Chapter IX: Curiosity Killed the Cat

Libby and the others arrived at what was perhaps the brightest room in Beautiful Gorgeous' lair: the Entertainment Room. It was a space overlooking the island's most beautiful beach, with pastel blue curtains adorning the windows. The floor was covered with coral-colored carpet, contrasting with white cushions of all sizes scattered around. It felt like being on the beach, except instead of looking at the sea, they had a huge flat-screen TV with modern audio equipment and gaming consoles in front of them.

"Wow! This place is amazing!" Libby exclaimed, now in charge of the audio control.

"I want to live here!" said one of the girls, lounging on a large cushion that could fit two people.

"We're glad you like the Entertainment Room," one of the ninjas said. "And we hope you'll like our servants even more. Can they get you anything? Ice cream? A sandwich?" she asked, ringing a bell.

At that moment, the girls couldn't believe their eyes. Behind a pair of swinging doors, CARL AND SHEEN emerged, ridiculously dressed as maids, trying to smooth their aprons while Sheen balanced a tray of drinks and Carl ate what was on his.

"SHEEN?! CARL?! What are you doing here?!" Libby asked in shock.

"Libby!" Sheen yelled, rushing to hug her, but before he could, one of the ninjas zapped him with a stun rod, causing him to scream and fall to the floor.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Libby protested, running to help Sheen. "Are you okay? How did you end up here?"

Before Sheen could answer, the ninja interrupted: "If you need anything, just call us on the intercom. You can order anything to eat from our servants, who are now at your service. Oh, here's the stun rod in case they don't obey. We'll see you in a bit," said the ninja, handing the electric device to Nissa before leaving the room. Nissa just blushed and pushed the torture device away.

"'Your servants,'" Libby repeated angrily. "But what happened? How did you end up like this?"

"It all happened so fast!" Carl shrieked. "One moment we were watching Jimmy's inventions, and the next, some ninjas came into the lab and took us away on a jet!"

"And it was really nice, by the way," Sheen added. "Did you notice how the seats reclined all the way back?"

"Yes," Carl laughed. "It was like being in a flying bed, and…"

"Let me get this straight," Libby interrupted. "You were in Jimmy's lab, and they came for you? And then what happened?"

"Well, no one said anything until we got here," Carl replied. "Then they took us to Beautiful Gorgeous, and she said she hated us for ruining her wedding and that she would make us suffer, so she made us wear these horrible outfits and turned us into her servants."

"Yes," Sheen added, "but I resisted. I told her, 'My dear, you're not going to get anything from me. I have my girl Libby and..."

"You actually knelt and told her that you would be her total slave for the rest of your life and wouldn't even try to complain," Carl said, causing Sheen to punch him in the arm.

"Alright," Libby said. "I get it. But then, did they enter Jimmy's lab? Oh no!"

While the girls were there, Beautiful Gorgeous had led Cindy and Goddard into a dark room that became distinguishable once the villainess activated some automatic blinds that, when opened, revealed a large room with wine-colored walls. It had a giant window looking out over the open sea and, in front of it, a desk with a swivel chair that resembled a throne. Beside the window was a massive computer screen, almost as large as the window itself, showing a grid of every room in the secret base via a closed-circuit system installed throughout the place.

"Please, have a seat," Beautiful Gorgeous said, sitting at her desk and offering Cindy a chair. Cindy walked toward her but kept her eyes on the screen. The villain noticed: "Oh, yes, I have closed-circuit cameras all over the base. See?"

Beautiful Gorgeous pointed to a camera in one corner of the room. Cindy turned her gaze back to the screen and saw herself and Beautiful Gorgeous in a small window, alongside several others. One of them caught her attention.

"I can't believe it! It's Carl and Sheen!" she said, watching them get shocked. "What are they doing here?"

"Oh, well, I had to give them a lesson after they dared to ruin my plans last time, so I brought them here…"

"In that case, you should do the same to me," Cindy said, gathering her courage and standing up, leaning over the desk, and challenging the villain. "Because I was also involved at that time, remember? The girl from the video?"

"And yet you're here, not back there. Haven't you wondered why?" Beautiful Gorgeous asked, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair, spinning slightly.

"I want to know what you're up to with me, NOW."

"Cindy, you won't believe it, but you remind me so much of myself when I was your age. Tell me, what do you want to be when you grow up? Because, honestly, I always wanted to be a…"

"Look," Cindy interrupted, annoyed. "I'm willing to negotiate with you, but there's a big difference between that and becoming best friends. That will never happen! So let's get to the point and…"

"Oh, but we have a lot in common," Beautiful Gorgeous interrupted. "I could start with a very simple similarity: we both hate Jimmy Neutron."

Goddard couldn't help but growl at Beautiful Gorgeous.

"Oh," Cindy said desperately. "Listen, I don't know what Jimmy has told you about us, but THAT'S NOT IT. Yes, we fight and everything, but I don't actually hate him. I've come for him, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes…" Cindy suggested, pounding her fist in her hand.

"You've come to rescue him? Oh! This will be difficult, then… It's clear you care a lot about Jimmy Neutron… but he doesn't care about you at all."

Goddard went into a frenzy, barking wildly.

