The Parents:
Zix piloted his ship as best as he could despite the onslaught of laser blasts. Despite the heavy shields that protected the ship, they still took heavy damage. The sweat dripped down Zix's brow as he evaded one blast after another. His piloting skills were being pushed to the limits.
"How's everything going on up here?" Hugh Neutron asked as he approached the bridge.
"It's not going well. Get back in your chair and buckle your seat belt!" Zix yelled in reply.
Hugh hesitated, his face clearly revealed that his feelings were hurt as he replied, "But maybe there's something I can do to help."
"Get back in your chair now! That's an order from your captain!" Zix shouted, as he steered the ship to the right narrowly missing another energy blast. Hugh stumbled and crashed into the control panel. The ship lurched forward as Hugh's weight rammed the controls forward. The ship went into a nose dive, sending Hugh backward and into the wall. Everyone screamed as Zix strained to pull back on the controls. The ship shuddered from the change in air pressure caused by the blast.
Travoltron shouted, "Someone has got to do something, or we're all going to like die or something. You know what I mean?"
"You're right fool! I better help, Zix, or something." Tee shouted in reply as he unlatched his seat belt and fought against the g-forces to get to the controls to aid Zix.
"Don't do it, Tee! Stay in your seat! That's an order!" Zix shouted as he saw what Tee was doing.
"Yeah Tee, Zix is right. It's too dangerous!" Travoltron shouted.
"If I don't do something, then we'll all die fool!." Tee shouted as he pulled himself forward. His muscles strained against the forces near to their breaking point. But, Tee refused to give up hope. His friends' lives depended on it. He reached the controls and grabbed on tightly with his powerful fists. The ship lurched upward from the combined force of Zix and Tee pulling back on the controls. The ship swooped out of its nose dive.
"Yah, you did it!" All the parents shouted as the ship leveled off.
"Are we safe? Is it going to be alright?" asked Mrs. Wheezer.
"I think everything should be just fine from here on in Mrs. Wheezer. Zix said, as the ship received a massive energy blast that blew a massive hole in the port side of the ship. The cabin filled with black smoke, the control panels sparked with little bolts of electricity.
"Hold on everybody! We're going down!" Zix yelled as the ship crash landed near the entrance of the newly constructed Cobra shaped fortress. Archimedes and Valerie Lee kept the serpent men army from swarming over the fallen comrades with blasts of dragon fire.
From the top of the Pyramid, Betty smiled as she watched the ship as it crashed to the ground. She was pleased with the energy blast she had created with her eyes. The air crackled from the energy and still stunk of burnt dust and dander.
"That was very impressive, Betty." Jimmy said.
Betty smiled in a smug way and said, "You haven't seen anything yet." She paused for a moment as if distracted by something only she could hear. Her eyes glazed over to their snake form during her pause. She growled angrily for a moment. "She lives! How is she alive?" She hissed under her breath. Her anger mounted and telekinetic energy rippled out of her bending five foot high iron candle sticks that were within arm's reach of her. Her long hair and the curtains in the window flew around wildly from the movement of air caused by the disbursement of energy.
Jimmy backed up one space slightly worried. She looked up at him clearly attracted by his movement. Her eyes seemed to stare right into his very soul. The fear began to build up within him as he braced himself in case her anger turned on him. But instead, her eyes returned to their normal pretty brown color and she smiled.
"Cindy still lives and our friends have been freed from the dungeon. Why don't you lead a welcoming committee to greet them? Take this with you. It will allow you to harness my power." She said as she handed him a black colored ring. It was shaped like a cobra with its head pulled back and its mouth open ready to attack. The tail circled the wearer's finger. The open mouth glowed with an eerie green light. Thank you, Betty. I will not fail you." Jimmy said.
"One other thing, I think its best that you forget about your former life completely. It would be best for the both of us if you discontinue using the name Jimmy Neutron. From now on I will call you General Tarken. Betty said as she waved her hand in front of his face. His eyes glowed with a green light.
The gang:
"It's my sports bottle!" Cindy said excitedly.
"Cindy, it's not that I'm not happy for you, but if you were thirsty I would have let you use some of my water." Carl said.
"Thanks, Carl. But you don't understand. I poured one of the essences of N-men packets in here. If I drink this bottle I'll regain my Special-girl powers for a half an hour. Betty took it from me after our fight. I was worried that she would drink it." Cindy replied with a grin.
"That would have been really bad." Carl said.
"Where did you get that, Cindy?" Libby asked.
"Yeah, what gives? I thought we used up the last of the N-men packets when we rescued, Jimmy, from the league of villains." Sheen said.
"Actually, those original packets were created because Jimmy synthesized them from our DNA when we had our super powers. He saved the data on his computer. He had the recipe, so it was simply a matter of creating more from it. I've been holding on to this particular batch since Jimmy and I got out of the dream world." Cindy said.
