Highlander: The Next Generation
It was the year 2007, 12 years after the first battle between the Watchers and the Immortals. Nine years since the great Scottish warrior Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod, and his friend, Methos, the world's oldest Immortal, who masqueraded as Adam Pierson—a Watcher, had vanished with no trace for any Watcher or Immortal to follow. In 1998, shortly after they had disappeared, a bitter feud grew between the Immortals, and their Watchers, who they trusted no further than they could throw.
Johnny Moran was no exception. He had been an Immortal since 1917, in that time he'd gone through many experiences pleasant and unpleasant alike. He'd lived through them, survived, and moved on. Trouble had often been a companion to him, and once again, he found himself in trouble, but this time it seemed worse than anything he'd experienced in the past. He had been to hell and back, he'd seen pain and suffering, watched strangers and loved ones alike die slow, painful, gruesome deaths, viewed tragedy both from afar and a close range. After it all, he saw nothing as capable of troubling him, until now.
He had made it a habit not to be on friendly terms with the Watchers since he found them to be worse enemies than any Immortals he had and would ever face. It wasn't as simple a thing as blackmail, or a death threat that would be shaken off. He threatened them with time bombs, he blew up their Headquarters and had killed 114 of his own Watchers over time, among countless others. Now all his ill minded games of Cat and Mouse with the Watchers had caught up with him. He was chained to a wall in a small room, somewhere on a higher floor in the new Watchers Headquarters. Standing opposite of him was Jack Shapiro, the same man from 1995 who had sought to kill Joe Dawson for violating the Watcher's oath: Observe and Record, but Never Interfere.
Johnny liked no Watcher in particular, but of all of the countless hundreds of thousands of them all, the man he hated with the greatest passion was Jack Shapiro, which made his capture all the more demeaning. Jack paced around the room, glancing at Johnny as he went back and forth. "Well, well, well Mr. Moran, let me be the first to congratulate you."
"For what?" Johnny asked, remaining calm in his restraints. He didn't move his eyes, his voice didn't crack, he didn't even show any signs of even attempting to break loose.
Jack stopped pacing and looked directly ahead at the Immortal. "For being the first Immortal in 12 years to die at the hands of a Watcher, that's 'for what'," Jack replied in an ever-so-cocky tone.
"Am I here for a reason?" Johnny's eyes moved to match Jack's, "Or am I just here so you can bore me to death?"
Jack started pacing again as he spoke, "Where shall we begin with you, the killing off of all 114 of your Watchers? The death threats, blackmail letters, arsonist torching, roadway killings…"
"And the bombings, don't forget the bombings," Johnny replied, showing no remorse for any of his past deeds.
Jack half-heartedly laughed as he continued his pacing, "You know, back when Duncan MacLeod was still alive, there were a few times where his friends thought he was losing his mind. Perhaps the same has happened to you in time. Perhaps to you, everything you've done just seems to be one big joke. Is that it?" he asked. "Well now the joke's on you, how about for a change, I threaten you?"
Johnny rested against the wall and let out a good hard laugh, "Nothing you could threaten me with would work on me."
"Is that a fact?" Jack asked.
"Is that a fact?" Johnny repeated in a mocking tone.
"For years you blackmailed us, the entire Watchers society, your kind is not even supposed to know we exist, and yet you seem to have taken great pleasure in tormenting and harassing our brothers and sisters. Then you went from just harassing them to killing them, a total of deaths at the hands of you add up to 1,256. All of them, our brothers and sisters, they're all dead thanks to you!" Jack told him.
Johnny let out a light snort, "All those sons of bitches were your brothers and sisters? I'd hate to know who your father fucked."
"Everything's still a joke to you, isn't it?" Jack asked, "I doubt you'd be laughing if I were to return the favor and threaten the lives of your family."
"Ha!" Johnny chuckled, "I have no family, Jack, I outlived all of them!" Johnny took great pleasure in losing himself in his laughter momentarily.
Jack was getting frustrated by his behavior, here he was getting nowhere fast with any of his threats. But he wasn't ready to give up yet, what this foolish Immortal didn't realize was that he had a trump card he was ready to play.
"Face it, Shapiro, you don't have anything to use against me," Johnny laughed, "I am the last of my family, the last of my generation, and quite frankly, the last of my lifetime's population. Everything that I have faced in the past has been left in the past, and there is nothing that you could do now that would make me feel any different about it."
"Oh really? Not even a visit from an old friend?" Jack asked in a very cunning manner.
The way Jack had said 'old friend' made Johnny's blood run cold. He could almost swear he knew what he was talking about, but even so, he told himself that it was impossible to even be true.
"I think it's time we take a look back at history, shall we?" Jack took a couple of files out of his jacket and started reading, "Jonathan Quintin Moran, born May 2nd, 1898, Chicago, Illinois. Making you around 19 when you died, correct?"
Johnny snorted, "Probably the earliest case of drunk driving," he said.
