And here is the last chapter. I want to thank everybody who
wrote me to share his/her opinions about this fic! Thank you guys!
Also, a special 'thank you' to Winnie Lim, who authorized me to use
both Tommy and Captain Atominizer...
Well, here is the conclusion!
Disclaimer: I don't own all of these characters! HB owns Jonny
and the rest of the cast from JQ:TRA. I'm not
making any money at all with this, but I'm having
fun!
Rating: E, J&J HR
Synopsis: A look at what might have been?
Archivers: Go ahead!
In the next-to-last chapter of "Reality":
The scenery changed once again. The grey became white and then
red and then every color Jonny had ever seen was mixed around him.
And everything started to twirl around, faster and faster, until
everything exploded and a bright light surrounded him. Then it
was gone, and only darkness remained.
Slowly, Jonny Quest opened his eyes.
At long last, he was awake.
*********************************
* *
* Reality *
* by Carlos Rodriguez *
* *
* Chapter Eight *
* *
*********************************
Jonny had quite a headache. He raised his hand to his forehead,
and he found some strange sensors attached to it. He removed it, the
adhesive making a weak sound as it was ripped from Jonny's skin.
He ignored the small pain the action had caused to him and
probed his head for more of those sensors. There were two more attached
to his forehead, and he quickly removed them.
He looked at his side. Just as he had suspected, there was
a chair next to the one he was seated on. In there, with her eyes
closed and with some sensors attached to her head, was Jessica Bannon.
Jessie's head started to ache. She fell to the ground with
her eyes closed.
"Jessie? Are you OK?"
She recognized the voice. She opened her eyes to find someone
she loved next to her.
"What's wrong, ponchita?" her mother asked as she kneeled
next to her.
"My head hurts..." she muttered.
"Don't worry, my dear." Estella said with a soothing voice.
"Just close your eyes and try to relax. It will dissappear by
itself..."
Jonny crouched at her side and he grabbed one of the sensors
on her forehead.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." a male voice warned him.
Fred's voice.
Jonny stood up and looked around him. He was in a warehouse.
It was big, but it was also absolutely empty, except for the seats.
The sensors were wireless, and Jonny had no way to trace the place
they were sending its signals to... But were had the voice come from?
"I can see you, Jonny. Just as I can hear you."
"What are you doing to Jessie?" he said in a loud voice.
"She is just dreaming, just as you were before you woke up.
A foolish move, boy, you could have gotten everything you always
wanted. Now you are doomed to live in this unperfect world."
Jonny groaned and once again he reached for Jessie's sensors.
"Bad boy." the voice said. "If you pull that sensor right now,
you can hurt her mind. You don't want her to live the rest of her days
as a vegetable, don't you?"
He reached for his Questwatch. Maybe he could jam the signal
of the sensors... Or call from help.
"I wouldn't do that, either. If you ask for help then I'll
kill Jessie's mind."
Was he bluffing? Or he could really hurt Jessie in that way?
Jonny couldn't gamble, though. He thought about the situation. He
couldn't stop whatever the misterious man was doing to Jessie... But
what if he could wake her up?
He kneeled at her side and started to talk to her.
*Jess? Can you hear me?*
Jessie's eyes opened. It was Jonny's voice again.
"Did you heard that, mom?"
"Hear what?"
"That voice!"
Estella looked at her in a strange way. "What are you talking
about?"
*Jessie, it's me! Jonny!*
'Oh, god!' Jessie tought. 'Have I gone insane?'
*You are having a dream, Jessie...*
'What is he saying?'
*I don't know what you are experiencing, but it is _not_ real!*
'Not real? But how...?'
Estella touched her forehead. "My god, Jessie! You are
burning!"
Jonny was kneeled at Jessie's side, trying to reach her with
his words.
"It is not real." he repeated.
"Nice try, but it won't work." the voice said.
Jonny ignored him. "C'mon, Jessie, wake up..."
'Not real, not real, not real...'
