Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron or any related characters.

An eternity seemed to pass as Cindy and Jimmy looked up the stairwell. They slowly moved towards the intimidating steps, as if their feet were weighed down. Each step brought them closer to the end of their journey, and they didn't know who would win.

At last, they reached the stairs. Jimmy's face rapidly switched from fear to excitement. He could actually feel the adrenaline coursing through his blood, racing from his heart throughout his body.

He turned his gaze from the foreboding steps to the red-headed girl beside him. She did the same and stared intently into the vast seas that were his eyes. "You ready?" she asked while stretching out her hand.

Jimmy nodded and grabbed hers, carefully interlacing their fingers. He brought her hand up to his lips and gently kissed her fingers. "Definitely."

She smiled a little and squeezed his hand. Together, they slowly began ascending the steps. "Scared?" he asked her.

She took her eyes off of her mother's bedroom door and locked onto Jimmy's pupils. "Definitely."

They took their time on each of the dozen steps, trying to make as little noise as possible. After each creak they shuddered and raised their guns, as if inviting the enemy to attack. At long last, they reached the top of the stairwell and braced themselves on opposite sides of the bedroom door.

While the other two lovers took their time climbing the stairs, Ana and Bruce were sitting on the bed and quickly getting dressed. As Mrs. Vortex finished tying her bathrobe, Captain Smith was buttoning his shirt. He was about to get up when he heard something.

"What is it?" Mrs. Vortex asked as Smith's head jerked up and he froze in place.

"Shut up," he whispered while taking his hands off of the final button on his shirt and reaching for the pistol in his pants' pocket. He heard another barely audible creak and took out the pistol.

With the fluid grace of an expert ballerina performing a ronds de jambe, he pulled the magazine catch and grabbed the ejected clip of half-empty ammo. He reached into his other pocket and grabbed another fifteen-found magazine, shoved it into place, and pulled back the slide.

"What the hell is it?" Mrs. Vortex asked again.

"Shut up!" Smith seethed. He moved up against the door, his index finger tightened around the gun's trigger that lay by his side. He placed his ear to the door and listened intently.

He could hear creaking on the stairs and voices. Straining his ears as hard as he could, he recognized the voices. He spun around and stared at Mrs. Vortex. "It's the kids."

Mrs. Vortex hit her bed in anger. "Can't those little shits just die already!" she whispered.

Smith took a few steps back and aimed his gun at the door. "Yeah, they can."

Jimmy gulped and looked across the door at Cindy, who was flexing her fingers and rearranging the grip on her gun. "Cind, you ready?"

Cindy thought back to Libby's face curl up in anguish as the two leaden bullets pierced through her weak skin, drops of blood spewing out as she let out a cry of pain. Cindy stared down at the gun and realized something. With every cell of her body, she ached to kill her mother, to let her feel the pain that Libby had. Every pore radiated hatred.

"Hell yes," she said while flinging open the door. She took a step inside, both arms outstretched, holding the pistol straight ahead. Jimmy was about to follow when Cindy noticed who was waiting for her just past the door. "Oh shit," she nervously said.

Those two words obviously told Jimmy that something was wrong. He jumped right at Cindy.

"Hello again," Smith said while grinning as Cindy opened the door. He squeezed his pistol's trigger just as Jimmy collided with Cindy.

Jimmy could swear that he felt the bullet brush past his leg. He landed on the floor of the hallway, about five feet from the bedroom door. "You alright?" he asked Cindy while jumping up.

"Considering," Cindy said while clasping Jimmy's right hand and allowing him to puller her up. She looked over the side of the railing and noticed the couch directly below. "How convenient," she muttered while jumping over it, taking Jimmy with her.

"What the hell?" Jimmy shouted as he fell through the air. He landed on the soft couch face first, but luckily he had shielded himself somewhat with his hands. Still, he could feel warm blood trickling from his nose.

Back upstairs, Smith had just fired a shot at where the two kids had been in the hallway. He ran over to the railing and looked down. Cindy, the devil that she is, had already aimed her gun straight up. "Hello again," she said with a wide smile. She emptied two bullets, but both hit the wall behind Smith.

Smith ducked and aimed his gun. "Hello aga..." he started to say, but Mrs. Vortex smacked him in the head. "Just shoot it!"

Unfortunately for them, this gave Jimmy and Cindy to duck below the couch. Jimmy realized that there was a problem with all of this. "From now on, we just shoot! No clever last words! Got it?" he shouted.

"Got it!" the other three said.

Jimmy prepared his gun and looked upstairs. Cindy's mother had retreated back into her room, and Smith was hiding in Cindy's bedroom. He quickly popped out and fired two shots at the kids. Jimmy breathed a sigh of relief as the bullets once again missed.

Jimmy and Cindy looked at each other and nodded, a small smile on their faces. They darted in opposite directions.

Cindy ran to the left and fired five shots at Smith. She frowned as none of them hit their mark, but the wall inches away from him was smoking.

Jimmy retreated back into the kitchen and hid just inside. He took careful aim and fired a shot at Smith as he reappeared from Cindy's bedroom.

