Chapter 46: Mysteries Solved
The world was little more than a blur as Jimmy opened his eyes. Every muscle in his body ached, but that was nothing compared to the pain in his head. He felt like someone had slammed a sledgehammer into it. For a moment he had trouble remembering what had happened, but then he moaned, "Cindy."
As soon as he said her name things came rushing back to him. The travel through space, the loss of Sheen, his guilt, forming a suicide team, killing Goobot, and then blackness. He tried to focus his eyes, but the world continued to spin around him. He tried to lean to his right to throw up, but he ended up vomiting on the floor right in front of him.
"Goobot," he mumbled as his eyes rolled around in his sockets. "Nick … Cindy. You there?" he weakly croaked. He heard no response and tried to stand up, but his legs were unresponsive. He pulled on his arms, but the action was only met by a pain in his wrists. Still not completely sure of what was going on, he closed his eyes and fell back asleep.
He slept a dreamless sleep, his body using all of its energy to replace his lost blood and repair the bruised skin along his jaw. This was suddenly interrupted by a sharp pain in his stomach.
"Ow!" Jimmy tried to shout as pain exploded from his gut and radiated all throughout his body, but the wind was knocked out of him and he could only wheeze. His eyes bugged out and he coughed violently.
"Wakey wakey," a devilish voice told him.
Familiar … so familiar, his mind though while Jimmy looked down at the floor and struggled to breath. After a few more seconds of violent coughing he managed to refill his lungs with precious oxygen. The world was still spinning around him, but not so violently as when he had first woken up. He lifted his aching head up and stared at the enemy that stood in front of him. It took a moment for the room to stop spiraling and for his eyes to focus, but once they did he let out a groan of anger. "You," he angrily spat.
The boy in front of him lifted an eyebrow and gave an evil grin. "Good to see that you remember me," Eustace Strych said while wiping his hands off on a towel that he was holding. Red liquid that Jimmy immediately realized was blood coated the towel.
Eustace noticed that Jimmy's eyes were locked on to the stained towel and smiled wider. "Something wrong?"
Jimmy tried once more to stand up, to launch himself at Eustace, but a searing pain flooded his wrists once more. He craned his neck to look over his shoulder and saw that a mess of handcuffs and rope had tied his wrists together and to a pillar that rose out of the center of the room.
"Don't look so shocked," Eustace playfully told his nemesis while tossing the towel onto the ground. "Did you really expect me to not tie you up? I was smart enough to come up with this whole ingenious plan; I'm not about to throw it all away by not immobilizing you."
Jimmy looked away from the rope and metal that trapped him and turned his attention back to his captor. Same old Eustace, he thought. Strych stood in front of him with his brown hair slicked back, his mouth twisted into a smile that showed off his large front teeth. He stood with the dignity and pride of a boy who had never worked a day in his life, and his clothes reflected that. Even during a battle, the boy was dressed in clothes worth more than Jimmy's parent's car.
"I imagine you have a series of questions," Eustace muttered while taking a seat in a small folding chair that he had placed several feet in front of Jimmy. He twirled the antique revolver that he had used against Jimmy on the moon weeks ago.
Jimmy continued to glare at Eustace. "Where is everyone!" he shouted. "If you hurt any of them, I swear that I'll," he began to shout, but Eustace interrupted him by slamming his pistol across Jimmy's injured jaw. Blood flowed from his lips, and Jimmy spat more of the red liquid onto the floor.
"Making idle threats isn't exactly a good idea," Eustace said while grinning. Jimmy spit more blood onto the floor before shaking his head and turning back to Eustace.
"I've gotten a lot accomplished in the ten or so hours that you've been unconsciousness," Eustace continued. "Don't worry about your little playmates, they're safe. For now. You're the main target, Jimmy, but I'm sure a genius like yourself already figured that out long ago."
"And Cindy?" Jimmy said as angrily as he could, but genuine fear betrayed his hostility.
"Tucked away for the moment," Eustace assured the injured boy. "I must say, Neutron, you've picked well. She's certainly grown since we first met, if you know what I mean," he said while chuckling.