*C'mon, Jessie, wake up...*
"Let me help you, Jessie." Estella said. "You must go to your
room..."
Estella reached for Jessie's shoulder, but she slapped her
mother's hand.
"Don't touch me!" she said, trying to ignore the pain in her
head. "I don't know who you are, but I know you are not my mother!"
"Now, Jessie, what..."
"Shut up! My mother is in Colombia! And I am not there! I was
in Palm Key with Jonny..."
"That boy again. Jessie, I think you..."
"Shut up! Stop pretending!"
Estella sighed. "I should have known. Well, I can fix that..."
The red haired woman extended her hand and Jessie's pain
increased. "Relax, Jessie, this won't hurt... Soon you'll have
everything you have always wanted."
Sweat started to appear in Jessie's forehead and she started
to move her head.
"Not real" she whispered.
'Yes!' Jonny tought. 'She is listening to me!'
Then Jessie's mouth opened, and a scream filled the room.
Jessie screamed. The pain was too great...
"Don't resist it, darling, or it will hurt more."
*You are almost there, Jessie! Wake up!*
Jonny's voice gave her a little strenght. "No.... Not real....
You are not real!"
*Come to me, Jessie...*
"You are not real!" Jessie yelled once again, and the world
vanished.
*C'mon, ace, you can do it!*
'I'm coming, Jonny... I'm coming!'
A bright flash surrounded Jessie, then everything vanished.
Jessie stopped moving. Then, slowly, her eyes opened.
"Where...?" she asked in a low voice.
"Jess!" Jonny exclaimed, then he embraced her tightly. "Oh,
thank god!"
Jessie's head hurt. She raised her hand to her forehead and
she discovered the sensors. "What is this?" she asked as she removed
one from her forehead.
Jonny quickly reacted. He stopped embracing her and carefully
removed the sensors from Jessie's head.
"I guess I underestimated you." the voice said. But this time
it wasn't Fred's voice... It sounded quite different, much more deeper.
"Who... Who are you?" asked Jessie, still somewhat confused.
"I'm afraid you'll never know." the voice replied, then a soft
click was heard.
"What was that?" Jessie asked.
"I have no idea, Jess, but I think we must get out of here
right now."
Jonny and Jessie soon found out that they had been inside a
warehouse in the outskirts of Rockport. As soon as they were out of
there, Jonny activated the emergency signal in his Questwatch. Soon,
Race found them. They had been missing for about six hours.
"...and then I heard Jonny's voice. He was saying that nothing
was real. As soon as I realized that, everything started to vanish and
I woke up."
Benton Quest nodded. "Interesting... It looks like this man
created an entire world using your subconcious to find out what was
the things you wished the most."
They were in the living room in the Palm Key Compound. Both
Jonny and Jessie remembered the moment they had been captured: they
were coming home from a shopping trip at a mall when they felt a
little itching on their necks. Then the world had faded and they had
found themselves in the middle of their dreamworld. Race had told them
that he was sure that the blood tests would find traces of a powerful
narcotic.
"They must have shot you with tranquilizer darts." he said.
"Those guys were professionals."
Jonny had told Race and his father almost everything that
had happened. When he mentioned that Rachel had been alive on his
dream, he noticed a small twitch of pain in his father's eyes. And
he didn't turn around to see Jessie when he mentioned Liz. A good
thing, too, since the look in Jessie's eyes would have only confused
him more.
He had told everybody how suddenly he had realized that a
member of the team was missing, and then he had found out the news
of a red haired girl killed on a bomb blast in Colombia. He said
that he had recognized her and he had traveled to Bogota to find out
more information about her and when he found the tombstone he realized
that he was dreaming. He also said that it was then when Fred had
revealed himself and had tried to make him forget everything, but
somehow he had managed to wake up.
Jessie also gave part of her dream, mentioning how she had
found out a picture of Jonny on a magazine and then she had realized
something was wrong. Then she had heard Jonny's scream and then
Jonny's voice...
