The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and all related characters are the 
property of Hanna-Barbera and Turner Industries. No copyright 
infringement is intended.

This story and all original characters are the property of the author.

I know, I know... This one's REALLY short... Sorry!
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Bitter Reunions: Chapter 2



He hadn't known it would be so hard.

Dr. Benton Quest stood in the doorway of the hospital room which 
for the last four days had been the residence of his only child.  Four 
days which Benton had spent torn between joy and agony, half 
wishing they had never found his son - hating himself for wishing 
such a thing. 

Praying Jonny was strong enough to take what was about to come.

"That's some way to greet your own father," Benton managed to smile 
with his words, relieved to see Jonny smile back. He walked into the 
room, closing the door firmly behind him. He sat at the edge of the 
bed carefully taking in everything about his son, only now willing to 
believe he was all right. "Jonny, what's the last thing you remember?"

Jonny frowned and gave him an odd look, as if he was trying to piece 
together what that had to do with anything. "That new electronics 
store. Remember? I got Hadji to drive me into town so I could check 
it out. Found some good stuff too." His eyes widened in sudden 
comprehension. "Oh, God! Hadji! Is he-?"

"Hadji is fine," Benton assured him. Doing better than us, actually... 
"Jonny what happened after you left the store?"

"I..." Jonny's voice trailed off. "I don't remember. I remember paying 
for the stuff I bought and I left the store. I was going to meet Hadji at 
the bookstore, just down the road, but I don't remember ever getting 
there."

"You didn't," Benton told him. "You never showed up. Hadji got 
worried and looked for you. He found your things in an alley and 
called the police."

"Geez," Jonny muttered. "What, I got mugged? But the nurse said I 
was suffering from shock."

"You weren't mugged. You were abducted. By Dr. Zin." Benton saw 
the startled look on Jonny's face. "I know you don't remember. Have 
patience, I'll tell you everything."

Jonny nodded and settled back. 

"We didn't know that at the time. As a matter of fact, we didn't know 
that at all until a few days ago when the hospital contacted us. We 
worked with the police to find you, followed our own clues. Race 
called in some favors with old friends. We didn't find any sign at all 
of where you'd gone - of what had happened to you.

"Eventually the police stopped looking." Benton shook his head when 
Jonny would have asked something. He knew what Jonny wanted to 
know. "We didn't give up for a long time, but after three years... Even 
Hadji and Jessie gave up then."

"Three... *years?*" Jonny managed in a choked voice. "Three years?"

"Yes. We went on with our lives, certain you had to be... dead, 
because otherwise you would have found some way to contact us or 
the authorities, found some way to escape. 

"A few days ago, as I had mentioned, I received a call from the 
hospital staff, followed by a visit from a representative of the FBI. 
That's when I finally learned the whole story.

"A special team of FBI agents and military personnel had raided one 
of Dr. Zin's laboratories. They were after him for working with deadly 
biological agents. Zin escaped by mere seconds, slipping away just 
before the attack on his lab began. They searched the lab, hoping to 
find and destroy Zin's biological weapons. Instead they found you."

Benton took a deep, calming breath, knowing that this was where 
everything rested, that this next revelation could be the straw that 
broke the camel's back.

But Jonny was no camel. And he was stubborn enough for ten 
teenaged boys.

"You were in some sort of cryogenic suspension, completely unaware 
of the world around you. Your body and mind didn't age at all during 
the time you were there. In every way, you are the same person you 
were when Zin put you in cryogenic storage-"

His eyes met his son's.

"-fifteen years ago."
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continued in Part 3