Author's Note: New chapter. That was super fast! I tried to make this chapter longer since the last few were so short. It's not the longest, but it is full of fun plot stuff!

Anyway, enjoy!

James picked up his phone off the ground in a panic. He hoped that he could still make a phone call. He sighed in relief as he carefully scrolled through his contacts. He clicked on Libby's name and waited for her to answer. She didn't. He tried Cindy's phone, hoping that this was just a bad dream. It went straight to voicemail.

"No, no, no, no, no!" James began to panic as he tried Libby's phone again. Still no answer. "Damn it!" James's watch beeped midnight, and at that same moment his phone chimed a new message from Eustace: Time's up, Neutron.

Jimmy immediately called Eustace in a rage.

"James! Unfortunate timing. I needed that bacteria and you didn't deliver." Eustace patronized.

"What did you do with Cindy?" James yelled.

"Cindy? That was you she called? Well that makes this even more interesting."

"She has nothing to do with this. Let her go and leave her alone."

"No, James. She has a lot more to do with this than you realize. But I don't have time to discuss this with you right now. I have a date with a certain green-eyed doctor. Ta-ta!"

James hurled his phone down the sidewalk in anger. Because of that stupid phone call, Eustace was going to be a lot harder to get ahold of now. James didn't know what to do. He thought about going to Strych Enterprise, but the building would be closed. He knew that Eustace would be screening his calls, so there was no point trying to call him. He would just have to come forward with the anthrax, and hope that Eustace would trade Cindy's freedom for it. There was nothing he could do tonight, so he picked up his shattered phone and headed back to his hotel to try and get some sleep. James sighed in frustration. He should have known something like this would happen.

James couldn't sleep knowing that somewhere Cindy was being held against her will. He didn't want to imagine the awful things that could be happening. He tried to think of all the good times he had with Cindy growing up. He thought back to the first time Cindy ever said anything remotely nice to him.

"'Jimmy you there? Look, don't listen to them, they're just scared. Are you okay?'

'Yeah, I'm fine.'

'Don't be so hard on yourself. We'll get out of this.

'Okay, so you made a mistake. Beating yourself up isn't going to fix anything. You know, I was the smartest kid in school until you came along. And, I admit you know more about some things than I do. But I know one thing that you don't seem to get. And that's that were never getting out of here without you. So why don't you buck up mister! And put that big brain of yours back to work…'

'Um, Cindy? Wh-Why are you being so nice to me?'

'Because there's a bunch of kids in here that need you. And I do too.'"

Even though he would have never admitted it at the time, it was from that moment on that James knew Cindy would always be an important part of his life. She became the conscious mind behind his inventions, which James often mistook for nagging, but was necessary in order for his inventions to work properly. She was the driving force behind his work, whether he was trying to stay ahead of her, or trying to impress her in their early teen years. When Cindy stopped talking to him, his inventions slowed down. He didn't have a reason to continue.

James's alarm started beeping. It was seven in the morning. James had not slept at all. James made a mental list of things he needed to do:

1. Buy a new phone (in his fit of rage, James had massacred his old one).

2. Get ahold of Eustace and give in to demands.

3. Try not to kill Eustace upon meet up.

James packed his bag and headed out. He had to get things done before it was too late.

James turned on his new phone and punched in Eustace's office number. He knew that Eustace wouldn't answer his cell phone, but his office was bound to answer.

"Strych Enterprise. How may I direct your call?" Eustace's assistant answered.

"I need to speak to Eustace Strych, please," James said as calmly as he could.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Strych is extremely busy today. He's not taking any calls. Would you like to leave a message?"

"No, I would not like to leave a message; I would like to talk to Eustace, please."

"Sir, I can't transfer you through. I'm under strict orders."

"Can you just tell him that Neutron is willing to make a deal?"

"Okay…one moment please."

James waited for several minutes. Finally, the phone was reconnected.

"James! Congratulations, you found me. You are a clever boy. You knew that I wouldn't answer my cell phone. I must say, I'm quite impressed. I don't know how you do it, but my secretary is quite infatuated with you. Somehow you always convince her to let you through."