"And I understand that around that time you knew several people, including someone else who died in 1917."
Johnny's heart stopped and his entire body became like ice. Shapiro wasn't playing around with him anymore,
"I see that caught your attention," Jack said, "do you remember her name?"
Her, it was a her, he said 'her', that left no doubt in Johnny's mind, they were both thinking about the same person.
"Jennifer Callahan, born July 15th, 1900, The Bowery, New York. She moved to Chicago when she was 12…died July 21, 1917…attempted suicide…"
"She was pushed," Johnny corrected him.
"According to you, she was pushed," Jack said, "can you be sure of that? How do you know she didn't just want to kill herself?"
"Why should she?" Johnny asked, "she had plans."
"Perhaps she realized that those plans would've gotten her killed anyway," Jack said.
"I think she would've gone through with them anyway…see what happened."
"The fact of the matter is she didn't recover from the fall."
"But she returned," Johnny added.
"And how many heads did she take?" Jack asked.
Johnny knew the answer, but he didn't bother answering, he knew Shapiro was enjoying this so much, he'd go on.
"Two…not a very good number."
"For living as an Immortal for only three months with no teacher, I'd say it was damn great," Johnny replied.
"Odd thing to say about an enemy though, wouldn't you say?" Shapiro asked.
"Not really an enemy…we just never had much to agree on."
"Oh really? It would seem she had quite a violent streak whenever you were with her. She certainly never seemed very pleased to be around you."
"Nobody was, even my mother didn't want me around," Johnny told him, "I'm serious…every week when the garbage men came, she'd hold me up and say 'you forgot something'."
"Then if she were still alive, do you think you'd want to see her?" he asked.
"Where is this going?" Johnny asked, already he was getting bored by Jack's game.
"What would you say if I were to tell you that she's here?" Jack asked.
Johnny couldn't believe what he was hearing, Jennifer was dead, and had been for 90 years, after the fire her body was never recovered, and there was no way she could've survived it long enough to get away.
"I see you don't believe me."
"No shit, first you guys pushed her off the top floor to a 25-story building, now you're telling me she survived having the display window to a burning building fall on her? I find that hard to swallow."
Shapiro laughed humorlessly, "I assure you won't think that for long."
While Johnny tried to consider what he meant by that, Jack left the room for a few minutes, and when he returned, he wasn't alone. Two other Watchers seemed to have the job of pallbearers as they carried in what looked like some kind of fancy sci-fi casket and they laid it in the middle of the floor and left.
"What's that?" Johnny asked.
"I told you she was here…she's in there…" Jack told him, "has been for many years now."
Johnny was about to make a suggestion of where Jack could stick his head because he thought there was no way in hell that she could be in there. But then he got a better look past the glass on top, and he saw Jennifer's body, frozen solid, looking exactly as she did the last time he saw her back in 1917, her body frozen from aging by ice and Immortality alike, and it was then that it all came together to Johnny.
"So that's how she survived…you stole her body and put her on ice."
"Not a common thing 90 years ago…but today, technology has made it much more convenient with cryogenic caskets…"
Johnny couldn't believe what he was seeing, something like this, even to an Immortal it had to fall under the category of cruel and unusual. "What a way to go, 90 years frozen solid."
"Not entirely," Jack responded, "she's been the star of many an experiment over the years."
"What kind of experiments?"
"She'd been left out to thaw from time to time, once she resurrected, she was knocked unconscious."
"How humane," Johnny sneered with sarcasm.
"Once she was unconscious, it seemed there wasn't anything for her to do, but her subconscious mind was able to pick up very quickly…"
"Pick up what?" Jack wouldn't answer him, "Come on Shapiro, if you're gonna kill me, then at least do me the honors of answering my question."
"Repetitive messages…know anything about Brave New World?" Jack didn't give him time to respond. "And I happen to know that she'd be all too happy to follow the message right to the letter."
This was starting to make sense to Johnny. "And that message," Johnny said, "is to kill me."
"You catch on quick…whether or not she remembers you it makes no difference, when she resurrects again, she'll pay attention to one thing and one thing only…you…have…to…die…"
Johnny could see there was no way out of this one. "Don't I get some last words?"
"Sure…" Jack wasn't thrilled with it, but he figured in a few minutes he'd be rid of this guy forever, so it wouldn't matter, "what are they?"
Johnny moved his head back, gesturing for Jack to come closer, and he did.
"Yeah?"
Johnny looked down for a minute, as if he was trying to think of what to say, then he looked up and spit in Jack's eye.
"I'm going to enjoy seeing you die," Jack turned and headed back over to the casket.
"Oh really? Didn't you already go through this once before with Duncan MacLeod?" Johnny asked, "and if memory serves, he got away."
Jack turned around and laughed, "Duncan MacLeod is dead!"
"That's never been proven!" Johnny replied, "and if I ever find him…"
Jack continued laughing, "I don't think you'll have to worry about that where you're going…you won't be around for long."