She told everybody about Enrique, but she didn't notice how
Jonny had lowered his head at the mention of that name and had stared
at the floor.
She didn't describe Enrique's physical appeareance and the
things she had tought she loved about him, just as Jonny hadn't
described Liz and the things that had attracted him to her.
And he didn't mention Liz eyes, either.
"I think I have an answer for all of this." Race said as he
hung the phone. "That was one of my pals. They found the secret camera
and the speakers at the warehouse and they are studying those sensors
right now."
Benton looked at his watch. "Well, I think that's enough for
tonight. Jonny, Jessie, I suggest you to sleep a little and we will
continue this on the morning."
They nodded and, in silence, they went up the stairs.
Jonny stopped at his door, next to Jessie's bedroom. They
looked at each other, then they quickly opened their doors and entered
into their rooms, afraid to speak.
Benton walked into the kitchen next morning to find Race
with the newspaper and a cup of coffee. "Good morning, Benton." he
greeted.
"Good morning, Race." Benton replied as he filled his cup
as well. "May I wonder why you woke up so early?"
"I just came from a meeting with my friends. Just as I
suspected, they identified the sensors. You see, during the Cold War,
the KGB was working on a special project known as 'Morpheus'."
"'Morpheus' as in the greek god of dreams?"
Race nodded. "The investigation was under the direction of Dr.
Andreyv Vasily. The objectives of the project were top secret, but
the guys at Intelligence One managed to find out what was Vasily
working on. Don't ask how. That's the first thing I learned at the
Agency: you don't want to know how they got anything."
Benton sipped his coffe. "I guess the objective of Morpheus
was manipulating people's dreams."
Race nodded. "Exactly. The machine Vasily was building not
only allowed him to read people's dreams, but he could also manipulate
them."
Race folded his newspaper. "Here comes the interesting part.
When the communist party fell, Vasily scaped from the USSR. Nobody
knows where he vanished to, not even the russians, who are still
looking for him. But a year ago a criminal for hire appeared. Guess
what is his name?"
"Morpheus?"
"Bingo! Morpheus was a special hitman. In more than
one occasion, a crime lord that had misteriously vanished appeared
in a catatonic state."
"Lord! Do you think that was what that madman was tring to do
with Jonny and Jessie?"
Race shrugged. "I will tell you this, though. Those two are
the first ones who have scaped from him without damage. Most of his
other victims can't be cured and the few ones who have been cured
have lost some control over their bodies."
Benton shuddered. "Can't your friends locate Morpheus?"
"Believe me, Benton. they tried. But they have no idea from
where he was controlling his little show. Heck, they don't even have
any idea of how he looks like. They aren't even sure Morpheus is
Vasily. He could have sold the technology for all we know."
Race sighed. "And what scares me more is that I don't have
the slightest clue of who hired him... Or why he attacked our kids and
not us."
The door opened slowly and Jonny entered, closing the door
behind him.
"I guess you know why I have come here." he said as he sat
on the bed.
"I know, my friend. You look horrible. You couldn't sleep?"
Jonny shook his head. "I tried to, but I was afraid of
dreaming. It will take a while. But I'm not here for that, Hadj.
You see, there are some things that I didn't mention last night."
Hadji raised an eyebrow.
"There was something I couldn't bring myself to tell to my
father... Specially in front of Race."
Jessie sat on the beach as Bandit played with the waves.
She and Jonny hadn't exchanged more than a couple of words
since the morning. She wasn't sure why, but she was grateful for that,
because she was afraid of what could happen.
She remembered every part of her dream. Today, when her father
had asked how Enrique had looked like, she lied and told him that she
didn't remember.
But she knew Enrique had looked like Hadji. She wasn't
surprised about that. She had a crush on him... Or at least she had
thought so until their meeting with Morpheus. When she got trapped on
that fantasy world, it hadn't been Hadji her reason to wake up. It had
been Jonny.