Jimmy scowled at Eustace and pulled harder on his ropes, but they didn't give. "You sick bastard," Jimmy growled.
Eustace simply laughed once more knelt down to make eye contact with Jimmy. "Don't even bother struggling with those ropes, Jimmy. Superman himself couldn't break free of that entangled mess you're trapped in. I suggest you just sit back and enjoy the ride."
Jimmy continued pulling on the ropes, even as they dug into his wrists and drew blood. Jimmy finally lunged his head forward and tried to bite Eustace, but he came up two feet short. Eustace just laughed and gave Jimmy a pitiful look.
"How amusing, James. Acting like the atrocious dog you really are," he said while chuckling and standing back up. He paused, kicked Jimmy hard in the stomach, and smiled as Jimmy coughed violently once more and struggled to breathe.
"Never gets old," Eustace mused while turning around and walking back to his seat. "Now," he continued while sitting down, "as I said before, I'm sure that you're wondering how I accomplished all of this, how I managed to beat the famous James Isaac Neutron."
"I'm not beat yet," Jimmy weakly argued, still struggling to breathe. But he couldn't help but ponder Eustace's words. He was wondering how Eustace had tricked him, how he had bested him in a battle of wits. He wasn't prepared to let Eustace know this, however.
Eustace knew that Jimmy wanted to know how he had accomplished this, he could see it in his eyes. "Beat or not, I can tell you're curious. You certainly have a right to be, even I was surprised at the sheer brilliance I displayed during this little, as I believe you would call it, adventure."
Eustace crossed his legs and stared at Jimmy, expecting another hurtful remark, but the boy genius remained silent, wanting to know in spite of himself. "I'm sure you know what this is," Eustace told him while rolling the black circle towards Jimmy. If fell over onto the floor right below his face.
Jimmy read the engraving on the back of the device and nodded. "Some sort of device that carries my parent's DNA and amplifies the signal. It's what led us here."
Eustace teasingly clapped his hands. "Very good, James. That is its description in laymen’s terms. It does contain a sample of a … potpourri, if you will, of all of your parents' DNA. It amplifies the strength of those few cells trillions of times, which tricked your little DNA trackers to believe it was all of your parents. The device's signal is so powerful that it also blocks out the real signal sent by your parents' DNA. It wasn't cheap, but good things never are," he joked.
"But that was just one of the many parts of my plan, Neutron. You may have noticed that I've been absent from your life for over a year now, save for that little moon distraction, which I'll come to later. This plan didn't come together over night, Jimmy, oh no. Quite the contrary, it required months of intensive planning."
"You need to get a life," Jimmy angrily told Eustace.
"At least I'll have one by the end of the day," Eustace angrily told Jimmy while standing up punching him hard in the face. Warm blood flowed from Jimmy's nose. Eustace smiled and began pacing around the room, all the while holding his gun and occasionally pointing it at Jimmy, who just stared on with his eyes narrowed in anger.
"First, there was the abduction of the parents," Eustace began to explain. "That was one of the easier parts. I hired several mercenaries who excelled in covert operations. They easily attached the tanks full of the 'knockout gas' to key points around the city, which would be triggered by myself via remote activation. Once they were activated, a larger group of mercenaries easily rounded up your pare
nts and the other adults and older teens in your little town. They were shipped to a base that I had and then brought out into deep space."
Eustace stopped pacing around as he came to stand in front of Jimmy once more. "Now, obviously I could have done all of this during the night and allowed you to be hit by the knockout gas, but I didn't want to risk you waking up and seeing that it was me. My whole plan rested on you believing that the Yolkians were responsible. So instead, I decided to distract you with a feverish battle on the moon. It still amazes me that you never for one second thought that it was more than coincidence that the night your parents were taken, you and I engaged in our longest battle ever, and that it was our first encounter in over a year."
Jimmy bit his lower lip in anger as he listened to Eustace. Stupid! Of course I should have realized it was him!