Jack headed back over to the casket and it was then that Johnny realized that this was no ordinary cryogenic coffin, at the top there was a small valve and spout, Shapiro turned the valve and the cold air from the interior of the coffin came blowing out through the spout. With that, Shapiro was heading for the door.
"Where're you going?" Johnny asked.
"I just said I'm going to enjoy seeing you die," Jack told him, "I didn't say I was sticking around here to see it." Johnny wished he wasn't chained up so he could rip that dumb grin off Shapiro's face. "So long, Moran."
"Up yours," Johnny called back.
The door shut behind Jack and bolted, the air continued blowing out the spout and Johnny could see the ice inside starting to melt around Jennifer's body. It wouldn't be long now, but was Jack right? Would that brainwashing of God only knew how many years actually have any effect on her? Could be, the Watchers were notorious for trying to do something right that would make Immortals suffer. Even if she was programmed to kill him, what would she use? The Watchers weren't likely to trust her with a sword, that was for sure. As the last of the cold air was released from the coffin, the ice melted and Jennifer resurrected with a muted gasp from the entrapment of the coffin. Johnny had to admit, he had missed seeing her, but seeing her like this wasn't a pleasant sight either.
Looking around, the girl seemed to recognize her surroundings and she brought up her balled fists and shattered the glass lid and crawled out. For a minute, Moran wasn't sure he had anything to worry about, she'd been kept dead or dormant by the Watchers, and had been 90 years, she probably wouldn't even remember him. She looked around the room with her eyes closed so tightly; they were only slits, getting adjusted to the light no doubt. Looking straight ahead, she saw him and her eyes opened more. Johnny was watching her in awe, could it be? Was it possible?
She opened her mouth to talk and immediately shut it again, then she opened it again and let out a low, "…Johnny…Mo-ran…"
She knew.
"Hello Jennifer," he said, "long time no see."
"…Yes…" she replied.
She turned back to the coffin and reached inside of it, Johnny couldn't tell what she was doing, but got the answer when she turned back around and was coming at him slowly with a broadsword in her hand.
So it would seem the Watchers were better prepared than Johnny had given them credit for, and now it seemed that their plan was going to work. She stopped a few inches away from him, she was looking him over, as if she wanted to make sure she'd never forgotten a single thing about him…but Johnny figured she was also trying to decide how to do this, what with having only killed 2 Immortals and having no teacher, it wasn't an easy task.
"Look, if you're going to kill me," Johnny said, "then can you do me a favor and make sure you get me right at the neck? I'd sure had to have to find out what it's like to die with half my neck still attached and part of my head mutilated."
"Shut up," Jennifer spat.
She stepped back again to make sure she had plenty of room to do this, Johnny knew she'd do it, so he had to think of a way to distract her, and quick.
"What was it like?" he asked.
Jennifer almost dropped her sword, "What?"
"When the window fell on you, what was that like?" he asked, "I always imagined it was painful."
"Well…" she held onto the hilt of the sword and gripped it tightly, "it was over pretty quick actually…I don't know that I actually felt anything, by the time I hit the pavement and the window broke, it felt like I was numb already."
"And the fire?" Johnny asked, "did you feel that?"
"Not really…I…I could smell my skin burning, but by that time I was so far gone, I don't know I really felt anything," she replied.
"Well I gotta tell you, you missed out on a lot these past 90 years."
"Like what?"
"Get this, Alphonse arranged the biggest racket to hit Chicago, Valentine's Day, 1929 at the S-M-C Garage…"
This got Jennifer's attention, "Who'd he kill?"
"Seven men including James Clark…his brother Bugs Moran was a rival in the bootlegging business and was supposed to be there as well, but he was late…I figure he was late for everything," Johnny explained.
"No kidding? Where's Alphonse now?"
"Dead, he died January 25th, 1947…by that time he was already fruitier than a bat, he got sent to Alcatraz and got stuck in the hole, and it broke him."
Johnny couldn't help but notice the look on Jennifer's face when she heard that, it was a look of shock, she kept opening and closing her mouth, trying to think of something to say but no sound came, and her eyes were wide and quickly building up tears.
"I'm sorry, Jennifer…I know how much you liked him," he told her.
"Who…who killed him?"
"Nobody, he died because he had syphilis…you mean he never told you he had it?"
"No."
"He probably didn't know himself…having syphilis helped his insanity to spread, people think…by the time he got out of prison in 1939, Jake Guzik who'd been running the business in his absence told reporters that Al was nuttier than a fruitcake."
"…Did he marry?" Jennifer asked, sounding hopeful.
"Yeah, once…Mae Coughlin, he stayed married to her until he died…and they had a son…"
Jennifer's eyes widened and she looked happy to hear that, "Did he take over?"
"No," Johnny replied, "Mae told him not to follow after his father because he broke her heart…I think it was reasonable."