"I'm not surprised to be honest. After you were in your coma, Jimmy did everything he could think of to save you. He even created more of the essence of N-men packets in an attempt to glean some kind of secret from it that might be the answer. He had told me that he regretted his decision to not research a way to give us our powers permanently. You see he realized that if you had your special girl powers, that car would never have hurt you." Carl said.
"Do you think Jimmy kept any of our N-men packets in this place, Carl?" Libby asked.
"Actually he did. Follow me." Carl said as he led the group back through the parts of the lab that were still existed. They found the display case that contained each one of the N-men packets. There was several of each one stored in the case. It seemed that Jimmy had been stock piling them just in case some big disaster happened.
"Hey look, Jimmy still has more of that love potion thing." Sheen said.
"It's a love pheromone, Sheen." Carl replied.
"What's a pheromone? Is that a telephone you can call ferrets on? I want to call some ferrets that would be cool." Sheen said.
"Sheen, a pheromone is a chemical produced by the body that is meant to attract members of the opposite sex." Libby said.
"Let's just focus on getting the N-men packets and escaping from her, shall we?" Eustace asked.
"So, you're saying that if I ingest the contents of one of these packets I'll gain some kind of super power for half an hour?" Jet asked,
"Yup. The difficult part is which one do I want to have? Do I have to only have one? What happens if I eat more than one at a time? Would I get more than one power?" Sheen asked excitedly.
"That might be a little dangerous, Sheen." Libby said.
Cindy picked up a packet of Love potion 976J and stared at it. She remembered how Jimmy had acted when he was exposed to the simple substance. He had told her he loved her in front of everyone at Sam's. Everyone laughed at her. It had been so embarrassing. Despite her fear that it was going to be a trick she still went after him that day. The day ended abruptly with her being sucked out of the lab. She remembered how much she had wanted to kill him for it at first.
Her feelings had been so hurt. She hadn't known how she was supposed to feel. A part of her felt embarrassed at the time, while another side of her felt guilty like she had done something people wouldn't be proud of. The whole experience left her uncomfortable and she had trouble sleeping that night.
She probably would have killed him if he hadn't apologized to her the way he had. He actually came over to her house a day later and apologized. He had told her he would have come sooner but he had to wait for the pheromone to wear off. He was genuinely sorry for hurting her feelings and wanted to make it up to her. He took her out for lunch and did the best he could to explain how the pheromone worked and how he had come to be exposed to it.
She had claimed that she understood and then tried to cover for her reactions at the time by claiming some of the pheromone had gotten on her as well. She wasn't entirely sure if Jimmy had believed her though. He hadn't insisted on her wearing Gouda-feta cheese around her neck.
They had grown so close since then however. Her thoughts were interrupted by approaching guards. Cindy slipped the packet into her pocket and turned to face the guards.
"Get behind me kids." Jet said as he aimed his Mp5k at the approaching soldiers. They marched in formation. They were heavily armored and heavily armed with an array of laser rifles and laser spears. They had green scaly skin and yellow snake like eyes. General Tarken wore his snake armor and was in his serpent man form as he led the troops forward.
"I am General Tarken. If you surrender I will spare your lives." Tarken said.
"That's a very generous offer, Tarken. However I think you should surrender considering I have a gun pointed right at your head. Jet said with a grin. "Why don't you order your troops to leave and we can discuss the terms of my not blowing your brains out. What do you say?"
"You're weapon. You will not need it." Tarken said as he reached out his right hand that bore the ring. The Mp5k became extremely hot in Jet's hand. "Oww!" Jet shouted as he let the weapon go. It didn't fall however. It glided across the room to Tarken's awaiting hand. "
"Anyone got a better idea?" Jet asked
"I repeat my offer for you to surrender." Tarken said.
"I don't think so snake breath. Cindy said as she drank her bottle. Every eye in the room focused on her. She felt strange as the liquid raced through her body. She felt the power surge as her molecular structure realigned as every cell in her body was energized.
She had no way of knowing but the nano-bots that were still present within her body became infused with energy from the sudden power flux. They were sped up beyond normal operating limits and almost over loaded. They hadn't been programmed to deal with such an incident. They recovered from the power surge and began a new function, once a full body scan revealed that the body wasn't being harmed, but instead was being helped by the change that had caused the power flux. They began to change Cindy's DNA at the molecular level.
"Fine have it your way. Guards seize them." Tarken commanded as the guards began to approach.
Cindy stood in a defensive martial arts stance and taunted the nearest guard to attack her. He reached for her and she caught him by his arm and threw him over her shoulder. He bodily went head over heels and crashed into the wall twenty feet away. Ten guards rushed and pig piled on top of her. Like in an old Hercules movie, Cindy flung her arms upward and serpent men went flying off of her in every direction.
