From: "Ryan Harbin" Disclaimer-I don’t own them, or get any profit off of this. This is purely out of love for the show and its characters, no money involved. Before I start, this is my first fic, and I don’t like this one that much. I posted them for Suze’s site, that’s about it. So no flames, please?? Don’t like part two that much either. Poopy, they’re both poopy!! I don’t know why i’m saying this cuase there isn’t a chence in ... heck... that this will win a Wildey, but for procedure... Categories: J&J HR, real ep stuff “Save Tonight” Ryan Harbin Chapter 1 “Jonny! I swear I’ll kill you!” seventeen-year old Jessie Bannon kicked open the door to Jonny Quest’s room. She was holding two pieces of a broken hockey stick. Jonny, seventeen as of two weeks before, looked up just in time to see Jessie stomp across the room and turn off his radio, which was loudly playing the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.” “I don’t understand how you can listen to that stuff!” she exclaimed loudly in a disgusted tone. “And what music do you like?” Jonny asked. “Eagle Eye Cherry, Everclear, Blink 182, good music. Not like this ‘rap crap’!” That was Jessie’s name for all rap, R&B, or anything like that. Jonny was about to rattle off a sharp comment when Jessie slapped her forehead. She shouted “Oh my God! We were supposed to meet Dad, Hadji, and Dr. Quest for dinner!” She was about to run out to her room when they heard a loud explosion. They ran to Jonny’s window just in time to see pieces of Jessie’s new red car go flying all over the Quest Compound. Jonny turned to Jessie, his face pale. “Uh, Jess, that was your car...” “...and we were supposed to be in it,” she finished. Rattled, they used Jonny’s phone to contact Race, Hadji, and Dr. Quest. They explained the attempted murder, and Hadji, Dr. Quest, and Race said they would come home at once, but it would take about 20 minutes for them to get there. They told Jonny and Jessie to stay in Jonny’s room. Jonny and Jessie sat down on opposite sides of Jonny’s double size bed, which was still pretty close together. Jessie grabbed for the TV remote, but Jonny got to it first. She tried to grab it from him, but he jumped to the side. So instead of jumping by him and grabbing the remote, she landed on him. He put an arm around her shoulders to steady her, because if she fell off, he would go with her. He stared at her deep green eyes, and she stared back at him. Their faces came closer, then closer, when Jonny fell off the bed, and she fell on top of him, because he still had his arm around her. “Jonny, you klutz!” Jessie yelled, and picked the remote up off the floor, where it had fallen when he fell. She stretched out on his blue understuffed chair, and flipped the channel to MTV. The “Save Tonight” video was on, and she stared straight ahead at it and hummed along, not paying any attention to Jonny as he picked himself up off the floor, and laid down on his bed. Fortunately, Hadji, Race, and Dr. Quest pulled into the driveway soon after. QQQQ Only several miles away, in the lake by the Quest Compound, Dr. Zin turned off the computer that had been surveying the Compound when Jessie’s car blew up. “So, the Quest brats survived the bomb we planted on it. Melana! I thought you said you knew exactly where and when they were going!” “I did, Father!” protested his daughter Melana. “They must have changed their plans,” Melana’s twin Anaya said coolly. “No matter, we still have the alternate plan. They won’t escape this time.” QQQQ “Jessie? Jonny? Are you all right?” Hadji’s voice carried through the house, and Jessie and Jonny ran down the stairs, glad that their friends and parents were home. “Hadji!” they both shouted at the same time. “My friends, are you all right?” “We’re fine. Hadj, but I don’t think I could stand another minute of solitary confinement with her!” Jonny jerked his thumb in Jessie’s direction, secretly glad of the time he could spend watching her when she didn’t notice. “Me, neither!” Jessie yelled back at him. But at the back of their minds, they both wished Jonny hadn’t fallen off the bed. Race and Dr. Quest then walked in, and after making sure that no one was hurt, they asked Jonny and Jessie what had happened, and Jonny was about to explain when Bandit came racing through the door and jumped on Jonny, knocking him over. Jessie took over. “Well, we were getting ready to go to dinner, when we heard this explosion. We looked outside, and it was my car” “We didn’t do anything!” exclaimed Jonny. “We know that,” Dr. Quest said. “What I want to know is who planted that thing!” drawled Race. “I think I’ll do a little investigation. Benton, where’s that new scanner you built?” “It’s in the garage.” “I’m