"Damn it!" Smith shouted as the bullet pierced through his arm. He looked over at Jimmy and tried to shoot at him, but Cindy fired another couple of shots at Smith. He ducked back inside the bedroom. "Ana! Get the hell out here and help!"

Cindy looked over at Jimmy. "I think we're winning!" she excitedly shouted. She peeked her head above the back of the couch a little as she heard something. Her mother ran out of her bedroom carrying a double barrel shotgun. She aimed it straight at Cindy.

"Holy shit," Cindy murmured under her breath as her mother firedemptied both barrels atonce. Jimmy watched in horror as the buckshot shells blasted through the sofa. The resulting cloud of smoke made it impossible to see what had happened to Cindy.

Cindy's mother sank back into the room and began to reload her weapon. Jimmy peeked his head out from behind the doorframe and noticed Smith coming down the stairs. "Please...God," he muttered, hesitating a few seconds before settling on that second word.

"Why are you doing this?" Jimmy shouted while walking backwards further into the kitchen. He stumbled over a chair, but grabbed the floor as he fell and pushed himself back up. "Why are you killing us?"

Captain Smith hesitated behind the door and reloaded his gun. He stuck the gun inside the kitchen and fired two rounds. Jimmy fell onto the ground and clutched his left arm, his teeth clenched together in pain. "Bastard," he whispered while aiming his gun.

He fired two shots at where Smith's gun had just been, and the cop ducked back behind the wall. Jimmy crawled backwards and his behind the side of the refrigerator.

Cindy's eyes fluttered open as this was going on. She looked down and saw that she had a hole in her stomach. She clutched it and let out a few tears as she felt the warm liquid pour through her fingers. God, please help me.

Cindy's mother carefully edged her way down the stairs, her shotgun aimed straight ahead of her. She approached the mess that had once been her sofa. She could see one of her daughter's arms out from under the cushion. She leveled the gun with her eye and gripped the trigger.

Do it, she thought to herself. She tried to pull the trigger, but her maternal instincts got the best of her. She needed to look at her daughter, say good-bye. She smiled sadly at what Cindy had lived through the past week. "God, she's a tough bitch," she muttered while walking over.

"Cindy?" she whispered while putting the barrel of the gun under a cushion that lay over her daughter. "Honey?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

Jimmy quickly looked out from behind the side of the refrigerator. He saw Smith do the same. They locked eyes for a moment before they both quickly ducked back behind their barricades. Jimmy glanced down at his pocket. He knew the tape recorder was in there, picking up every sound. Damn it, I need some evidence!

"Why are you trying to kill us? Why couldn't she have just gotten a divorce like everyone else!" he angrily shouted, finally releasing the rage he had been holding in for the past week. He stuck his outer body out and fired three shots at Captain Smith's side. He smiled as the cop fell onto the ground.

"Damn you to Hell!" Smith shouted as he watched the blood begin to pour from the hole in his side. He placed his feet against the Lazy Boy chair that was nearby. He kicked off of it as hard as he could and slid across the floor, across the entryway into the kitchen. He fired the gun three times, and Jimmy got hit once again in the arm.

"I'm sick of you! Just die!" Smith yelled as his wound seared in pain from having slid across the floor.

Jimmy looked in horror at his right arm. It was covered in blood. He ripped off his shirt, screaming out in pain as he moved his injured limb. He wrapped the shirt the best he could around the wounds. "I hate you!" he shouted while getting to his feet. He peeked out from behind the fridge and shot the Captain in the foot, which was still hanging in the entryway from when he had slid across the floor.

"Honey?" Mrs. Vortex asked while sliding the cushion aside with the barrel of her gun.

Cindy quickly hid her hand with the gun under her body. "Mommy?"

Mrs. Vortex bent down and wiped some of the debris off of her daughter. "Honey, are you hurt?"

Cindy looked down at the bullet hole in her waist. She was already feeling a little woozy from the loss of blood. "Yeah." She paused a minute and looked up at her mother. "Am I going to die?"

Mrs. Vortex smiled sadly at her daughter. She nodded and brushed the hair out from Cindy's eyes. "Yeah. Yeah...you are," she whispered. She looked down at her beautiful emerald eyes. "You're so beautiful, Cynthia."

Cindy smiled a little as her mother caressed her cheek. "I know," she whispered with a slight laugh.

Her mother bent down and kissed her daughter's cheek. She then whispered in Cindy's ear. "I have to kill you, you know. I've come too far to stop now."

Cindy nodded. "I know."

Mrs. Vortex straightened up and grabbed her gun. "Quick and painless, honey."

Cindy watched as her mom picked up the shotgun. "Can I say one thing, mommy?" she sadly asked.

Mrs. Vortex nodded. "Of course, dear. And I know. I love you too."

Cindy smiled and tightened her grip on the gun under her back. "Yeah. I love you too...you sick little fuck!" she shouted while whipping the gun out and emptying all of the remaining bullets into her mother's chest.

It had been a full minute since Jimmy had last shot Captain Smith, and he had yet to move. Jimmy wondered if he was dead, unconscious, or just playing possum. At last he looked down and sighed. Can't things ever be simple? He lifted up his head and slowly walked towards the cop. "Hey Mr. Boyfriend Guy." He paused a moment before entering the living room. "You dead?"

