Chester had paled and A.J. quickly pulled him outside the room. The situation had just taken a drastic turn for the worse, and from the look in A.J.'s eyes, he knew it as well.
"Should we extract Tim now? I mean if it is Veronica, Tim cold be in even more serious danger!" Chester nearly shouted as A.J. shook him back to his senses.
"No, let him finish what he has started." A.J. said as a techie handed him a printout. "Well, the voice stress analyzer combined with the lie detector says with 100 accuracy that Buxaplenty is not lying. So basically Tim is flying blind and Veronica might want to hurt him after what happened after Tootie died."
"But Tim didn't do anything to hurt her, and if I remember correctly, he took her out a couple of times." Chester said, fear and frustration beginning to build in him.
"Right, but remember that she was on Tootie's level, if not more insane in her crush on Tim. Any rejection could have set something off in her mind." They looked back through the window at Remy, both wondering how to get this newest tidbit of info to Tim, and to warn him about Veronica, and more importantly, get their hands on that evidence and run the tests.
Tim stood in front of a heavy bag in the state of the art gym Athena had built in the palace. He started throwing lefts and rights as he contemplated his next move. He knew he somehow had to get the evidence to A.J. as soon as possible, but he still wasn't sure how. The more he thought, the angrier he became. Within moments he was in an out of control rage and was pummeling the poor bag with punches, devastating roundhouse and spin kicks and even the occasional head butt. With raw, animalistic fury, he landed one more bone breaking punch with a terrific grunt and walked off, cooling down slightly.
From an observation balcony, Veronica and Athena watched him intently. Both stood in awe at the brut force Tim had just displayed. Veronica knew that it was not only having to be undercover and right next to Athena, but also his pent up grief over Tootie's death that had fueled the outburst. She had been privy to such outbursts many times when they were teenagers.
"I told you he was powerful, and yet you still want him close to you." Veronica noted to her Queen.
"I know what I am doing General." Athena stated without hesitation. But after a moment, she continued: "Maybe I won't kill him, maybe I'll just seduce him into joining our cause. He is very handsome…in a rugged "I can kill you without blinking" sort of way. I'd even bet he would be fantastic in bed, with all that raw energy and passion he stores up." Athena licked her lips after saying this, Veronica just rolled her eyes at her mistresses' perverse thoughts.
"Let him out of the palace today General, he looks like he's a caged animal. Track him of course, but I think some fresh air would do him some good." Athena said before turning on her heel and walking away, leaving her second-in-command standing there physically ill from her ravings about Tim and his sexual prowess.
After a long, hot shower that helped untie his aching muscles, Tim got word that General Verdant wanted to speak to him. He arrived at her office ten minutes later, unsure of what was going on. "Neutron, Her Majesty has decided that you need to get out and get some fresh air after your display in the gym this morning." Tim just nodded, knowing well that he was going to be followed, but still he needed to get the evidence to A.J. pronto.
"Be back here at 1530 hours understood?" Tim nodded "Dismissed." Tim saluted and walked out of the office. Boy she really has no idea what he can do does she? Veronica thought as she watched him walk out I hate to see him go, but damn I love to watch him leave! She's right, he is very sexy, maybe if I can destroy her, him and I could…nah, he's still in love with Tootie's ghost, I'll never have a place in his heart.
Tim got back to his quarters, grabbed the two small baggies out of his closet and contacted A.J. that he got some down time and wanted to set up the meeting. He also warned A.J. that he would more then likely be followed, so they needed a good spot to meet. After a few seconds, A.J. suggested the ruins of Dimmsdale Elementary School, which made Tim chuckle and he reminded A.J. that he just wanted to see his handiwork from their chase through town the last time he was undercover.
At the school, Tim regarded a disguised A.J. with a simple nod and quickly walked over to him. The two clasped hands before bringing their all too short meeting to a start.
"Well here it is, all the evidence I have on Athena." Tim stated as his old friend took the baggies from him and slid them into his pocket.
"Good work Tim, I'm curious though…who is this person that is sending you this stuff?"
"I'm at a loss on that one A.J., he or she only signs the letters as "An Old Friend".
"Well beyond that, we got a major piece of intel on Athena's organization from Remy."
Tim looked at him intently "Well come on, out with it."
"Remy told us, and every test proved he was telling the truth, that Athena's second-in-command is none other then Veronica!" Tim blanched at the news.
"So that's why she looked so familiar. You guys don't think she would try anything after what happened back in high school?"
"We're not sure Tim, but we do know that she knows who you are." Tim bowed his head.
"Then I'm going to have to be extra careful around her." A.J. simply nodded and the two shook hands. A.J. ran off towards H.Q., while Tim jogged towards his old neighborhood.
Ten minutes later, A.J. sat in the lab as the analyzer ran the tests on the hair. He was intrigued by the rubber bands, noting to himself that they looked very familiar to him but he couldn't place where he had seen them before. Trixie walked in a few moments later to check on the progress.
"How's it going genius?" She asked with a smile as he sat there staring at the bands.
"Great so far, I'm waiting on the results on the hair that Tim provided. It's just these rubber bands, they seem awfully familiar, but I can't place where I've seen them before." A.J. sat back and massaged his forehead and Trixie looked over his shoulder at the light blue bands. It took less then a minute for her to recognize them.