going to find out who, when, and where that bomb was from .” Chapter 2 TWO DAYS LATER “Race, did you find out who planted that bomb yet?” Jonny asked as he walked outside to where race was examining a melted piece of Jessie’s car. “Well, Jonny, the best I can say is-fur on a catfish!” “What? What is it?” “See that plastic? That’s a piece of an Extra-Titanium Instant Heat Incinerator. Even if you had been in the back of Jessie’s car, and survived the explosion, the heat would have instantly set you on fire. The person who did this had to be very rich...” “Or had excellent connections.” Race nodded grimly, agreeing with Jonny. “Could be Dr. Zin,” Jonny guessed. “Nah, he likes to advertise everything. If it was him, we’d have a plane flying above our heads with a big sign that said “Dr. Zin blew up Jessie’s car!” This’s too subtle, there’s positively no evidence that points to anyone.” “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” QQQQ “Jonny, I’ll get you this time!” Jessie shouted, moving in time with her virtual snowboard, seeing an image of sliding on the snow. “In your dreams, Jess!” Jessie slid in front of Jonny, skidding sideways so that Jonny received a backwash of blinding snow. She could see the finish line, it was so close- Jessie jerked as she was thrown in and out of Questworld. Beside her, Jonny was doing the same thing. “Oh, no! This is not good!” Hadji shouted. Somehow, there was a virus or some other thing in Questworld, which was temporarily blocking his access to the computer. he typed in “terminate” but the digital voice of Iris came, “Access Denied. Access Denied. Access Denied...” Well, thought Hadji, desperate times call for desperate measures, and he ran to the electrical wires, and pulled them from their connections. The computer instantly died, and Jonny and Jessie slumped in their seats. Both were unconscious. “Oh, my!” Hadji tried to contact Dr. Quest and Race, but they said that since there had been no further assassination attempts, they were going away for the next week to Spain to investigate an important archaeological find. Hadji had wanted to come, but Race and Dr. Quest didn’t think they could trust Jonny and Jessie to not blow up the computer, or something like that, if they were left alone for a week. They also said that they might not be able to be reached for the next ten to twelve hours, because they had been forced to travel in a public plane, for the mission that they were on required anonymity. Just then Jonny moaned, and moved his head. “Oh, my friend!” Hadji ran to Jonny’s side. “Are you all right?’ “Yeah, but I feel like Surd’s driving his chair all over my skull. What happened?” “You were unconscious. Something went wrong in Questworld.” “Where’s -oh, no! Jess!” “Oh, she is still not awake!” “We should do something! Fast.” “Right. You get a first aid kit, and Dad’s portable medical scanner. I’ll take her back to the house.” Jonny laid Jessie on the couch. She was still unconscious, but there was no out ward sign of any bump on her head that might have caused it. he laid a pack of ice on her forehead. He knew it probably wouldn’t help, but it felt better to be doing something. Where was Hadji, anyway? Jonny left Jessie on the couch, taking one backward glance to make sure she was still breathing, and noticed how beautiful she looked with her in a fiery halo around her head, and her face so peaceful... But he needed to find Hadji. He found the first aid kit and scanner halfway between the lighthouse and the house. There was no sign of Hadji. He was torn between trying to find Hadji, and tending to Jessie. He realized that if Jessie woke up, she could help him find Hadji, and so he ran back toward the house. When he got to the TV room, where she was laying on the couch, she was sitting up, and blinking groggily. “Jess!” he cried, and ran over to the couch. “Hey,” she groaned. “Hold still,” he said, and ran the scanner around her head. “No problems,” came the computerized voice. Jonny realized that to figure out what had happened to them in Questworld, he and Jessie would have to find Hadji. “You okay?” he asked Jessie, who was still sitting up, but she was holding her head. “I guess, but I fell like there’s a horse doing a tango in my head.” “Same here, but it gets better. Come on. get up, we’ve got to find Hadji.” He offered her his hand, and she took it and pulled herself up, with help from Jonny. She swayed a little on her feet, and Jonny reached out to steady her. “Where is Hadji? And what happened?” “I don’t know to either. You’ll have to ask him what happened to us.” “Us?” “Yeah, Hadji said we both conked out in Questworld, and I woke up before you. And while I brought you in the house, he went to