"You see, Jimmy, the attack on the moon was little more than a distraction. Obviously I tried as hard as I could to kill you, but I knew that you would most likely defeat me. I simply made the battle last as long as possible so that my mercenaries in Retroville would have ample time to complete their task. They kidnapped the parents, destroyed your cameras, and infiltrated your lab."
Eustace laughed as he explained another part of his plan. "You see, my mercenaries broke into your lab and switched some things around so that you would find a video of the previous Yolkian's attack. Do you get it now, Jimmy? The video that you examined, the one that showed the Yolkians abducting your parents, was taken two years ago! It was of the first abduction!"
Eustace laughed until his sides hurt. "It was ridiculously easy to break into your lab, Jimmy. All I needed was a strand of your hair! What were you thinking? Our school library has higher security! So much technology, the heart of all your scientific pursuits, your second home, all I needed was to pluck a strand of hair the comb in your bathroom, you stupid imbecile!" Eustace said between fits of laughter. "Even for the control room, I only needed your fingerprints!"
Jimmy clenched his teeth in anger, especially since he knew that Eustace was right. "I was going to put higher security in this Christmas," he mumbled, more to himself than Eustace.
"So, I assume you know what happened next. They systematically destroyed your video cameras placed around the city, save the one on that Baltic Avenue which they beat the crap out of, leading you to think the Yolkians destroyed it in a hurry. They accessed your lab's security video files, erased other videos from the period in which you thought your parents were abducted, uploaded the old video of an old Yolkian abduction, and then erased all evidence of their presence in your lab. Pretty smart, huh?"
Jimmy continued staring straight ahead, his eyes blank. He continued to slowly move his wrists, but his attempts to free himself were failing miserably.
Eustace stopped revealing the details of his plan and stared at Jimmy, who continued to stare straight ahead. "I know what you're doing, Jimmy. You're listening to what I'm saying, getting angry about it, all of that stuff. But the majority of your brain is thinking about the situation at hand. Thinking about how you can escape. Your mind is like a computer, running through thousands upon thousands of different escape plans, computing variables and odds of success. They range from the simple breaking of your ropes to the absurd concept of some deus ex machina. But face it, Jimmy, it's over. Even if you could break free of your ropes, which you can't I've got the gun. I'd shoot you dead before you got within five feet of me."
Eustace gave an evil smile and continued speaking. "Your friends can't help you, James. They're tied up just as you are, and probably still knocked out. I gave you all a pretty heavy dose of that knockout gas. So I suggest you give up trying to escape, lie back, and listen to this little speech, because it's the last thing you'll ever hear. So enjoy, why don't ya?" Eustace asked while gently slapping Jimmy twice on the cheeks. Jimmy lashed out with his feet and tried to bite Eustace's hand, but Eustace merely jumped backwards and evaded both blows. "You'll pay for that later," Eustace happily promised.
Eustace sat back down in his seat and took a sip from a Shirley Temple he had prepared himself. "So the force field was set. That was no easy task either, Jimmy. It took a year for my scientists to make and cost quite a pretty penny. Luckily I've got trillions of them. At any rate, I monitored your actions, just as you expected. A few hidden cameras here and there really spruced up your lab. Meanwhile, I was off in space on a rather bedraggled and hastily assembled base somewhere near this Yolkian planet. I powered down the force field to let you through and to allow you to keep in contact with your lab. I decided to give you at least that little gift so you wouldn't give up hope and head back to Earth."
Eustace polished off his drink and raised his empty glass to Jimmy. "Thirsty?"
"No thank you," Jimmy slowly said, his voice oozing hatred. He still struggled with the bonds that tied him to the pillar, but he was rapidly realizing that this was a futile effort.
"A shame," Eustace said with a shrug while tossing the glass over his shoulder. "I thought you would at least want to sample a martini before you die. Your loss."
Eustace cleared his throat and pointed the gun at Jimmy's head while making banging sounds. He chuckled a little and twirled the gun in his fingers. "But back to business. The asteroid belt you encountered, contrary to what you may be thinking, was merely a stroke of bad luck for you. But you can imagine how happy I was to hear that you'd lost your supplies, rockets, hope, and friend. That last bit truly amused me."
