09-09-2020
2020. It's been 8 years since you last saw me. I was working towards my dream and I am happy to say that I finally achieved it and am now moving on to the next big step of this field. I know a lot of people picked their stories back up during quarantine and trust me I've been wanting to pick this up for quite some time. This story has always sat in the back of my mind like an old friend. I can't guarantee that I will update regularly, but please know that I WILL finish this some day. If you are willing to stick with me while I do this, that means the world to me.
Hello dear friends. It's good to see you again.
Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron. I don't even know who does anymore.
Also, in chapter 10 Sheen refers to the Intelligence System and then the name changes in chapter 13 to Armed Society. I must have been on lack of sleep when I wrote that. I am going to stick with Intelligence System from now on.
Waking up is sometimes the hardest thing to do. Returning to where you left off is also difficult. For me, neither of these is possible. I am unsure, at this moment, whether I am fortunate or not.
I wonder when I will forget to breathe.
The thought is so natural in my mind as my eyes open to glance around the tight quarters of an unfamiliar cabin. There is no familiarity of the silver walls, or the objects in my room. Instinct tells me not to sit up too quickly in my bed, but adrenaline overtakes my parasympathetic system and I end up hitting my forehead on the bunk above me. A deep guttural moan rises up from my core as I fall back and grip my face. Immediately I suck in any additional sounds that could potentially erupt and hold my breath.
Where am I?
Images flash through my memory, for once. Glass shattering against a wall. The broken face of an old friend. The bright blue eyes of another. And overall, immense pain consuming my entire body.
I attempt to move my body off the bunk I was laying on. Speaking of pain. It was torture to move any part of my body, let alone use my arms to grip my pounding forehead. Pulling myself into a seated position off the edge of the bed, I attempted to calm my swirling mind. Images flashed faster than I could keep up with and colors danced before my eyes. Suddenly it all stopped and there was nothing by blackness and emptiness in my consciousness. The silence and apathy I felt weighed more than the prior chaos.
My hand instinctively shot out to the bedstand beside me, grabbing the handgun and cradling it to my chest, my ears tuning in over my breathing to try to catch any sounds around me.
One. Two. Three…
Nothing.
There was no one here in this small bedroom besides me. I laid myself slowly back down onto the mattress, holding the gun to my chest. I'd had a nightmare.
Right? I felt like I'd had a nightmare. But for some reason, it felt like something more. Closing my eyes, I tried to recall the images that made me bolt awake, but nothing came to mind, and all that shone behind my eyelids was fuzziness and the beginnings of a headache whenever I tried to will something that I shouldn't from the corners of my mind. That seemed to be happening a lot lately.
So, was my fitful dream actually a memory? If so, why couldn't I remember it?
I placed the barrel of the gun across my forehead, letting the cool metal seep into my steamy hot skin. It felt like my brain was overheating, and that worried me more than the not remembering thing.
Gritting my teeth I rolled out of bed, and slipped on my shirt and pants I has carelessly tossed on the floor, and ran a hand through my ratty hair. My legs were still shaky due to disuse. I hadn't showered in days, but then again, all I've done in the past few is sleep and lay around the lab with Jimmy.
Jimmy.
He has had to noticed I've been gone now…it should be around normal morning time for him, although morning is a figure of speech-seeing as there is no morning in space. Sadly, I wondered how he was reacting to my absence, and whether or not he suspected Sheen's involvement, or even knew if Sheen was still alive. I could oh-so-very easily just picture his lab aboard the spaceship and teleport there in an instant. If that's what I really wanted. But now, I wasn't so sure.
Sheen had been very persistent last night when we talked, and he was obviously disturbed and shocked at my news about Libby. And his attitude seemed genuine, as if he actually believed that Jimmy was the sole problem with his life. And maybe that was true, but because of my lack of memory, I couldn't decide whether or not I should help him or not.
But Sheen had mentioned he was taken by someone called the Armed Society. Whatever that stood for. He had said they were the same people who had captured me and…they were the ones who had tortured me.
I may have lost some of my memory, but I certainly remembered that.
