Age and never came back, he gave me a phone call.  We gabbed for a bit, and then he told me about you, and about his feelings.

            Spike loved you, Natalie. He told me as much, how he was too afraid to tell you, how he wasn't sure if he was just too young to know.  Now that it's too late, I'm sorry I never told you sooner.

            I can hear the door giving way, so now it's time to fight.  Those filthy apes will never take me alive…

            - Jimmy"

***

            The laboratory was in ruins now.  The monkeys had smashed it to pieces, searching for the various bits of technological wizardry that the Professor was known for.  Nothing was there – the place was empty.

            As the monkeys fought with each other over the few bits of shiny metal that were still in the lab, the only human among them was searching the body of Jimmy, one of those who defied Specter.  Reaching into one of the pockets on the young boy's jacket, the man withdrew a folded piece of paper.  Flipping it open, he read the last thoughts of the boy who had killed five of the monkeys.

            "How very interesting," was Blackwell's final assessment of the letter as he folded it once more and slid it into his pocket.  Reaching down, he picked up the corpse of his defeated opposite.  "What was the Past-Modifier, Jimmy?  Or are you beyond telling me now?"
            No response came from the body, so Blackwell tossed it into the entertainment center, smashing the shelves.  "No matter," the bounty hunter told himself.  "Just removing Specter's other old nemesis was worth it.  That makes both of them…"

            Checking his machine gun again, he pulled a camera from his pocket and took a quick picture of Jimmy's body, just as proof.  With that done, he took a small ball from his pocket.

            "Time Transfer, open the gate to Peak Point Matrix," he ordered.  A ring of light appeared from nowhere, and Blackwell and the monkeys headed home…