"I'll kill you!" Jimmy shouted while struggling to get free with new tenacity at the mention of Sheen's death, but Eustace just quizzically stared at him. Jimmy continued to struggle like a fish on a hook, but finally gave up and began to breathe deeply after several minutes. "You sick son of a bitch," he finally murmured.
"But let's move on. Around the time you left Earth, I initiated the riskiest part of my plan, but as you can see, I made it out unscathed. I took a small ship of my own, infiltrated this Yolkian ship, and unleashed a torrent of knockout gas through the ventilation system. Luckily, it works just as well on those aliens as on humans. I attached the black device that amplified your parents' DNA signal onto Goobot and placed dozens of large tanks of the knockout gas in the ventilation systems and prepared them for remote activation. Then I left the ship. Once I was back at my base with your captive parents, I continued to pump the Yolkian ship full of the gas. I wanted them subdued until just before you invaded their ship. That way they wouldn't have a lot of time to spot the black device and destroy it. I also hoped that the knockout gas would anger the Yolkians enough to really give you a good fight."
Eustace started to continue, but snapped his fingers and slapped a hand to his forehead. "Oh, and James, this isn't really a mother ship on which they were guarding your parents. It's actually just Goobot's private vacation vessel. The reason that there were so few soldiers to guard your parents was that there were no parents to guard. They were just a few dozen soldiers that are there to protect the king along with his personal guards. Just in case you're wondering."
Jimmy finally gave up on trying to break the ropes and let out a deep sigh. "You finished?"
Eustace closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "Pretty much. Once you were around a day away from this ship, I boarded it again. The Yolkians were still out cold. I hid inside a supply closet on the third floor. At least, that's what I think it was. Then I stopped bombarding the ship with the gas and allowed the aliens to wake up. I had hoped that the Yolkians could kill you and I could hit them with the knockout gas again. Then I would have taken one of this ship's escape pods back to the base, gather some supplies, and head back to Earth, leaving your parents alone to die."
Eustace holstered his gun and clapped his hands together. "Jimmy, I have one last thing to say. Obviously you're a smart guy, I have to give you that. But you acted incredibly foolish, reckless, and just plain dumb during this adventure," Eustace said with a hint of sadness while pityingly shaking his head.
"You see, Jimmy, this
plan was amazing. I'm sure you're thinking that, even if you won't say it. And it succeeded. But it wasn't flawless," Eustace said with a pang of regret. "Obviously, no plan is without risks. The risk in mine was that you would spot and investigate the discrepancies between what you wanted to believe and the reality you faced. I was quite shocked, but greatly pleased, that you failed to follow up on many leads."
Eustace's playful smile returned as he took a seat. "Your stupidity has ended up putting you, your friends, your girlfriend, and your parents in the hands of…" he waved his arms about, trying to come up with the right word, "a madman," he finished while grinning wider.
"There were so many hints, clues, whatever you want to call them, that told you the Yolkians hadn't done this," Eustace began. "The fact that you fought me on the same day your parents were abducted. The fact that you were on the moon during the 'abductions' and didn't see any Yolkian ships travel to Earth. Why didn't you think it odd that the time on the videotape of the Yolkians' abduction was so different from the time that Nick said he had been attacked?" Eustace asked in amazement.
"Goobot's confusion, the lack of Yolkian defenses, all of those things!" Eustace shouted in amazement. He leaned forward in his seat and stared at Jimmy. "But there was one thing, Jimmy. One humungous clue that I realized too late. It was on the video of the Yolkians taking your parents. But you didn't see it. And neither did I, until I watched you all watch it in your lab. Yet you didn't notice. Do you know what it was? Do you know?"
Jimmy met Eustace's glare and replayed the video in his mind. The Yolkians. They flew down, abducted the parents, and flew off. What is he talking about? They flew away past the moon, and then the tape…
Eustace smiled as he saw the realization spread across Jimmy's face. "I see you realize it now," he happily muttered.