Jennifer looked down and nodded, she looked back up at Johnny and asked him, "are you still…"
He knew what she was trying to ask, "No, now I'm…or I was…living in New York again…but now…" he looked around at the room, "Now I have no idea where the hell I even am."
Jennifer looked around and behind her at the room also, but what she was looking for she didn't know.
Then, Johnny got an idea, "if we get out, I'll take you to see where they buried him one of these days. They have a flat tombstone right against the ground and it's surrounded by shrubbery so nobody can find it and vandalize it…and people leave flowers and cigars and bottles of liquor and big silver coins…I think it's the way he would've wanted it…to this day, people still love him."
Jennifer looked back at him and was about to answer when the door opened and Jack Shapiro walked, "What's going on in here?"
Jennifer turned around again and both she and Johnny could tell Jack was fuming. "I gave you direct orders to kill him, now do it!"
Jennifer looked back at Johnny, then back at Shapiro.
"Have you forgotten what he's done to you? Kill him now!" Jack told her.
Jennifer gave no sign that she acknowledged what he said, she just gripped her sword and walked towards the victim. Only she wasn't walking towards Johnny, it was Shapiro.
"What are you doing!" he demanded to know, "Not me you fool, Moran…Callahan, you listen to me."
"No, you listen to me," she said as she had Jack pinned against the wall, "no thanks to you, I've missed out on 90 years, I've lost my family…everything I have…and I'm not going to lose the last connection I have to my life…you're gonna be the one to die today."
Jennifer rammed Jack against the wall and threw him down, and knocked him unconscious, then she turned to Johnny and with her sword cut the chains that held him in place.
"Come on, let's get out of here before the rest come," Jennifer said.
"They'll follow us…what we have to do is torch the place…then we'll leave," Johnny whispered to her, strongly considering the possibility that the other Watchers were eavesdropping. If that was the case they were going to have to act fast.
"What do we do?" she asked.
Johnny tried to think, how would they get out of here? Then he had an idea. "Do you know how to play instant dumbwaiter?"
Jennifer shook her head, "Uh-uh."
"I'll show you, come on," Johnny grabbed her by the wrist and they stormed out of there. He took her over to a part of the building that hadn't been used for a while judging by the dust and the cobwebs. In the middle of the room there was an old dumbwaiter that hadn't worked since the slab that carried things in it was removed. He'd caught notice of it on a floor below when he was being brought in. Opening the top, they jumped in and slid down to the bottom floor, then, Johnny had Jennifer follow him to a small dark space that was filled with gasoline cans.
"I've wanted for so long to turn this place into a blazing inferno, but I thought the floor down here was part of an unoccupied building I could use for storage, instead it turns out to be the basement, can you help me?" he asked.
"Sure," Jennifer picked up a gas can and jimmied with the lid.
"If we get the first floor going, that should be enough, then we can get out of here," he said.
"Where do we go from here?" Jennifer asked as she poured the gas on the floor in the next room.
"Home…my home, anyway," he said, "I have a couple of friends there who can help us…"
Jennifer said nothing, instead she emptied one gas can and started on another, moving quickly to another room. After five cans were poured on the floor, Johnny took out a large box of matches and took one out, he showed Jennifer the quickest way out of the building and advised her to go ahead. As soon as she took off, he struck the match, put it in the box with the rest and threw it in the middle of the floor and stormed out of there like a bat out of hell, quickly catching up with Jennifer outside.
It was a beautiful sight to them to see the entire first floor explode in flames, if there would be any survivors, they didn't know and they weren't sticking around to find out.
Johnny took her over to where he'd stashed his motorcycle on the way up and they got on and were ready to get out of there. Jennifer tapped Johnny on the shoulder and he turned around to see what she wanted.
"Where do you live?" she asked.
"2121 South Side Sun Crest Lane," Johnny replied.
At 2121 South Side of Sun Crest Lane, Johnny Moran's house was currently inhabited by two people awaiting his return. One was Antonio Guzik, an Immortal who was 25 when he became Immortal back during Vietnam in '67, 40 years later he still looked as he always had. He bore quite a resemblance to Duncan MacLeod with one main difference, in the middle of his dark near-black hair was a long, thick white streak. Where that came from, nobody could answer, but he believed he got it from the shock of when he returned from the dead.
He met Johnny Moran back in 1981, and not under friendly circumstances to say the least. However, within time they found they had use for one another, and since 1985, wherever one of them lived, the other moved in with them. In 1982, Antonio quickly became aware of what Johnny thought of his Watchers, and soon afterwards, he extended his services to one of Antonio's Watcher's as well. The records would show that Johnny Moran had killed all 114 Watchers of his, and 19 of Antonio's, the remaining two got away and simple disappeared. When he first found out, Antonio was outraged, he thought Johnny a heartless beast who would kill these people with no motive. 'They seem to know everything about us yet they don't want us to know they're alive, that's motive enough for me', he'd reply.
