Someone's in Trouble

The personal room of the headmistress, Shivering Jemmy, was a room that was seen by very few eyes. Toys lay scattered around the floor, along with candy wrappers and empty ice cream containers (licked dry). A few papers, folder, and other work-related things were neatly situated on a child-sized desk.

Right now, Jemmy was sitting on a bean-bag chair, looking up at the red balloon that floated above her, moving under its own will. She looked back down to see Caesar enter the room.

"I hear you've had quite the misadventure, Caesar," the Lord of Chaos said. "Please, tell me all about it, in your own words." She actually hoped that he would use words that she could understand.

Hindsight was twenty-twenty; whatever that implicated... Caesar had acted rashly, pandering to his forbidden desires and ultimately coming away with nothing. It was an unfortunate set of events, to say the least. Had not some students intervened he would doubtless have Atlantean physiology down by now. And he needed that achievement. He needed the advantage a live specimen would provide. It would have advanced his studies infinitesimally. Because Caesar was stuck. Stuck and frustrated on one of his many targets. Telepathy.

Inevitably the perceived assault on a H.I.V.E. academy student (he would have given her back in one piece, sheesh) had incurred the involvement of HIVE's Headmistress. Caesar's master, whom he had sold his soul to in exchange for furtherment of his goals. Shivering Jemmy of the Shallow Brigade. Even the usually impassive simian was worried at the prospect of her ire. A shame he hadn't been thinking of this inevitable retribution when he'd committed the crime.

Oh well. He would just have to appeal to her sense of greed.

Surprisingly Jemmy's office held a chair in his exact size. Caesar felt tempted to ask to borrow the furniture. Later, he decided, when all else was said and done. He would first make his case in defense of the accusations made against him, "Very well, Headmistress."

"The specime- I beg your pardon, Atlanteans were eager to display dominance. I afford them that opportunity. I set about a challenge under rigorous scientific conditions," He felt as if he was losing her, "A game, Headmistress. I made a game which the two Atlanteans could play. The winner would enjoy the accolades of their peers. Meanwhile the loser would join my laboratory as a guinea pig. Perhaps a trifle presumptive of me to threaten such terms."

The monkey's fingers tented nervously as he tried his best to formulate a defense, "You know I work best from visual examples. A test subject would promote my research exponentially. It is for that reason that I did not risk apprehending a sub-par specimen, and instead took the winning Atlantean, leaving the loser behind. To put a story short, your students responded aggressively in the defense of their comrade. They attacked me. It is by a miracle that I am still alive."

Taking the opportunity, Caesar got off his new favourite chair and bowed his head to Jemmy, "Please, I beg sympathy. I am nearing an understanding of telepathy. Atlanteans use telepathy to communicate with fish. Coupled with the workings I have learned from the great Doctor Animo, I could soon manipulate the brain to command all animals." Caesar explained, "Think of the prestige! The fame. The potential for chaos."

Jemmy listened to what Caesar had to say, which was mostly big words. In the end, though, he had been trying to use one of her students to satisfy his own desire for knowledge. Such knowledge seemed to be more for Caesar's benefit than for the HIVE.

Jemmy frowned when Caesar had finished his explanation and bowed. "You were wrong about something there. It wasn't because of a miracle that you are still alive." Her eyes glowed a bright orange. "It is by my will alone that you still draw breath."

The girl pointed a finger at a nearby doll. The red balloon floating above her descended until the string touched the floor. On it's own, the string wrapped around the doll and picked it up, delivering it to Jemmy's open hand.

"You see this? This is mine. It is my toy, and I can do whatever I want with it." She held the doll close to her chest. "You can't have the toy without my permission, and I haven't given you permission." She tossed the doll to the floor and picked up a picture that was lying on the floor next to her. It was a photo of the student that Caesar had tried to kidnap. She held the picture up for Caesar to see. "This is also my toy. I own it and can do whatever I want with it. It isn't your toy, and you can't touch it unless I say so." The girl let the photo drop from her thin little fingers.

"Now, I have another toy. His name is Caesar. Give me a good reason why I shouldn't kill him right now?"

This did not bode well. The child-like entity did not view Caesar's work in sufficient quantities of magnificence. To say he thought only of himself was unfair. Caesar was Jemmy's servant, what progress he made was progress they both made. To put a narcissistic spin on things - his reputation reflected well on her. Anything he could do to validate his status in the scientific community would be at her benefit. But what could he do, if she would not acknowledge the benefits of symbiotic associations?