Jimmy shook his head and shook his body violently at his stupidity. "The moon," he whispered.
"The what?" Eustace sarcastically asked while cupping a hand over his ear and aiming his revolver at Jimmy's head with his other hand. "Speak up!"
Jimmy looked at the gun pointed at his face and sighed. "The moon," he sadly said while looking down at the floor. "The moon on the videotape was a sliver. Less than a quarter moon. But the moon that night was a full moon. If the video had truly been taken that night, the moon on it would have been full."
Eustace smiled and jumped out of his seat. He started to pace around Jimmy, always keeping his revolver trained on the defeated boy sitting near him. "That's right, Jimmy. You, the almighty genius, didn't notice that or any of the other clues. What the hell is wrong with you?"
"You sicken me, Jimmy. Not just because of your stupidity, but also because you're more selfish than I had ever imagined. Even when you thought it was the Yolkians that had taken your parents, you knew that you were the main target. You discussed it with that Dean boy. So why did you take all of those other kids with you?" Eustace asked while shaking his head.
Jimmy tried to answer, to defend himself, but Eustace didn't give him a chance. "Why did you risk everyone's lives? You knew it was your fault, you were the one who gave the Yolkians a map to your planet two years ago! So why did you insist on bringing hundreds of innocent people with you on this suicidal adventure! Why didn't you take some fucking responsibility and take care of the Yolkians, and me, yourself?" Eustace asked in disgust.
"I…I," Jimmy tried to explain, but just gulped and stared at Eustace, truly hurt by his words. Is he right? Why didn't I take responsibility for what I'd done?
"You risked the lives of your friends, your girlfriend, and others when you knew that the enemy only wanted you! What the fuck is wrong with you?" Eustace asked in disgust while kicking Jimmy in the face.
Eustace looked down at Jimmy. His old enemy seemed thoroughly broken. He was staring down at the floor, blood pouring from his nose, lips, and cuts on his face. He had a black eye and a badly bruised jaw. He closed his eyes and thought over Eustace's words, wondering if he was truly to blame for his friend's situation.
Eustace smiled and pointed his gun at Jimmy's head. "And now, old chap, it's time to end this."
Jimmy looked up at the gun, struggled to free himself one last time, and then closed his eyes in defeat. He waited, but heard footsteps instead of gunshots. He opened his eyes and saw that Eustace was at the other end of the room, about to leave through a door. "Huh?"
Eustace chuckled. "Oh no, Jimmy. It's not your time yet. What could be worse than you dying? Dying after your girlfriend. Say goodbye to Cindy, Jimmy. It's time she learned what happens when you go out with a selfish, idiotic dipshit like yourself."
At the mention of Cindy's name, Jimmy's eyes immediately widened and he thrashed around once again, but the handcuffs and ropes held him in place. He continued to flail about even as his bonds cut deeper and deeper into his wrists. "Kill me!" he begged, abandoning the last of his pride. "Kill me, you fucking son of a bitch!" he shouted, trying to anger Eustace enough to hurt him instead of Cindy.
Eustace stared at Jimmy. "Amor Vincit Omnia," Eustace said. Jimmy instantly stopped thrashing around and stared at Eustace as if those three words had cast a spell on him. "Love conquers all," Eustace needlessly translated. "As I'm sure you know, it's Latin."
Eustace knelt down under the doorframe and locked eyes with Jimmy. "You'd think it means that your love for Cindy would allow you to beat me. But you've got it backwards. I think I've figured it out now. The reason you didn't notice those obvious clues back on Earth, the reason you slipped up, is because your love for Cindy distracted you. Your love allowed me to conquer you." Eustace gave a sad smile and shook his head. "Say goodbye to Cindy, Jimmy."
Jimmy watched in horror as Eustace cocked his gun and maniacally laughed while exiting the room and walking down the hallway to find the place where he had stashed Cindy. He finally snapped out of his daze when the tears flowing from his eyes splashed onto his jeans. "Kill me instead!" he shouted as loud as he could, although he knew that Eustace wouldn't listen even if he could hear him. "Kill me!"