get the first aid kit. He didn’t come back, so I went to go look for him, and all I found was the kit.” They were walking down the stairs, or rather, Jonny was walking, and Jessie was sort of walking, and suddenly Jessie lurched, and her foot twisted a weird way. Oh, dang!” she yelled, and when she tried to stand on it, she crumpled, and almost fell down the stairs. Jonny grabbed her by the sleeve of her green shirt, and pulled her back up. “We’d better get you those crutches you had when Linda broke your foot,” he said, and half carried her up to her room, where he sat her on the bed, and went into her closet to get the crutches. He fished then from the mess in her closet, and brought them to her. He knelt down next to her, rolled the cuff of her jeans up to her knee, and pressed on her shin in a firm but not hard way that he had learned from his father. “This hurt?” “Uh uh.” “This?” “No.” “What about-” Her sharp gasp told that this was the injured area. He felt along it. “Not broken, and it should be okay in a couple of hours, unless its sprained. Here.” He handed her the crutches. “Let’s go find Hadji.” Suddenly, Jessie’s computer began to say, “You’ve got mail. You’ve got mail.” Wary, Jonny and Jessie looked at each other, and at an unspoken signal crossed to the computer. Jessie pressed the e-mail button, and a message came up onto the screen, followed by a picture. The message simply said, “We’ve got your friend. Ha ha ha ha haaaaaa!” The picture was of Hadji, snarling at the camera, held down by two pairs of dark-skinned hands. “Iris, run scan on the hands. Try to positively identify,” dictated Jonny. “Running scan. Photo DNA scan positively identifies as Melana and Anaya Zin.” “Dr. Zin!” shouted Jonny and Jessie at the same time. “I should have known. Only he would have kidnapped Hadji in broad daylight!” said Jonny. “Iris, find the signal’s origination point!” shouted Jessie. “Negative. Signal blocker in use.” “Then bypass it!” “Negative, more advanced than this computer’s technology.” “Man, I wish that I had your dad upgrade this when I had the chance. But, too late now.” “Iris, can you transfer this to the main computer.?” “Negative. Doing so would terminate the file.” “Dang!” Jonny snapped his fingers. “Iris! Do a scan of the surrounding 5 miles, and give me a picture and sensory analysis of anything besides basic commercial vehicles and stuff.” “Scanning... Nothing unordinary.” “Well, now we know where Hadji is, only I wish we didn’t,” commented Jessie. “Yeah,” Jonny agreed, slowly nodding From: "Ryan Harbin" Disclaimer-I don’t own them, or get any profit off of this. This is purely out of love for the show and its characters, no money involved. More HR involved, but for the hard-core adventurers (did I spell that right?), but a little fight with the Zin twins. “Save Tonight” Ryan Harbin Chapter 3 SAME DAY “Man I wish Hadj was here!” Jonny complained as he and Jessie flipped channels. “I know! I can’t stop thinking about where he is, and what they’re doing to him. You know that none of them have any pity whatsoever, and would love to get even with us. It makes me scared just thinking about it. At least, I wish we knew where he was!” Jessie’s leg was propped up on the table. It had actually just been temporarily hurt, no sprain or anything, but it still hurt her to walk, and it was swollen. She glanced at Jonny as he clicked past Cartoon Network, MTV, VH1, and stopped at C-SPAN. “Uh, uh!” she yelled. “I am not watching this!” “You got anything better?” “Yeah. Cartoon Planet. You know, Space Ghost, Zorak, Brak, Moltar...” “Okay. You do know, that Hadji is going to be all right. If they do anything to him, they will have lost their bargaining piece, and although Anaya and Melana may not be smart enough to realize that, Dr. Zin is, or I’m going to very insulted, because that means we’ve been tricked a coupla times by an idiot.” he took her hand. “Everything will turn out fine. I know it.” ‘I hope.’ he thought. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she didn’t move her hand, which he took as a good sign. Jonny’s watch alarm went off. “Hey, we can probably call Dad and Race now!” he said to Jessie. “Yeah,” she said, jumping up. “They probably would no what to do!” They tried the location for the hotel in Mexico where Dr. Quest and Race were staying, but all they got was static. “Shoot! That hurricane must have hit sooner than we thought it would!” said Jonny. “Yeah, they might even still be in the plane.” Jessie sat back down, this time closer to Jonny. He moved a minuscule bit closer, then a little closer. Jonny thought about how much he wanted to kiss her, and, not totally conscious of what he was doing, moved until he was right next to