Tim arrived at his old home, or what was left of it anyway. During their "battle" the last time he went undercover, he had blasted it into rubble. But still it was one of the few places he managed to find solace and serenity. He walked around the rubble, reminiscing about all the good, and not so good times he had spent here.
How proud his parents were of him and how he was trying to cope after Tootie had died, and even more proud the day he graduated high school and was accepted into the University of Texas. As he walked through more rubble, he could sense the probes watching his every move. He quickly knelt and said a prayer for not only himself, but all his comrades back at H.Q.
With that, he left the ruins, but turned the opposite way he came, heading for the lone remaining mostly untouched house, and the memories that resided there as well.
As Tim approached the house, he looked around to find that no probes had followed him. He entered the domicile carefully and made his way to an upstairs bedroom. He reached for the doorknob and slowly took a breath, knowing what he would find in here wouldn't make it any easier. He opened the door and walked into a room with pastel walls and pictures and posters all over the walls.
It hadn't changed one bit in the seventeen years since Tootie last inhabited it. The posters were mostly of pop and rock singers, but more then a few were of him.
Considering she had a "Timmy Love Shrine" for so many years, I guess it's apropos that this has become my "Tootie Love Shrine." he thought as he sat down on the bed. He gazed at several pictures of them just hanging out as friends.
Boy I still got it bad don't I? He walked over to the closet, and peeked in at the long ago forged "Timmy Love Shrine". However this time something was missing: The Crimson Chin action figure he had given her after being particularly mean to her with several water balloons.
Where the hell is that doll? Tim thought perplexed as he stared at the empty Plexiglas display case. I'll bet Veronica somehow found it and took it, just to spite me. He gathered himself and solemnly walked out of the former McDonald residence. He noted the time was 15:20 and set his path back to the palace, wondering if he would run into Veronica again today.
Indeed Veronica had taken the doll, but at the request of her mistress several weeks ago. She had been perplexed at this, but assumed that she only wanted to add it to her personal "Relics from the Past" collection that she kept in the throne room. How Athena knew of its whereabouts was still a mystery, but Veronica had long ago stopped asking questions of her.
She walked into the throne room and was amazed to see that very doll sitting next to the throne in a Plexiglas case, with Athena marveling over it like a long lost friend. Veronica cleared her throat to make her presence known.
"What is it General?" Athena asked as she put the clear box back on its pedestal.
"Yes ma'am, Neutron is on his way back to the palace as we speak."
"Good, did you track him like I asked you to?"
"Well, he evaded our scanners for the first thirty minutes, but we caught up to him as he entered the ruins of the Turner residence."
This piqued Athena's interest, as no one had set foot within twenty feet of the Turner home since she herself had declared it off limits. When it was blasted into rubble during Vicky's "reign", Athena nearly had a stroke, believing that Vicky had ordered it destroyed just to spite her.
"Did you say the Turner residence?"
"Yes ma'am I did."
"I wonder why he would go there?" Athena asked rhetorically.
Veronica knew better then answer that, so she continued on. "He was also seen walking into the former McDonald residence and spending all of the time there in an upstairs bedroom."
Now Athena was really intrigued. "What did he do there?"
"All that was seen was he sat on an antiquated bed and looked through a closet and then left, he had a look of confusion on his face as he left."
"Thank you General, that is all" with that Veronica left. Athena gazed at the action figure that sat before her, "Why would he go to the remains of the Turner residence, and more to the point, why was he in that other house in a bedroom? Though, I can almost bet on which bedroom drew his interest." Athena let this settle in her brain It can't be HIM, he was killed by a drunk driver not a month after his father's funeral…or was he? Athena mused to herself.
Back at Resistance H.Q., the testing on the hair provided by Tim was complete. A.J. had Trixie round up the leadership council and had them meet him in the lab. When they got there, A.J. was all smiles as he entered more code into the Central Computer.
"The results are in guys, we now know the true identity of Queen Athena!" Everyone clapped and cheered as A.J. continued: "I have programmed the results to come up on the screen before you, showing you once and for all who is behind that hood!"
A technician handed him the print out of the results as the image began to come up, first pixilated, then becoming clearer by the second. None was sure of who was behind the hood, but all knew that nothing about the Queen of the World would shock them anymore.
"It's coming together!" Chester shouted nearly gleeful. A.J. read the results on the paper and his eyes bugged out of his head.
"No it can't be!" he yelled as the image became crystal clear.
"Oh man!" was all Elmer could say.
"No fucking way!' Tad and Chad said in unison.
"Holy shit! It's…it can't be!" Chester called in shock. Trixie gasped and nearly fainted at the image.
"Are you absolutely positive about these results A.J.?" she asked weakly.
"I reran the tests three times guys! This is Queen Athena!" Chester slumped down into a nearby chair. All had indeed been shocked at this newest development, and all had the same fear for Tim's life.
"Tim is in even more danger now then when we found out about Veronica!"
A.J. looked ashen as he spoke in a quivering voice: "Guys, it's the truth. Queen Athena is…"
To Be Continued…
A/N: Hope everyone is enjoying this so far. If you would be so kind as to read and review please. I would so appreciate it.