Chapter XIV: Evil Stinks!
The sun was already rising, and everyone was preparing to head home. On the helipad of the lair, Carl and Sheen were busy loading huge packages of purple soda into Jimmy's small hovercraft, while Libby and the others kept an eye on the six ninjas that Jimmy had tied to his craft, making sure they didn't try to escape. Cindy and Jimmy were in the lobby of the base, which opened up to the helipad, giving them a clear view of all the activity outside. Both were sitting on the carpet, and Cindy was helping Jimmy put some bandages on his wrists, as the handcuffs he had been held in the Torture Chamber had left some nasty sores. Meanwhile, the boy genius was still trying to figure out what to do with Beautiful Gorgeous, who was still stuck in the bookshelf compartment.
"How are we going to get back, Jimmy?" Cindy asked as she treated the boy's wounds.
"The only thing I can think of is making two trips," he replied, trying to endure the sting of the alcohol on his wounds. "You stay here and make sure Beautiful Gorgeous doesn't escape while Carl, Sheen and I take the ninjas to Commander Baker's house, then I'll take them back to their houses and…"
"What?! Don't even think I'll stay with that crazy woman while waiting for you to come back!" Cindy protested, pressing the cotton harder against his skin, making him yelp.
"Ouch! Be careful!"
"I remind you that it was MY sleepover that you ruined. The least you could do is show some consideration for me and my friends for the trouble you caused us."
"Trouble? I remind YOU that if it hadn't been for your brilliant decision to join forces with a villain, your friends would've been back home hours ago."
"Yeah? Well, if you hadn't been messing around in my bedroom, Beautiful Gorgeous wouldn't have kidnapped you!"
"Of course she would have! But you wouldn't have even noticed and you wouldn't have been able to save my life!" Jimmy concluded, raising his voice. Both avoided each other's gaze, blushing with shame. "By the way… about that, I…"
"You don't have to say it, Neutron," Cindy quickly interrupted, feeling embarrassed as she bandaged his wrist.
"No, really. I mean, I know it's not the first time you do it but… Thank you."
"You're welcome," Cindy said shyly, accepting his sincere gratitude. "Though… if you really want to thank me, there's one thing you could do."
"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Jimmy asked as he slyly scooted closer to Cindy.
"Well, uh…" she began weakly. Jimmy and Cindy closed their eyes and slowly leaned closer to each other… when lots of screams coming from the helipad distracted them!
"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Cindy groaned, standing up.
A jet plane had just landed on the helipad and a muscular man with a well-groomed quiff was descending from it, causing all the girls to run towards him screaming with excitement.
Jimmy and Cindy ran outside.
"I can't believe it, it's Jet Fusion!" Nissa said in full fangirl mode.
"And I thought only Cindy would have a happy ending!" Britney said excitedly.
"Jimmy!" Jet exclaimed when he saw the boy genius while trying to navigate the group of girls who were crowding him. "What brings you here? Commander Baker gave orders to arrest Beautiful Gorgeous. Apparently, she escaped from prison, broke into a minor's house, and brought him to her evil lair. You wouldn't happen to know him, would you?"
"Are you serious?" Cindy asked indignantly before Jimmy could respond. "And you call yourselves 'Intelligence'? We've been here for HOURS. We've already fought Beautiful Gorgeous and her goons, captured her, and rescued Jimmy, you so-called hero. Now, if you'll excuse us, we were in the middle of something important!"
"Did she just call me a 'so-called hero'?" Jet asked Jimmy, confused. Jimmy just smiled awkwardly. "Anyway, is what the loud girl says true?"
"It is!" Jimmy exclaimed. "Jet, the kid she kidnapped was me. But we've got everything under control now. Though now that I think about it, it's funny you came because we could actually use a favor."
Jimmy led Jet and two other burly members of his team to the Torture Chamber, followed by Carl and Sheen.
"Ugh, what's that smell?" Jet asked, pinching his nose.