her, and put his arm around her. Jessie put her head on his shoulder, thinking about how deep and blue his eyes were. He turned toward her, and she turned toward him at the same time. He bent his head toward hers, and then, suddenly, the phone rang. Jessie jumped, and reached out to get it. She picked it up, twirling her finger around the cord. “Hello.” “This is Anaya Zin.” Jessie gasped, and punched the speakerphone button, so that Jonny could hear Anaya’s voice as well. She motioned for him to be quiet. “Yeah?” she said with as much courage as she could muster. “We’ve still got your little friend.” “I don’t believe you. If you want me to, prove it.” “All right. Melana, bring the prisoner over here!” They heard the sounds of a struggle, and then quiet. “Hadji?’ whispered Jessie. “Yes?” It was undoubtedly the voice of their friend. “Are you all right?” “Well, this isn’t exactly a five star hotel.” Anaya’s voice came back. “Shut up!” Then she said, “Is that enough proof for you?” “Yes,” said Jessie, no longer masking her motions. “Wee then. We have some things to ask of you, then we’ll give you your friend back. But we’ll call you back with them.” Click. QQQQ Anaya turned to her sister. “That should be enough,” she said, with an evil smile. She ignored Hadji, bound hand and foot to the mast of their sailboat, and turned back to the computer. “We need to go back to our place on land.” QQQQ Jessie turned to Jonny, her face white and scared. “Jonny..” she whispered. “Hey, its all right. They said they’d return Hadji back as soon as we did something for them.” He hugged her. “You know its not going to be something like go pick daisies, Jonny. And I trust them about as far as I could throw them.” “It’s going to be all right, Jess. I know it.” He hugged her even tighter, and this time, she hugged him back. He stroked her hair gently, and kept whispering, “It’ll be all right.” he tilted her chin up and said, “Look, no one does that to my friends. I will personally kill those overgrown, dogs if anything happens to Hadji, I promise. And they know that, that’s why they haven’t killed him already. See, it will all turn out all right, like it has before. Then he kissed her, which he had been waiting to do for so long. Jessie stiffened, then relaxed ,and she kissed him back. He kissed her for a full thirty seconds, then broke off and looked deep into her bright green eyes. “I swear, it will turn like it always has.” But inside, he wasn’t so sure. Then the phone rang. ‘Of all the bad timing!’ thought Jonny. Jessie picked it up, expecting to her Anaya or Melana. “Ponchita?” came her father’s voice. “Dad!!” she cried, overjoyed to have some semblance of good news. “How is it up there?” “Not good at all. First, Jonny and I were in Questworld, and then something happened, and we both became unconscious. We’re both all right now, but then Dr. Zin, or at least his daughters, kidnapped Hadji. Anaya said that they would let him go if we did something for them, but they haven’t said when, what how, or anything. they were supposed to call us back, but they haven’t yet.” ‘You’re joking,’ thought Race. But he could tell from his daughter’s tone of voice that she wasn’t. “I wish.” “Oh, my god, Benton! Come here, you need one of them to explain the situation.” Jessie handed the phone to Jonny. “Your dad,” she said. “Dad?” “Yes, Jonny?” Dr. Quest sounded very worried. “Uuum, well, the day has been kinda hectic.” ‘That’s the understatement of the year.’ thought Jessie. “Well, dad, first something happened in Questworld, but we’re not sure what. Hadji saw it, but he’s not here right now, see, Dr. Zin’s daughters kinda kidnapped him, and we don’t know where they are, and the only way to reach them is when they call us. Dad? Dad?” Silence. Jonny put the phone down, then picked it back up again. “The line’s been interfered with, or maybe even cut” he said grimly to Jessie. “But then how will Anaya and Melana reach us?” “One of the other lines, I guess.” “I hope nothing happened to our dads.” “Yeah. Hey! How’s your foot? We could go and look for Hadji. They can’t have been too far, I mean it was only an hour ago they first kidnapped Hadji.” “It’s a lot better. Let’s go.” “Okay, but let me go find Bandit. Bandit, c’mere boy!” Bandit raced into the room, barking loudly. “He can help us. Come on, Bandit!” Chapter 4 TWO HOURS LATER Jonny and Bandit met Jessie at the clearing behind the house. “I found nothing,” he said. “Ha ha. I did! Come on.” Jessie took Jonny’s hand and pulled him through the woods, with Bandit following them, and barking. A little bit through the way they found something. The bright red jewel that Hadji usually wore on his turban. It was next to a tree, and the red and orange