"What are you talking about?" Cindy asked, skeptical of her words.

"You see, when I brought him here," the villainess said, using a remote control to zoom in on the screen to show Jimmy in his cell, "we had a chance to chat a bit, and he talked about you. He said he was upset not so much because we kidnapped him, as he claims he can handle himself… but because we stopped him from enacting a plan he had against you. Something about a bomb…"

"A stinky bomb?" Cindy asked distrustfully.

"Yes, that. A stinky bomb. He said he had been planning it for a long time and that it was the perfect opportunity to make you suffer."

"It was just a stupid prank. He wasn't planning to hurt me."

"I'm afraid there's more to it. Jimmy planned to poison you, Cindy."

"THIS IS GARBAGE! You're just trying to turn me against him!" Cindy protested, angry.

Beautiful Gorgeous' expression darkened. She picked up the remote and pointed it at the screen. Jimmy appeared on it, as his captor was interrogating him, saying in a broken voice: "We don't get along," "She's always yelling at me and making fun of me," "We're enemies."

"Do you think I'm stupid? That's edited!" Cindy screamed. "I don't believe a word you're saying!"

Beautiful Gorgeous played her trump card, directing a dark look at the screen. Cindy stood up to get a closer look. Indeed, there was Jimmy Neutron, the boy she had worried so much about, saying:

"No! Of course not! I do not like her!"

Then Beautiful Gorgeous was seen asking, "Really? You seem very agitated talking about her, for her to be just a mere classmate…"

"Agitated? Me? Not at all! She's the girl I care the least about on the face of the Earth. In fact, a meteorite could veer off its orbit and come millions of miles to crash directly into her house, and I wouldn't care in the slightest. If I think she might come to save me, it's because I KNOW THAT SHE LIKES ME. Although, on the other hand, you might be right, she could never find this place, because she's SO dumb that she even needs me to take her back home after school. So I guess I'll have to manage on my own."

Goddard went into a frenzy and ran at Beautiful Gorgeous to attack her, but she quickly moved out of the way to reveal a titanium cage behind her, into which the brave robot dog crashed, causing a short circuit in its system and leaving it out of commission.

Cindy didn't even notice. She had no attention for anything else. She walked slowly backwards, moving away from the screen but staring at it intently. She watched the paused image of Jimmy, with his big blue eyes looking gray on the screen, like everything else; inside and outside of it. She felt her breathing becoming more and more difficult. She inhaled and exhaled rapidly and exaggeratedly. She touched her chest while looking down, as if trying to calm herself, to be strong as always, but it was useless. She felt something breaking inside her, as if she had been struck right in the middle of her chest. She didn't want to do it, but she collapsed on the floor. And then she began to cry.

Beautiful Gorgeous looked down at her, and her expression filled with satisfaction. "There, there, come here," she said, helping her up and handing her a tissue. "No girl who prides herself on being strong should cry over a man."

Cindy sobbed covering her eyes. She didn't know what was happening; she felt overwhelmed by a myriad of different emotions: she felt sadness at knowing in such a cruel way that her feelings had never been reciprocated; she felt betrayed because Jimmy had spoken about her like that; and she felt ashamed for not being able to stop crying in front of Beautiful Gorgeous. Her heart was a strange mix of feelings that the villainess wasted no time in channeling.

"I can't believe it," Cindy finally said, though still crying. "I've always been by his side, never leaving during tough times… We shared so much! We both fought against the Yolkians, we defeated Meldar and gosh! We survived together on a deserted island! Did that mean nothing? Doesn't it mean anything to him?"

Beautiful Gorgeous didn't understand a word of what Cindy was saying, but playing along, she said, "I know, I know. It's hard. But don't let it hurt you, Mindy."

"It's Cindy," she said with tears in her eyes, but annoyed.

"Right, Cindy. Neutron hurt you in a cruel and horrible way and dared to mock your feelings."

"Yes…" she said, sobbing.

"And not just that, he questioned your abilities! He doubted you were smart enough to come."

"Yes, he did… He's always done that…"

Slowly, Cindy's face began to lift, and when the light hit her, it was clear how her expression had completely changed. Little by little, even the slightest trace of sadness had vanished, and her expressions now showed not grief but determination and anger.

"And look at you! You're not like this. You're a mess; you're dirty, tired, you risked your life for him and he doesn't appreciate it! But he never has, has he? He's never known how to appreciate you."

"He's never treated me as an equal…" Cindy said, filled with resentment.

"But that's where I come in, dear Cindy. Together we can achieve the impossible," said the villain, squatting down and brushing the tousled hair from Cindy's face. "We'll fix you up, dress you, and you'll be the strong girl you were before you cared about Neutron. Join my cause, Cindy, and you'll receive the treatment you deserve because you're an intelligent and strong girl with great potential for my team. Join me, and we'll make Neutron pay dearly for everything he's done to you. What do you say?"

"I…"

Cindy tried to glance at the screen one last time, as if something inside her wanted to give Jimmy Neutron one last chance at redemption… but Beautiful Gorgeous gently took her face in her hands to stop her and make her look at her.

"You deserve more than this, Cindy. What do you say?"

"Let's do it."