Serpent's Kiss
An Alternate Timeline Real Adventures of Jonny Quest fic
by Time Guardian
Prologue - Second Chances
Water was everywhere.
He was swept up by it, surrounded by it, and it threatened to spin him out of control. The riverhad seemed to be a good idea at the time, but in the darkness he had no chance to gauge the speed and strength of the water.
The explosion from the bomb had come mere seconds before he jumped into the river. He felt the heat at his back, then the mind numbing rush of the cold water. Currents grabbed at him and swept him downstream while he struggled to keep his head above water.
He treaded water as best he could, but could not avoid the outcropping of rocks that were jutting out throughout his journey. BY the time the current had slowed down enough for him to seek the shore, he was tired and shivering. With what little strength he had left, he plunged ahead, the moonlight easily showing a long stretch of quiet shore mere yards away.
One stroked turned into another, his legs were screaming for relief, but he pushed himself until at last he felt his feet touch bottom. Grateful for the release, he stumbled the remaining few yards through the water until he fell forward onto the hard rocks and dirt of the shore. The pain didn't matter, the extreme exhaustion was soon forgotten - he was alive!
Coughing and sputtering, he laid there for many moments until he turned over on his back. Above him, the moon shone brightly, and he said a silent prayer of thanks for the illumination. From his vantage point, he surveyed the land around him and came to the realization that with the exception of two or three ramshackle buildings, the area was effectively deserted.
This did not fit into his plans at all. He had remembered the last thing the sisters of Zin had told him before they left him to die: They were going to find the snake cult.
After a few moments of breathing in-out, he ventured to sit up, and found to his surprise that his head remained intact for the most part. A dull ache resounded throughout his body, but that he could easily attest to his collisions with the rocks during his wild ride down river.
He remembered his name and remembered how he came to be here, that's what mattered. He had been in worse spots than this, and that was when he didn't remember that he was Jonny Quest.
Heh, his father was probably frantic with worry at this point, and Race - he didn't even want to go there. Jonny had gotten the vibe loud and clear: they wanted to help him face his demons, help put his past to rest.
What he hadn't counted on was the daughters of Zin coming to try and continue their father's work by coming after his adopted brother Hadji. That was something Jonny couldn't forgive. He had just gotten back to a normal life with his family, and he would do anything to protect that.
Jonny's thoughts turned back to the Snake Cult. One thing that Dr. Zin was totally obsessed with, and that was finding the secrets to eternal life. Being trained by Dr. Zin meant that Jonny was deliberately kept close to him during the research and testing that was performed. That had its advantages, because despite his problems of remembering much of his training, much of those journeys to seek eternal life stood out in his mind.
In a flash, he knew where he needed to be - South America.
With some effort, Jonny pushed himself off of the riverbank and managed to get onto his feet. He would run the reconnaissance, follow the trail, and only when he was certain, only then he would summon reinforcements. That would be the best way to keep everyone safe.
He picked the nearest building and headed for it.
Chapter One - Message in a Bottle
Two Months Later-
Jessie Bannon sat in the middle of the lighthouse laboratory and tried to focus on her chemistry studies.
She was giving herself an A for effort, but an F for execution. On the paper sitting before her, the chemical equation she was supposed to be solving seemed to sit there and mock her for even thinking about anything else.
Truth be told, her mind was wandering back to the events of two months ago. It had seemed so exciting then, traveling to Germany and then India. In Germany, she had been ordered to stay with the Dragonfly and analyze any potential escape routes the daughters of Zin could take while Dr. Quest and her father went after Jonny.
Now Jonny was gone and-
A beeping sound broke into her thoughts. Jessie looked up and saw that the time was nearing ten in the evening. Her dad would be mad that she was up this late, but the beeping wasn't coming from any clock alarm, at least none that she had set.
Now curious, she got up and followed the sound. Across the room sat Dr. Quest's VR system and mainframe, and they were supposed to be in a low power state for the night. The beeping however, seemed to be coming from one of terminals attached to the mainframe.
In the low light she walked over to the terminal. This was crazy, she was just over here two hours ago composing an email to Hadji, and she knew that she shut the terminal down.
One look at the terminal though sent her scrambling for the nearest house phone.
Green text in bright relief flashed across the screen - A sentence and GPS coordinates followed by a very distinctive signature.
She nervously waited precious seconds before she heard the tired voice of her father on the line. "Dad? Yeah, I am at the lighthouse. I'm sorry I am up so late, but I think you and Dr. Quest should get here right away."
Jessie waited for a moment through a haze of protests. "Dad -no - dad! This is important!"
She read him the message, and waited a beat. "-and dad, the message is signed."
At the bottom of the screen, The letters 'JQ' flashed in time with the rest of the message.
"Jonny is alive."