They had their difference of opinions for several years, and still both Immortals thought they were right on the subject. However, in 1995 when they found out about the Watchers trying Joe Dawson for treason, and killing Jacob Galati after killing his wife when she'd begged and pleaded for her life, and trying to kill Duncan MacLeod was certainly enough to expand Antonia's opinion and draw some light on the subject.
"They can't all be bad…look at Joe Dawson," he told Johnny.
"What about him?" Johnny wanted to know.
"He exposed the identity of the Watchers to help Duncan MacLeod…then after the Watchers kidnapped him, Duncan went to get him out, he got out and found Dawson after he should've been executed…he got Dawson help to keep him alive…why would he do that to a man who deserved to die?" Antonio asked.
"So you made your point…I suppose there are both sides to the Watchers…but that doesn't change anything, if they stick anymore with me, they're going to die…you better believe that, and the same goes for yours," Johnny told him, "so don't try and be a hero with them."
And while none of their Watchers survived, Antonio had convinced Johnny to let a few live that they'd come across. But then Duncan MacLeod and the legendary Methos disappeared, and the blame was placed on the Watchers, and the Watchers started up a battle with the Immortals again, and that is exactly what had been going on for the last nine years. Exactly how a myth like Methos could be exposed for a human, and a Watcher at that, nobody knew but Johnny had basically lost whatever trust he had with the Watchers, but an ex-Watcher was another story, and that is exactly who was visiting Antonio, a 9-year resigned Watcher, Joseph Dawson. Antonio and Johnny had known Joe for about five years, he had explained everything that had gone on around the time of their disappearance. Nobody could come up with an explanation as to what had happened to them, where they'd gone, if they left by choice, if they were together, or even if they were still alive.
Johnny could tell Joe liked Duncan MacLeod by the way he talked about him, he could tell it was more than just an assignment to Joe. One thing bothered Johnny still, it was the way Joe would continue to stare at both he and Antonio. They later found out that because Joe's eyesight was still good, he could clearly see a strong similarity in Johnny Moran, and Richie Ryan, and Duncan MacLeod with Antonio Guzik. He told them all about both Immortals and what had become of them. Perhaps because of it, Johnny felt sorry for the old guy because he knew what it was like losing a friend, but Joe lost two at the same time, and right before that, Amanda was killed, and a year before, Richie was murdered. Johnny was amazed that the former Watcher hadn't died of a heart attack yet. After hearing about everything that Joe had gone through in his life, Johnny and Antonio could agree on only one thing, he would've made one hell of an Immortal.
Today, Joe had come over shortly after Johnny left, Antonio told him he'd planned to set fire to the Watchers' new headquarters on the outskirts of town.
"Until about nine years ago, I never thought I'd say it, but anymore I'm ashamed I ever was a Watcher," Joe said.
"You couldn't have known that it would get this bad," Antonio told him, "you couldn't have known that Duncan and Methos would disappear."
"It's just become enough to drive an old man batty," Joe said, "there's too many questions and no answers…like…how did anyone find out that it was Methos that had gone missing, and not Adam Pierson? Nobody besides me and Mac knew by that point."
"Except Cassandra," Antonio replied, "whatever happened to her?"
"Nobody knows…her last Watcher was killed and by the time a new one was going to be assignment, she'd disappeared too…"
"Would she tell anyone?" Antonio asked.
Joe laughed a dark, humorless laugh, "Only if she'd truly gone crazy…but then again…I always figured she was delusional…maybe she was…"
Antonio tried to think, there had to be a way to figure out what had happened to cause Duncan MacLeod and Methos' disappearances. "What exactly happened around the time Amanda was killed?"
Joe exhaled a long sigh before answering that. "Amanda had come to town to see Mac, she'd been staying with him for a couple of days, then she went out one day and never came back…her Watcher found out that she'd been killed in a three to one fight, three Immortals came looking for Mac, and they knew she knew him and she wouldn't say where he was, so they killed her. When Mac found out, he…at first he was in such bad shock he couldn't do anything, he even kept forgetting to breathe…then after a few hours, he came around, and he went looking for them…he found them, and one by one, he fought and won. When he finally came back it was going on one o' clock in the morning, and about after half an hour, Methos told me he'd keep an eye on Mac, and I went home for the night. The next day, they were gone…I went to the barge to see if they were there, and they weren't…"
Antonio paid close attention to everything Joe said, trying to find something amiss, but nothing. He had to take another approach to it. "Was anything missing?"
"I didn't really look too well at first…but yeah…Methos' bags were gone, a few of Duncan's things, and their swords of course. Which leads me to believe that they left willingly, but if they went separate ways or together, I don't know, and I can't think of anyplace they'd go that I haven't checked already."
"Where all have you looked?" Antonio asked.
"Seacouver, Paris, Scotland, Greece…Bora-Bora…I've checked all over the globe – can't find them anywhere."
Joe was getting frustrated again, as anyone would, for nine years he'd been trying to locate them, somewhere, and to no avail. In the beginning, he'd given Watchers he knew and trusted information to identify Duncan and the Watcher Adam Pierson by…told everyone if they had any information, let him know…nothing.
