Emerging Compassions

Chapter 3: The Junkman's Devious Plot

(Libby's POV)

"Well, puny earthlings, since you asked, I'm gonna take you to the hottest star in the universe, carbonize you to a crisp, chop you into chips, & deliver you to the Needleheads as their annual treats!" the Junkman declared.

Jimmy gasped angrily and protested, "You WOULDN'T!"

"I would!" the Junkman retorted deviously.

"Junkman! Why must you turn us into chips? Think I could have some ranch dressing to go with me?" Sheen started to growl, then asked inquisitively.

Cindy just rolled her eyes and commented, "Way to focus on the REAL problem, cheapskate!"

Stupidly thinking this was a compliment, he thanked her, "Thanks, Cindy!"

"Whatever...," she muttered, not really listening.

The Junkman just growled & ordered to some robots, "Take these good-for-nothings to the dungeon, pronto!"

With that, those robots grabbed a hold of us, Brobot, & Goddard & dragged us mercilessly to a dungeon. They threw us inside, slid the door shut loudly, and locked it.

"Great. What do we do NOW, Nerd-tron?" Cindy snapped, her hands on her hips.

"My big brother Jimmy can do anything, cuz he's a GENIUS!" Brobot boasted proudly.

"We know, we know!" we all except Jimmy complained.

"So, what's the plan, Neutron?" I asked him nervously.

"Uh, guys?" Carl pointed out, looking out the round dungeon window & pointing, "Did we just pass Jupiter, cuz we're sure going pretty fast out of our Solar System!"

We all joined him and gasped, seeing that he was right! The Junkman WAS taking us away! But which star was the hottest in the universe was the fact that was puzzling me. I had no idea which one was, cuz there's billions upon billions of stars in the entire universe!

So I turned yet again to Jimmy & wanted to know, "Neutron, which star in the universe is the hottest? And HOW are we gonna escape the Junkman without him noticing?"

"Luckily, I brought my hypercube with me, equipped with anything we'll need to escape & survive for a time!" he announced, pulling it out of his pocket.

"So, how are we gonna escape, Freak-tron?" Cindy snapped rudely.

I just rolled my eyes & shook my head in disgust, thinking, Cindy, WHEN will ya learn to stop tormenting Neutron? And for Pete's sake, WHY won't ya admit ya like him? That's drivin' me NUTS!

She apparently noticed my disgusted look & asked, "What's on your mind, Libs? Why the disgusted look?"

I took her aside & questioned suspiciously, slapping my forehead in disgust, "Girl, why won'tcha admit yo' PASSION fo' him up front to him? Ya act this way EVERY time you're around him! Girl, this is drivin' me berserk!"

"It's just that- uh, well, heh-heh... Um, I'm just not, um, comfortable with that yet, Libby! Why must ya be so PRYING about that issue? Besides, I don't think he'd like me back if I admitted it to him...," she told me, looking down at her shoes.

"You don't know that, Cin!" I replied fervently, "All ya gotta do is go up to him, look him STRAIGHT in the eye, & admit it! How hard can it BE, girl?"

"Libby, you don't even know how HARD it is to be me! Having a mother that always expects perfection out of me is VERY hard on me! She always wants me to win! THAT'S why I don't just go up to him & admit it, cuz I'm afraid of failure & him not liking me back! Ya see?" she explained to me.

Unfortunately, Sheen had heard every word out of Cindy's mouth just then, cuz he asked her, "So, when are ya gonna admit ya like Jimmy?"

Cindy grabbed him by the front of his shirt collar & hissed, "Never, Ultra-FREAK! HOW many times do I have to tell you this?"

"One hundred thousand times oughtta do it," I heard Carl mutter.

She marched right up to him & snarled, "WHAT did you just say, Llama-Boy?"

He tried to push her away as he said, "Cindy, stop it! You're giving me a migrane!"

Jimmy saw this & snapped at her, "Vortex, you better watch your mouth, cuz I'm tempted to leave you behind with the Junkman as the rest of us escape!"

That ticked me OFF! I leaned over to him & sneered, "Neutron, there is NO way you're leavin' Cindy behind! I am not about to let that happen!"

Sheen piped up & reminded him, "Are we gonna escape or what?"

"Duh! C'mere, guys!" Jimmy ordered, motioning us to him.

We huddled up & Brobot asked, "What's your plan, big brother?"

"This!" he exclaimed quietly, & shrunk us down to the size of a grain of sand with his shrink ray he'd brought with him. I saw that he'd also shrunk his rocket. Then he whispered additionally, leading us out between the bars of the cell, "Now, c'mon! We're too small for the heat & motion sensors to detect us, so we should be able to escape fairly easily. Now, get in my rocket, quickly!"

We did as he asked, then he managed to find an opening small enough for us to slip through & leave the Junkman's ship behind. Then he returned us back to normal size again.

Unfortunately, as we returned to Earth in the rocket, it was unknowingly out of fuel, so it plummeted down towards the ocean, but landed nose-first into an island's beach. This island's beach looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on how it was as I looked around with the rest of them. Then, it hit me! This was the same island that Cindy & Jimmy were once stranded on! This is NOT lookin' good at all... I thought begrudgingly to myself.