The Misadventures of Jonny Quest

Quest Compound – Maine

“And in the world news tonight,” the TV announcer droned, and Race sighed as he looked over at Dr. Quest, who sat in a large, overstuffed, wing- backed chair, and slept in the light and warmth of the fireplace.

It had been almost four years since Jonny had made his choice to forsake his family, and go with that Artemis person, and sadly, Race turned down the volume on the TV set. Dr. Quest had obviously lost all interest in the program anyway, and Race needed to think. He walked over to the window, looked out at the dark night, and contemplated the silence of the compound.

They had all gone on, pretty much as they always had, without Jonny, though once Hadji and Jesse had left the compound, the absence of the kids was all too noticeable. Dr. Quest had insisted that once whatever new rebellion Jonny was going through had gotten out of his system, he’d be back.

At the time, they had all agreed.

However, time had worn on, the weeks turned to months, the months to years, and still Jonny stayed away. There were never any cards, no letters, no phone calls, no requests -- shamed or otherwise -- asking for any kind of communication, requests for, or offerings of, forgiveness, and Race, as well as the others, were forced to admit that Jonny truly had been serious about the direction his life had taken and the choice that he had made . . . been forced to make, actually, if truth especially on his part, had to be admitted.

Race knew the minute Dr. Quest had come to the same realization the others had, as he had all but watched the man age before his eyes. The brilliant scientist had, all but for the most philanthropic of reasons, slowly pulled away from the scientific community, and then from almost all life whatsoever.

In fact, in the last year, he had taken to living the life of almost a hermit. He had broken his solitude only to attend the wedding of Hadji and Jesse, their occasional visits over the holidays, and the even more rare occasion when Race could convince Benton to actually leave the compound and go to visit Hadji and Jesse, himself.

Race had attempted to bring up the subject of Jonny a couple of times, but when he did, Benton had immediately shut him down with a cold shoulder that lasted for days. Despite that, Race could tell, simply from looking at the man’s eyes, exactly how much pain he was in whenever Jonny’s name was even mentioned. It was also evident that he sincerely regretted whatever it had been that he’d said that day that had sent Jonny away in what could only have been described as a state of extreme mental anguish. Mental anguish they’d all seen but not done anything about, as they’d all watched the two from the safety and security of their rooms.

However. though Race had mentioned Jonny a few times, he had only suggested they find him once.

Benton had flung himself out of his chair and with his eyes blazing, let Race know in no uncertain terms, that Jonny knew where to find them, if he wanted to, and that was all there was to that. And, he’d said with a certain amount of venomous pride, that he knew that Jonny was going to have to come crawling back to him sooner or later, especially if he wanted to get at any of his money, as he’d fixed it so the boy would have to choice but to have to come back.

Race didn’t know for sure what that meant, but he could guess, and he wasn’t sure he liked the idea. However, by the same token, Jonny had been more than aware of what the consequences for such a choice were going to be, and yet, had still chosen to do the one thing that he knew would send his father over the edge.

Although, to be fair, and Race really tried to be fair, Jonny didn’t know why Dr. Quest felt as strong an aversion as he did about the lifestyle. Race did, however, and he was the only one, beside Dr. Quest of course, who did, but it wasn’t his place to reveal that reason.

It was because of Benton’s strong reaction to the suggestion of finding Jonny though, that he had never dared to bring it up again. Although, sometimes, he really thought about trying to find the boy himself.

He suddenly sighed and shook his head.

That was the problem right there. He, and everyone else still thought of Jonny as a boy, and he wasn’t.

Hell, to be honest, Race had seen that the day that Jonny had actually brought that Artemis guy home. He had appeared to be a full grown man, capable and while maybe not exactly responsible – but then Race didn’t know that either as he really hadn’t seen Jonny on any kind of regular basis while he was away at school – and since he hadn’t seen him in the last four years either -- well, at twenty-two years old, that put Jonny well beyond the age when anyone could tell him what to do . . . if they ever could to begin with.

So into his thoughts was he that he never even glanced back at the TV screen, which continued to silently show the world what had gone on that day around the globe, and completely missed the report on the mysterious car bombing in Greece. He also missed the reporter, complete with gory video footage, pointing out all the ambulances and medical personnel as they treated the wounded.

He also never saw that one of the obviously in shock, walking wounded, one half of his face covered in a large, thick, bloody bandage, was Jonny. It was an arguable fact, though, that through the blood, tears, bandage, and trauma, it was doubtful he would have been recognized anyway, even as he, completely unobserved by any of the on-site participants, shoved a badly dented, battered, bloody camera into the pocket of his jacket.


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