It had been his absence what had triggered her memories of her
real life. And now that she though of it, Enrique wasn't Hadji. Under
his dark skin, he was Jonny. The way he behaved, the way he *was*...
It was Jonny alright.
And that startled Jessie.
Her heart was confused. And she had no idea of how to bring
order to her feelings. She loved Hadji, didn't she? But then, why
it was Jonny the one who was in her thoughts all the time?
Jonny looked at Jessie trough the window in Hadji's room.
She looked so beautiful... Yet she was out of reach.
"So, she was your anchor to reality?" Hadji asked.
"Yes." Jonny replied. "I dreamed about her since the beginning.
It was her who impulsed me to challenge Morpheus' dream..."
Hadji nodded. He had known all along that Jonny was in love
with Jessie. However, it hadn't been until now that Jonny had told
him so. Why he didn't talk with Jessie, then? What had kept him
from revealing his feelings to her?
Jonny's words interrumpted his toughts. "And you know what
the funny thing is? Morpheus himself created the hole that allowed
us to escape. If he had given Jessie to me since the beginning, then
I wouldn't have questioned the reality of the situation... and I would
be forever trapped in my dream, in catatonic state."
"I don't think that's what happened, my friend."
Jonny looked at him. "What does that mean?"
"For what I've heard, Morpheus is no fool. I think he was
not trying to trap you in your own dream. He could see into your
subconscious, so he knew what you really wanted. I am sure he knew
that if he didn't include Jessie in your dream you would see trough
his ruse."
Jonny's eyes narrowed. "Then why...?"
"I don't think he was trying to drive you into a catatonic
state. I think he was testing you.
"Think about it, my friend. It is the only explanation that
makes sense. He already knew about your love for Jessie. What he was
trying to do is measure the power of your emotions."
"But why for, Hadji? What does he win with that?"
"Information can be very valuable, my friend."
Jonny looked at the beach again. He saw how the wind caressed
Jessie's red mane...
Jonny was afraid that he had driven Hadji and Jessie apart.
Now that Hadji knew about his feelings for Jessie, he wouldn't dare
to get close to her. Jonny loved her... He loved her so much that he
had decided that if she was happier with someone else then he would
accept her decision. He would have to talk with Hadji and assure him
that he didn't want to be a barrier between them...
He knew that probably he shouldn't have talked with Hadji
about how important was Jessie for him. But he needed to talk about it
with someone, and Hadji was the only one close enough to him to do so.
Besides, he knew that Hadji had been in Jessie's dream. That was the
only thing that he didn't told Hadji about, and that was something
that he would use to convince him to talk with Jessie when the time
came.
But there was something that had kept him awake all night long.
He had never felt so helpless. To know that there was someone
who knew all your fears and desires... That was bad enough. But what
was driving him crazy was something that he didn't dare to discuss
with anyone.
When he had been trapped in Morpheus' device, he hadn't been
able to see the differences between his dream and the real world. The
only thing that had helped him was that Jessie was not there... That
and the fact that everything had been perfect.
But now Jessie was there... And things were far from perfect.
And if Morpheus was smart, then he should have learned from his
mistake.
So how could he be sure that this one was the reality he had
left behind?
The door opened, and a dark figure stepped into the room.
It moved forward, ignoring the contents of the shelves until
it reached one with a label that read 'P,Q,R,S'.
The figure reached into its coat and pulled out a small CD
case. Carefully, the figure placed it on the shelf. Then it turned
around and, on its way out, it stopped on the shelf with had a label
with the letters 'A,B,C'. The figure placed another case in that shelf
and then left the room.
The label on that last case said: 'Bannon, Jessica A.'
The End (?)
What can I say? An open ending looked quite appropriate for this
one...
You liked it? You hated it? Please send me your comments!
Cheers!
_________________________________________________________
| | |
| Carlos Rodriguez | Cannot find REALITY.SYS |
| carlosrgz@hotmail.com | Universe halted |
|______________________________|__________________________|
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
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