leaves were scattered around it, like there had been a struggle. “Hadji would never have left that behind,” said Jonny. “Exactly. Unless... he put it there for a reason.” “Like a sign.” “Right. See, you’re not entirely clueless.” “Ha ha. Very funny.” Bandit barked, and started running in circles. “What, what is it?” asked Jonny. Bandit took off at a run. Jonny and Jessie ran behind him, shouting for him to stop. “Bandit! Stop, you stupid mutt!” yelled Jessie, pushing aside a branch that would have gone straight into her face. Suddenly, Bandit stopped in front a rock wall, and totally vanished into it! “Bandit?” yelled Jonny. “Hey Jonny, remember the aliens, disguised as Bigfoots? Well, remember they had a hologram blocking a tunnel in the rock?” “Yeah. You think this is also a hologram?” “Yep. Now, if I can find where it is.... There!” Jessie’s hand vanished into the rock. “Bingo!” she said softly. “Good job, Jess!” “We need to be quiet, in case there isn’t a lot of space in there.” “Right.” “C’mon” “I’m right behind you, Jess.” As they walked, they could hear voices arguing. “Sister, we must rid ourselves of the prisoner. The Quests do not believe we will break our promise, and we have enough tape of him to fake more.” “You do not understand, sister. The Quests are not as foolish as you think.” “No, Anaya, you do not understand! The longer we keep the captive, the higher our chances of detection will be. As soon as we are rid of him, we can leave!” Jonny and Jessie had crept closer and closer to where the yelling was coming from. Hadji was leaning against the wall, and he was bound hand and foot. The yelling was Anaya and Melana, although they couldn’t tell who until one of them pointed a finger at the other one and said menacingly, “Anaya, your persistence is letting the prisoner live is getting in the way. I believe I shall call Father and ask his opinion.” “Sister, do not do that. I have reasons for letting him live, which you could never understand.” In the middle of the yelling match, Jonny took a penny he had in his pocket and threw it at Hadji. It hit him in the head, and he looked up at them. His face brightened, but at a signal from Jessie he switched his expression to the same despair it had been. Jonny and Jessie were waiting for the right time to attack Dr. Zin’s daughters, but then Bandit, who they hadn’t seen until then, barked, and came rushing from behind the computer to bite Melana on the leg. “What is this!” she yelled, and kicked, sending Bandit across the room. He fell against the wall, got up, and started barking. Jonny and Jessie both jumped down from the ledge they had been on, separating to take a sister each. Jessie and Melana circled each other, until Melana kicked out at Jessie, and she ducked, then made a sweeping kick that knocked Melana’s legs out from under her. Melana’s head hit the ground with a loud crack, and she stayed still. Jonny was having more difficulty, however. Anaya had always been the more skilled at hand-to-hand than her sister, and although Jonny was very good, Anaya was clearly winning. Anaya was giving Jonny quite a beating, and Jonny was almost unconscious when Jessie came in from behind with a jump kick that knocked Anaya out before she hit the ground. “Thanks,” said Jonny, a little groggily. “Are you okay?” “Yeah, or at least, I will be.” “Thank you, my friends,” said Hadji. “Hadji!” they both shouted at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed. Bandit barked. “You, too, Bandit.” QQQQ Later, back at the compound, Jonny was talking to his dad on the phone. “Yeah, and then Jessie knocked Melana out, and then she knocked Anaya out when she was abut to put me under. You know, she’s pretty good, for a girl.” Jessie smiled and punched him on the shoulder. “Is Hadji okay?” asked Dr. Quest. “Yes. He had a lot to eat, and then he crashed, and he isn’t up yet. But he’s fine. And the problem in Questworld was Anaya and Melana. They had planted a virus, but they didn’t think Hadj would be able to get us out of Questworld that fast, and they thought it would kill us or something.” “Well, I’m glad you’re all okay. We should be home in about three days, now that the hurricane is cleared up and we can fly planes.” “All right. Bye dad.” “Bye, son.” Jonny hung up the phone. He sat down on the couch next to Jessie. She laid her head on his shoulder, and he put his arm around her. “So, C-SPAN, or Robotech?” “You really want my opinion?” asked Jessie. “No.” “Good, that means that I can take the remote you without feeling guilty.” She jumped for it, but he moved and she landed on him. He put his arms around her shoulders, and stared into her eyes. Their faces came closer, and closer, and this time, he didn’t fall.