Sorry about how late this chapter is! I think this one's really good!
Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron or any related characters. I also do not own anything trademarked or copyrighted.
Absolute Chaos
"Hello Jimmy." The voice that issued from the person in front of them, the killer, whoever he or she was, was anything but human, it was distorted, warped and terrifying, yet all the same, Jimmy stretched to find some humanity in it, some sign.
"Forget it Jimmy." The masked figure said, holding up a slip box roughly the size of his ipod, a voice scrambler. The man pressed a button on it and spoke again, his voice was different this time.
"Tick tock Jimmy, time's almost up. First I'll go to work on the other passengers, and then time's up for you and your friends. How about I give you something to remember me by. A bullet perhaps." It was his own voice and then it was Cindy's voice, and then Carl's and then Libby's and finally, Sheen's voice said "a bullet perhaps" the killer paused and made as if to turn and run, but then stopped, he moved like chain-lightning, hurling the knife in his hand, in one fluid motion, he threw and then swept past them, slamming his fist into Jimmy's gut as he passed, he turned and fired, the gun made a sound like a muffled pair of hands clapping and Jimmy crumpled, the killer looked on for a second before, clenching his hand into a fist, disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Once the smoke cleared, Jimmy stood up, brushing himself off. Cindy had been expecting this and grinned. "You deserve an Oscar for that." She said, neither had forgotten the bullet-proof jackets James had given them.
"How exactly did he do that, with the smoke."
"I think it's some sort of condensed substance that when crushed forms a sort of airborne powder, mimicking the effects of smoke, the Ninja's had a similar technique, they were supposedly able to turn themselves invisible but really were just excellent at hiding, they wore fireproof clothing and his in fires, buried themselves under an inch of dirt, darted up trees, that sort of thing. It appears whomever this killer is using similar techniques." Jimmy was in full lecture swing and it took Cindy yanking the knife out of the wall and tossing it to him to stop him. Jimmy barely caught it, by the tip but didn't hesitate to slam it right back into the wall.
"Where it belongs." He explained. "Now come on, we've got to find the other passengers."
Cindy nodded and the two rushed off, they found what they were looking for on the highest deck, in a huge café, the Windjammer Café, the very one James had told them to meet him at, around two hundred people were gathered there, and in front, standing on the bar, and flanked by an unfamiliar teenage boy, James was addressing the lot of them.
"Your either with me or your against me, there's a killer on the loose, and he's drawn the line in the sand, and it was drawn with blood. So now you have a choice, you can come with me and fight, or you can stay here and die!" James' speech left the loudest silence Jimmy had ever heard, until a man who looked like he was in his mid-thirties spoke up.
"And why should we listen to you, kid?" He asked, the challenge hung on the air like a thick fog.
"Why?" James' voice was cold now, quiet and deadly, it was so threatening that the speaker took a step back, a look of nervousness on his hardy features. "I'll tell you why, because I am the only one here even remotely capable of taking on that killer, you know those spies, the assassins you see in movies, well I'm one of them, a real one."
"Prove it."
James nodded, only too happy to oblige, and, faster than any of them could comprehend, he had leapt over the bar, landed in a somersault and come up behind the man, a gun pressed to his neck, right under the jawbone, aimed upwards.
"Now, I could kill you, just by pulling this little trigger, in fact I could kill you two hundred other ways without touching this gun, now do you believe me?" He whispered into the man's ear. He nodded, more out of terror than a conscious decision.
"Thought you might."
By now, Jimmy had had enough, he ran forward, pushing people on either side out of the way until he reached James, who was just then relinquishing his hold on the petrified man.
"You can't do this!" He practically yelled.
"And who's going to stop me, this needs to be done, I'm trying to save them, the killer, whoever they are, destroyed the lifeboats, slashed the radios, yes all of them, oh and you don't get a signal out here."
"I'm going to stop you." Jimmy drew his own gun and aimed it straight at James' head.
James, completely unperturbed, jumped into a spinning kick that connected with Jimmy's jaw with the force of a battering ram, dropping him cold. "You'll live." He spat, looking down at Jimmy, who was groaning on the floor, an expression of pain on his once-innocent features, the same spark of innocence that had been marred by the experiences he had experienced and the things he had witnessed.
James hadn't counted on one thing, Cindy. Next thing he knew, her foot had smashed head on into his face, blood spurted everywhere and he crumpled, out cold. "You'll live." She said, without a trace of mercy.
Jimmy stood up weakly, and turned to the crowd assembled. "All right, now you see why we can't trust this idiot, I can save you, I know how to rig a radio system, we've seen the killer, he almost killed me, and we've seen someone he killed. I saved the life of another one of his would be victims and I can save your lives, we can help, you just have to trust me, now who's with me?" He said, his courage was rushing back and adrenaline was rushing through his veins now, he knew they couldn't trust James, and he had been right!
Around twenty-five people, most near the front and most around twenty-eight for some reason Jimmy couldn't fathom. They walked slowly over to him and stood behind him.
"We'll help you." The man was tall and looked strong, he was wearing a Princeton football jacket.
"Yeah, we're from Retroville, and this kid is a genius, he has a goddamn rocket ship, and it works." Another said.