Heat bubbled up in the pit of my stomach, and I felt a breath hiss through my clenched teeth. It was not fair that out of all the things I got to remember, my torture was in that very limited category. Squeezing my eyes shut and pursing my lips I dragged shaky breath after shaking breath in and out until the red seeped from my vision.
I felt the weight of the gun in my hand, and sat on the edge of the bed. Even if I didn't remember what had happened between Jimmy and Sheen, I did remember what happened to me. And if there were still people who were hurting because of them….
My heart rate started to increase. My palms started to itch.
My palms are itching.
Looking down I realized that my wrist cuffs were off.
I knew what I needed to do.
A sound came at my door, sharp and tactful. I slowed my breathing even more and gingerly limped to the door, making sure to stay on the balls of my feet for whatever was on the opposite side. It was the imp, Gillion. Leaning on the doorway, gun in hand, I looked at him hard. My gaze flickered to his neck, decorated by the light purple bruises I had administered last night.
His dark eyes held my gaze for several seconds before he grunted, turned on his heel and started walking down the hallway. I limped after him, keeping my ears tuned in on the otherworldly silence in front and behind me with only our footsteps to orchestrate our arrival. His were clipped and neat while mine were uneven and bogged down with pain.
The potential danger of being on unknown territory and the emptiness of memories in my brain helped me focus on being high alert. This was not something I had felt I needed to do when I was on board with Jimmy. There I had felt confused, but at least I was not on guard at every noise.
He eventually turned a final corner and there was an open metal archway leading into a room with training equipment and mats. The pungent smell made me inhale sharply and I instantly regretted the action. An image of an unfamiliar gym flashed in my periphery, with karate trophies hanging on the wall. A towel struck me on the left side of my face and I swung in that direction, one palm sticking up, itchy, and the other holding the gun.
"Cease and desist Vortex," Sheens deep voice laughed as he plucked the towel from my shoulder, "You need to take a chill pill".
I squinted at him. Sweat was running down over the scars on his face. "And you need to shower."
He lifted his arm and took a long whiff from his armpit. Grimacing he wheezed, "you're not wrong there." He dragged the towel over his face as he started to walk towards a rowing machine. "Come, we need to discuss things. "
I turned towards the archway. Gillion was gone.
Limping over to the machines I sat on one nearby.
"Neutron found your location this morning," Sheen grunted.
It felt like there was a ticking bomb in my chest. Even though I didn't understand these feelings, I didn't want Sheen to have any ounce more of leverage over me. He already knew my entire history, which was leverage enough given the fact that I couldn't remember jack-squat.
"How?"
"Unsure really. Probably the same way I tracked you. Probably the same way he found you initially while being kept in the Intelligence System's fortress."
My throat tightened at the sound of name, but I swallowed and pushed those thoughts away. "And?"
He wheezed through a few more reps. "And, we gave him the big ol' bird via video message and hit quantum speed into the next nebula." My heart deflated slightly. I wasn't sure how I felt about being on board this ship, but I knew I needed to help Sheen take down the Intelligence System, and I doubted Jimmy would agree to that. He was dead bent on getting me back home and performing surgery.
He finished his reps and sat back, sweat dripping down his shoulders now. "He's had eyes on our ship though and still has your DNA and will likely find us again. Each time he does, we will just keep playing this cat and mouse game." He smiled wickedly, "I do love a good hunt."
Deep down inside me I felt the same, as much as I wanted to deny it.
I reached for a handle on the machine I was sitting on. I tugged on it and it didn't budge. I pulled a bit more and it felt like my levator muscles were going to pop. Sheen got up and adjusted the weight counter on the machine to the lowest setting. I tried again. Nothing. I felt my palms start to itch with frustration. I let go and stood up, walking over the mirrored wall. I looked at myself and felt disgust.
Sheen walked up beside me, glancing over me through the mirror's reflection. Despite his gruff attitude I could see the corners of his eyes softening as he looked at my choppy hair, the pockmarked scars over my arms and neck and chest from electrical torture, the missing two knuckles of my left pinky finger, the atrophy of my arms, the skeleton of my entire body showing through the thin fabric of my spacesuit.
"I'm going to make them pay," I whispered. I was afraid that if I spoke any louder that I would start crying.
He locked eyes with me in the reflection. A malicious grin snaked across his face.