Jimmy stared at the body a moment longer. "Nope," Smith said before spinning around and shooting Jimmy in the waist. Jimmy flew backwards and fell on the Lazy Boy.

Smith clutched his waist as he tried to stand up and failed. He fell back onto the floor. He looked over at the chair, and noticed that Jimmy had moved. "Damn it!" he angrily shouted while raising the gun.

"Damn you!" Jimmy angrily yelled while standing up from behind the chair and firing seven bullets. Five of them hit their target.

Cindy looked over to her left and saw her mom's body. It wasn't moving. She let out a sigh of both relief and regret. She shoved the remaining debris off of her and slowly got to her feet. She clutched what was left of the sofa to help her up. She held the gun in her hand and tossed it across the room. She pulled the other gun out of her waistband and walked over to her mother.

"Mom?" she asked while kicking her in the leg. "Mom?" she started to ask again, but a bout of dizziness came over her and she fell down. She looked down at the hole in her waist, and knew that she had lost too much blood.

"Ci...Cindy?" her mom whispered.

Cindy looked over to her mom. "Yeah?"

Her mom gulped several times and opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Cindy crawled over to her and put her mouth over her ear. For a fleeting moment, Cindy thought that her mother might apologize, try to right her wrongs.

"I...have," her mother wheezed, "kill you," she said while her right hand scrambled for the shotgun.

Cindy bent her head down and watched as a few tears fell off of her cheek and onto her mother's bloody chest. Without lifting her head, she placed the gun's barrel against her mom's temple. "Love you," she silently whispered while pulling the trigger. She looked up and saw her head lying on the floor, her face contorted in hatred and fear. "I always will."

She turned around as she heard a vase smash onto the floor. Jimmy was trying to walk over to her, but had tripped and smashed into a small table. He tried to push himself up, but couldn't. He crawled towards Cindy, and she decided to meet him halfway. She stumbled over to him.

Cindy collapsed onto the ground as she reached Jimmy. Jimmy fell on his side and grabbed her hand. "He's dead."

Cindy smiled through the pain. "She's dead."

They both allowed themselves a small laugh. They had won. They stared at each other's blood-soaked bodies, and then at their wounds.

"Are we going to die?" Cindy asked.

Jimmy nodded. "At the rate of blood we're losing, it is inevitable that we..."

Cindy laid her head back and closed her eyes. "No science, Big Brain. Not now."

Jimmy nodded his head. "Yeah. We're going to die."

Cindy didn't open her eyes, but she smiled a little. "I," she gulped, "thought so."

Jimmy slowly turned his head towards her, his strength failing him. He looked at the gun still in his hands.

"Did you get it?" Cindy asked.

"Get what?"

"The evidence," she asked, her voice hopeful.

Jimmy once again stared at the pocket that held the tape recorder. "No. I'm sorry. He never said anything that would help."

Cindy smiled sadly. She picked her head up slightly and slammed it into the floor in anguish. "Well, guess we scared old Bill for nothing."

Jimmy smiled. "Yeah. Guess we did."

Cindy moved her hand to apply pressure to her wound, but she realized it was pointless. She let it fall back down beside her. "What happens to the others? Sheen? Carl?"

Jimmy smiled at the memory of the two friends that he thought were still alive.. "They survived, didn't they? They're smart. They'll figure out something. And if not, they'll probably only go to juvenile hall for a few years. After all, they never killed anyone."

Cindy nodded. "They'll get a good lawyer. They'll be fine. And Smith and mommy dearest wont' be around to testify against them."

They both lay in silence for a moment. Cindy stared up at the ceiling, Jimmy looked down at the blood he was covered in. "It hurts," he muttered.

"What?" Cindy asked.

"It hurts," Jimmy repeated.

Him mentioning it reminded Cindy of the pain. "Me too. Thanks for reminding me."

Jimmy smiled a little. "Yeah. Sorry."

"It's ok," she mumbled. She tried to ignore the searing pain, but couldn't anymore.

"Do you have any bullets left?" Jimmy asked.

Cindy gathered what was left of her strength and turned over on her side to face him. "Yeah. Why?"

Jimmy stared at her with sad eyes. "I don't like waiting. Besides, it would be very poetic."

Cindy looked at Jimmy for a minute, the pain in his eyes. It was too much for her to bear. She turned her head away and started crying again.

"Hey, don't cry," Jimmy softly said. He reached out and grabbed her hand. "You don't have to. It would just be easier that way."

Cindy stopped crying and nodded. "Yeah. A quick pop, I guess." She thought for a moment. "I hope."

Jimmy nodded; he was tearing up himself now. He held his gun up to his head. He looked over at Cindy, who did the same. "Ready?" he asked. He sniffled and shuddered as a tear fell down his face.

"Wait," she said. Jimmy loosened his grip on the gun. She grabbed his hand and moved it to her head. She pointed her gun at his. "I love you."

Jimmy nodded sadly. He didn't attempt to stop the flow of tears. "I love you too, Cind." With that said they both looked away and pulled the triggers.