"Jimmy!" Sheen complained, shaking the boy genius by the shoulders. "Did you set off the Ultra Stink Bomb without us?"
"Stink Bomb?" Jet asked, speaking in a funny voice as he pinched his nose.
"Uh… Long story," Jimmy replied curtly. "I had to, Sheen, it was the only way to stun Beautiful Gorgeous."
The girls also arrived with the ninjas tied up in a group. They were all curious to see what had happened to the villainess.
"Okay, everyone back," Jet said as he opened the bookshelf door, which had gotten stuck from Cindy's kick. A crack opened, and green smoke poured out of the compartment. Everyone instantly covered their noses.
"Is that seriously what you planned to do to us?" Libby asked indignantly, pinching her nose.
"Well," Jimmy said, pulling a mask from his pocket, "technically, if this had happened at Cindy's house, the smell would have leaked out through the windows and dispersed, so the stench would have been much less."
Cindy glared at him furiously and punched him in the arm. Jimmy winced and rubbed his arm as he continued explaining, "What happened to Beautiful Gorgeous is actually much worse because she was exposed to the substance in a very confined space with no ventilation. I'm not sure what to expect."
Everyone watched with heightened curiosity as Jet fully opened the door. Their eyes filled with horror and disgust. There, on the floor, lay Beautiful Gorgeous, unconscious, covered in a green gelatinous substance, and smelling terrible. Beautiful Gorgeous regain consciousness.
"What happened?" she asked groggily as Jet's men handcuffed her.
"What happened is that, as always, justice prevailed in the end, Beautiful Gorgeous," Jimmy said smugly. "I hope you finally understand that evil stinks. Haha! Evil stinks! That's good!" he joked, causing everyone to roll their eyes.
"Jet? Oh, Jet! You'll help me with this, right? What do you say? For old times' sake?" Beautiful Gorgeous asked, casting him a seductive look, though it was far less effective now that she was covered in that viscous green substance and smelled worse than the Junkman and Baby Eddie combined.
Jet looked at her with disgust and immediately ordered, "Guys, take her away!" Then, he whispered to Jimmy, "I think I just remembered why we broke up…"
At that moment, a noise was heard behind the entrance door, making everyone turn. To their surprise, when the doors opened, Professor Calamitous appeared, covered in scratches and dirt. Apparently, he had managed to finish digging his tunnel from the prison to the volcano base, and after facing traps and obstacles, he had finally reached his daughter's lair.
"Oh, perfect!" Beautiful Gorgeous said, quickly recovering as she saw him enter. "You're late as always!"
Professor Calamitous, looking around, tried to flee, but Jet quickly caught him.
"Let me go, scoundrel!" the old man shouted as he struggled to break free. "I leave you in charge for a moment, and look what you've caused, young lady!"
"Perhaps if you'd finished digging in time, none of this would have happened!"
Father and daughter began to argue heatedly until Jet decided to end it by signaling his team to take both of them to a cell on the jet plane. But then Cindy intervened, "Wait a minute!" and running towards Beautiful Gorgeous, she stood in front of her.
"Here," she said, handing her back her red lipstick, placing it in her handcuffed hands.
"You would have made a great ally, Cindy Vortex," Beautiful Gorgeous said seriously.
"Thanks, but this kind of life is not for me," Cindy said. "I know that I am loud, rude, and get angry very easily. I'm impatient and demanding and, well… I know I seem bad, but I'm not. And Jimmy has taught me that. Women like us don't need someone who encourages our bad behavior, but someone who can see beyond what we show, someone who believes in us, someone who saves us from ourselves. When you find that person, you'll know what I mean. Because I think I've already found mine."
Beautiful Gorgeous stayed silent. The comment left her surprised, and she continued on her way as Jet's men pushed her toward her cell in the jet. Jimmy watched Cindy from afar, and even though he couldn't hear the conversation, he saw her return the lipstick, and though he didn't fully understand the gesture, he knew she was saying goodbye to her former ally. Smiling, he couldn't help but feel proud that Cindy had been able to decide for herself and choose her own path.