"What are you guys waiting for? Take your N-men packets!" She commanded as she took in a deep breath, faced the approaching guards and blew with all her might. A hurricane like wind blasted out of her mouth sending dozens of guards crashing into the wall at the far end of the hall.
N-1 and N-2 used their molecular atomizer at Cindy's command, and began zapping guards that got close, as Jet and Eustace grabbed two of the packets marked Cindy and quickly ate the contents. Sheen and Carl both ate two of the packets marked Sheen. Libby used her packet and the N-Men jumped into battle with what seemed like an endless supply of guards.
Carl ran around a group so fast that the wind formed a tornado. The guards screamed as the wind carried them upward before sending them crashing into the walls.
"Look out! Libby shouted as she made a force field to shield Eustace from a laser blast.
"Thanks, Libby. But very unnecessary." Eustace said as he stepped around the shield and walked calmly toward the guards as laser fire struck him harmlessly dozens of time. He got within ten feet of them and clapped his hands. The shockwave knocked them over.
Jet watched Cindy as she red colored energy blasted out of her eyes again and again as she melted the weapons out of the guards' hands and knocked other guards across the room.
"What's the deal with the energy out of your eyes?" Jet asked.
"I learned I could do this by focusing my super vision. I had to use it to lobotomize a monster a few months ago. Anyhow, if you focus it the right way, it will melt an object, or you can use it to knockback an enemy. Like so!" She shouted as she blasted another guard away from her.
"Let me try." Jet said as he concentrated. His vision went in and out of focus as it switched between micro-vision to telescopic-vision to x-ray vision before finally emitting heat vision. He melted a hole in the side of the fortress. Day light streamed in.
"Hey guys! I made a way out." Jet shouted.
"Go Jet. Lead the others out. I'll take up the rear and meet you outside." Cindy said as she floated up off the ground.
"Hey, you mean I can fly with your powers as well?" Jet said shocked.
"Yeah just decide which way you want to go and your body will do it. Now go. Lead them out." Cindy said.
"You got it." He decided he wanted to fly a few feet above the ground and head out of the tunnel. He gasped as his body lurched suddenly forward. "I'm flying! Come on guys let's get out of here." He shouted, as he made his way out of the tunnel with his friends right behind him, except for Cindy.
Cindy used her x-ray vision to see where General Tarken had gone. He was below her in the same chamber that Cindy had fought Betty earlier. He was standing near a large green colored gem and was clearly up to something.
She looked at her watch. She still had fifteen minutes until her N-men power would run out. "Well, I would only waste time if I follow the passageways to the room below. I think I'll just drill through the floor instead." She said to herself. Grinning ear to ear she spun in a circle so, fast that she became a blur as she drilled through the floor.
Tarken looked up Cindy bore her way through the floor and landed gently in front of him. The debris showered from the hole and the air was filled with dust.
"Come in Cindy. My attorney will be in touch with you over the damage to the floor." Tarken said with a grin.
"Enough with the jokes, Tarken. I want you to stand away from that crystal. I don't know what you're up to but the only thing your attorney is going to be doing is working to get you out of jail." Cindy said as, she stood with her hands on her hips.
"So you intend to arrest me? To, take me in to the authorities?" Tarken asked.
"Yes." Cindy replied.
"On what charges?" Tarken asked clearly amused.
"Let's try attempted murder and kidnapping." Cindy said.
"Those are some serious charges. You better take me in." he said as, he put his wrists together and held his hands up as, if he was waiting to be handcuffed.
"I will." She said as she walked toward him with some extra large zip ties that she had stored in her utility belt.
She suddenly felt weak as, she got closer to the crystal. Sweat began to bead on her forehead. The room felt like it was spinning and her knees began to wobble. She looked down at her hands. Her veins were starting to stick out and they had a greenish tint to them.
"You okay, Cindy? You don't look so good." Tarken asked with mock concern. She collapsed into his arms. "Don't worry, Cindy. You'll feel better once your powers wear off. That crystal has been created just for you. It's emitting a low frequency radiation, which is stripping your body of the energy that it creates when exposed to the solar radiation given off by the yellow sun. Once your N-men power wears off you'll feel better. Of course by that time you'll be locked in the dungeon.
She struggled to stay awake, as the dizziness she was feeling grew worse. In a last ditch effort she pulled something out of her pocket and feebly crushed it against Tarken's face. "What? Uhh what is that?" he asked as Cindy blacked out.
He sneezed from the powder that was in his nose. He placed Cindy's unconscious body on the floor and picked up the packet. It was marked with a red heart. "This seems familiar somehow. Why don't I remember it?" He asked himself as he glanced down at Cindy. His eyes locked on her face. Instead of disgust or hatred for his enemy he found something else. His eyes softened and became blue as he slowly returned to his human form.
A warmth spread through this chest as the iciness that had flowed through his veins was replaced with something that seemed alien yet somehow familiar. He continued to stare at the blonde girl that had been his enemy and realized he loved her.
To be continued…