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The Misadventures of Jonny Quest	By : RoseOSharon Category: +M through R > New Adventures of Jonny Quest, The Views: 2466 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Nothing associated with Jonny Quest or the Real Adventures thereof is mine, nor likely to ever be so. I make no money from this story.

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Quest Compound—Maine

9 Months Later
“Dr. Quest,” IRIS, the compound’s computerized security system spoke, her voice pleasant as ever, and Dr. Quest looked up from his paper as he sat in the darkened room in front of the fire.
He frowned and for a moment wondered why IRIS was disturbing him and not Race. After a moment of thought, he remembered that Race was visiting Hadji, Jesse, and their three month old twins – a girl and a boy. He had been invited also, but had begged off with the vague excuse that he hadn’t been feeling well as of late, and just wanted to be by himself. He had promised though, that he would see them at Christmastime, and everyone just left it at that.
Had it been Jonny though, he never would have let his father get away with the obviously less than truthful excuse. With that thought, Benton’s heart constricted with a pain he tried not to allow himself to feel, and he swallowed, even as he took refuge in at least pretending to be interested in whatever the reason was that IRIS was disturbing him.
“What is it, IRIS?” He asked.
“There is a visitor at the gate, Dr. Quest. She says she doesn’t have an appointment, but she does have something that belongs to Jonny.” Dr. Quest realized he had built IRIS far too well, as he recognized the note of disapproval in her tone, and made a mental note to cut down on her personality upgrading. There was no reason for a security device to be showing any kind of emotion at all . . . no matter what had gone on literally under her very ‘nose’.
Benton’s first reaction was to send whoever it was away immediately, but he paused for a moment, and swallowed. “Let her in, IRIS, and lead her here,” his voice seemed strange, even to himself, and he cleared his throat.
He knew that it would take whoever it was, a few minutes to navigate the driveway and find her way into his ‘inner sanctum’, as he’d started calling the den, and he, for the first time in years, turned up the lights in the room, and tried to make it look even somewhat ‘home-like’. Nervously, he even made a pot of coffee, and the smell was surprisingly soothing. When the knock came on the door, he panicked slightly, and knew that if he answered it, he was opening over five years worth of pain and heartache . . . and not all of it experienced exclusively by him.
However, except for that one instance with Jonny and . . . and that . . . person, he had never shied away from anything that most people would have considered difficult. Maybe, just maybe, if he could get past the . . . past what had happened to him, he could finally get things in perspective for Jonny . . . a perspective that was far over due.
He opened the door and gazed at the tall woman who stood in the door, and carried a good sized box. She was very pretty, or she would have been if it hadn’t been for the fact that one of her arms was prosthetic and a number of scars covered her legs, while other scars played along her cheek, traveled along her jawbone, and disappeared into her long, dark brown hair.
“Good evening,” she smiled, her accented voice soft, as well as slightly fearful. He inclined his head, acknowledging her greeting, and stepped away from the door. “I wasn’t sure,” she continued. “If, once I mentioned Jonny’s name, you’d even see me,” she told him, and he realized she knew about his relationship, or lack thereof, with his son.
“I thought about turning you away,” he admitted, and ushered her into the den. “But you said you had something of Jonny’s. I hope you know, Miss, that I haven’t seen Jonny in a little over five years . . .”
“Celestia,” she nodded. “Mrs. Diana Celestia Petroklus. And I know you haven’t seen Jonny. You see,” her voice trembled, and she looked at the floor. “Artemis Celestia was my brother.”
Benton’s heart just about stopped in his chest, as he didn’t miss the fact she’d said ‘was’. He looked at her sharply, poured her a cup of coffee, and offered her a chair. Delicately, as if she were in pain, she seated herself, and picked up the coffee cup.
“Mrs. Petroklus,” Benton’s voice quivered, and he straightened. “You said, ‘was’. Am I to assume . . .”
“Oh my . . . you don’t know, do you?” She looked at him, and suddenly her eyes widened, and filled with tears. “Dr. Quest, my brother is dead,” she gasped back a sob and whimpered slightly, as she fought to get herself back under control. “He . . . he was killed at my wedding in a car bombing,” he saw the horror of it reflected in her eyes, and he sat, silent, while she composed herself as best she could.
She sniffed, he handed her a tissue, and she dabbed delicately at her eyes and nose. “Thank you,” she all but whispered, and he nodded as he waited. He knew there was a lot more to the story, and if it took the young lady all night to tell it, well, he really had no where to go.
“Would you like something a little stronger than coffee?” He asked patiently and sympathetically, and she shook her head.
“No, thank you. I . . . I have to head back to the city tonight. My husband is waiting for me at the hotel. We . . . we were two of the lucky ones,” she said. “We were in the limo getting ready to leave for our honeymoon, when Jonny and Artemis’ car exploded. We got caught in the blast and the limo flipped, but it was a lot safer where we were than where anyone else was. At least we were inside and had some protection. I only lost an arm, and my husband is blind in one eye,” she shook her head. “My mother thinks I’ll never be a photographer again, but I’m equally determined to prove her wrong. Anyway, like I said, we were two of the lucky ones. Dozens of people were killed outright and . . .” Again she choked back a sob and closed her eyes. “My brother was one of them.”
“And . . .” Benton was forced to ask, though he could barely speak beyond the painful lump that had developed in his throat. “Jonny?”