From his position on the floor, Caesar found himself stealing Jemmy's schtick, and shivering. Like a mane, his bright-orange fur fluffed up. She had not been appeased by his account. One often forgot they were dealing with a pint-sized deity. So Jemmy had brought about his miraculous survival? How disturbing. This would place Caesar yet further in her debt. Thank goodness he was worth the loan.

An almost human expression of alarm showed on Caesar's face upon Jemmy's threat, "But Master!" His genetically engineered brain went into overdrive. Death was another obstacle on his path to glory. But he was nowhere near the secret of immortality yet. He had to survive, preserve his brilliance for all the promise it held.

"I-I have so many uses. My talents do not rest purely in scientific matters. Surely you must see! I-In fact, I am scouting a prospect that is of great interest to your current state of affairs. Of course! It will facilitate your glorious return to power. Bypass the burden your fellow Lords of Chaos have shackled you with." When you engender greatness you promise great things. The monkey, as always, dreamed big, "I have spent time investigating the benefits of ascension, Headmistress. It is the abandonment of physical form whereupon the mind transforms into pure energy. And to one such as yourself, a shortcut back to the might you once possessed. It can make you whole again."

Of course Caesar had never looked into the prospect of this field helping Jemmy. Though he felt it was worth a try, worth the gamble. There were many secrets to, what had been called, enlightenment, "It is a matter of brain chemistry. Nothing more. A mystical status explained in scientific terms."

((OOC: I panicked. >.<))

Jemmy smiled as Caesar claimed that he was working on a way to restore her former power. The smile grew far larger than a normal human mouth should be able to stretch. Combined with her already glowing orange eyes, Jemmy was really starting to look like the monster she was.

"Oh really? Well I have some interesting information for you. I have already regained my former power."

Jemmy began to grow, her body stretching and bulging in strange ways. Her shadow was soon enveloping Caesar. Within just a few seconds, Jemmy had transformed into a 14 foot tall, hideous monster, who towered over Caesar. Her orange eyes, framed by folds of fat, stared down at the monkey.

"So, I don't need your help to get back what I lost. I do not care about fame and prestige. What I do care about is the HIVE. They will become my army, and will swarm across Jump City, and then the world. I need them to be strong, far stronger than they are now. That is what I need you for, Caesar. I need you to enhance my soldiers. Through training or alteration, it makes no difference, but you will not use them as test subjects."

Jemmy caught a reflection of herself in a mirror on the wall. She looked so...ugly. She didn't like it. She began to shrink, and eventually returned to her normal size.

"If you need to find people to cut up, then you'll have to find them from somewhere else. All Atlanteans have telepathy, don't they? Why don't you lead a team of students down to Atlantis and kidnap some people from there? You have my permission."

((OOC: Ooh. My bad.))

Say what? Caesar's petrified eyes looked directly at Jemmy. She was... whole?

Perhaps the monkey had misunderstood her motives. Last he knew Jemmy was not overjoyed to be pressed into any kind of work. Even if it was as head of an evil academy. Her persona was just not up to the amount of responsibility that entailed. Sure she had lackeys to fob paperwork off on, but Caesar imagined that on the first whiff of her old power, she would be long gone.

Could it be that the little girl had fallen in love with this routine lifestyle? Caesar was not fit to fathom. Evidently he was not in her confidence as much as he cared to believe. Jemmy did not keep her toys in the know. That made it very hard to appease her. Thankfully something he said must have resonated, for the Lord of Chaos did not smite him.

After being told his place, Caesar stood back up. The worst was over, "Yes, Headmistress. Thank you. I will see to it." Leaving his ideal chair behind, he scampered for the doorway. Yet the way he had been handled still galled him. He turned back, "My achievements mean nothing to you. Do they?"

Back in control of herself, and now looking fully like a normal little girl, Jemmy took a sip of juice. Caesar asked if his achievements meant anything to her. "Nothing at all," she said with a calm smile.

While it was her practice to mislead people, Jemmy's leaving information out sometimes came back to bite her. Caesar still thought that the world would still recognize scientific achievement when Jemmy was done with it. Well, maybe it was best that he continued to think that. He was, after all, a useful toy. And she didn't want her toys to break under hopelessness.

"But I'm sure somebody does. If it's your dream, Caesar, then I'm sure you'll find fulfillment soon enough. Now... go catch some fish."