Antonio decided that before changing the subject, he'd give it one more try. "What about Holy Ground?"
"What?" Joe asked.
"The sanctuary of Holy Ground is becoming more popular with Immortals who are tired of the Game, or who can't fight, or who don't have a teacher yet…and it's not all church temples and chapels and graveyards either…they're making them on Holy Ground, places like hotels…they get all kinds of people, but Immortals are the only ones who know about it as a place to get away from the Game temporarily…or permanently."
"Hotels, huh? That sounds like something Methos would go for," Joe laughed.
"It's worth a try..." Antonio said.
"Sure, but by now, how many of those places can there be in the world?" Joe asked, "five, ten thousand? I'll be dead by the time I get through checking them all."
"That's where Johnny and I can come in and help," Antonio told him.
Joe looked at him weird, like he didn't believe Antonio. "How?"
"Not much gets us out of the house these days," Antonio said, "ever since we became what you call 'wealthy independents', so I figure while we're in the house all day, we can be calling these places all over the world, seeing if they've had anyone who matches that description, if they're there now, to keep an eye out for them if they come in, and let us know the minute they know anything. I figure we can split the list of places three ways…that should save a lot of time."
Neither one said anything for a few minutes, as if Joe was considering it. Finally he said, "I think I'm damn lucky that Johnny wants so much to meet with Duncan."
"Why's that?" Antonio asked.
"Because if he wasn't, I have a good feeling I'd be in this alone," Joe said.
Antonio was about to say something in response when he felt the Immortal buzz, no, two of them. He got up and headed to the front door.
"Who is it?" Joe asked.
"Who are they is a better question," Antonio answered back.
Antonio grabbed his sword out from it's hiding spot in the umbrella stand and pulled back the drape on the front door window, looking out he saw Johnny come back in one piece, and there was a woman behind him. He figured it was safe, so he put the sword away, and opened the door.
"How'd it go?" Antonio asked.
"Win some, lose some…and then you get stuck with some," Johnny gestured behind him at Jennifer.
She came in the door after Johnny, but she stopped right at Antonio, and before he could even acknowledge if she was anybody he knew, she said, "Tony Guzik…good to see you again!"
Johnny turned around when he heard that, "You know him? Tony…you never told me you knew her."
"Well…I…" Antonio wasn't even sure he had the right person, he was trying to think of who she was.
"Don't you remember, Antonio? July 4th 1974," Jennifer said.
Now Antonio remembered, "Oh my…you…you're…you…oh boy…"
"What? What? What's going on, what?" Johnny asked.
"Johnny…where'd you find her?" Antonio asked.
"The Watchers had her."
"What?" the question came from both Antonio and Joe. When Johnny heard that he went into the next room and looked in at the dining room table. "Hey Joe, when'd you get here?"
"Right after you left…what're the Watchers doing now?" he asked.
Johnny brought Jennifer in for Joe to see, and Antonio followed behind. "How about this, Watcher? Did you know about her?" Johnny asked.
"I've never seen her before in my life," Joe replied.
"Oh no? Not even in a horizontal glass icebox?" Johnny asked.
Joe looked over towards Antonio, "What is he talking about?"
"I don't know," Tony replied, "half the time I suspect he doesn't know what he's talking about."
"I'll tell you what I'm talking about…this is Jennifer Callahan, have you ever heard that name before?"
Joe shook his head.
"No, huh? Well, it turns out that the Watchers not only pushed her to her first death, but stole her body after she was killed again and have kept her on ice since 1917." Johnny didn't give anybody time to say anything. "And when they haven't had her frozen solid, they've been brainwashing her subconscious mind so that when they released her, she'd have one thing in mind, to kill me…"
"Are you serious?" Joe couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Yes, I'm serious…fortunately it didn't work," Johnny said, "and…she's going to be staying here for a while, isn't that right, Jennifer?"
"Sure is…" she said, "I'm glad to see you guys again…it sure got boring in that coffin."
"Joe," Johnny said, "when I mentioned Duncan MacLeod, Jack Shapiro said that he's dead, have you found anything new on him?"
"Shapiro? I thought he'd learnt his lesson by now," Joe said.
"Well evidently he didn't…well?"
"Nothing…it doesn't make any sense," Joe told him, "it's as if Duncan MacLeod and Methos have just disappeared off the face of the Earth. I've been trying to find them for nine years, with no luck…I'm beginning to think they really are gone."
"That's too bad," Jennifer said, "that's just terrible…I just have one question."
"What's that?" Joe asked.
"Who're you?" she asked.
"This is Joe Dawson…he's a Watcher…like Jack…like the people who kept you in that coffin," Johnny told her.
Joe could see that she'd obviously been put through something going by the look on her face; she looked like just being near a Watcher made her sick. Antonio stepped in to defend him. "He's an EX Watcher, he resigned nine years ago…you can trust him…we've been trying to help him locate two Immortals who have been missing since shortly before he resigned."
