Operation: Moonfall | Jimmy Crystal Revenge & Redemption

The Retaliation I

A/N

I was going through some personal stuff that didn't allow me to sit down and write for a while, so this chapter took longer than expected. Things should be back on track now.

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Backstage at the Crystal Tower Theater was a madhouse for two nerve-racking reasons:

First, it was the morning of the Getting Back to Good benefit concert, and there was still a lot of work to be done between rehearsals, putting together sets and props, testing the equipment and complex machinery that made the theater one of the most high tech in the world, and more.

Second, the boss was here.

Crystal wasn't known to micromanage productions. He was the type of guy that set everything up and sent it into motion, only to return to make sure the finished product was up to snuff. If he showed up in the middle of production, spontaneous changes were on the way, or someone screwed up big enough to draw his ire.

The production crew was waiting to be scorched by the inevitable wrath coming their way, but Jimmy wasn't his shrewd, critical self today. He mostly kept to the front of the stage, ignoring the chaos behind him in favor of the seats waiting to be filled. His mind was swimming in an ocean of anxiety. With his arms folded behind him, Jimmy wandered the stage in a preoccupied waltz, Jerry following along his path. Anxiety was no stranger to him when it came to big shows, but there was more riding on this one than usual. It was the first show since he left jail. It was the first show since Buster Moon and his troupe humiliated him in front of a live audience in his own theater.

And it was the first time he stepped foot in the theater since that happened.

Like a ghostly song, Jimmy could hear the echoes of laughter fill his ears. There was a level of audacity for that audience to laugh at him in his own theater like that. He shouldn't have been surprised that a charlatan like Moon left him high and dry in that situation. But these people were relishing in his lap of luxury, his world-famous hotel, his state-of-the-art theater. What right did they have to demean him? Had he not been arrested he might have gotten his useless security team to throw them all out.

Jimmy grew hot, and his breath was shallow. He loosened his tie and tugged at his collar. Knowing what was coming next didn't make it any easier. He wasn't moving, but that didn't stop the theater from whirling. The seats defied gravity and soared across his vision in a nauseating dance. He couldn't have an attack now. Not here, not in front of all these people working on his show. Everything whirling...

Just as it was becoming too much, a strange, plastic rattle drew his attention.

Jerry was holding up snacks in what looked like a personal Tupperware container. The presentation was crude—offensive, even—but that didn't matter. Jimmy snatched up a handful of the savory snacks and dumped them in his mouth. He grounded himself in the moment and after a few minutes, his anxiety subsided enough for him to examine Jerry.

The cat stared up at him, eyes bright, a small smile on his short muzzle, with all the adoration in the world radiating from him. Jimmy was uncertain if his assistant was naïve or playing dumb, and he was even less certain of which he preferred.

"How long have you known?"

"Known what, sir?" The tiny quirk on Jerry's face was all he needed to see.

Jimmy threw a glance back to the manic menagerie of production backstage before he reached down and rubbed the fur on Jerry's head. Jerry's fur suddenly fluffed all over his body from the sudden affection. Just as he closed his eyes and hummed in content, it was over.