“Jonny was injured, Dr. Quest, but he’s alive. Although, I think you have to know . . .” her voice shook. “Jonny was the target,” she said, and looked down at her lap. “I won’t say why, as it’s not my place. But I can tell you that it was placed by a reckless, self-centered, psychopath who had no regard for anyone, and had my brother been a few inches to any other side of Jonny, they both would have died. But . . . but there’s more.”
Benton closed his eyes as a dark agony engulfed his soul. His beautiful, filled-with-life son would have been taken away from him, and more than likely, he would never have known. The story was already pretty tragic, and yet, she’d said there was more for him to know.
It took a major effort on his part, but he kept his expression calm and gazed steadily back at her. One of the two of them had to be strong, and he really needed to hear the entire story . . . whether he wanted to or not.
“My brother lost his life saving Jonny, Dr. Quest, and I’m afraid Jonny didn’t take it so well. No one did, actually. You see, the reason I’m here, is this . . .” She pushed the box over to him along the floor with her foot, and he stared at it, uncomprehending. “My parents weren’t the kindest people, Dr. Quest, especially my mother, and I’m afraid they put up with my brother’s . . . ‘habit’, as they called it, because he was their only son. They didn’t care much for his ‘paramours’ either, or as my mother called them, ‘his male whores’.
“The minute my mother could, she threw Jonny out of not only what had been his and Artemis’ home, but she basically told him if he didn’t leave Greece, she’d kill him, and believe me, she’s got the resources to carry through on her threat. I would have stopped her, or at the least, helped Jonny escape, but it was only two weeks after the bombing, and . . .” She looked down at the floor. “And I was still in the hospital,” she looked up.
“Dr. Quest, my mother didn’t even let Jonny have any of their things, and that includes pictures and things of their lives together. I . . . I couldn’t save any of the gifts or anything, but I managed to, just barely mind you, save their photos. My mother just threw everything in a box, taped it shut, and threw it into the garbage. I was fortunate enough to get to the box before it made it to the dump, but . . .” She swallowed. “I . . . I haven’t been able to bring myself to open the box. However, by the same token, I couldn’t just let their lives be thrown away, either,” she leaned forward, her gaze intense, and pleading. “Sir, Dr. Quest, I . . . I realize you don’t approve of their relationship either, and I would have preferred to have given these things to Jonny directly, rather than have had to come to you, but well, I can’t find him.”
Benton was sure that his heart had definitely stopped beating. He’d been hoping she would have some idea of where Jonny was, hoping that she knew whether he was safe. However, that small hope had just been dashed against the rocks of fate . . . rocks whose cuts went deeper into his soul than the rocks at the bottom of the cliff below the compound could cut into mere flesh.
“I was able to track him for a while, because you see, my mother didn’t even have the decency to provide him with a plane ticket, so he found passage aboard a cargo ship that was hiring,” she shuddered. “And from the things I heard when I asked about him at the docks, his life on that ship was . . .” she licked her lips and shivered. “Not easy to say the least,” she cleared her throat. “I followed him as far I could to the US, and to New York City, but after that he just dropped off the radar, and it’s like he’s just . . . disappeared, like he never existed.
“But, I promise you, Dr. Quest, neither my husband, nor I, would have given up looking for him, but our Visa’s are expiring, and we also need to get back to Greece for some more treatment.”
“I . . . I guess I was hoping you’d take these . . .” She indicated the box. “Maybe you can save them for him if . . . when . . . he ever turns up. I mean, even if you didn’t want them here in the house, maybe a small storage shed or something. I mean, this place is big enough so you won’t have to look at them, right?” Her tears finally fell, and she leaned toward him. “Dr. Quest, no matter how you felt . . . feel about him and his lifestyle choice, Jonny was . . . is . . . something special. He was a rare gem, and he really loved my brother. And my brother, for the first time in his life really loved someone else. I mean, my brother even hinted that he was going to ask Jonny to marry him, and I’d never heard my brother even suggest that about anyone he was with. In fact, I’d never seen my brother so happy, Dr. Quest, and I couldn’t bear it if something happened to Jonny. He’s the only connection to my brother . . . to his life . . . that I have.”
Benton contemplated her for a moment, and bowed his head. “Mrs. Petroklus,” he finally spoke, though he never looked up at her. “There are times in your life when you wish for nothing more than to be able to turn the clock back; to just be able to live parts of your life completely over again. Friday, August 13th, a little over five years ago, is that day for me,” he said, and took the box and set it next to his chair.
“If my son ever comes home, I will make sure he gets this. And I am very much ashamed to say that though it is five years too late, I will take up the search you have started, and I will find my son, and when I do, you will be the first to know, after my own family.”
Her smile, though brief, would have lit up half of Maine. “Oh, thank you, Dr. Quest!” She exclaimed, and leaned forward. “And, if you see Jonny, please let him know that unlike my mother, neither I nor my husband blame him for what happened. Also, will you let him know that he’s more than welcome to stay with us whenever he wants? While he and my brother may not have been married, to me, Jonny will always be my brother, and my family.”
“I will tell him that,” Benton assured her, and she stood.
“Thank you, Dr. Quest,” her smile wavered, but it was genuine and he walked her to the front door. He looked out into the night long after she had driven away, and for the first time in years, felt something akin to the old flame that he used to feel when he would get a call that would swing him, and the others, into action.
The first thing he had to do, though, was to reacquaint himself with his son . . . no matter how painful or uncomfortable that discovery was bound to be. He set his lips, straightened his back, and for the first time in years, left his cane by the front door. He went back into the den, and with shaking hands, opened the box.
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The Misadventures of Jonny Quest