"I didn't call to shoot the breeze, Strych. Are you willing to make a deal or not?"

"Well I wouldn't be on the phone right now if I wasn't, now would I? The question is what do you want to trade?"

"I'll give you the anthrax if you let Cindy go."

"How do I know that you actually have it? You weren't able to get it to me on time."

"I guess you're just going to have to trust me."

"Trust you? I don't think so. I'll tell you what. Since I'm in such a good mood, I'm willing to speak with you in person. Come down to the office, unarmed, with the anthrax. If you really have it, then I'll let Cindy go. If you don't, well, somethings are better as a surprise. Do we have a deal, Neutron?"

"Deal."

"Wonderful! Come by in about an hour. I need to get things prepared for your arrival. Cindy will be so excited to see you!" With that, Eustace hung up.

James needed to come up with a plan. Knowing Eustace, James was sure that things wouldn't be as straight forward as he made them sound.

James was kicking himself for unintentionally getting Cindy involved. If he hadn't reconnected with her, none of this would have happened.

About an hour later, James was walking through the front doors of Strych Enterprise.

"Dr. Neutron! It's such a pleasure to see you again!" the receptionist smiled. "Mr. Strych is expecting you. You can head right on up."

James offered a faux smile as he walked passed the front desk toward the elevators.

As he rode up to the fortieth floor, James went over his plan in his head. He was just going to be as nice as possible, ask to see Cindy to make sure she was alright, give Eustace the anthrax once he saw Cindy was safe, and leave with her. He would figure out a way to stop Eustace at a later time. He figured Eustace was smart enough to hold off use of the bacteria until there was a proper antibiotic to offer people in exchange for world power.

The elevator began slowing. James was almost to his destination. He started thinking about the situation he was walking into. Cindy could be dead for all he knew. It was a morbid thought, but James had to consider that it might be a possibility. He was making himself angry.

By the time the elevator stopped, James was furious. He marched out of the elevator over to the end of the building with the big oak doors. He didn't stop. Not even when the assistant greeted him. His plan was completely gone from his mind.

"Where is Cindy?" James stormed into Eustace's office.

"All in good time, James," Eustace replied with a wicked smile.

"Tell me where she is."

"If you would learn a bit of patience, you'll get what you ask for. She will be along shortly," Eustace replied nonchalantly.

Not a moment later, a secret side door was opened by the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Out walked two of Eustace's faithful followers with Cindy in tow. She was weak, half-conscious, and bruised all over. The two employees shoved Cindy to the ground and walked away.

"What did you do to her?" James yelled.

"Me? It was your mutated cells that she was injected with," Eustace gave James another wicked smile.

"How did you…?" James faded out, utterly confused.

"You know you really shouldn't leave your experiments and their instructions just lying around in your bag. Someone could easily find them after something like, I don't know, a night of fucking," Eustace explained.

James thought for a moment before whispering, "Betty?"

"Isn't she great?" Eustace laughed. "She so cleverly worked her way back into your life. You had no idea she was working for me. It was even her idea to kidnap Cindy and use your cells on her. Betty made a perfect little pawn, don't you think?"

"What did you do to Cindy?" James tried to stay focused on the current problem. He'd have to deal with Betty later.

"I told you, she was injected with the mutant cells that you created, and well after that, the brainwashing was simple."

James ran over to Cindy and knelt beside her. "Cindy, Cindy, can you hear me?"

"Jimmy?" she replied weakly, trying to sit up.

James helped her sit up. "Yeah, yeah, it's me. I'm right here. I'm sorry this happened. But I promise, I'm going to fix—"

James was stopped short by Cindy shoving him to the ground with her hands closing around his throat.

Cindy's hands closed tighter and tighter around James's throat. Her eyes were fierce. James's eyes grew large as he tried to claw her hands away from his neck.

Eustace snapped his fingers, "That's enough, Cynthia." Cindy's hands fell away from James's throat. She continued to glare at James.