"One of them was his case," Johnny told her, "Duncan MacLeod."
"Who's that?" Jennifer asked.
"That's a bit before your time…" Tony said, "it was already the 1920s before they planned to get to Chicago."
"They who?" Jennifer asked.
"Duncan MacLeod and his…" somehow Johnny just couldn't see "floozy" being the right word here, "confidante, Amanda Deveraux."
"Is she like us?" Jennifer asked.
"She was," Antonio replied.
Jennifer glanced at him with an odd look. They could tell this was all a bit overwhelming to someone who had been frozen for 90 years.
"I can tell this is going to be a long day," Joe said.
"Yeah well…while you three all get acquainted and break the ice," Johnny told them, "I'll go get started on lunch."
"90 years, was he telling the truth about that?" Antonio asked.
"He sure was…and I can't tell you how glad I am to finally get out of there again…and this time I'm staying out…boy I…I haven't been this excited since Alphonse got a job working at Coney Island," Jennifer told him.
"Who?" Joe asked.
"Alphonse Capone…have you heard of him?" Jennifer asked, "Johnny says he became real famous."
"Notorious is more like it," Joe replied, "he was trouble all the way…"
"Really?" Jennifer asked, "I guess he must've stepped up in the business…the last time I spoke to him, it was right after Frank Galluccio hacked him in the face with a knife because of what he said to Frank's sister."
Joe's eyes got about as wide as they could get when he heard that. "You mean you knew Al Capone?"
"Sure…for a while…he and me grew up in New York together…not closely though…he and his family lived on one side of town, I lived on the other side…then I moved to Chicago with my family…but he and I…we kept in touch for a while…then, you know what happened to me after that," she said.
Joe just shook his head and he couldn't believe what he was hearing…he also wished more than ever that Richie was alive so he could hear this, he recalled Duncan telling him how Richie seemed interested when Benny Carbassa told him he knew Al Capone. Benny Carbassa was a good for nothing who had no credibility and would say anything to save his hide, and Richie knew that, but still if he could even be mildly amused by that guy, if he were able to hear from Jennifer about her really knowing Al Capone, considering she was telling the truth, and Joe couldn't think of any reason she wouldn't be – that probably would've really gotten Richie's attention.
"Did you know anyone else in his family?" Antonio asked.
"Oh sure…he had a lot of brothers…some of them were in his early gangs…but…I don't know, it just seems that once I left New York they kind of dropped out of the picture…I never heard from or about them again, not even from Alphonse…but the last few times I spoke with him, he had bigger fish to fry. Johnny was telling me – that he – he really became famous for Valentine's Day, 1929…I wish I could've seen it."
"Well…I'm not sure there would've been much to see, he wasn't at the massacre, he was in Florida at the time," Joe told her.
"Really?" Jennifer found that hard to believe.
"Yeah…and he said was saying that only Bugs Moran killed guys like that, and Bugs was saying the same thing about him," Antonio added.
"Well…I wouldn't put it past Bugs…sure his brother was one of the victims, but to guys like Moran – from what Johnny told me, nothing mattered to them other than being on top, regardless of – who – who they had to rub out to get there…now Alphonse wasn't like that…believe me."
"How do you know? The last time you spoke to him he was a bartender," Tony replied.
While the three talked amongst themselves, Johnny briefly listened to their conversation from the kitchen and was glad he'd come in to make lunch, he'd already put up with listening to Jennifer talk about Al Capone 90 years ago, and he'd be hearing plenty more of it, but in between he wanted her to talk someone else's ear off about him. And with two of them in there, they were bound to get an equal turn, but despite that, he was glad to see Jennifer was still alive.
After the fire when they failed to find her body, he wasn't sure what had happened…he about tore apart all of Chicago trying to find her, but came up empty handed at every point. He moved on in his own life, but he was never able to completely forget her. Every time a new report would be out about Al Capone, he just remembered how well she seemed to know him. Then there were reports about Bugs Moran and Elliot Ness, and if she were still alive, she probably would've tracked down Alphonse and helped him take both of them out. He pushed that image from his mind for now and went back to pressing the pink gunk out of the middle of the burgers.
Johnny came back into the dining room with four plates, one in each hand, one on each shoulder, it was a rather unusual sight and how he managed to get to the table without dropping anything was a mystery. "So, what've you three been up to? Talking behind my back, I'm sure."
"Na, we've just been discussing how much Jennifer has to catch up on," Tony responded.
"I'll say…I can't believe how much stuff has changed...that reminds me, Johnny…on our way here earlier, I noticed something and I've been thinking about it for a while, and there's something I want to know," Jennifer said.
"Oh, what's that?" Johnny asked.
Johnny was a bit surprised when she flipped him off with both hands, "Is this supposed to be the new way they wave 'hello' around here?"