Jimmy nodded and turned to the other people, most of whom weren't meeting his eyes.
Jimmy heard a sound behind him, it was James, who had recovered with the help of his mystery friend, he wiped the blood off of his face, a look of fury on it, there was no mercy in that face, contorted with rage. He had his assault rifle in his hands now and raised it in the air. "You think he can protect you, the killer is armed, so am I!" About fifty other people walked over to him, most men around the age of thirty five or forty, the other men and women were staring at a point by the corner, where a tall man wearing a naval captain's uniform.
"Look, I'm the captain here, now, unfortunately you are the only survivors, I've got around thirty crew members left, now. I see you lot are the only ones not trusting those kids, so you come with me." He said, his tone was one of a man used to assuming command, no questions asked. He was Norwegian as was apparent by his heavy accent.
"Fine old man." James yelled.
"Look kid…if you've got a problem with that it's your problem."
"I don't have a problem with that, I've got a problem with you."
"Look kid."
"STOP CALLING ME KID!" James screamed, he raised his gun and pulled the trigger the glass floor to ceiling windows behind the captain exploded outward with the force of the bullets. The captain had sensibly ducked, and straightened up, shards of broken glass sliding off his back, he dove forward, yanking James' weapon into the air and pinning him to the wall by his throat, but before he could utter a single word, the figure who had been standing in the corner and had helped James was behind him.
"Freeze." The person said, they tossed back their hood revealing a sheet of stunning blond hair.
"Whoa." Jimmy said, he hadn't expected a girl.
"Let go of him or I'm putting a nine millimeter bullet through your brainstem." The captain put his captive down, slowly.
"All right, I…" But just then the wall exploded.
"DUCK!" Jimmy screamed, just in time, for just then the opposite wall was turned into so much scrap metal by a hail of bullets. Jimmy, lying flat on the floor signaled to Cindy. Catching his meaning, she threw him something.
Jimmy looked into her eyes and she nodded, confidence surging, he leapt forward and somersaulted to the side, crouching up against a wall, he pulled up the grenade and ripped the pin out with his teeth, hurling it around the corner, he brought up the pistol clenched in his other fist and, holding it around the wall, pulled the trigger as fast as he possibly could, emptying it and throwing that around as hard as he could after the bullets, the gunfire stopped.
When the smoke from the grenade's explosion cleared, Jimmy cautiously slipped over to the source of the gunfire, it was an automated machine gun attached to a timer, or it was, having been reduced to a pile of scrap metal along with the scorched surrounding walls.
"We're going." James said, turning and walking away, his followers right behind him.
Jimmy turned around. "Did anyone get injured?" HE asked, everyone shook their heads, mostly to scared to do anything else, but the people who had volunteered to help him stood up.
"Sir?" Jimmy asked tentatively, addressing the captain.
"Yeah, what?"
"Did you check all radios, what's our status with other supplies?"
"Naught kid, the main food supplies are gone, that was one helluva explosion earlier, that whole half of the ship, gone, we're stuck fast on this seamount though." The man said.
"Damn, what about lifeboats?"
"The bottoms are gone, we'll have to build something." Jimmy said.
"Look kid, they say you're a genius." Jimmy nodded, activating his jet shoes and lifting into the air.
"Yes." He said, lowering back down again.
"Well, the crew, what's left will take care of this killer, you organize building a new craft." The captain said, Jimmy nodded, although he knew it wouldn't be that simple, the killer certainly knew what he was doing…but he needed to get back to Libby, Carl and Sheen.
"All right! Listen up, you will listen to this kid here, he will organize building a new escape craft, anyone who has a problem with that will be left behind. Understand?" The captain said, addressing the group as a large. "We left with a thousand passengers, there are definitely more survivors, find them!" He said again, to his crew this time. "And find this killer, stay in groups, get weapons! Godspeed men!" He roared and his men nodded, dashing off, he turned to Jimmy and nodded. "I trust you." He told him before following his crew.
"Okay, we will do this, I need you to get all power tools or other tools, radios that aren't trashed, cell phones, as well as any hard steels that could be used to build boats or other crafts, stay together, in medium sized groups, also gather any food or water, keep weapons, knives, don't wander off alone, be very careful, when you have done that, gather at the bridge, that's the control center, near the top." Jimmy said, the others nodded.
"We'll keep them safe." The Retroville resident in the varsity jacket who had spoken earlier said and Jimmy nodded.
"Cindy, come on, we've got to get back to Cindy, Carl and Sheen."
"Jimmy."
"Yes?"
"I just want you to know that whatever happens, I love you."
"Me too, and I will protect you, no matter what."
"I'll protect you too Neutron, I am the martial arts expert after all, and a better shot." She said, they both laughed, whatever happened, they had each other.
A/N: So sorry it took so long, my satellite internet card stopped working on the cruise, I'm back on land though, so I'll update faster and faster, I fixed the card, well I didn't personally but I got it fixed which is why I'm updating right now! Sorry again! Hope you liked it! Review! Please! Oh and this summer I'm mostly going to be writing comedies, nothing to action-y, well maybe something, besides what I've already got going of course.