James gasped for air and started coughing. When he finally caught his breath he turned to Eustace and said, "What did you do to her?"

Eustace looked puzzled, "I brainwashed—have you not been paying attention? You're not in charge anymore. I am. And since I have," he pointed to Cindy, "her, I can do whatever the fuck I want." Eustace pushed a button on his desk and two security guards came in and grabbed James. They started walking toward the door as James tried to pry his arms from their grips.

"We made a deal, Strych!" James shouted.

Eustace laughed, "Yes, but this way I get what I want, and you get nothing. Thank you for the anthrax by the way. It's been a pleasure conquering the world with you. Ta-ta!" One of the security guards grabbed James's bag, which contained the bacteria, before tossing him to the floor, and slamming the door in James's face.

James stood quickly and tried to get back into the office, which was now locked.

"Eustace!" James yelled. He began pounding on the door, knowing it was useless. "Dammit! James rested his head against the hard oak as he tried to think of his next move. He couldn't go to the police. His notes on the mutant cells had his name on them. It wouldn't matter to the cops that Eustace had stolen them, only that they had been illegal manufactured, and used to harm a person. There was no proof that Eustace was the one who had used it, and James's alibi was that he was in a lab illegally creating another harmful substance. James would go to prison for sure.

James contemplated leaving the building. If he left, there was a big chance he would not be let back in. But if he stayed, he had no way of finding a way to help Cindy. He wandered over to the bathroom around the corner for a quiet place to think.

James splashed cold water on his face to try and calm himself down. Just as he was about to leave, he heard Eustace's assistant talking. He paused to listen.

"Hello, Miss Quinlan. Welcome back," the assistant said.

"Yeah, whatever. Is Eustace here?" Betty replied.

"Yes, but unfortunately he is rather busy at the moment. He does not wish to be disturbed today."

"Listen, you little suck-up. Eustace owes me a shit-ton of money, and I'm not leaving until I have it. So why don't you do your job and let Eustace know I'm here?"

"I'm sorry Miss Quinlan. Wait one moment please."

A few moments later, Eustace came to the door. "You know, you are quite useless as a secretary. All I've asked is to not be disturbed today, and this is my second interruption in the last hour," Eustace huffed.

"My apologies, sir."

"Betty, darling! To what do I owe this pleasure?" Eustace greeted.

"Give me the money you owe me, Strych. I did my part, now you need to do yours," Betty said.

"All in good time my dear. Your part is still in process. Besides I should knock off a few thousand. I did your job for you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Neutron was just here, and I got the anthrax from him. If you recall, that was your only job."

"I got you whatever you inject Cindy with. Don't forget that."

"Yes, but that was like extra credit. I didn't know he had that."

"I did your dirty work. You owe me, Strych."

"Yes, but now I have what I want. I'll tell you what. I'm in a good mood. If you do one more thing for me I'll give you what you have coming to you," Eustace offered.

"Fine, what do you want?"

"Come, let's talk details," Eustace motioned for Betty to follow him. "Oh, secretary person? I'm sorry, I never bothered to learn your name, please come with me. I have a special job for you."

"My name is—"

"Not important, come along."

James walked out as soon as the door was closed. Eustace had put a lot of thought into this plan. He needed to figure it out, and fast.

Author's Note: Whoa, that was intense. I've got a bit of writer's block on the next part though. I have a general idea of where we're headed, but I'm stuck on the details.

I'm so close to 50 followers, which is more than I could have hoped for. I'm fairly new to sharing my writing, and it makes me happy to see people enjoying my story. Once I reach 50 followers, I'll post another Jimmy Neutron story I wrote (which if we're being honest was the reason why it took me a while to post for this story, oops). This new story is VERY different than Jimmy Neutron: Evil Genius. It's not related at all. But still super fun!

Check out my profile! Betty's Backstory is posted as a hyperlink. Due to some formatting issues with the story, I couldn't post it as an actual story on the site.

P.S. Yay, movie quotes!

As always, let me know what you think.