The three men at the table all but fell over on the floor laughing, but Tony came closest to it when he leaned so far back in his chair that it fell down and took it with him. The look on Jennifer's face might've also been described as humorous if it weren't for the fact that she couldn't be expected to know too much just yet as to how things worked in the current day and age. Everybody settled down at that and Tony got up and set his chair back up at the table.
"Well," Johnny tried to think of just what to say in response to her question. That wasn't an easy one to think of…how could you respond to something like that? "I certainly hope it hasn't become that," he said, "but believe me, that is not something you want to be doing in public."
"How come?" Jennifer asked.
"Because they shoot people for doing that."
Jennifer looked over at Tony, then back at Johnny, "Why?"
Johnny tried but all the self-control he had in him wasn't enough to keep him from breaking out laughing again. This time it was Tony who answered her question. By the time he got through explaining that to her, she just looked at him like she didn't believe him.
"Look, Jennifer…you have a lot to learn about how things are different now…and you will," Johnny told her, "it'll just take time…but, I think you'll catch up quickly."
"You think so?" she asked, "You know I was never good at learning anything."
"There's always a first time," he told her.
"…Mr. Dawson was telling me about Antonio's idea to search the sanctuaries for Duncan MacLeod and his friend."
"Yeah…we figure if we divide the names of the places between the three of us…eventually we'll have to find something," Johnny said.
"And imagine how much quicker it will be with the four of us," Jennifer added.
Suddenly, everything was quiet, and Johnny and Tony were looking at her like she had lobsters coming out of her ears. "What?" she asked.
"You'd really do that?" Johnny didn't believe it.
"Why not? If you want so badly to meet this guy, then he has to be allright…and…back in Chicago, we'd do anything for each other…so I think it's only fair…"
Tony pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and showed it to Jennifer. "So far, these are the only ones we've been able to locate."
There were about 20 names on the list each with an address and phone number.
"No problem, I can do that," Jennifer took the piece of paper from Tony and got up from the table and stopped again. "Uh…Johnny, where's the phone?"
"In the next room," Johnny showed her the way.
"Great…" she stopped again, "you got any coins for the phone?"
"You don't need them, just dial the numbers."
Jennifer started and stopped again, "huh?"
"It's got numbers on it now, you just press the numbers to match the ones on the paper," he told her.
Jennifer nodded and went into the living room and looked at the phone, and called again, "Johnny?"
"Now what?" he asked as he entered the room behind her
"What kind of phone is this?" she asked, "is it broken or is this a reject model?"
Johnny couldn't believe what he was hearing, but he reminded himself that he'd seen the world of technology improve and evolve, and she hadn't. He tried to think, in 1917, telephones were tall slim black things with a hook to hang them on, and his phone was a basic 1980s model, what kind exactly he didn't know.
"There's nothing wrong with it…this is the way they made them about 20 years ago…all you do is press the buttons that are in the middle to make a call."
"Oh…" Jennifer seemed to catch on and she looked up the first number on the list and dialed it, and she heard a horrible noise that screeched in her ear, followed by an automated recording saying the call couldn't be completed. "No kidding lady," she said into the receiver, "with the kind of noise you're making, you can't complete a call."
Johnny rolled his eyes and he took the receiver from her and hung it up. "What'd you do?"
"I just called the number on the paper," she said.
"Show me."
She pointed to the number she dialed, and Johnny found the problem.
"That's quite a ways out of the area…you have to press 1 before you put in the phone number for it to go through."
"How about the rest of them?"
Johnny looked over the numbers, "Yep, all of them."
"Why is that?" she asked.
"Beats the hell out of me, just the way it is," he told her.
So Jennifer tried again, this time she got through. "Hello?" there was a pause, "I'm calling to ask about 2 people…I need to know if they're currently staying at your joint, or if they might come in that you might let us know. Uh…one of them is Duncan MacLeod, and the other's…"
"Adam Pierson, you nitwit," Johnny whispered to her.
"Adam Pierson, you nitwit," she repeated into the phone, "sorry about that…well they might be checking in under aliases…let's see, they're…hold on," Jennifer put her hand over the mouthpiece and yelled across the room. "HEY JOHNNY! WHAT DO THESE GUYS LOOK LIKE?"
The men about fell down laughing again, but Johnny managed to keep a straight face as he described them. Jennifer repeated the description and waited while he checked to see if any of the current guests matched the description, after about 10 minutes he reported that nobody there matched it.
"Well if they do come in, let us know…you can get us at…hold on," she covered the mouthpiece again, "Hey Johnny!"
"What now?"
"What's the number to this joint?"
Johnny told her and she repeated it to the guy running the place and then hung up, and she said, "Well that went well."
Joe and Antonio about fell out of their chairs laughing, while Johnny looked like he just wanted to strangle her. Indeed, he could tell this was going to be a long day, first there were the Watchers, and the continuous search for Duncan MacLeod, and now he was going to have to teach his old friend how to adapt to living in a world almost 100 years past her time.