"Well, kids, it was a pleasure working with you," Jet said once all the criminals were locked up, and his team was ready to depart.
"Working with us?!" Sheen shouted. "What is this, a joke?! You just took the sexy evil ninjas, Beautiful Gorgeous, and her crazy father!"
"Yeah! You piggybacked off our work!" Libby protested.
"Commander Baker will know about this! I'll call my lawyers!" Sheen demanded.
"Yeah! At least give us more medals!" Carl chimed in. "Or let us sing our song: 'We're spy guys…!'"
"Alright, alright!" Jet interrupted Carl just in time. "Tell me, Jimmy, what can I do for you and your friends?"
Jimmy, thoughtful, placing a hand on his chin, smiled.
Back in Retroville, Jimmy asked Jet to fix Cindy's room, and so they did, leaving it just as it was before so Cindy's parents wouldn't suspect anything when they returned. Also, at the boy genius's instructions, Jet's men brought to Cindy's house all the snacks, food, and soda from Beautiful Gorgeous secret lair, serving everything in the villain's crystal glasses and silver trays.
They brought several of the puffs from the Entertainment Room and, of course, the sound system Libby had requested. With all that, Cindy's room looked like the perfect place to throw the ultimate sleepover. Cindy took the opportunity to return to her old appearance, putting Commander Baker's stylist spies to work for the first time in a long while. After offering her plastic surgery, which Cindy flatly refused, they just took care of returning her hair to normal. When they finished fixing her up, Jimmy took Cindy by the hand and led her outside her house.
"Well?" Jimmy asked Cindy as they both looked at the house from the outside, watching as Jet's spies rebuilt her house and arranged things in her room to the amazement of all the kids, who were happily celebrating in the bedroom of the once again blonde Cindy.
Cindy looked at him with a flirtatious smile of satisfaction and said, "Not bad, Neutron. I must say I'm satisfied, and… happy."
"And don't you think this guy deserves something for that?" Jimmy said, winking and taking a mischievous step toward her. Cindy laughed, excited.
"I just have one last question. Where did you get the silly idea that we were conspiring against you?" Cindy looked at Jimmy with her arms crossed, waiting for an answer.
"Well… I know for sure that you were repeating my name amidst laughter."
"Are you telling me that you didn't hear anything other than your name being repeated?"
"Well, yes! What else could it have been if it wasn't your friends and you planning to play a joke on me? Why? What were you saying? Now I'm intrigued!"
Cindy felt a heavy burden was lifted from her shoulders. However, with that special gift women have, she managed to turn the situation around before being exposed.
"Oh, no! Wait a minute! You were spying on our sleepover, Neutron! And that, in the girls' world, has a specific punishment," Cindy said with a wicked smile.
In no time, everyone was upstairs in Cindy's bedroom, while the girls were putting makeup on Jimmy, Carl, and Sheen. They were desperately complaining, trying to break free from the ropes that tied them back-to-back.
"What do you think, Libby? Does this pink lipstick suit Neutron?" Cindy asked.
"Hmm… Let's try this one instead," Libby replied, handing her a purple lipstick.
"Let us go! I'll call my lawyers!" Sheen said while Amber applied aquamarine eyeshadow to his eyelids.
"Jimmy! You promised this wouldn't happen to us!" Carl yelled as Britney powdered his nose, making him cough with asthmatic spasms.
"Enough already! We won't do it again, we promise!" Jimmy shouted with difficulty as Nissa applied blush to him.
The boys didn't give up trying to free themselves, and the girls laughed more and more, having a great time. It had been an unforgettable summer night, and they all agreed that it was the best sleepover Cindy Vortex had ever organized."
THE END
Thank you so much for sticking with me as I finally finished this project! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. I've been a fan of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron since 2006, which is almost 20 years now (wow! Where did the time go?) and it seems like I'm still not over it LOL Anyway, it's always a pleasure to find new people from this wonderful fandom. Please leave a comment and share it with your friends. See you soon!